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Cozumel Island
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Cozumel Trip Report Just Returned from Cozumel - Journal Day 1 Sol
Cabanas Del Caribe May 1, 2001 After much delay.......Vacation Report Day Two! Tuesday, May 1This morning we got up at about 8:30 and tried to snorkle outside Sol Cabanas, but brown thimble jellyfish were everywhere in the water. Our concierge Rogelio says the jellyfish come in the mornings. I wonder to myself whether they call a concierge a concierge in Mexico, or if there is a local, or spanish term for the position. We changed clothes and headed to Jeannie's Waffle House for breakfast, following the advice of so many who have posted praise of this hangout. What wonderful food! I had a waffle Benedictino - with eggs and hollandaise sauce on it. Salsa was served on the side, and it was spicy and wonderful. Joel ordered the Waffle Ranchero which was covered in red sauce, and a cup of coffee on the side. As we ate, the locals celebrated their labor day. We unknowingly chose the best seat in town to watch the labor day parade! Hundreds marched down Melgar with signs and banners, some chanting and others just silently protesting. We ordered some agua purificada to go, paid for our sizeable breakfast - 150 pesos - and continued on to Chakanaab. At Chakanaab we saw many iguanas in the botanical garden - I heard someone call them "mexican squirrels" which struck me as funny because they behave a lot like squirrels. We did a lot of snorkeling here....saw the sunken statue of the virgin mary, and learned of her history. The locals bring up the statue once a year and celebrate her. We also saw many fish and an eel, but my knowledge of aquatic life is limited to walleye, bass and catfish, and none of these critters look familiar. A photographer approached us while we were snorkeling. He must have had food in his pockets, because the fish were following him wherever he went! He took our photo underwater "with the fish" which actually meant he swam close enough to us to make it look like WE had food in our pockets! We chilled out on the beach and at a snack shack nearby. We split a fajita plate and a slice of lemon pie and each ordered a pina colada in a silly emptied coconut with a face made of fruit stuck to it with toothpicks. Cats ran around the restaurant scrounging for scraps, only to be chasedout by the waiter, time and again. It was quite entertaining. The food was excellent! We walked through the reproductions of ruins, and came across a lady making tortillas in a small hut of sorts. She stuffed the fresh, hot tortillas and handed them to us with a warning about the green sauce we could add to the snack - "very hot". Now, if a local tells you it's hot, IT'S HOT. I barely waved the spoon over my tortilla, and my mouth was on fire! What incredible flavor in this food! We headed back to downtown to exchange US$ to pesos and buy some touristy stuff. I bought a spanish Vogue - and even though I know about 30 words in spanish, Vogue is not exactly deep reading, so I figure I'll muddle along. Back to the hotel. We spent the afternoon reading on the beach and drinking Dos Equis with lime, while we watched the sun set. A huge boat with hundreds of people on it cruised by while music blared and the announcer yelled, "ARE YOU READY TO PARTY?!" We decided this wasn't the sunset cruise for us. We hit El Guacamayo for dinner, which wasn't far from Sol Cabanas Del Caribe. We were prepared to take a taxi, but Cesar at the front desk gave us a big smile and said we could walk there. We thanked him and went on our way. We got out to the main road, and Cesar came running after us with a coupon for some % off our meal. The service in this culture is amazing! Well, had we taken a cab, it would have been a joke! El Guacamayo was less than a block away and across the stret. Dinner was fabulous...so good, we decided not to use the coupon. They served warm fresh bread right away with butter. We orderd two large margaritas. I had fresh salad, and Joel got Conch Soup and Red Snapper Stuffed with Shrimp in a blanket of white sauce. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I sipped my margarita down to the ice, and ordered another (remember, my experience with margaritas is limited to ChiChi's and a local mexican restaurant in La Crosse). About 10 minutes later, the first margarita kicked in and I was nearly an idiot. I had to think really hard before talking, and Joel said I was talking veeerrrryyy slowly. Seconds later the hiccups kicked in! We decided to forgo the trip to town, in light of my giggly state, and instead went back to the hotel to drink agua and swing in the hammock. I got three more aguas from the restaurant, drank one and hit the hay, hard. Vacation Diary - Day 3 May 2, 2001We set the alarm for just before 8am, since we requested coffee from the front desk last night. We finally discovered this morning that time is an hour earlier (and moves a lot slower, hehe.) So, we