Cozumel, Mexico: Miercoles - Reliving our college days

When I look back on college I remember: my friends, the laughs, the stupid things we did, the time I took an exam when I didn't know there was an exam; you know, the good times. You start to forget what college was really like. We had a very realistic flashback on this vacation as we did our best to read as much as we could of our 250 page Scuba text book for our exam on Thursday. But no matter how long we sat out basking, drinking and reading, by Wednesday we were only on page 100. And we were really hungover. Now I'm starting to remember what college was really like: the cramming, the skimming, the regretting of going out the previous night, the multiple doses of advil, the "nap" that you take and wake up five hours later to resume studying at 11 pm...

Yes, this is how we spent our Wednesday; full on cram mode.

Basically this day shouldn't be a very long post because we really did just that: slept, ate, drank and studied. Though, I will take a moment to say that I was a very good champ and was up at 8 in the morning and conquered my hangover early on. Dave, on the other hand, stayed in bed for most of the day and slept and watched the only English channel on the television. Just felt that I should throw that in there.. By the time the afternoon rolled around I was on page 220 and had successfully spent the day on "my" chair, sunning and chatting with the lesbian couples (there was a lot of lesbian couples there...). I even managed to briefly go snorkeling, which was cut short due to a 1 foot barracuda. Even though it couldn't have eaten my big toe, he still managed to scare me all the way to shore. I even tried to swim in a way to throw a snorkeling European couple between me and it, you know, for good measure.

Finally Dave came back to life as the sun was starting to set and we continued our reading out on the patio and ate some habanero electric orange popcorn. We picked it up during our trip to the local Mexican version of Walmart, which was different and eerily American at the same time. Their produce aisle and meat section boasted things that you would never see in the States. Fish heads and large bowls of exposed lunch items sitting in the middle of the aisles. Think trays of pasta salads and sandwiches not covered by anything with coughing individuals and mischievous children all over. It didn't stop us from eyeing them, however, we ended up going the prepackaged route for safety.

The popcorn was good, but not enough, and we soon found ourselves too bored to read any longer and decided to venture out to Paprika's again for dinner. And once again we had Ricardo as our waiter. And he was as strange and awkward as ever, watching our confused faces as he rattled on in spanish, most likely insulting us as we nodded and smiled. Oh well, the food was just as good as the first time, and I think I may be addicted to their stuffed jalapeno peppers...

Cozumel, Mexico: Martes - The other side.

Every morning I've woken around nine, donned my suit and cover-up, grabbed a book and sandals and stepped outside of my room to a stretch of gorgeous sand and ocean. You can hear the chimes and announcers from the cruise ships docked nearby and the hint of music from the beach outside our door. Waiters zip from chair to chair greeting people with cold drinks as divers ready their equipment on the pier. It's a glorious way to start a day and I order a bloody mary and settle myself into what is slowly becoming "my" beach chair.

It's easy to lose oneself to the lure of this lazy spell. Have a drink, a snack, have a few more drinks and before you know it it is four o'clock and you have amassed a large sunburn. It's a nice way to deplete your mind of anything work or stress related, but it is also a bit depressing when you realize that a whole day has gone by and you forgot to shower or exist in any manner. So today we are going to do something different and venture to the other side.

I didn't know much about Cozumel before we explored a bit on the first day and perused over some local maps. It turns out that the majority of the island is not developed. Most of the shops and residences are located in or around San Miguel, the island's only real town and the location of it's piers between the mainland. Out hotel is on the outskirts of San Miguel, but no more than five minutes driving to what is considered the main square.

However, if you drive ten minutes past our hotel you enter a never-ending  road that goes along the perimeter of the island. Beach resorts pop up through the foliage every few minutes displaying large signs for beer and boasting such names as "Playa de Corona". Besides the occasional sign and random hut it's a never ending tunnel of short trees and low brush. After what seems like too long you finally spot water, and then you are catapulted onto a cliff side highway with beautiful views of rocky shores and steep descents with no shoulders on the road. The ocean here is so different from our calm beach and the waves crash heavily against large boulders and cliffs.  A few brave surfers have triumphed the surf but mostly the people take to watching rather than swimming.

