On Christmas Day, last Sat., I went to a terrific Christmas day Brunch here on Cozumel. I got up early that day and remounted the handlebars on my Tricyclo. I had painted them the day before and wanted to be sure the paint would dry so I let them set overnight. Then I rode down to a popular supermarket called "MAS" (more) and found a fresh whole Flan desert to take to the Pot-Luck. It was sunny, warm and breezy on my 3 mile ride North along the coast to the party. Our hosts, John and Linda Lee live in a fabulous Condo overlooking their own salt water swimming pool and the sea. There were a steady stream of sober guests and and we all ate like 'thrashers'. (note: Prior the the mechanization of farming in the Midwest, before W.W.II, most farming communities banded together and helped each other harvest their crops by 'thrashing' the small grains from their stalks. Entire families participated and it was agonizingly hot, hard but happy work. At noon all the wives and daughters would help the hosting families women put on a meal 'fit for thrashers'. Often there were so many people that tables were set up under the trees around the house.)

I left the party a little early. As I rode along the coast I passed a tree lined public beach with many Mexican families (3-4 generations) picnicking and playing in the surf. I dropped the Trike off at home, and walked down to the ferry for my trip over to Playa Del Carmen on the Mainland. The AA group at Playa was having a Christmas Day Pot-Luck after their meeting that evening. I found my pal Richard helping a friend get ready for her return to Mexico City; said Hi, and set out to find something for the party. The supermarket St. San Francisco didn't have one fancy desert left so I walked out to Chedraui by the Hi Way and found a great lemon cake. I got a little eMailing done at Miguel's computer shop and met Richard at the AA meeting. It was great fun to see all the familiar faces at the meeting and then tramp over to Bonnie's condo for the party. I can't speak for the others but I ate, and ate well. I wonder if it's possible to put on 10 # in one day. Richard has two beds at his place at the Elephante so I stayed over for 50 Pesos, then I could attend the Men's AA meeting at 8:30 Sunday morning.  That men's meeting is well attended and has a lot of really genuine stuff going on.  After the meeting Richard and I somehow managed to choke down a great breakfast at 'Green Chairs'.  We wandered around town waiting for Meguel's to open but it never did so I came back to Cozumel on the 2pm Ferry.

I like to stand outside the bridge and watch the Captain maneuver the boat. After we got away from the dock and on our way Capt Juan Carlos Lopez invited me to come in and chat with him and his engineer. Everything on the bridge is black for better visibility. The boat is driven with 4 big Caterpillar diesels and takes about a thousand gallons of fuel a day. That includes a couple generator sets that run continuously. The ceiling I'm holding onto is perforated metal which really keeps it quiet up there.

I asked if he prefers to command the catamaran ferry and he said no that they are wider and roll a lot more. He likes the steadiness of the mono hull. The Cozumel channel is actually a trench 3000 feet deep and the current runs from 2.5 to 5 knots from South to North. The outer reef of Cozumel is a sheer wall that drops off to complete darkness and if you dive the wall and fall off you end up as whale poop on a Cuban beach.

When I got back to my place I found that 'Santa' had left me a present. I'm going to have to look into that a little more.

Just in case you might have thought I was embracing recovery from my trailer addiction. . . . sorry.

On my Sunday walk along the sea front there are always small work trucks and vans parked that bring  entire families to picnic on the public beaches and the kids get to play in the surf. Here is an open VW van with hellacious roll bars. Note the imprivised seating. (seat belts, ha!)

There is a low cost Chinese motorcycle sold in Mexico named Dynamo. I was cycling past a dealers shop and almst fell off at the sight of this enclosed moto.

The store was closed for 'Siesta' so I could only look in through the window. Maybe more later. Note the double arm wipers and turn signals on the mirrors. I think the lights above "galaxy" come on with the turn signals to illuminate the turn like the old Lincolns. Cool outfit.

There was a little motorcycle repair shop a few blocks away with this little 3 wheel beer truck parked out front. I think it's the same as the one I saw at Sam's Club in PDC a few weeks ago.

Here is another 3 wheeled motorcycle I saw while riding home from the Cozumel Christmas pot luck last weekend.

 

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