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Posted by twelvevoltman on 05/21/02

Trip Report Part 1............Arrival......+

Friday, May 10

Plane leaves at 8 am, so we are up at 4-friggin’-thirty, and we park at the Park & Fly and are at the check-in counter by 6 am. Boy, is this ever different than our last trip, back in late October. Check-in is a breeze compared to then. No soldiers, no guns, just a cop or two and some sort of new Airport Security people. We are on the plane by 7:30, thinking we may get out of here early……..NOT! Planes are backed up forever……..we finally get off the ground around 8:30. We land a little after 10:30. We were sitting in the front of the plane, but we managed to wind up in the BACK of the line for immigration……as always. Oh well, collect our bags, get the green light – YEAH! – and go to the Avis desk, get our car – a Chevy Cavalier, with A/C of course (you know us Texans) and we are off to the Summer Place Inn. We get there, ring the bell, and Joe comes to greet us. The maid is just finishing cleaning our room, so we finish the business end while waiting. I gotta tell you, $60 per night - $420 for the week – this is one of the biggest bargains on the island. Full kitchen, stocked fridge, GREAT pool…….This place is GREAT!!! Thanks to Dijo for the recommendation. Anyway, Joe tells us we will be the only ones there for the entire week!!! Wow…… So we just can’t say enough about the SPI. I have posted a review in the lodging section if you want more details. So, we dump our stuff in the room.  I set a speed record jumping into a swimsuit, grab the keys, and…………Janet  (mrs. twelvevolt) is trying to unpack…….LATER DARLIN’ !!!!!! Time to head for the beach!!!!!! We stop at Chedraui to use the ATM, the we head off to Nachi Cocom to try to find Greg & Shell. We get there, head for the pool area, and sure enough, there they are…….trying to hide in the pool like a couple of Ohio goofballs…….grin……..Hellos are said, lunch and beers are ordered, and we start to catch up. Spend the afternoon there, meet in town later, and then off to El Moro for a little dinner. I have to say, El Moro has ALWAYS been our favorite place to eat, but this time it is not quite up to par. Janet has her Sopa de lima, and I promised myself to try something different this time. I got some pork chop Yucatan style…..it is ok, but nothing to write home about. We finish dinner, arrange to meet Shell & Greg the next morning at Dzul-Ha, then we return to SPI and crash from our long day. Tomorrow……..the story of the Dzul-Ha fiasco, and we meet a secret agent!!!!!!!
Trip Report Part II (long).....The Dzul-Ha Fiasco and we meet a Secret Agent Man!!!

