Nov 11, 2007
Off we go, into the wild blue. . . .
Last year my Pals Mark and Chris offered to run me out to the airport, then had to pass when Mark's aging Dad needed some attention. Ain't guilt great, they offered to try it again this year and Mark showed up at 3:30 sharp for the pre-dawn delivery. I wanted to see if I could make it without any extra baggage charges this year and just scraped by.
That big orange dairy case has my dive gear in it. SunCountry reduced the max luggage weight to 40# per item but they don't seem to ever weigh the goods. The timing worked out perfect this year. At Cancun I got my gear and headed for Immigration. Long lines but fast moving. I got a 180 day tourist visa without even asking. Next was customs and I was sweating that a bit. My Pal Richard and his new Honey Cindy headed for Playa Del Carmen (PDC) several seeks before me in his diesel Dodge pickup and camper. Here they are in Richard's Sis's car just after their send off lunch at Qcumbers in Minneapolis.
About a week before I was to take off, Richard emailed me to say thieves had gotten in the camper and made off with two backpacks and his laptop! Right here in Playa!! I offered to bring a replacement down if he'd choose one for me to pick up, and he got a swell deal at MicroCenter. I was a little concerned with explaining the replacement deal at Customs and decided to just saying nothing. They still use the random choice stop and go light and I got a Green. Two years ago my Mac iBook conked out on me after I dropped it and broke the display hinge. Richard was kind enough to bring a replacement down that Mark and Chris picked up for me. Funny how it all seems to come around.
OK, I got ahead of my self again.
As we were being pushed back from the loading gate at Humphrey terminal in Minneapolis I got to watch this insect like outfit spraying de-icing chemicals on an neighbor prior to takeoff.
We got the same treatment but I wasn't quick enough with the camera. I was getting a little punchy by then because of having stayed up all night packing and tidying up before the early departure. I doubt I'd have gotten much sleep anyway wondering if I'd taken care of everything.
The 6 AM take-off was on time and on that very same day we switched from daylight-savings to Standard time. It was a pitch dark until we got to cruising altitude where we got to watch the sunrise before any one else.
For SunCountry to maximize the effectiveness of this flight to Cancun there is an hour stop at Dallas/FtWorth so some folks can fly from MSP to DFW and others can fly from DFW to Cancun (CUN) as well. Not many empty seats but I did managed to get a window seat ahead of the wing this trip.
Back in dim-time there was a pretty good sized meteor that impacted the Earth. The smoke, fire and dust storm that followed filled the atmosphere and blocked out the sun. During this endless night, vegetation dropped it's seeds and perished in the dark. All the dinosaurs and other herbivores perished as well. Mostly seed eaters and some small carnivores survived. That meteor impacted the Earth on the north coast of the Yucatan peninsula. There is geological evidence of the event but nothing that meets the eye today. Here is that same coastline as we come ashore on the Yucatan.
Years ago SunCountry used a satellite terminal at CUN that required a shuttle bus to get to the main terminal and the Rivera bus to PDC. What a hassle. Then they started using the main terminal which was great. This year they were back at the satellite terminal but it's been completely remodeled and the Rivera bus loads up there first. Next stop is the main terminal then off to PDC. Still ~$8 usd and it takes less than an hour. I reserved a $12 dorm bunk in a hostel for the first night with plans of finding a private room for the month, somewhere, next day. I'd made reservations on line at:
http://mariasabinahotel.com/index.htm
. . . and found the Hotel clean, secure, and well run. To say nothing of it being a block and a half from the beach plus free Internet.
The dorm rooms are the same as the private rooms (below) only with two sets of bunk-beds.
. . . with the same in-suite bath arrangements.
The dorms even get a balcony overlooking Calle 6 and the beach to the East.
Above all it's the people that make a hotel stay a pleasure and I only wish I'd budgeted to stay here.
Once I got settled in at the Hostel I headed off to Richard and Cindy's place at 'Craig's Calle 6' (6th Street) 20 y 25th. They wanted to take me to a fish dinner and we picked up Richard's new laptop on the way to a great old beach front restaurant they'd found and we all had a super Grouper dinner for $4.50 each. =)
(Scroll right to view)
On the way up to their place I noticed a used Triciclo in front of a little street side restaurant. It was missing it's rear wheel so I asked if it was for sale and the owner said yes. I spent the next day looking for a wheel and the following day when I stopped by the place, there was the wheel back on it. I asked it it was still for sale and found out they'd taken the wheel off to get a flat repaired and. . . . it WAS still for sale,
so I bought it.
The room rents have gone from ~$300/month to $500 usd at the Elephante Hotel and after more searching around I ended up taking a ground floor room just off the reception area for $300 at the Hacienda Agua Azure Hotel 'Blue Water Ranch'. It had a hell of an air conditioner rather than open ventilation and is about two blocks from the beach. As with anything other than my own bed at home it's going to take some getting used to. I've got the Triciclo cabled up to a street sign post out front. The hotel owner says to not worry but I do anyway.
The local AA club has Noon meetings during the week now and they are very well attended. I was on my way to that noon meeting when I noticed the car traffic was acting screwy at one of the intersections. As I got closer I saw this little kitten prancing around in the middle of the intersection quite lost and confused. I darted out and scooped it up. Lots of smiles and waving from the cars. I offered it to several friends along the way to the meeting without much luck when I remembered an Italian gal I saw a few years ago feeding a pride of feral (wild) cats in a lot across from her little walled villa nearby. I was plenty early for the meeting so I stopped by to see if she'd take it. As soon as she saw me with the kitten at her gate she come out with her arms outstretched. What a lucky cat.
I stopped back after the meeting with an Italian Pal, Georgio, to take a picture and say thanks.