are up an hour early...which means we went to bed at 9pm last night! We enjoy the coffee on our little deck, then have breakfast at Las Gaviotas on our hotel grounds. This restaurant is wonderful. Great food and fantastic help. The sweet bread they bring to the table is scrumptious. Joel has booked a flight to Chichen Itza for us; we leave Friday morning. The cost was around $250 US dollars + departure taxes. Joel is quite excited about the trip...he just loves those historical-type sites! I am looking forward to it as well, but would enjoy anything we do here in paradise. Rogelio - the concierge - recommended a wonderful diving company, owned by a friend, for us to take a resort course. It was just Joel, the instructor, and me. The three of us cabbed it up to a reef, where we had diving school on the beach under a palapa. It was incredible! Does it get any better than this? After learning about all the underwater signals and the drills we were about to perform, we went out deep enough to put our heads under water when on our knees. We kneeled there & performed 5 drills: purging the mask of water, 2 ways of purging the regulator of water, breathing off your partner's regulator and losing (and regaining) the regulator. We passed all of the drills, though I felt nervous the whole time (it's just my nature to be nervous, no matter how prepared I am.) We then went out to deeper water, and I got nervous and asked to go up. We did - I calmed down, and we went down again for almost an hour. Luis, our instructor, brought us down to about 22 feet. We saw rays, which our instructor scooched out from under rocks. We also saw a sea horse, and too many fish to name (even if I could!) The fish were of all colors, and at one point a blue fish with yellow fins swam alongside me, eating our air bubbles! When we started to ascend, a tooth in the upper right part of my mouth began to ache. The aching got worse as we rose to the surface. Luis said I might have been biting too hard on my mouthpiece, or it's possible I have a hole in my tooth which captured some air - which expanded when we rose to the surface. Not long after the explanation, my face began going numb while my tooth reached an excruciating level of pain. I felt like throwing up, it hurt so bad. What a rough way to end an incredible experience! We thanked Luis when we returned to the dive shop, then headed back to the hotel for some ibuprophen and sleep for me - and sun for Joel. The maid had designed our towels to look like swans, then sprinkled them with flowers. We love Sol Cabanas Del Caribe! After 3 hours had passed the facial numbness was gone and the pain had decreased about 95%. Now, I suppose a dentist visit is in my near future. The diving was fun, though, and I can separate the two events. Taking the resort course was a wonderful life experience! For dinner we hit one of the best restaurants of our vacation - Prima. The restaurant is on the second floor of a building near the plaza, and is only half-covered with a roof while the rest of the guests sit in the luxurious open air. Prima serves northern Italian food, and it's very good. I think it is my favorite so far (El Guacamayo is in the running,too) - but I'm not sure if it's because of the atmosphere, the food, or what happened when we were there. My husband whispered, "Charish, look." I turned around and there, kneeling on the floor, was a simply gorgeous man proposing to his gorgeous girlfriend. Everyone clapped & I cried. It was so romantic! (We are here on our 5th anniversary, so romance is right up our alley!) For dinner, we opened with fresh bread drizzled in garlic butter. Joel ordered seafood, and I got a red pepper and fresh mozarella with pesto pasta dish. To die for! We also ordered dessert - key lime pie with a crust that's out of this world. A musician serenaded the romantic, just-engaged couple, and after a few songs, Joel waved him over to sing to us. He sang a beautiful romantico song about "mi esposa", which I know is "my spouse". I was a puddle. To answer my own question - no, it truly does not get better than this. Vacation Diary Day 4 Thursday, May 3, 2001We headed to El Museo for breakfast - I had granola, fruit and yogurt. Joel had french toast. It came to about $150 pesos with coffee & juice. I figured having some food that was close to US fare would help my slightly unsettled stomach. Oh, well, I'm not going to complain. We're in COZUMEL! (Embarassing confession time) I also used the WC there - and accidentally flushed paper which stopped up the toilet! Talk about the walk of shame. I always wondered what kind of a person does that. I slinked back to the restaurant and told Joel "RUN!" I think everyone could tell by the terrified look on my face that I was public restroom enemy #1. We rented a car with the help of Rogelio at Sol Cabanas...a VW convertible with a cloth roll-top from Alamo. It was fun! Joel had to drive, since it was a stick shift. He declined insurance and the very nervous vendor told him