Saturday May 11

Up and at ‘em early this morning. Well, not really. But, we are meeting Shell & Greg at Dzul-Ha, so we do get up around 8-ish. Have a toast & jam & juice breakfast at Summer Place, load up all the snorkel stuff, and off we go. We get to Dzul-Ha around 9:30, and the Stovers are already there. They have a table on the deck by the pool. We put our stuff on the table next to theirs, and start unloading. Then, this guy walks up and tells us that “It is closed”. WHAT is closed, we ask. He says “This is closed”. Well, that tells us a hell of a lot. He basically tells us we will have to move over to the “other” side….Club del Sol? Greg asks him when will “this” be open? The guy tells us that it will be closed till Monday. Will be open on Monday. Well, we are a little pissed, but hey, only our first full day here, so we start packing up to move over to a table in the sand. Meanwhile, I see several people laying out HUNDREDS of masks, fins, snorkels……….AND there are THREE cruise ships in town………ARE YOU STARTING TO GET THE PICTURE???? So, we move over, get a table, and Janet and I put on masks and fins and hit the water. Current is VERY strong this morning, from north to south, so we decide to get out, walk up the road about ¼ mile, get back in, and just drift south. Now this is the way to do it………anyway, we snorkel for about ½ hour, see lots of fish, usual Dzul-Ha stuff. We get out (I swam on down to the steps by the deck area to get out……closed my ass……) and sit down and order something to drink. THEN, as I hinted at earlier……….THEY ARE ARRIVING BY THE TAXI LOAD…….taxis, vans, jeeps……..ARGHHHHHHH……it is the invasion of the boat people. Just as we thought…..Dzul-Ha was closed to US, but not the boat people. Boy, were we PISSED now. The four of us sat there, not believing what we were seeing. OK, I am about to hop up on my soapbox now, so if you don’t want the sermon, skip this part. NOW, I know that the big white boats bring in a TON of $$$ to the local economy, and I understand local businesses catering to them for that very reason. HOWEVER, you do not have to s__t all over the people that come to the island and spend DAYS instead of hours. They could have simply told us that the deck area was reserved. Hell, if they had told me that a hundred plus boaties were gonna show up, I would have moved on my own! They would not have had to ask me to move. We just all were pretty put off by the way this was done. If the 2 previous owners of Dzul-Ha (I cant remember their names) were still there, this crap would never have happened. OK, sermon over – back to the trip report. As we continued our discourse on the current event, I noticed a tall, suspicious looking man, wearing dark glasses, hovering near our table, observing both us and the goings-on with the cruisers. I was about to ask him who he was, when he introduced himself to us. He said his name was Spencer Cruise, Secret Agent. He said his mission was to investigate the “cruiser” phenomenon and gather information. I guess he was doing just that, because he was shooting video of them, and when they all got into the water to snorkel, he also entered the water and continued his video surveillance. I was going to get a picture of him, but he would not allow me to photograph him. He said something about “top secret” or something. Anyway, I did manage to get a couple of pics of him in the water. When I get my photos back, I will post them all over on the Gringo Guide, as I always do. I hope the ones of Spencer Cruise, Secret Agent, turn out ok. Anyway, fed up with this experience, we set off in search of another beach. We wound up at Playa Palancar. I had never been here before. It is a beautiful beach, and so quiet. Not too many people…..I guess it is just too far south for any of the boat people to go to. We had lunch. Greg and Shell had garlic fish – it was GREAT!! Janet & I stuck with the usual…..a plate of guacamole and some nachos. We at and retired to the beach area…….the only thing that would keep this beach from being a 10 is that when you first get into the water, there are a lot of small rocks and coral bits…..but after you get into the water, it is smooth sand. We spent the afternoon there, and agreed to meet Greg & Shell in town later that evening. Greg had brought down a couple of “communicators”…..a couple of two way “walkie-talkie” things…..and we used those to get in contact with them every evening. They came in pretty handy. Anyway, we met in town, had a beer at Tony Romes, then we went to Viva Mexico and had a round of 2-for-1 Sols, and Greg and I did a little “window shopping” for Tequila. Boy, were they expensive. I guess those boat people will pay anything……Anyhoo, we wound up down the street at a place called Mis Charritas…..where you could get two beers and a shot of tequila for $4.00. Well, Janet is not a big beer drinker, so while Greg, Shell & I were emptying a lot of Sol bottles, all the tequila wound up with Janet. Too make a looooooong story shorter, we were there all evening, and by the time we left NO ONE was feeling any pain. Once again, Shell invited herself back to our place for another midnight swim, so Janet and Shell went off in search of pizza, and Greg and I went off in search of beer, which we discovered you cannot buy after 11:00 pm. We all wound up back at the SPI, had some pretty darned good pizza from Nino’s, had a swim, and Greg and Shell headed back towards the Paridisus and Janet and I went to bed and passed out…..uh, I mean, went to sleep. lol    Tomorrow we do the beach/bar hopping thing on the east side…….

Trip Report Part III - A day on the East Side......and Our introduction to Mexican Karaoke........