The water is so amazingly blue I can hardly stand it. I must have exclaimed over the color at least a dozen times while we were there. Each wave that surfaced seemed to glow from inside and illuminate this bright indescribable turquoise. I want to steal that color and stick it on my walls but I don't think there is any way to replicate it, not the way that patches seemed to literally glow. The artist in me wants to try and capture it somehow; it is too perfect.

We pulled off on a remote side road to get out and take pictures and found ourselves in a parking lot of what seemed to be some run down reggae bar. The place looks odd and sort of creepy. It's set back behind a hill so it's not visible from the road and it seems like a perfect set for a Caribbean themed horror film. At least in my opinion. It's possible that I've been watching too many cheesy thrillers and crime investigation shows lately... Either way, we survived and managed to get a few awesome pictures of the ocean and walk out on the rocks.

It didn't take us long to get back to the Nissan and head towards anything that would appease our growling stomachs. To my joy we stumbled upon a sign for a place called Coconuts, a restaurant that I had heard of from one of my coworkers and was looking forward to trying. It sits high up on a cliff and takes a bit of a hike to get to, but once you get there it is well worth it. Most of the restaurant is open  so that you are sitting beneath a gigantic hut complete with thatched roof. The decor is bizarre, every centimeter of open space is decorated with t-shirts, license plates and business cards from all over the world. We even spotted two license plates from no place else but New Hampshire. You can imagine my small town happiness when I snapped a picture of those!

NH representin'

The food was good, but the drinks were better. I could only handle 1 margarita since I was the driver and the tequila yumminess went right to my head. Dave was hurting from the night before, when I thought it would be a great idea to do shots and drink whiskey on the rocks... so he stuck with soda water. We munched on chips and salsa (which was becoming obvious we would eat with every meal), tacos and some french fries to remind us of home. I believe that I could live off of that spread and with that view and maybe even that decor.

Best business card in Coconuts!

If you ever find yourself in Cozumel, I would suggest you pay a visit to Coconuts. Rent yourself a dune buggy, VW beetle or horse and carriage and make the commute. It's definitely worth it.

Cozumel, Mexico: Lunes (part2) - Ghost town.

As beautiful as Cozumel is, it can be equally as quiet. It was eerie how empty the downtown area was tonight; large shops and restaurants stood vacant and desperate. The town is ruled by the cruise ships, when they dock the people come. Being that it is Monday and early in the evening, the downtown is slightly lively with a lot of locals and a few resort folk, but no cruise people. The city is equally ruled by soccer it seems, and after Mexico won today's game, the fans came out in droves. With sound makers and red jerseys in the air and everywhere you can see they lined the streets and cheered as the cars drove through.

Street performers here are quite funny...

We found a small place with outdoor seating in the centre square. A note to self, just because there are a lot of people in a place does not always mean that is has good food. This was one of those times, at least for my dish, which tasted like Salt Tacos with a little side of shrimp. In an attempt to redeem the night from my soured mood (I'm an Ordway afterall, if not fed we tend to get a little cranky... ) we found a place that we hoped would be entertaining. Our choices were limited since most places were empty, but this one had loud music and a friendly bar tender. After a few tequila shots and Mai Tai and Loco Coco drinks I was back and ready to party. So was a group from Indiana and two locals named Poco and Hugo, who we befriended. After lots of embarrassing dancing and some bongo playing by moi we decided to call it a night.



-A

Cozumel, Mexico: Lunes - The real down under.

Our diving company

Five years of Spanish, and I cannot speak a lick of it. Just small commands like "Donde esta el bano?" or a great stand by: "Como se dice... en espanol?" (how do you say (blank) in spanish). I guess I never realized as a young girl in Litchfield, NH, the least diverse area of anywhere, that my Spanish classes might actually be useful. Oh well, it's a little late now, albeit I have been saying "forgive me" instead of "excuse me" this entire trip. It doesn't take the locals long to switch to English when speaking with me.


Most people here have no trouble communicating with us, it's very impressive that such a large portion of the people are bilingual. At least to some degree. Our scuba instructor, Ricardo, speaks English very well, which is very important since both Dave and I have a hard time remembering things as it is. That's right, I said scuba instructor! After yesterday's snorkeling we decided to try it, and no better place than in Cozumel. The island is known as one of the best diving places in the world and we have met people from all over that have come here to do just that. We looked into getting certified in Boston, but it seems a shame to spend all of those hours in a pool when we can get certified here and get the benefits of the location.

