Yellow Submarine!

What a cool experience!  To descend to 110 feet below sea level in a submarine!  In total comfort!

I have done a bit of scuba diving in past years.  It's a really awesome thing to experience.  To put on a bunch of equipment and pretty much let yourself sink to the bottom of the sea. To look at things in this other world up close.  Colourful fish and coral.  Sometimes even a turtle or stingray!

The trouble though with scuba diving, for me, is the physical discomfort.  I get cold.  My eyes sting.  My mask hurts my forehead. My ears often get sore. And there are many inherent risks.  So I haven't done it in over 3 years.

But!  To experience that other world from the comfort of a submarine!  How cool!  I recommend it.  At least once.  You get on a boat.  Travel about 15 minutes.  Transfer onto the submarine.  Off we go!!!

Pictures
1-  Me explaining to all the passengers about the submarine.  OK, not really...
2- The submarine gets towed to the descent/boarding site each day from its home base.  Likely to save the submarine's batteries.  The tow boat and submarine are waiting for us as we approach in a passenger boat.  It's quite the operation!
3- These little fish seemed to follow us throughout most of the voyage.
4- I think it's super cool to see the surface of the water from below!
5 - And to see the propeller of the tow boat from below!
6 - Some coral we saw at about 80 feet deep.  It's likely colourful.  But as you descend, the water absorbs the colours, first red, then orange.  So you only see blues and kinda greens.
7- My favourite part!  Like looking at the curve of the earth!  These are some fish and coral on the edge of the island/shelf.  After that, the ocean floor is more than  2000 feet!!!!
8- Some scuba divers exploring a Mexican Marine ship that was sunken on purpose to help grow coral and create a place for divers to explore. 

Mayan Ruins, Chocolate, and Monkeys in Uxmal

This happened while on our road trip to Uxmal.  So it's kinda old news.  But I gotta blog about this!

If you're visiting the Yucatan Peninsula and State, you pretty much gotta visit Mayan ruins.  Check!  In the past, I've visited Mayan ruins in Tulum, Chichenitza, and San Gervasio.  All very cool, each in their own way.  This time, we visited the Uxmal ruins. Which were special because they were spread out among trees and pleasant green space. And because we could climb / go into lots of the buildings.  And kinda visit the bats living in there.  Super cool! We could hear some of them chirping.

Next, we visited a chocolate museum/eco park.  The highlight there for me was SO VERY DEFINITELY the spider monkeys!!!!   They were in 2 large enclosures.  With a little dispenser for food, like a petting zoo.  For one peso, about 6 cents, you could buy a handful of monkey treats.  All you needed to do was touch the machine, and the monkeys were ready!  The distance between the monkey enclosure and human fence was such that if the human with the treats stretched out his/her hand, the monkeys could stretch their arms and pick the food out of your hand.  So cool!!!!!  I must have spent about 60 cents on food!  That was about 50 times touching a monkey hand!

Pictures
1- One of the pyramids in Uxmal.  
2- Toby climbing another pyramid.  You can see how steep the stairs are.  It's done on purpose so when you walk back down, you have to walk sideways, and can't turn your back on the gods who stay at the top.
3-Me, posing on one of the buildings.  Looking kinda Mayan aye?
4- An iguana peeking out from it's ancient home
5- Some Phalli....  Symbols of fertility.  Oddly, we weren't allowed to sit on them.
6- My monkey friends!!!!  This one is looking to the side to warn off other monkeys from trying to take the treats.  There was definitely a boss monkey, and less boss ones.  Poor little guys.  But I did manage to give them some treats.
7 - Look at the amazing monkey hand! Apparently, they have no thumbs.  But they use their tail as a hand too.  Very agile and clever!
8- It takes 20 cocao pods to make 1 kg of chocolate.  The pods grow directly on the trunk of the tree. 

El Cielo 2019

What a fun day!  We spent it out on the ocean! And lounging in the water at El Cielo.

El Cielo means "The Sky".  It's called that because its a beautiful stretch of amazing turquoise water with lots of starfish on the bottom.  They're are also sometimes sting rays.  Like today!!

We went to El Cielo on a snorkeling trip on the south end of the island.  After El Cielo, we anchored in a shallow area, snacked, drank, and enjoyed watching fish and more sting rays swim past us.  Pretty magic!!

Last stop was the shallow section of the Columbia reef where we got to see many fish, and three turtles!   What an amazing day!!!

Pictures
1- All the passengers on board the Sea Urchin, at the picnic spot. 
2- The passengers, and crew (B from Wales and Jose our Capitano) and the Sea Urchin
3- Me and Toby.
4- B, our guide from Wales, Lorraine, and Barbara
5 - A particularly festive boat at the picnic spot.  There were about 5 today in all.
6-  Our Capitano Jose, enjoying a beverage with us.

Really fresh fish, and crab!

We were at it again today.  Out to get fresh fish.  I think we did as well as can be!

While on the waterfront today, we spotted a bunch of men unloading a small fishing boat.  I asked, in my best Spanish, if we could buy fish from them.  Yes, but only from the next boat in.  OK.

So we sat on the sidewalk, sheltered from the rain.  Me knitting.  Both of us sipping rum and coke from a thermos, a new habit, for about 30 minutes.

And sure enough!  In comes another boat with another bunch of men, dive tanks, spears, and a couple of coolers with fish.  We picked 2 fish and one crab.  We'll likely bring our fish tomorrow to a restaurant that will cook it for us.  Today, we ate the crab.  With a bucket of butter and garlic.  Super messy!  Super full contact eating!  But delicious!