Sunday, May 12

We told Greg & Shell we would meet them over at Mezcalito’s, since we all decided this would be our “East Side Beach Visitin’ Bar Hoppin’ “day. So Janet and I drove up north to stop and check out the Cantamar Condos. I had seen this place on the ‘net, and since we are thinking about taking my kids next summer (my daughter graduates from HS next year……….ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH) I wanted to check them out in person. They looked really great on their website. So we motor up, and get out and walk through. I had really hoped to catch someone out by the pool so I could ask them about the condos, but no such luck. They do look very nice though, great pool, and lots of coral and stuff right off the pier. If we do take the kids next year (God help us) this is where we will stay. We head back to the car, and who should pull up but the Stovers in their SmartCar special (a VW bug). Shell said they were a little late getting up (I think we are ALL feeling the effects of our extended evening at Mis Charritos the previous night….) and they were headed for something to eat and would meet us at Mezcalito’s. So we headed over. We had something to drink there, and then headed on down and stopped at Punta Morena. I had never been here before. Greg had another Sol (I swear, he and Spencer Cruise, Secret Agent Man could live on Sol) and Janet had some fru-fru drink all blended  up……….We were sitting on the beach just shooting the shi…..uh, just talking. The waiter or cook or somebody brings by this HUGE platter of fresh seafood to show us…….big lobster tails and this great looking fresh red snapper. It all looked really good, but none of us was hungry yet. We spent a little while here, and moved on down to Coconuts. More Sol for Greg (imagine that!) while the rest of us had a Coke. Janet and I split the Shrimp Quesadillas – and YES, they ARE as good as you have read about……mmmmmmmmmmmmmm……and Greg & Shell split an order of Chicken nachos. We eat, take some pics, basically laze around, and then Shell & I decide we need to get into the water, so we are off for Chen Rio. We get a table under the awning….LOTS of locals here today. It is great fun watching the little kids play in the ocean and sand……reminded me a lot of my kids when they were little…..I guess kids are the same the world over……..This is a great beach to swim at…….all the big rocks protecting the swimming area from the big breakers rolling in……….water is nice and clear…….just watch out that you don’t stub your toe on some of the big rocks on the bottom……..ouch!! We swim, read, swim, snooze…….just a great way to pass a couple of hours….or 3…….I really liked this beach. I am sure we will return again. Getting late in the afternoon, so we head off for the Paradise Café and Bob Marley’s Bar. Janet & I have margaritas……they were NOT as good as we remembered…..AND they were $5 each!!!!! Mezcalito’s still has the best Margaritas on the island……..no contest. After Greg finishes another Sol (imagine that) we head out, agreeing to meet in town somewhere later that evening…….via the Communicators Greg has so wisely thought to bring down. WAY TO GO GREG!! Inspector Gadget strikes again!!  They really did come in handy…..I have to hand it to him for that.

(line space inserted here per Ron’s request)         lol

We get back to the Summer Place and take our ritual afternoon swim. This was one of the greatest parts of our stay there – we would come in from the beach, hot and sticky, and immediately plunge into what seemed to be our own, private pool!!!  (except, that is, when Shell was not inviting herself over for a midnight swim……..lol) We really started looking forward to this every evening. Swim, rest, and clean up to meet our buddies in town. After a few beers somewhere….we head to La Mission for dinner. This is the La Mission next to La Choza. We really enjoyed our meal at the OLD La Mission last year (which is now closed). Janet, being a real connoisseur of Sopa de Lima, really loved that from last year. This year, they don’t even have it. Ugh……..She and I split the grilled chicken dinner….it was OK, nothing to write home about. I could not recommend this place to eat. We just did not care for it like we did the old one, and it was pretty pricey to boot. We wind up the evening at a place Greg and Shell had previously visited……BA Romance, or something like that. It is a little club just off the plaza somewhere…..and get this….It is a Mexican Karaoke bar. Too funny…..Greg says they used to only have Mexican songs, but now they have a lot in English also. Greg honors us by groaning, uh, I mean crooning a couple of Jimmy Buffet tunes and one by old blue eyes (in all honesty, he does sing well). Shell even gets up and does “Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac. I swear, you coulda closed your eyes and thought it was the great Stevie Nicks singing. She really did a good job with it. We manage to significantly lower the island’s stock of Sol, and Janet and I are really bushed. We make our exits, head back to the Summer Place in, and pass out again…….ugh, I mean, we go to bed and fall asleep.     Heh-heh

Tomorrow…….Some shopping, a visit to the Chico-burger, and an unpleasant experience at Playa Palancar.

