As promised, part 2 of this vacation-themed post has a bit more variety.  This is, after all a pharmacy-related blog, so how could I resist snapping a few shots of our beloved profession? How about this one as soon as we stepped off the boat (ahem…sorry. Ship) in Belize:

Just when you think we’re a little heavy on the regulation, we see something like this. It’s not that they’re not operating within the rules of the port, it’s just that when ‘drinks’ and ‘snacks’ have equal billing with ‘testosterone gel’, my brain can’t find the logic. The pharmacies are operated just as regular shops, with in-store and outside promotions, such as the the sandwich-board style example above. They are certainly wise to curious shutterbugs, as they also had plenty of signs prohibiting photos once you cross the doorway threshold. More than one travel website user commented on the fact that they suspect the medications for sale are misrepresented at some of the pharmacies, so that would be good incentive to avoid prying eyes. Oh well, window-shopping it is:

Um…let’s see here. I’ll take a Z-Pack, something called Tromadol, and that ‘Retina’ stuff looks interesting; perhaps we have a knock-off alternative to laser eye-surgery.

If you can picture neon bristol-board cut in the shape of starbursts containing promos for ‘Advair $40 USD’ or ‘Testosterone Gel $25 USD’ surrounding the deal of the day: 30 pills of Viagra for only $60 USD! It resembled my 5th-grader’s recent poster project, but instead of facts about her great-grandfather, it features a smattering of schedule 1 drugs (in Canada) alongside the word cheap and every other entry you’d find in a pocket thesaurus. While patrons milled about looking for typical convenience-store items, one of the employees (pharmacists?) would occasionally yell out, ‘We have Xanax and Ativan. Step right up!’ We’re so used to restricting or limiting access to potentially addictive medications, it’s so odd to see them pushed in this manner. No relationship, no assessment, little (if any) documentation, all for incredibly low prices!

Speaking of prices, that reminds me of how much I hate bartering. I usually like to travel with people that either love it, or have a knack for it. Once we had a group of six drop our items and get herded out of a shop because our designate decided the shifty fellow at the counter was pulling a fast one. Visiting ports have seemingly sprung up out of nowhere to cater to tourism. The competition and haggling is pretty intense, given that most have the same items and prey on the fact that folks won’t have a clue what they’re actually worth. It really felt like you couldn’t walk around and explore without moving through a receiving line of tour operators offering every conceivable excursion.  Fortunately, we were able to get a few mementos in the form of ornamental fans we used to combat the 32-degree weather.

Miscellaneous Goofiness

I don’t really have a lead-up for any of these, but early on in the trip, I started making note of amusing things that happened during the journey. These are my favorites:

1. There was a club atmosphere on pool decks and in various sections of the ship. One afternoon, the birthday boy happened to remark that the song playing was ‘How Deep is Your Love?’ by Calvin Harris & Disciples. Both he and his daughter had learned all the words. During one of the many singalong choruses, drink in hand on the edge of the pool, I turned and told him I had an answer:

Yes, a double-take was needed.

2) At one point we debated getting a cup of ice from the bartender by asking for a ‘virgin tequila on the rocks’.

3) The stateroom lavatory implores you to avoid putting foreign items in the toilet. Seeing how we’re on a cruise ship, will those items change depending on the port?

4) The mojito bar on the ship had a number of odd mixtures on their menu. One of my personal favorites was the ‘Jalapeno Cucumber Mojito’. We passed it around for a taste with the resulting expressions folding into varying degrees of scrunchiness. One comment described that “it would be refreshing…if your mouth wasn’t on fire.”

5) If you shout ‘adios’ whilst sidled up to a bar, you would often get a few chuckles followed by a tall glass of freezie-blue liquid. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for these to send you on your merry way 😉

All in all, it was a welcome break from reality. I don’t rest or relax very well, but for a fortnight, things didn’t feel rushed and we could roam free and easy.

Kind of felt a bit like this guy:

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