Fire & Water
Last year I first met a pal
named Christian at 'Green Chairs' (the restaurant, 'La Casa de Piedra',
in PDC).
He is well traveled and his
english is fluent. He was manager and serving for his uncle Juan Carlos
(his Mom's brother). Since then he toured Europe and returned to his Dad's
restaurant here on Cozumel, La Choza. The two restaurants share a recipe
for a yellow salsa that is to die for. Last week some jerk flicked his
Bic and caught the La Choza's 40 year old thatched roof on fire. They got
the fire out before it reached the main roof.
The original thatching is
made from a palm frond shaped like a lollipop named
'Fan Palm'.
Each frond is folded in a
clever way and laced into a pole framework. Several years ago there was
a blight in South Florida that killed off most of these palms and of course
it spread to the Yucatan. Now most of the thatching is done with a durable
marsh grass and the thatches are tied onto the poles with tough waxed Nylon
cord. Since Christian and his family wanted the new roof to match the original,
they managed to find 8000 "Fan" fronds for sale on the Belize border and
had them shipped here to the island for their reconstruction.
For me, the most interesting
part is how they continued to do business during the reconstruction.
The Tortilla Soup is excellent!
. . . . and of course, the Yellow salsa.
-Diving-
Despite the Tricyclo and lots
of trial and error planning it's still a lot of fooling around, picking
up my tank, getting all the gear to the beach, suiting up, and in the water
to dive.
When you're done you go through
it all again stripping, rinsing, drying your gear off and getting it back
home. I can usually leave my empty tank at the curb to be picked up and
filled. Needless to say I only go diving when it's nice and, between having
a couple colds and some bad weather, I haven't been doing much so far.
I did go diving a couple times last week and saw this:
(Isn't that Joe and Lynn McClusky
leading the group??)
=)
I found a very small Yellow
Ray hiding under a coral head. It inhales water through openings behind
it's eyes and exhales below. Notice how it's tried to cover itself with
with sand as camouflage
This is a typical seascape
off the beach.
Oh, look, isn't that a baby
Spotted Moray Eel? See if you can touch it's nose
with your finger. . . . .
. . . . (sorry) =)
And finally here is an Ocean
Surgeonfish looking for lunch.