Trip Report Part IV - A not-so-great incident at Playa Palancar, and some GREAT snorkeling

Monday, May 13

Into town this morning for the obligatory shopping expedition. Ugh. Oh well, since the kiddos are home, gotta bring them something……Blankets, pancho, the t-shirts and the usual………..Decide to have an early lunch at the Chico Burger, located just across from Casa Denis. This place had been recommended to us by Spencer Cruise, Secret Agent Man. Pretty darned good, too. So we have lunch, return our purchases to the Summer Place Inn, gather up our beach stuff, and off to meet Shell & Greg at Playa Palancar. We get there and find them on the beach. The waiter came to take our order, and since we had already eaten, we just ordered a couple of cokes. We hung out, did the usual beach stuff….read, roast, cool off in water…..read some more, roast some more, cool off in the water……Around 3, Shell & Greg take off for their hotel….something about Greg needing his nap, or something like that. We decide to hang out a little longer, and we all agree to meet later by finding each other with our super-duper communicators supplied to us by Greg. They leave, and we decide to move over under a palapa with a hammock….boy, I could surely get addicted to one of these things. The waiter comes over and we order a couple more cokes……which is NOT to his liking. He gets visibly PISSED that we are not ordering food, and walks off bitching out loud something about this being a business and we should order something…….NOW, if I recall, their sign out by the road advertises FREE admission……if they wanted to charge a minimum or something, they should just post that information. We had all ordered lunch here on Saturday, and the same waiter was like our best friend. Now he turns into Simon Legree…….well, that in turn just pisses me off. We don’t even open our Cokes, I tell Janet to just bring ‘em with us and lets just get the hell outta here. She goes to the bar, and the waiter is overly loud complaining to two customers about the “gringos who just come and use the beach and never order anything”……EXCUSE ME?!? Our bill comes to like 40 pesos, and Janet hands him a 50 peso note. He looks at her and asks “Is this all the tip I get?” Well…..she slams a 10 peso coin down and walks off. I was off loading the car, and she told me all about this as we were leaving. I wanted to go back and tell him what I thought, but she, being the calm one, suggested that we just go on. We did. Anyhoo, we meet Greg & Shell at Aquario’s on the water front just north of Chedraui. This is a really neat place, and they have a happy hour with 2 for 1 beers and fru-fru drinks like Mrs. Twelvevolt likes. We go on into town for more beers and tequilas at Mis Charritas, then decide on dinner at Sonora Grill. We ate here on our first trip back and 2000, and this remains one of my favorite places to eat. I had the Poc-Chuc (marinated and grilled pork) and Janet had the grilled chicken. Both were excellent……Greg and Shell were gonna head back over to BA Romance (the Mexican Karaoke place) but Janet and I, being the old farts that we are, are pretty beat and decided to head on back to SPI for some zzzzzzz’s. We all agree to meet at the “local beach” the next morning.