to be "very, very careful". We drove up the East side - BREATHTAKING. Stopped at El Mirador, the coral bridge. It was awesome, though I was sad to see many people have dumped their trash carelessly on the beach and in the coral. We picked up some rocks to put in our water fountain at home. We continued on up the coast to Punta Sur Parque, where we stopped to tour the lighthouse and the lagoon. $20 US got us both through the gate. The lighthouse was awesome! We rode in a very creaky wooden 2-tier trailer. The driver was running behind, so he put that truck to work while we hung on for dear life, and I wished silently that I had worn a sports bra. We signed the waiver to walk up to the top of the lighthouse and the view was amazing. In a moment of passion for this beautiful place, Joel decided to capture a panaramic view from the lighthouse. After about six pictures I heard him say, "Oh, no! We're out of film." Much of the rest of the day we wished we had brought an extra disposable camera. Because we were out of film, we never got a full shot of the lighthouse itself, or any shots of the East side of the island - until we got to Mezcalitos. We saw some small Mayan ruins there - old buildings now in shambles of broken stone. Next, we shuttled to the lagoon, where we rode on a pontoon with about 6 others to view lagoon life and try to spot some crocodiles. Try as we might, we couldn't get them to come out of their home (though one guy on the boat said he "wanted to throw someone to the alligators" and neither he, nor the lady with him, looked like they were joking.) We did see many different exotic birds - egrets, pelicans, and others. It was truly wonderful. When done, we climbed the observation tower then took the creaky ride back to the front of the parque. We opted not to "esnorquel" but to continue on our way up the coast. We drove along, admiring the scenery, all the way up to Mezcalitos. There, they offer the ladies a free shot if they show their hoo-hahs. Joel wouldn't let me - not that I even wanted a shot of tequila! I had veggie fajitas and Joel had shrimp fajitas. We drank Modelo Negra and Dos Equis,(2 each) and got two waters to go - about 400 pesos. We enjoyed the view from under a palapa, although thousands of brown jellyfish had invaded the area. Joel bought a camera at one of the little shops here, so we would have a couple of photographs of this side of the island. He still won't tell me how much it cost - but I know it was over $20. Blankets, however, were only $2...but who wants a blanket when it's 90-degrees? We headed back home (see how easy it is to start seeing this place as home?) and on the way, we saw many deserted businesses and rundown homes. This is the shabbier part of the island, along the cross-highway. We stopped at one of only two gas stations on the island that we've seen so far, and filled up the tank before finishing with a white-knuckle drive through town back to Alamo. No scratches, no bumps, okay. We got back, showered, and decided to hit Golfito. the cab driver (only lady so far) said she thought Golfito was closed at night. We had her drop us off at the plaza, and we walked the rest - it was open! We played a round: 2 adults, 18 holes in a tropical (albeit man-made) paradise = $14 US. We both had sangria and went on our merry way. (note: drinks are surprisingly inexpensive here.) I was kicking Joel's butt for the front 9, though he will never admit it, and then he picked up on the scoring. I also had to fish two balls out of the river! The sangria was gone by hole #10, and we ordered 2 Dos Equis from there via walkie-talkie. The beer tasted good - it was so hot & humid at Golfito! The temperature made the beer almost essential. Joel ended up winning by a few strokes. We stopped at the bakery across the street in preparation for our long, early day at Chichen Itza Friday. Joel got some lemon poppyseed bread - I got a filled croissant with fruit of some orange variety. We had dinner minutes later at the French Quarter. Rogelio (hotel concierge) had given us a note for his friend Frank who worked there...it said "Two free drinks". The owner, presumably, met us at the door - and I asked for Frank. the owner took the note and said they'd take care of us. We said "hi" to Frank from Rogelio (and I panicked that I got poor Frank into trouble!) We were seated at a lovely spot near the edge of the restaurant, overlooking the town. Dinner started with salad for me & soup for Joel, with a basket of fried hush puppies. All of it was delicious! We also had 2 pina coladas (on the house per the note we'd given to the owner) and purified agua. I ordered a spicy pasta dish and Joel got stuffed snapper for the second time this week. We did not get desert as I was too full and couldn't even finish my meal. The heat has stolen my appetite, which is okay by me. We slept well that night, as we had every night since we arrived here. Tomorrow, we'll celebrate our anniversary with a trip to Chichen Itza, and dinner at La Veranda.
