Beauty at the Beach

 One of the best things about Cozumel is, of course, the waterfront. It looks so different at different places and times.  These are some of my favourites from this year. 

1-The view from La Monina.  One of my favourite places to be late in the afternoon.

2-This massive yacht was anchored off the coast for about a week.  It had a helicopter and landing pad, garage doors on its side to park about 8 water craft like Sea Doos and a 20-30 foot motor boat. 

3-The ferry dock and a marina seen from downtown.

4) Some of the small fishing boats that the locals use. Turns out, most of the fish sold and eaten in Cozumel comes from Campeche, a city on the other side of the Yucatan peninsula. 

5&8) It's so nice to see locals and Mexican tourists enjoying their country. 

6-This ship wrecked sailboat has been off the Cozumel shore for several years.  Locals have been painting murals on it since the beginning.  It's much easier to do now, that the boat is in very shallow water close to shore. It was much further away when it first grounded.
7)  This vacant lot on the waterfront is a popular place for people to go watch the sunset.

Food in the Hood

It's been lots of fun to discover and enjoy some of the local food options in Cozumel. These are some of this years discoveries.

1) The fried fish at the mercado is always a treat. Especially the Philipino salsa that goes with it! 

2) Our pastry platter! There are so many bakeries in Cozumel.  The platter served as our personal pastry buffet :)

3) La Rosita Restaurante y Mariscos is still a favourite. It's only open on the weekends and the staff are high school students learning real world skills. Cool. Delicious garlic shrimp. Carb overload! 

4) This downtown taco place had all kinds of  juices on the menu.  Who knew our watermelon juice would come in a mini aquarium?! 

5) Toby really liked these jello cups.  Me, not so much.  Except they're pretty and fun looking. 

6) The sopes we had at this place in the mercado weren't crunchy like the ones at La Terraza de Mami (Feb 12, 2023).  So I didn't love them as much.  But these nice ladies made up for it.  It was easy to see they were tired. But their little food stand was well organized and tidy, and they made such an effort to be friendly.  It was touching.

7) This young man had just opened his pastry and coffee shop a week before we found it deep in the neighbourhood.  He was proud to tell us all about it. And continued his work as we ate. So pleasant! 

8) This fruit stand was a fun find. Located behind a municipal office building, it was clearly popular with locals and well priced.

9) This man "imports" coconuts from the Yucatan. Then turns them into coconut water that's sold all over town.  

A Day Trip to Belize!

I first heard of Belize when I was about 20 years old, after I took my scuba diving classes.  It was, and likely still is, a major diving destination.  I've been curious about it ever since. 

It was a crazy trip!  6 hours each way, including rides on a ferry, intercity buses,  taxis, some walking, a local bus, and a busted up collectivo taxi van.  

Our destination was Corozal.  A town about 15 km from the broder. Most tourists only stay there one night, on their way to somewhere else. Like most border towns, it probably doesn't fully represent Belize. It was small and a little run down. But I still enjoyed our visit, and I'm glad we went.

My favourite parts were the water front park which was pretty and about 1 km long.  Listening to the local patois. A mix of English, Spanish, Creole, and maybe even Chinese since there's a strong Chinese presence in Corozal.  And our breakfast! My ginger lemonade. What a way to wake up your mouth in the morning. And tasting fry jacks. A wheat flour dough that puffs open when it's fried in oil.  Yummy! 

Pictures

1,2,4,5) Scenes from around town

3) Our van back to the Mexican border

6)There were several hot sauces in the small store. Likely because there seem to be many Mexicans/ ex Mexicans living in Corozal.  But the labels were so kinda British.

7)Toby enjoying a Guinness at the Chinese restaurant where we had dinner. What a cultural mix!

8) My breakfast. Complete with ginger lemonade and fry jacks!

Vintage Green VW Beetle

I kinda always wanted to ride in a VW Beetle.  Especially a convertible Beetle. In Cozumel, I got my chance!

Toby was curious about the time share presentations. So we went to one. The motivation? A free rental car for a day. Turns out it was a Green VW Beetle. Convertible! Awesome! 

Until we got into it. Then it was still a lot of fun. But a little scary...

Toby drove.  Lucky he's experienced driving standard. Lucky too that our friend Dave, who joined us for the day, was familiar with the shift pattern in old Beetles.  Cause there were no markings to tell Toby where the various gears were. Nor did it have brake lights. Or a few other things. Mere details, right?! 

The goal was to drive around the island. To chill at a beach on the wild side. And another on the south end of the island.  Check and check.  

At the end of our day, while lounging on the south side beach, we had an unexpected extraordinary bonus adventure. Well, according to me...

We had been lying on our back a while. Under some trees. About 50 feet from a jungle.  When all of a sudden.  A local had a hunting type knife out, and was beside Toby yelling " serpente"!  Snake!  None of us saw it.  But Toby felt it on his neck!!!  

I might have thought cool! After I learned it probably wasn't dangerous.  But Toby grew up with deadly snakes in Sri Lanka.  To say he's not fond of them is a slight understatement!  I'm sorry he had that scare.  But what a story!

Pictures

1) Dave had to climb up and into the back seat. Lucky he's super strong and flexible!

2) The boys admiring the Beetles fine engineering! 

3) Proud vehicle co-pilots!

4) Me, enjoying the wind and the view in the back seat

5) Dave posing at a monument at Rastas Bar 

6) The boys posing on the wild side of the island

7) Toby looking confident in the drivers seat.

8) We stopped along the way to get BBQ for a picnic 

9) Relaxing on the beach near Playa Mia, just before the snake incident...