She said it had gone through a can of tuna since I dropped it off and that she was taking it to the Vet that afternoon for an exam and shots.
After the Noon meeting and kitty pictures, a bunch of us went to a new $5 buffet, offering 2 soups, chips and hard crusted bread slices. The main course was beef or pork ribs with rice and beans. There was a salad with a choice of two dressings as well as olive oil and vintager.
Hey Mickey, $5 !
=)
At that night's meeting someone talked about how touching it had been for her to visit one of the AA co-founder's restored home and someone else passed around a sobriety medallion they got from a Pal in Ohio where the old house is located.
As long as we are thinking AA and the benefits of no longer needing to drink, I was helping a young local guy at the Hostel with a networking problem on his Mac laptop when I noticed this humorous icon on one of his pal's blog sites that resonated with me and some distant memories:
What caught my interest about the above was remembering an item a fellow AA sent me a few days before:
OK, back to work.
There is a basement shop across from the little open air restaurant where I bought the used Triciclo. They make wrought iron gates and fencing so are welding capable. I am a little taller than the average local and I need to have my bike seat adjusted to it's maximum height. By doing that I have to lean way over to reach the handlebars and end up carrying half my weight on my hands. Between my back, neck and hands it's pretty uncomfortable after a while so I asked the guys at the shop if they could weld on some extensions to raise my handlebars, and they did for $20. I think they are smiling because I'm leaving. At home they want to charge extra when the customer tries to help.
You may notice in the picture above that there is a very small crank sprocket and a huge rear hub sprocket. The handling of these 3 wheelers is precarious at best and gut wrenching at speed. This 1:1 gear ratio is great on hills when heavily loaded and limits the max speed on the flats to about 12 MPH. Changing both gears plus a new chain and pedals ran just under $20 (parts and labor) at a shop near the Hotel.
Once I was able to ride around more with those wonderful raised handlebars I noticed a crunching noise in the rear wheel's hub. Several years ago I bought my first Triciclo new from a shop on 30th and stopped by there next day to get their professional opinion on the noisy hub. 'Sorry, Senior, very bad, no fix.' So for a remarkable $20 they replaced the rear wheel complete, coaster brake hub, spokes, rim, assembled, trued and INSTALLED. All that was after they disassembled the old hub for me to examine and then reassembled it. What a great place to shop.
Talk about things going my way. . . . after that first night at the 'Ranch' I wasn't completely happy with my room off the reception area so they moved me up to the second floor. I was concerned that none of the windows have screens so they made up a set from scratch for me that same day. Despite the excellent mosquito control here in the tourist towns of the Yucatan I'm wary of mosquito borne Dengue fever which is prevalent in the surrounding jungle. Here is the new room. . . .
. . . . viewed with my new 180º fish-eye lens. I got it through eBay from a low cost shop in Hong Kong. Note the hand carved headboards, framed pictures on the walls and small refrigerator. Bliss.
Here is the bathroom, with sliding shower doors.
Those are not stains on the wall, the silver is lifting on the mirror in an antique sort of way. Note that there is even a toilet seat, very posh. =)
This is the key to my new room and I would be interested to hear from my geek pals explaining the significance of the digital key fob. It's not quite Ethernet.
Well, if you have a weakness for weirdness of the VW variety, this is the place for you. I'm afraid to call that phone number. This outfit appears to be very nicely done.
(Later: Christian from the Hostel called for me and they are asking $3G's US; new motor, etc, etc.)
On the local economy it's expected that a hotel guest will provide their own TP (of the quality they prefer). It's kind of bulky to carry a few extra rolls in one's luggage so I was glad to find it being sold by the each at the convenience store/bakery I frequent. Try that at 7-11.
Triciclos are popular for hauling dive gear from the shop to the beach and back, where the customers wade out to their dive boats and back. This unit is a year and a half old. Note the standard handlebar position and low seat. My posture riding this configuration is like a football lineman on the line of scrimmage. Not fun after the first few blocks.
Rust never sleeps.
While I was walking up the shopping street (5th) I stopped and chat with this street performer in full Mayan regalia. He didn't know the English name for his makeup paint but said it washes off in the shower. You'll notice that over half his skin area is painted. Those are rattles at his ankles. . . . . as if he needed to announce his approach. Can you imagine being very much under the influence and having this guy carve your beating heart out as a sacrifice to the rain Gods?
One of our AA members celebrated 30 days the other night and got a medallion. It was passed around the room for everyone to invest a little personal warmth in it and best wishes.
I found this very nice VW 'Thing' in a secluded parking area.
There have been any number of cases of Dengue fever claimed in the area but few positively identified through blood testing. I'm paranoid enough to always watch out for the little pests and managed to drop this beauty, right out of the air one evening. Actually I'm not sure this is a mosquito at all. Can anyone identify it for me?
As I was leaving the Hotel the other morning there were some young tourists coming by and I noticed this tat'. It reminded me of a stylized pirate skull I'd seen on a gal back in Minneapolis. "Nothing's for sure but this brand new tattoo" Margaretaville
I stopped by Consuela's (the Triciclo cafe) for breakfast and visited the kitchen to see what was on offer for lunch. Excellent cook, reasonable prices!
I think they are getting ready to install a new cooker. Wouldn't this be fun to cook on?
I've been trying to get some mileage out of the new lens and caught this beach scene.
A little later I visited the Chedraui store and noticed this Rattan sun room set. Yes, the price is ~$150 US, 6' sofa and all !
For the benefit of Jon H. my electrician friend I've found a very cost effective way to bury electric lines.
CZ has great sunsets over the ocean since it faces West. PDC faces East so I got up at 4:30 one morning to try to catch the sunrise to close this week's page. I'm a nighthawk by nature so there won't be a lot of this going on in future, but for this week. . . . . enjoy.
-Home-