Photos
1- The boat with our fish coming in !
2 - Our meal, all ready!  Notice, the can opener and lime juicer we used to crack the crab legs.  The juicer worked well.  The can opener, not so much.  Banging the crab legs on the floor with the juicer was effective too. 
3 - Notice the big nails and hairy legs.  They took a bit of getting used too...But eventually the nails made great meat picks!
4 - Fishermen cleaning and cutting their catch on another day.  Look at the big fish!!!
5 - Speaking of knitting...I love knitting at the beach!
6- A pretty sunset

In search of fish

Toby is very fond of fish.  Happily, there are many ways and places to have it here!

The mercado is one such place.  We've bought fresh fish there, and cooked it at home.  It was good.  But kinda plain. 

The fish we had at the mercado food court was much better!  One of the notable restaurants there offers Indonesian food.  Very popular with cruise ship staff.  A very kind, and patient! waiter explained many of the dishes.  We decided to try one with "sambal" sauce- a combination of soy sauce, onions, and tomato.  The cook was very kind too.  He let us choose our fish from a bin, and watch the cooking process.  Basically, place the whole fish in a very deep fry pan full of oil.  Cook til  the whole thing is crispy.  Cover with the samba sauce.  It was a neat combination of salty and sweet!

We've found other places for fish too.  But haven't tried them yet.  A farourite might be a little local place that offers to cook the fish you bring for 90 pesos (about $6 Cdn) per kg.Now we just gotta find the perfect fish!

Photos
1- Toby in the mercado
2- Buying fresh fish in the mercado
3- The staff at the indonesian restaurant, so friendly!
4- Cooking our fish!  We were only about 6 feet away, on the customer side of the counter.  They invited us to get even closer, to enter the cooking area!  We declined.  It seemed safer where we were.
5-  Toby with our fish.  Notice, he only has a spoon and fork.  Apparently, that's customary in many countries.  No knife!
6 - A cute hand towel/sink in the mercado.  Often, the men and women bathrooms share one common sink.
7 - The mercado food court.  Nice and shady and airy.

Billy's 2019

I've blogged about Billy's before.  Because I go there at least once every year.  And it's awesome!  But I'm blogging about Billy's again because my first visit there this year was especially memorable, for a few reasons....

#1 - When we arrived at the restaurant, a young server, Billy Jr, directed us to a quiet area where we could eat and park our bikes.  Very kind.  He was smitten with Toby's bike.  Asked where I got it and how much.  And brought colleagues to look at it.  He was so smitten, he agreed to buy it when Toby leaves the island. Perfect!!


#2 - As I was walking from the cash, I saw two men arm wrestling.  I'm not sure what got into me, but before I knew it, I was arm wrestling one of them.  We went two rounds.  I won one and lost one.  Though, I'm pretty sure my opponent, Loy, let me win....It was so much fun!  The restaurant owner, Billy Senior, took a video and posted it to his facebook page.

#3- Toby doesn't have a basket on his bike.  Mine had a basket and a back rack.  Now it also has an old avocado crate on the back rack, tied on with wool from the knitting project I just happened to have with me.  Very practical! 

Photos
1- A view from the inside of Billy's towards the BBQ grill
2- Toby about to get his first taste of Billy's BBQ.  He is now addicted.  We bought take out.  And have eaten about 7 Billy's meals in a row....
3- The adorable lady who fills little bags with sauces for take out orders.
4 - Me and Loy on round one or our arm wrestling match.  With Billy Senior watching.  Loy let me win that one....
5 - My bike with it's new / used avocado crate.  It's perfect!
6 - The hi tech attachment system.  Black yarn and red string.

Rocky Balboa, Giraffe Horns, and a Water Rescue

Today, we went to the wild side of the island.  The water is beautiful, the sand is great, and there aren't many people.  So it's a very relaxing place to be.  But today's visit was filled with fun and adventure!

The fun started at Mescalito's the first beach club you see when you arrive on the wild side. There was a young boy with a big lizard.  For tourist pictures of course.  It was a little expensive, at 50 pesos (about $3CDN) but I had to do it!  Turns out the lizard is called Rocky Balboa.  He's 10 years old.  Only eats zucchini (calabasa)  And has cute little ears, and a listening hole on the top of his head to detect predators.  The kid was Sebastien.  Smart.  Little business man in the making.  Knew lots about his pet.

Next, a had a great massage at Punto Morenos, a beautiful beach club.  Lupita, my massage therapist, not only had crazy strong hands, but she was also skilled as a (volunteer) hairdresser.  About half way through the massage, I can feel her undo my little braids, and give me a "fancy new hairdo".  French braids that went from the base of my neck, to the top of my head.  Then she knotted the braids into funky little knobs.  A bit like giraffe horns.  Toby called my hairdo Zarafa, after the first giraffe in Paris, in 1827.  Cool!

Then!  On the way home, Toby bought flowers for our apartment.  Very nice!  But while we watched the sunset on a pier, my bicycle fell over and the flowers fell from my bike basket into the ocean.  I couldn't stand the idea of watching them float away.  So in I went!  With my skirt on and everything!

Photos
1- Me and Rocky Balboa, so fun!
2- Sebastien and Rocky.  Smart kid.  Looked up facts about Rocky via Google
3 - Barbara and Toby at the beach
4 - Me, my Zarafa hair do, rescuing the flowers from the ocean. The photo is a clip from a video that Toby took while I rescued the flowers....

5 -  I bought a watch band from this friendly man.  100 pesos (about $6 CDN)  Sweet!