Tuesday May 14

Janet  and I decided the night before we would go snorkeling at Dzul Ha. Perhaps it would be “open” this morning……lol. We stop by Chedraui to get some pastries, and head off to Dzul-Ha. We get there around 8:30, and it is totally deserted. Yeah! We get a table down on the deck close to the stairs, get our snorkel gear out, and head down the steps to put fins on. The SAME little Mexican guy comes over and…….right…….you guessed it………it is CLOSED AGAIN!!!!!!!!! Well, that does it for me. I gather up all our stuff, and head for the car. P-Oed to the nth degree. So, we head out for the “secret” snorkel spot. We find it, park the car, and into the water. WOW……about 50 yards out from shore the snorkeling is AWESOME!!!!! (email me for a “full” report on this place). We are there for a little over an hour……..snapping some pics, seeing fish I have never seen before……incredible coral formations…..some in as little as 3 feet of water…………Janet starts to get tired, so we head in for shore. We pack up our stuff, and head to meet Greg and Shell at the “local” beach. This is an area that has been built up since our last visit. It is an area just south of the lighthouse that is north of the cruise ship pier south of town. Greg & Shell are already there, Greg munching on his breakfast of BBQ ribs. Of course he gave us a sample…mmmmmmmmmmm! Ribs, for breakfast……hey, works for me!!!!!  Anyway, we sit and talk, and Janet and Shell decide they are gonna go snorkeling. They head into the water and snorkel for a while. This is a nice area, pretty water, but Janet says the bottom off shore is covered with broken beer bottles. Now, since this place is 99% patronized by locals, we can’t blame this one on the boat people. It is a shame that the people that live there would do this. Greg and I read while the “women-folk” are in the water. They get out, and Shell announces her roaring desire for a “burger-whopper”……..Burger King in the little mall behind Chedraui where the multi-plex Cinema is. After satisfying her whopper craving, they decided to spend the afternoon at the pool at the Costa Club. Shell has talked a lot about this and how nice it is. Janet and I go back to the SPI to unload our snorkel gear, and decide to join them. We head down to the Costa Club and find out Shell was right. This is a beautiful hotel, at least what we saw of it. We spent the afternoon around the pool, swimming, reading , snoozing…..They have a tunnel going under the street to the “beach” area, and we were gonna check it out, but they were doing some construction on the “beach club” and access was blocked. Maybe next time. Anyhoo, back to SPI to relax in our own “private” pool, then clean up and head into town to meet the Stovers, via our handy-dandy communicators. We have our obligatory pre-dinner Sol’s, then we head to Prima for dinner. This is one of Shell & Greg’s favorite restaurants, and we have never eaten there. I have the blackened grouper with fettuccini alfredo….both were excellent. Not two tastes that I have ever had together, but both were very good. I would enthusiastically give Prima a “two thumbs up”. Great place to eat. Not the cheapest, but definitely worth it. We head back to our “private villa” and to bed, for we are getting up early tomorrow so we can meet Shell & Greg to catch the 7:00 am ferry to Playa.

Tomorrow: Our adventure on the mainland

Trip Report Part 5

Wednesday May 15

Up REALLY early this morning….6 am…..we are down at the ferry pier by 6:40 and Shell & Greg are already there. Janet purchases tickets for the ferry, and we are on and headed for Playa by 7. Shell discovers she has lost her watch, one she has had for a long time. Not real expensive, but she just had gotten attached to it. Darn………Anyway, we get to Playa before 8, rent a car from Hertz (paid too much, but hey, it had A/C……heh-heh). We head down the highway south out of Playa, after Greg stops at an ATM and we buy a little gas. Shell hands me the Can-Do map, and informs me that I have been promoted to Navigator for this trip. We have “pre-determined” a few places we want to check out, and then head to Casa Cenote for lunch and a little R&R. We turn off the highway at XPU-HA….a sign for the “La Playa” beach club. We head down this ROUGH road, with a couple of speed bumps from HELL…..No kidding…..the car bottoms out on both of them (coming out, Greg gets the bright idea if he goes a little faster, we will just ‘fly’ over them….the first one he tries it on, hell, I have to look behind the car to make sure we did not leave the transmission and rear axle laying on the road…..lol) but we finally get to the beach club. It is early, and we look around….wow, beautiful beach……looks like they are setting up a buffet inside….take a few pictures….then off again…..WHOOOOO…..WATCH OUT for those speed – OUCH – bumps……finally make it back to the main highway and head south. We get near Chemuyil…..Janet and I had visited this Shangri-La some years ago when it was still open….one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in Mexico…..I have been reading how some big corporation bought it and are supposedly building some resort or something…anyhoo, I just wanted to check it out. Could not find it…..hmmmm……continue south and turn off at Akumal. Just drove around, looking at all the WAY cool houses and condos and such…….I certainly would not mind spending a few days here sometime……Shell is beginning to make “I’m hungry” noises…….so back on the road and continue south till we get to the turn-off for Casa Cenote.