Our first dive went great, it will take me a little bit to get accustomed to the weight of the gear and the hose in my mouth, but overall it went so smoothly that we decided to complete the entire certification on our trip. Ricardo brought us to a "plane wreck" about fifty feet from our hotel. I put that in quotes because a). it is hardly a plane and b). it was staged there for a movie. Which undoubtedly awful film that is, I have no idea, but I'll make sure to find out before we leave and possibly throw it on the queue when I get back. Either way, it was pretty awesome to see how the sea claims these wrecks and artifacts, it was hard to make out a plane shape through all of the coral and plant life that grew on it and the animal life that now calls it home.

The fish we saw were even more amazing than when snorkeling and the freedom of being able to be at their level and interact directly with them is a huge advantage. No sting rays nor sharks, to both of our dismay, but we have hope for what we may see on our boat trip dives later in the week. They even offer a dive here at a site called Devil's Throat, properly named for the narrow cave passage that is the majority of the dive. It's for advanced divers only since you are carrying lights and need to know how to react within confined spaces. Plus, at the end of the cavern you are 130 ft below sea level and I am having trouble remembering to equalize in 30 ft. Because of the depth and the pressure, the entire dive lasts about five minutes before you need to ascend and refill. I guess we'll need to revisit Cozumel someday when we are master kick ass scuba divers.

The one downside to this training is the size of the book that we need to read in order to pass our final exam.  250 pages of detailed, over repetitive scuba-ness. We both laughed when we got the textbook and laughed even harder when they told us that we should take the test on Wednesday. Um, yea, about reading all of that in 2 days. How is that going to fit in with all of our other plans such as the tequila factory and the bar on the cliff? I guess we'll have to manage it somehow.

Anyways, I'm going to return my attention back to finding our waiter and securing another pina colada and whatever magic they put into it :)

-A

Cozumel, Mexico: Domingo.

Buenos dias! Above is a little view of my view as I am writing this post (excuse the fact that I do not have a panoramic lens so I pieced these 2 together). Not a bad way to greet the day, right? It's 9:30 in the morning and already 75 degrees, sunny, slightly breezy and gorgeous. We have had a nice transition into relaxation so far, which is our main goal for the first few days of this vacation. It's harder than you think to completely unwind on the spot and forget about all the stresses of life and work, but tequila and fresh pico de gallo and hammocks make it slightly possible!

Our first day in Cozumel was nothing short of complete lazy indulgence. The flights went smoothly, they actually allowed us into their country (their mistake ;)) and Dave managed to rent a car. But not just any car; the worse car they could find on the island. A 1992 Nissan Sentra, with manual windows and locks, something we both forgot how to operate! I will say one thing for it: it has AC, which is something that is a benefit after loading heavy luggage and spending hours in a plane.

Our hotel is located a little outside of the main city of San Miguel. It's not very large, roughly 100 rooms or so, but it has a restaurant on the water, a scuba place, a spa and water front views. The room they gave us is on the ground floor and has a nice patio right out onto their beach and views of the ocean and gigantic cruise ships that dock nearby. It also has a Murphy bed, which I thought was called a Jerry bed, and didn't believe Dave until I just googled it. Overall it is very cozy and a good size for the two of us; not to mention that the maid service creates crazy sculptures out of the towels (think 2 swans making a heart - pretty impressive!).

We spent the day lounging outside drinking bloody marys and pina coladas and soaking in some much needed vitamin D. In the late afternoon we decided to go snorkeling. I admit, I was  a little nervous. I never cared much for the idea of the fishes that I was swimming with back in the lakes of NH. The thought of them brushing against gave me shivers and frequently sent me into panic swims back to the safety of the raft. But this was different; when you put the goggles on this whole undersea world not visible from above is suddenly all around you. Fish of all shades of blue and yellow, some as large as our calves, just minding their own business. They seemed to accept the fact that we were there and seemed just curious about us as we were of them.

