Mexico for a Month …. ends tomorrow - final post for this trip
The last three days were mostly hang around the pool days again except we ate out and had gelati on Saturday and went to church on Sunday. (BTW the only other gelati I have ever eaten was in Italy so I don’t know if all gelati are the same but this one in Mexico did not live up to my memory of the Italian ones. I will have to check the Winnipeg ones to compare.) Sunday, after church, we bought a ‘freezie’ type ice cream with Nutella in it that the local nuns had made as a fundraiser. yum! Walking back from church, we each went our own way. Norbert went walking around to get his steps in, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law went to do some shopping and I was just going to go back to the condo. As I was passing by the track, I figured I should get my own steps in so around the track I went until my Fitbit buzzed 8000 steps. This morning, Monday, I went by myself to the the track since I woke too late to join Norbert for mass. I didn’t realize that when I dressed I’d be wearing the uniform for the local soccer team as you can see in the photo. I managed 7.5 laps in the second lane - just over 3 km because it was quite cloudy. The rooftop pool is where I cooled off. We leave Playa del Carmen at 11 am tomorrow for Cancun for our return flight.
Mexico for a Month Post 6
The past few days were mostly hang-around-the-pool type days except for Thursday when we went to Xel-Há, where every entry ticket is all-inclusive. (there are many special activities like snuba that have an extra cost though). That day, we left our condo at 8 am in a taxi with a very friendly driver and Norbert arranged for him to drive us back as well. We got there about 45 minutes later, even too early for their breakfast buffet at 9:30. When we did eat, it was great food and coffee. We then went down the river tubing through the mangrove roots and along a river/cove. We passed locations along the river where people were jumping off the 5 metre cliffs. At one point, a couple of birds - big birds - flew right over Norbert’s head and landed in trees just behind him. At least these birds didn’t chuck a rock at us. Once I got into more open water, I seemed to have lost the current. Norbert, who, at first, had a tube that made him feel like he was about to be ejected and wasn’t catching any current, switched to another tube that must have been made by Speedy Gonzales. He was across the bay in no time whereas I had to do a reverse whip-kick and water walk while suspended in the tube to make any progress towards the shore. I took photos at the beginning of the journey in the mangroves and while stuck in the middle of the bay. We then got snorkels and fins and tried to find some fish. They have full-face masks with an integrated snorkel tube that were pretty cool. Mine kept loosening and water would seep in through the top and get into my eyes. Sunscreen and salt water stings the eyes a little.
After snorkeling, we hung around drinking blue lagoons or pina coladas or cervesas until we were hungry enough for lunch. There are several different restaurants to choose from as well as bars - most of them open sided with a roof. We tried a different restaurant for lunch and again the buffet food was great as were the mojitos. After lunch we found the hammock village and rested. I actually had a nap. We got back to the condo and cooled off in our unheated pool. In the preceding days, my lower back was so stiff and sore that I had problems moving, but after the day spent moving around in water, I was not sore at all anymore! A great day.
Yesterday, Friday, I decided to try running again. My sister-in-law came with me. My back was still doing very well! We stretched and she walked while I ran. I managed to do 5.75 laps - about 2.3 km. I stopped when I was about to faint - my heartrate, according to my Fitbit, was 170 bpm. Time to stop. Walked back and cooled off in the pool and enjoyed the beautiful day.
Pictures are of Xel-Há and of the rock thrown by the birds on Sunday. The last one is, I think, an ingenious sign :)
Mexico for a Month Post 5
Thursday last week - mass in morning, then walked along the beach, ate out for supper, and in the evening, watched while the building management actually put more water in the pool to bring it up to the skimmers.
Friday - Woke up too late to make mass with Norbert but I went to the track and did 7.5 laps with breaks - It was extremely humid. Then pool time!
Saturday - read an entire book and did not much else. Norbert’s brother and his wife flew in from Winnipeg to join us for the last 10 days of our stay. They left Winnipeg early in the morning and made it to us after normal supper-time so, like we were when we first arrived, they were famished. Norbert went to get some pizza and we sat around pool chatting.
Sunday - It rained all day but we all went to mass and did some groceries and met Norbert’s cousin and his wife and son for lunch. We had a bit of a time finding a restaurant that wasn’t full with a waiting line. Turned out to be the Muy Salsa that we had gone to earlier. I had alambres - YUM!
When we were sitting in that restaurant, (which does not have a front wall), out of the rain, something flew in and hit my hand enough to cause a drop of blood to pop out of my skin. My hand was right next to Norbert. That ‘something’ bounced towards him and landed on the floor. We found it and it was a ROCK! Norbert and his cousin both saw two birds fly towards Norbert and the stone came from that direction. So I suppose that birds in Mexico must be in communication with the ones in Manitoba. For those who don’t know, birds attack Norbert for some reason. It’s happened too many times to count in Manitoba. I guess Mexican birds may have gotten a weird translation, like the ones in the photos below, because they got me instead. That, or their aim is off. We then said happy trails to Norbert’s cousin’s party because they were heading back to Manitoba early in the morning the next day. I had a nap.