(line space)

We get there and park….there are already some folks snorkeling in the Cenote….we head to the restaurant and sit and gaze out over some awesome scenery…..the beach, the ocean….you could see the waves breaking over the barrier reef some two hundred yards off shore…..We order the chicken fajitas and a couple of cokes. I wander around, taking some pics, and checking out the “casitas” they have there. There are 4 of them for rent. Look OK, kinda small……Lunch arrives – very good – somewhat small portions – and after we eat everybody just kinda slips into their own activity….Shell is vegging out reading, Janet and Greg are beach combing, and I get my snorkel gear and head into the ocean. The “beach” going into the water is very coral and rock infested…..be sure to wear your booties or water sandals here……there appears to be several holes in the limestone I am walking on……I finally start floating with my face in the water when WHAM the bottom just totally falls away to about a depth of 15 feet or so……..This is were the underground river from the cenote flows into the ocean……just about the coolest thing I have ever seen……..If you ever get the chance, you MUST come here just to snorkel offshore…….tons of fish, amazing coral formations, that river flowing into the ocean……I must have snorkeled for well over an hour…..and could have stayed longer than that…..but everybody else was wanting to swim in the cenote……so we go to get stuff out of the car…….and ……OH SHIT!!!! SOMEBODY has locked the key to the trunk IN THE TRUNK!!!!!! ( just exactly WHO perpetrated this deed shall remain NAMELESS in MY report……..) so we were fretting about, trying to figure out how to get into the trunk…..when, GOOD GOSH ALMIGHTY who should show up and ask if we need help…..none other than Spencer Cruise, Secret Agent Man!!!! Wow, talk about good timing……..Spencer proceeds to pull back the carpet that covers the rear deck of the car, and there are holes in the metal panel where speakers would normally be. He reaches through one of the holes, locates Shells bag – where the key is – and retrieves the key. WAY TO GO SPENCER!!!! He really saved the day. We get the trunk unlocked, get our gear, and offer our sincerest thanks to Spencer Cruise, Secret Agent Man. He, as usual, is way to humble accepting our thanks, and will take no compensation at all for rescuing us and saving our day. We were getting ready to go across the street to the Cenote, and I turned around to say goodbye to Spence, and he was gone! Just disappeared! Well, he is like that…… Anyhoo, we get to the Cenote, jump in, and BRRRRRRRRr…….it is COLD! But clear as can be…….Janet and I snorkel quite a ways back up the river…..not a lot of fish, but what an awesome site underwater…..seeing all the mangrove roots growing down into the water…….once again, if you ever get a chance to visit this place, DO SO!!!! It is really worth the trip. After our swim in the Cenote, we packed up to leave. I glanced around, hoping to spot Agent Cruise, but he was nowhere to be seen.

(line space)

Packed up, and headed south, looking for another beach/bar to  hang out at. Not finding anything, we headed back north for the La Playa beach club at Xpu-Ha. Back down the “road from hell” we made it to the beach, staked out a table under an awning on the beach. We order, and I am hot, so I head for the ocean. The beach here is incredible. Soft, powdery white sand, a firm, flat entry into the sea…..Shell and I give it a “Gimps Two Thumbs Up”.  lol  We have lunch and just hang out for the rest of the afternoon. I take a long walk down the beach, past a couple of all-inclusives, and past a group of young ladies sunbathing “au natural”……made my day…..lol. We did see a couple of bus loads of “boat people” stopping by for lunch on one of their “excursions”….it is always entertaining to watch these folks……don’t know why, it just is. One observation here, and it is STRICTLY personal opinion, but I feel I am qualified to say this because when I go into a store, I am one that heads straight for the XL and 2XL sized shirts……know what I mean? Anyhoo, my observation/opinion is that there should be some sort of law that makes it illegal to sell a men’s Speedo swimsuit, or a woman’s bikini above a certain size……know what I mean? (email me if you want more details…….ugh). After a great afternoon, we head back to Playa, turn in the car, and go off in search of a good beach bar with a good deal on 2X1 cervezas. Greg finds one, and we head there. While sipping cold ones, we are entertained by an older gentleman, a bit in his cups, in full mariachi costume and strumming a guitar and serenading those that would listen. We have several songs, and pictures are taken with each of us. (I will post them over on the gringoguide.com) After a few drinks, Janet and I head for the ferry to take us “home” while Shell & Greg decided to stay in Playa for dinner. We make it back to Coz JUST in time to see the big Disney Boat calling all of its “Magic Kingdom Cruisers” back to the ship……..jeez……what a floating zoo. We get back to the SPI, and I crack the seal on a bottle of Gran Centurio Repasado Tequila I had purchased earlier at Chedraui. MMMmmmmmmm, this is good stuff. Sitting in the pool, sipping good tequila, what a way to end the day. I stagger to bed and pass out, er, uh, I mean, fall into a deep sleep.