And then we noticed something larger and darker than the fish about 20 feet below us. It was a sting ray about an arm spans wide and twice as long. I had no idea how to react and froze mid-stroke, afraid to attract his attention but mostly mesmerized. It was huge and majestic, as corny as that sounds. It was like everything seemed to stand still and it just flowed past below, easily ignoring us. It was nothing short of amazing, just 100 yards from our hotel room and we are swimming with sting rays! I couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the night, I swear I even dreamt of it last night. I admit, I'm a little hooked on this idea of snorkeling...

We decided to go out to dinner at this small place up the road from our hotel called Paprika Mexican grille. When we got there the waitstaff and cooks were holding up four foot Mahi Mahi fish that were caught a few hours prior. The fishermen actually delivered the fish via scooter with them strewn across their laps. We had a lovely dinner of the fresh Mahi Mahi in tacos and stuffed jalapeno peppers with pulled beef and local cheese. Our waiter, Ricardo, was a bit odd. We couldn't tell if he was friendly or just bored, but he talked to us non stop and we stumbled about trying to understand him through his thick accent. He took a picture of us to add to his gallery of random guests, which he showed to us as if showing off celebrities. The culture here is very friendly and laid back, no one is rushing around, like Ricardo, they take their time in everything they do. They actually remind me of some people I work with, as far as deadlines are concerned...

We concluded the night with some local cervesas purchased at the convenience store next door and dozed in the hammocks until we were fearful of waking up in them the next morning. It may be too soon to say this, but I could definitely live like this everyday and be very content. :)

-A

Chicago (Aug 19-21)

Oh, the Windy City. Not to be confused with Chicago actually being windy... instead, it got it's nickname due to their jabber mouth politicians that had a reputation of never shutting up. (Or so we learned on our architectural boat ride). We had a great weekend, with only a few hangover speed bumps to slow us down!

The first night we made it out to some tourist hot spot called Buddy Guy's. The food was so-so (crayfish in IL?!), but I thought the music was amazing! Chicago blues are by far my favorite, and the band that night was terrific. An old black man singer who played a mean harmonica, a young preppy white college lad on the lead guitar, a fat truck driver from TN on base and we never did see the drummer... but we can only imagine. It was like playing that game from Sesame Street "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not the same..." :)

 I forgot why I loved Chicago so much until I realized that it was the fact that it is so clean. I mean, really really clean. There is no trash on the side of the roads, the flower beds actually have flowers in them in beautiful arrangements and the grass is perfectly manicured. Now, I now that Chicago boasts some dangerous neighborhoods, but it's easy to forget that when you are strolling through Millennium Park and taking in the large sculptures and the beautiful outdoor theater. Our when you are on the 90th floor of the Sears Tower taking in the amazing shore line and views of the city for as far as the eye can see. Yes, I love Chicago, and their deep dish pizzas and outstanding architecture and their blues.

          

  Dave makes a comback!                           Brass band right behind us!

Wrigley Field!                                         

Our third day we made it (miraculously) to a Cubs vs. Angels game in the wonderful Wrigley field! Our seats were in perfect view of the field and even had an old man brass band that would continuously play behind us. It was not much different than Fenway in the way that everyone got absurdly drunk and would hoot and holler when nothing was going on in the game. It was comforting in a home away from home kind of way. The cubs won, the score I can't remember, but I do recall everyone being very verbose at the ending, which could have meant anything. Either way we followed the crowds through the streets and found ourselves at a local sports bar that featured booze and arcade games. Whoever came up with this idea was a pure genius; Skee Ball and Coors Light and tickets to buy cheap arcade souvenirs! The only dangerous part was the high speed batting cages where drunk grown men made fools of themselves swinging at air. All in all, it was very amusing afternoon.

We also made some touristy stops at the Sears tower - where Dave made me wash some windows...

90th floor! Holy high Batman!

...the big bean in Millennium Park..

... the spitting fountains ... 

                         

   

One of our favorite activities was an architectural boat tour which took    

Whale Expedition (Aug 14)

This was no regular "whale watch", it was truly an entire day expedition! 7 hours on a boat chasing whales from Gloucester to the coasts of Rhode Island, with a slightly sea sick/hung over Dave and one too many crying babies. Though the day ended on a good note, when we really did see whales (humpback), and only a few feet from the boat!

This guy really liked us.