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Cozumel Trip Report
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Posted by l in g on 06/30/02

Condumel
 

Trip report

We got to airport early, as Robin had suggested and were able to get an exit row.  I made sure we were on the right side of the plane so we could see the fires from the air but it was all smoke and clouds once we were up.  

When we arrived, I wanted to look for Nick F. as I was pretty sure he would be departing on our plane, but we were wisked off to a van as soon as we got the green light.  

Our condo at Condumel was perfect, all glass on the living room and bedroom side, looking out to the ocean through the palm trees with a lovely round window over the bed looking out on the jungle between Canamar condos and ours.   Marty's very favorite part was that the kitchen was stocked, we didn't need to go to the grocery store.  Every day the maid would re-stock the beer.  At the end of our visit, we were charged 60 cents per bottle of beer.  Cheap beer, Marty was in heaven.  A maid to wash our dishes, I was in heaven.  Oh, the eggs were 20 cents apiece, bottles of alcohol were there as well at good prices, but after having a migraine the first day, I felt no need to indulge.  

So, this is how it went.  Wake occasionally during the night to see the full moon on the water from my bed, wake in the a.m. to Marty bringing me coffee in bed (just like home, THIS he does not get a vacation from!).  Then we would step outside to the beach.  All day, move from chair under palapa to the lounge chair under the palm tree to snorkeling when we got hot.  Saw lots of beautiful fish, saw several rays, once Norcalgal showed me how to look for them.  We were impressed with the snorkeling there.  Occasionally a couple would show up on the beach for a few hours, usually we had it to ourselves.  I had requested an upper condo, but I was glad we didn't get one as the view was spectacular from our unit and we could go out from our sliding glass door.  The upper units had to go out the street side and walk around the building with all their stuff.   Read five books while there (counting the plane ride), got exercise every day snorkeling against the current one way.  We walked the mile into town and back at least once a day for dinner and many days in the mornings to eat breakfast at the museum or to go to the bakery.  I particularly like the ham and cheese pastries for lunch.  The restaurant Especiales (sp) was tasty.  Marty wandered across it the first night while I was at the condo, drugged and with an ice pack on my head.  He took me there the next night and I showed him it was on my list of places to try.  Adrian is the owner and he and Marty talked fly fishing.  

I thought I had finally gotten the name of the restaurant by the Mexican market that serves great fillete piscate (sp) (grouper) but when I told Sarah at the condo that it said Bieniventes (I am NOT stopping to look up all the spelling!) she told me that it meant Welcome, and that it was not the name of the place.  Oh well, it has a huge tree growing right through the roof and it's cheap and the best fish I ever ate.  Also had good porkchops upstairs at a place that looked out on to the shop that has Shalom printed on it's awning.  That's as specific as I can get, sorry.  I pigged out every night then stopped by the ice cream shop on some corner that also had fruit popcicles .  I had a strawberry one every night as we walked home.   Re tipping, we always tip generously, as someone said here, a little from us is a big deal to them.  So we tip as though we paid a lot for the meal.  20% does not work if the meal was wonderful and cheap.   We tripped the maid $5. every day (there were two and never knew which one would clean for us) and had to tell them several times not to scrub the bathroom every day, (we're not THAT messy).  I worked with tourists when I lived up in the mountains.  I would teach skiing and clean condos over the off seasons and tips were rare and greatly appreciated.  

We never had a bad meal, we would just walk along until we saw lots of brown faces in the restaurant and would stop there.  This system seemed to work.

I did try to figure out where the plaza cam was with the blue awnings, though I found the area, but couldn't locate the camera.  I tried to find the Calling Station, no luck there either.  We MUST have walked right past it every day going into town.   I even checked on the TN board to see if anyone could tell me where it was but I got no response.  


Tried connecting with Christy and Suzanne, actually had Christy on the phone, but Sarah lost her call when she brought the phone down to our unit and we couldn't get her back.  I know Suzanne had relatives in town.  Oh well, next time. It was nice to see Cindy and Kensie again and to meet Teresa.  That Norcalgal is a FISH in the water!

One thing was startling, when you are snorkeling and you hear an engine noise, of course you pop up and look to make sure a boat isn't about to dock on your head.  Well, the inbound airplanes come in just south of Condumel and it is loud!  Outbound goes out differently, but we would wave at the inbound planes welcoming them to the island.

I love being able to wash my hair and clean up and change clothes when I get out of the water, so I will always stay on the beach.  From now on, I will always stay at Condunel, I need look no further.  Sarah was there 9 - 5 every day except Sunday to explain anything, she let us use the phone and internet, I felt like I had a secretary all week.   We did bring a clock/radio with us, after checking with Sarah that there was not a tv or radio in the condo.  We had wanted to stay at Cantamar as they had a wall safe, but Sarah kept our wallets and my cell phone in the office for us.  I noticed Cantamar had more people there as we snorkeled past, playing in the pool, etc.  So we really were better off where we were as we don't care about a pool.  There was a diving board on the rocks at Condumel and I would score Marty on his dives into the 12 ft. water there.  That reminds me, I did take one thing that turned out to be very helpful.  The Bandaid brand bandages that seal on like a piece of skin.  Not the waterproof ones, but the ones that go on like a scab.  Marty slipped on the ladder and cut a hunk of skin off the top of his foot.  It would not stop bleeding so Sarah poured peroxide sort of stuff on it and I applied the bandage.  You have to warm it up in your armpit, then apply it, then heat it with your hand for one minute to get it to stay on.  It worked like a charm, he was able to snorkel, wear his sandals to walk to town, etc.  It came off three days later in a dive off the board and it was healed completely.  

Right before we left, I decided to get some pictures of the iguanas.  I noticed the other couple would toss teir leftovers to them, so I got some bread out to entice them over.  I have never fed anything there before, but I figured everyone else had been and I wanted some close shots.  Oh my goodness!  I got Marty to toss the bread as I realized I would be over run by them if I tried to take pictures and not keep throwing the food!  He threw the last handful and we ran inside!  Greedy little boogers!

We had a wonderful time, can't wait to go again.  When my pictures are developed, maybe I'll get some of this trip and last trip scanned, but don't hold your breath!  
Thanks to everyone for all the great tips that were posted.

linda      

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