Here are the photographs - visuals to go with the text! May 4th, 2001 We got up early - maybe 5:30am - to catch the Aeroferinco flight to Chichen Itza. We ate our bakery goods (bought the previous night across the street from Golfito) in the airport while waiting for our tiny plane. Note: this flight may not be the best for people who are afraid of flying, as our plan seated only 20. we flew across to Playa del Carmen, where we landed on a tiny runway and picked up a couple of other Mayan ruin seekers. Then, it was a 30 minute flight to CI. We stopped at a gorgeous hotel to get water (and drop some off). One thing I've noticed is Mexico has many bathroom attendants, so bring a little $ with you when you "go". The homes here are more rundown than those at Cozumel. The whole landscape is much shabbier - probably because there aren't as many tourists. the place itself - Chichen Itza - was nothing short of amazing. Our guide was excellent. He took us from old CI to new and sprinkled the tour with history and humor. It was hot. I put the white towel Joel had wisely brought over my head. We reapplied sunscreen countless times. We drank enormous bottles of water. Still, we gringos suffered in the heat. We climbed El Castille to the top, STEEP! We also had to climb back down vveeerrryyy sllllowwwllyy. Did I mention the heat? We had no breeze to speak of at CI, and lots of sun and sweat. We walked 1/4 mile to the sacred well, where Mayan peoples would throw their treasures to the rain god Chak. At this point, Joel wasn't looking or feeling so good. He rested on the air conditioned bus after we picked up the Mayan Calendar we bought with our wedding date on it. Note: this would be a wonderful unique wedding gift for someone! The drive and flight home was hard on him. We got back to the hotel and slept until about 8:30pm. We were thankful we had flown, as it was much more comforting to rest in bed than try to sleep on a bus and ferry. By 8:30 we were hungry - having eaten only the bakery goods and a $2 snickers bar in the airport. For dinner we went to La Veranda. This is, after all, our fifth anniversary dinner, so we are celebrating! Everything was magnificent! We had bruchetta with parmesan and fresh tomatoes, some chardonnay, a wonderful vegetable lasagna, and Joel had a coconut shrimp dish. We finished it off with bananas flambe and a drink on the house (I think it was a white russian). We returned to Sol Cabanas Del Caribe and went for a late night dip in the pool under the stars with a cool breeze washing away the heat of the day. Saturday, May 5th We were so worn out from our day at CI, we decided to take it easy. We had breakfast at Las Gaviotas. I had fresh toast, "Pan de la Francesca" and Joel had a mexican egg dish. A cute little dog came and begged for food. We spent the morning hanging out on the beach, snorkeling, reading, and drinking. In the afternoon we headed to the Plaza and walked around. Joel bought some souvenir type stuff. We ate at Casa Denis, which was very good. I had a "beans" burrito according to the waiter - it was served with guacamole and packed with rice and black beans, then drizzled with red sauce. Joel had the yucatan chicken and lime soup which was so good he stuffed himself. We wasted the evening (if you could call it that!) sitting in our hammock outside our room and enjoying the scenery. While I was sitting and swinging back and forth, a big black rat ran across the floor of the balcony! I screamed and it ran down the palm tree leaning over our banister. I had seen a little gecko the night before - think I liked that visitor better. Lodging Reviews
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