Monday - Xcaret Park
A 15 minute cab ride from our building brought us to the park. We went down an underwater river through gorges and caves. We had life jackets but opted out of swim fins. We should have maybe got them because the river wasn’t really flowing and we had to swim along. I could not reach the bottom most places but the crystal clear, salt water was a perfect temperature. It felt glorious. That took about 45 minutes. Norbert and I then went to the snorkeling cove. They give you a full face snorkel to use and, because it was only about 4 feet deep, there was no need for lifejackets nor swim fins. The snorkel cove was pretty small with lots of people so most of the poor fish must have been hiding. We only lasted a few minutes each then joined Norbert’s brother and wife on the beach under the shade of a palapa. The lunch buffet was absolutely delicious! It came with a free cervesa (beer) and of course, since Norbert doesn’t drink alcohol, I got his as well. We wandered around the park and saw lots of cool things including animals like dolphins, and turtles and birds….(oh my!) The aviary was a beautiful place with about 4 levels and waterfalls with vegetation. There was a big espectacular show at 7 pm and we were so bushed that we found a spot to sit in the venue almost 2 hours early. I thought I would not make it. BUT then there was a pre-show of musicians where 4 people were playing glass bottles for the melody along with the two guitars and a stand-up bass. I got even more energy when they presented an extremely well done done video of the faces and places of Mexico. The actual show was amazing with live musicians and singing, lots of drums and dancing, and images or patterns were projected on the entire floor of the venue. It was finished at 9 pm and we quickly got a cab that brought us back. A great day!
In the last photo, see if you can spot the iguana….
Mexico for a Month Post 4
Happy St. Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday
Monday was a day to spend at the building. We must have had some pork in the chicken burritos we ate on Sunday because Norbert’s gut wasn’t doing so well. It was also an extremely hot and humid day better spent at the pool than walking around the city and trying to run. Yesterday, the humidity was also high, I didn’t need to drink water while I was trying to run because any water my body lost from perspiration was reabsorbed from the air directly into my airways… Running felt like swimming in air! Needless to say, I didn’t make it even once around the track at running pace, ever so slow that it is. Yesterday we also met up with Norbert’s cousin, his wife and son who are also here in Playa. We had a great visit and they brought us some baked snacks that were delicious.
We spoke to a few other people staying in this building and found out that the clogged water fixtures are not caused by heavily mineralized water but by sand being stirred up from the construction next door. There are less construction noises lately and I’m not missing the jackhammering vibrations rattling the rooms.
There is a family in our building with a little girl who is about 4 years old. When the mother brings her to the pool, the mother does not go in with her but watches her from the deck. The first time we saw her, I was about to go in the pool as well. When I did, the little girl made a b-line directly for me. She was talking Spanish and wanted to play with me. Well, I did the best I could and she seemed to have fun. The next day the same thing happened and I figured out enough Spanish to ask her for her name. She must have given me all her names but I did catch the first one: Emma. I repeated 'Emma’ to her and she said ‘si’ - Okay, I now know her name.
This morning, after Ash Wednesday mass, I had much more success running. I did 8 laps without stopping, then I stopped - running and walking. phew! 3.2 km: furthest distance yet! POOL TIME!
The pictures today are of the little girl and I, the forecast for yesterday’s crazy humid day and the church decorated for lent.
Mexico for a Month Post 3
In the past week, we’ve done a lot of walking, going to church, reading, relaxing by the pools and grocery shopping. Norbert’s TV box works really well and we can watch all our regular shows - except the Jets hockey games….
On Saturday at around 3:30 pm, the electricity went off in our building. We went walking towards the beach and discovered that there was no power all the way to the beach on the NE side of Calle 38 (I’ve learned that Calle (pronounced: KAH-yay) is ‘street’). The shop owners had to do cash transactions and some could not operate. We managed to find a small restaurant called Muy Salsa that was open no problem - we just had to pay cash. That was the Mexican meal I looking forward to: fajitas with rice and guacamole! YUM. The power came back on at around 8:15 pm.
A maintenance guy sent by the owner fixed the water pressure and the hot water issue. It turns out they are related. the condo has an in-line water heater which gets switched on when there is sufficient flow through it. Well, there are so many minerals in this water that the lines and shower heads get clogged with deposits and not enough water flows through the water heater to turn it on. The guy replaced a part in the water heater and did some line and shower head cleaning and TADA! we now have hot showers.