Tomorrow, our last day, one more trip to the “secret” snorkel spot, and an afternoon at Playa Azul.

Trip Report - Final Installment

Thursday, May 16

Up and off to Chedruai for a breakfast of Champions……fresh pastries and Coca Cola. Yummmmmmmmm.  lol  Then we are off for another visit to our “secret snorkel spot”. We really enjoy this place. Next time, I think we will visit everyday. Because each time we visited this trip, we something new/different. After snorkeling for an hour or so (I could have stayed longer, but Mrs. 12Volt got tired) we packed up and headed north to meet Shell & Greg at Playa Azul. We get there around 11:30 or 12, and they are there, having saved us an umbrella and chairs. We order some chicken fajitas and drinks, and settle back and do our best to enjoy the last afternoon we have on the island. This is our first trip to Playa Azul this trip. We stayed at the Playa Azul hotel last year, and just loved it. We would have returned there again, except that they jumped into bed with the new golf course, and their rates jumped about 50%. Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do I guess. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though……..This is, in my opinion, the nicest beach on all the west side, though it is small. The water is beautiful, and when you get hot from roasting in the sun, you can just walk out on the pier and take a header into the cool, clear as crystal water. The food at the beach club is excellent also. We spent a very relaxing afternoon, roasting, swimming, reading, a little BS’ing thrown in for good measure. Greg and Shell take off around 2 because they have to have their car turned in by 4. We tell them we will meet them in town later……finding them of course by the ever handy communicators. Janet and I stay till around 4, then take a final drive around the island…….saying our good byes I guess. Back to the SPI for our ritual afternoon swim, and clean up and head to town to meet Greg & Shell. We find them at…..hell, I can’t remember the name, some place in the new Punta Langosta mall. They are there with Gabby, and waiting on Edgar, their friends on the Island they met some years ago. Edgar was trying to sell them a timeshare or something. Anyway, really nice people with the cutest little boy. We stay awhile, but we need to make an early evening of it, so we head off for our final dinner at the Sonora Grill. After a great dinner (we have never gotten a bad meal here….this is one of our fave places to eat) we reluctantly head back for the Summer Place to begin packing in preparation for leaving the next morning.

Friday, May 17

Up pretty early, and after a light breakfast of juice and toast at SPI, we say our goodbyes and thanks to Joe, and load the car. We head off to the Paradisius to say good-bye to Greg and Shell. I THOUGHT I knew where their room was, and turns out we got the grand tour just trying to find it. FINALLY we find their room (and I have a GREAT pic of Shell as she opens the door) and we get the mini tour…..but they are hurrying to meet Edgar downstairs…..he is taking them down to tour the new digs at the Reef Club……geez, Shell will do ANYTHING for free beer……..heh-heh. We say our good byes, walk out to the parking lot, get an employee there to take our pic, hugs are passed around, and we sadly get back into the car to head to the airport…..and it begins to rain. So fitting……..and it has done this all three times we have been to Coz…….it perhaps makes it a little easier to leave. We turn in the car at Avis, then we proceed to CHECK IN HELL!!!!! Geez-O-Mitey!!!! UNBELIEVABLE line at check in. Mexican security is going through EVERY single bag. Takes us 1 1/2  hours just to get to the check-in counter. LONG story shortened……my carry-on is searched THREE separate times. They “bust” us on a pair of tweezers, but allow us to carry on 3 GLASS BOTTLES full of tequila. Now I ask you, which would make the more formidable weapon,  a pair of tweezers, or a liter of tequila busted over someone’s head???? Unbelievable……..On top of all that, our flight is almost 2 hours late. Apparently there was bad weather at DFW that closed the airport for over an hour. Which of course, makes us two hours late getting back to DFW….just in time to get out of the airport and enjoy the rush hour traffic that surrounds DFW airport……..and if you have never experienced that………well…………GEEZ I WISH I WAS BACK IN COZUMEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


p.s. More pics soon to be posted on the gringoguide.com pic post


And, as always,

PHINS UP!!!!!!!

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