Day 6 in Cozumel: Denial

At this point, we were dreading returning back to Ithaca. If we could have somehow transplanted all our friends and family to the island to somehow continue this parallel lifestyle of swimming, warm weather, and stalking the Dr. Simi dancing mascot outside the pharmacy, we would have. But all things come to an end. So denial turned to acceptance and new goals of reaching our final destination in a timely manner. We said goodbye to Azteca, the Hotel Pepita cat. I gave the bag of cat food I bought to the hotel's owner and asked him to please give her the rest of the food. I would stay there again in a heartbeat. We tried to eat at this really good restaurant across from the hotel called Fritz Restaurant, but it was unfortunately closed. We then ate breakfast somewhere else. Then we headed to the airport and of course got lost. Along our misguided route, we passed the Lobster House and we shivered at the thought. We got directions from an old man working the land. So we finally made it to the airport. Hasta luego, Cozumel...te quiero tanto!

Day 5 in Cozumel: Casa Gordon, A Place of Caviar Dreams...

Stacy (seen to the right with her husband-to-be, Casey) (and yes, it's Stacy and Casey) is going to get married on Cozumel in a year, so we agreed that she should check out the villa she's going to have her ceremony at. She's also going to be staying there before and after the wedding. It was incredible and very well taken care of. Her wedding planner met us there, and then we sampled some food from the restaurant that would be catering the event. That restaurant also happened to be at the beach where Stacy and I were going to swim and sit on the beach almost every day. Then we sampled a mini wedding cake, chocolate of course. It was a very typical latin type cake, in that it's frosted with a merengue type icing, not butter cream. So it ends up having a marshmallow-like taste. And the cake is layered with an almost gel-pudding like filling. This completely brought me back to my childhood when we'd go to the Cuban bakeries in Fort Lee, NJ. These types of cakes are great! Well after the wedding stake out, we went back to the beach to swim and frolich among the fish in the blue waters...oh, and just to diffuse any confusion, Casey, although pictured in the photo above, wasn't on vacation with us. That was there to provide a visual of the people I was referring to, etc.

Day 4 in Cozumel: Gustaf Y Gustavo

On Sunday, we first went to Cedral, a town which was once the hub of Mayan life on Cozumel. It's also the first site found by Spanish explorers in 1518. These days, it's not bustling much at all, unless it's May---once a year there's a festival there with a bullfight, horse races, cock fighting, and carnival type stands. So we went during the day and ate some food. We were not interested in watching what I feel is cruelty to animals (bull fight, cock fights) so we left after that. We then headed to a set of beaches that are not populated because they're further out on the island, and the waves are strong. But the views were truly incredible. We ended up at Playa Bonita. At another beach along the way we had a little too much fun with the coconut drinks and a conch shell...I know, but c'mon, we can all still be silly, right??? Now why the black cat and who is this guy? And who's Gustavo and Gustaf? Well Gustavo is this waiter we encountered in a small "piano bar" called Zona Zhero that we went to that night. It was fun. There was karaoke which I participated in, and there was even dancing! It seemed to be a locals' hangout. Our waiter Gustavo was really funny and told us that if we wanted to check out this restaurant called Lobster House, we could all go the following day. Well, we decided to go to Lobster House the next night. A few things became apparent: Gustavo was a dark character in real life which was a downer, and the Lobster House was gross. So that was that. Gustaf, the black cat, is the new addition to our family that I alluded to a few blogs back. As you know, our little angel Twinkie very, very sadly past away about a month ago. We were not planning to adopt anyone after that...then we started thinking of cats that really needed homes, even if we were not really emotionally up to it because we know that we can give someone a great home. So we adopted him and he's a sweetheart. His arrival of course hasn't made Twinkie's passing any easier, nor did we expect it or want it to, since one can't take the place of the other. So that's the story of Gustaf and Gustavo.

Day 3 in Cozumel: Palancar and Yucab

Day 3 was basically dedicated to diving. We went out in the morning, pretty early. After our night out, we were zombies. But we got our acts together---well, sort of. And yes, I know this photo is partially washed out, but it's one of the very few shots I have of me on the dive boat. First we did our deepest dive of the day, reaching 80' below at Palancar Bricks. I had some challenges with equalizing my ears when I reached the deepest part of the dive, but we lingered around 70' for the most part, and it was fine. We got to go through caves and see tons of stuff like lobsters and crabs. I finally had more weights on my belt so life was great and I wasn't using up tons of air struggling. Then we went to Yucab for another dive...we went down to about 60'. I love diving because you're basically in an aquarium! Next time I dive, the night dive (with flashlights and all) is on! In the late afternoon we went to a beach to frolich in the water and relax. That night we ended up eating dinner and just walking around el centro. No Senor Frog's that night...phew.