The outdoor, free sports facility where I’ve been trying to run three times a week is fantastic! There are two basketball courts, two tennis courts, a training facility with hoops and other things -no weights though. Every time I went, there were school classes and many people doing all sorts of training, running, kickboxing training, stretching, yoga. It is very encouraging to try to run there. This morning however, there appeared to be a track and field day for school kids because the area was full of families entering the facility. Oh well, I’ll have to be content NOT to run today, too bad for me… :D
I am very surprised that, despite the very humid weather, towels and bathing suits left on our patio chairs outside dry relatively quickly. There isn’t even any direct sun on our patio. The microfibre beach towel I brought dries in an amazingly short period of time - way faster that regular towels.
The photos I am including today are of the sports facility, a palapa being re-thatched by the beach and … a Disney movie title?
Mexico for a Month Post 2
Things were more quiet the past two days. We walked the 17 minutes or so walk to mass both days. Yesterday, we went to the running track on the way back after stretching, ran 5 laps without stopping. That’s 2 km! I was happy. I walked another couple of laps then ran one more - then I was done! We walked to fifth avenue to look at the shops. It is a pedestrian street for tourists. On the way back to the condo, I felt the fact that I did not stretch AFTER running… My right leg was almost seizing up but I still went in the pool to cool off. Today, after mass, we walked back along the beach - myself in the water and Norbert still in his runners trying not to get wet. There was one place where there was not sand, only a private deck and water. Norbert went around by the street and I kept in the water. The Caribbean Sea is WARM! Norbert’s shoe got wet on the very last big wave - oh well, he almost made it. I posted a short video of the crosswalk signs here. Instead of a static white stick figure walking, the stick figure actually is animated to look like it is walking faster and faster as time runs out for crossing the street. Then instead of a hand, the ‘don’t walk’ sign is a red stickperson. I posted the video on my Facebook page.
The pictures I included were of the church showing that it is quite open to the outdoors, the inside of the church is still decorated for Christmas, and the patio of our condo by the pool.
Mexico for a Month… Winter 2024 Post 1
This adventure is to live in a warm place for a month - for us this meant Mexico - specifically Playa del Carmen, on the Caribbean Sea. We left Monday morning. Our daughter graciously agreed to drive us to the airport at 6 am, and except for a REALLY LONG luggage drop-off line (35 minutes) everything went as it was supposed to. Norbert and I were not sitting together, and why is another story, but I sat beside a young boy of about 8 and his father and the 4.5 hour flight was quite pleasant. There was a bit of turbulence a couple of times but we had departed on time and landed about 25 minutes early in Cancun.
It took about an hour to get through the customs line and, since there was no one directing people, we hoped we were in the right line and tried three different ones. There were about 20 stations for customs people with red and green lights above them, supposedly indicating which were open but, as I am discovering, signs in Mexico don’t always mean anything…. Once we got to the front of the line, the actual agent was quick and efficient. We were soon on our way to find the guy with the orange vest working for the company from which we booked a shuttle to our rental condo in Playa del Carmen. We thought the guy must have been hiding, but no, other companies’ people found him for us and we were off. 45 minutes later we arrived at the condo.
Our 2 bedroom condo is on the main level of a complex with a central pool. We look out onto the pool from the living room and both bedrooms. The furnishings are lovely, fairly new but sparse.
We walked around the block to a grocery store that reminded me of a small Cosco and bought drinking water, coffee and a little food. For supper we found a little seafood place. I had coconut shrimp which was delicious.
I don’t think I have ever slept as well as I did Monday night. The bed is incredibly comfortable! Tuesday morning the entire building had no running water so after breakfast we walked and found a church and a larger store got a few more groceries and some staples like a can opener, sunscreen, a jug to put drinking water in the fridge and coffee filters. The water came back on in the early afternoon and I spent the rest of the day acclimatizing aka: doing … not much.
Wednesday morning the water was off again. We walked 20 minutes to church for 8 am mass, went to Walmart to get a potholder and hand lotion, found the sports complex that has, among many other outdoor fitness things, a running track that took us 4 minutes and 49 seconds to go around in a fast walk. We walked to the ocean to check it out then back to the condo when my Fitbit rang 8000 steps. Yay! time to goof off! I went into the unheated pool and stayed for about 25 minutes. It was cold but refreshing! Still no running water but we only drink the bottled water so at least we have that water. When the water finally came back on, I tried to take a shower but it was only dribbling out. I used a big plastic cup to catch enough to pour over my hair to wash… Hot water seems to be a luxury here that we haven’t had much of yet. Someone is doing construction right above us so there is a lot of banging during the day, thankfully none at night.
BUT why we are here - the weather - is excellent! 25 C and very comfortable. I am sitting in the living area with the glass door fully opened to the pool area in a light cotton dress. There are several condos here rented by Quebecois and right now they are talking (loudly) across the pool from their balconies at each other…