Cozumel Sidebar: Dr. Simi and the Dance Party at the Pharmacy

Around the corner from our hotel there was a 24 hour pharmacy that had bumpin' music! After the mishap we had out on the town, we joked that we should just party at the pharmacy, because they would CRANK UP the salsa and merengue and then Dr. Simi, the pharmacy's mascot would be jamming with himself. Click on this link to see Dr. Simi shake it up. This wasn't at the pharmacy we saw, I just got this clip over the internet. But it's incredibly similar. All I know is that Dr. Simi knows how to have a good time and we wanted to go clubbing at the pharmacy! P.S. most drugs don't require a prescription in Mexico...basically just controlled substances...although there are reports that many of the drugs sold in Mexico may not in fact be real. Interesting.

Day 2 in Cozumel: Divin' and Livin' La Vida Loca?

On our second day, we did one dive to Paradise Reef after our short course. It was great. I was having some issues with my buoyancy, which ended up to be because I didn't have the proper weights on my weight belt...for those who don't dive, the way it works is that you want to be weighed down, so you can sink to the bottom of the ocean (of course in a controlled manner), but then you also have a vest called a BCD, which can inflate so you can control how much or how little you float over the very bottom of the ocean. Plus, when you're up on the surface you want to obviously be buoyant and not have to tread water, so you inflate the BCD then, too. On your way down to the bottom, you have to equalize your ears by swallowing, holding your nose and trying to breathe out of it, and chewing. Otherwise your ears end up in severe pain. If that happens, you just ascend a little, then try again, then continue your descent. How do you breathe? With the regulator. This is a device that you have in your mouth and it's connected to your tank. So you breathe solely through your mouth, in slow, controlled breaths. You have a monitor to check your depth and your air supply. You also have an extra regulator in case a fellow diver runs out of air and needs to share. Other basic stuff is a suit, mask, and fins. Once you're down in the deep, you don't use your arms to swim: it's all in your breathing, your fins, and your amount of buoyancy that helps you. Woah, major tangent...sorry. So anyway, after we ate dinner that night, we went out on the town. We had heard of this club called Discoteca Neptuno, so we decided to check it out...we learned that maybe people in Cozumel don't really like to dance, even if the place is called a "dance" club. I later asked a dive master about this issue of non dancing, and he claimed that the Cozumel people weren't necessarily all the dancing types...then another man we met at a local festival confirmed this sentiment about the people of Yucatan. This was news to me, because as a generality, wanting to move was just something the Latino people did or wanted to do! So we sat in this huge club with tables everywhere listening to and watching videos of people like Rick Astley and Old Whitney Houston...I kid you not...so maybe that's why we had the time to entertain ourselves by taking silly pictures like the one above...because we were bored...but we tried, we really, really tried! So we left, tried another place, then ended up in what could only be described as the Bermuda Triangle of American tourism...Senor Frog's...hmm all I can say is that this place was a circus...it had pretty good music for the most part, and people were dancing, so that was good. But it's a place where Americans who want to get drunk and get tequila poured into their mouths while sloppily dancing in a Conga line go....and where the waiters and this American transplant who served as an MC of sorts lead games and orchestrated dances...I never did that whole Cancun spring break....so I guess this was my intro...A documentary NEEDS to be made about this place!

Day 1 in Cozumel: Assimilation

As promised, here goes my day-by-day account of my trip to Cozumel. I'm back in Ithaca right now, but I've got the time and resources to blog! So when Stacy and I arrived, we got the rental car. Driving appears to be a little haphazard there and mopeds seem to crop out of the woodwork--in a bad way! We checked into our hotel, then headed to the dive shop to confirm our reservations to go SCUBA diving the next day. We then learned that because we had not been diving for a LONG time, we needed the "refresher course", or as I like to refer to it: the remedial course. No, but it was really good. We reviewed basic physiology in terms of diving and the ever important diving table and how to read it. Plus our instructor Nemecio was great. And we got to dive after the 2 hour class. So good times, good times. I would highly recommend that dive shop to anyone who was going diving in Cozumel...and I did extensive research to find the right dive shop for us. Then we hit the beach to rampage and relax in the GORGEOUS waters. I brought my swimming goggles with me and one of those one time use underwater cameras so I got to see all the pretty fish in the water with me....see the photo above! That night we ate at a place we called the "Tweedy Bird Place" because there was Tweedy painted on the wall...this place left a lot to be desired..so if you're ever in el centro and see this place, don't do it!