January 06, 2008
Here is an elegant solution to a chronic problem. It seems most of the property here and in Playa
Del Carmen was rather casually staked out and none of the lots are square. Buildings are erected on these lots right up to the property line and consequently are not square themselves. Most rooms are tiled and there is always as least one wall where the tiles taper from one end to the other. There is a high end Chinese restaurant named Chi that cured the tapering problem by having the tile laid out diagonally. Very nicely done tile work. Check out the steps. Some of us came here for dinner after the meeting. I had the excellent $10 Currie Chicken just to see the tiled floor again.
Next day I had lunch at the Mission grill for $3. Chicken and potatoes in a mustard sauce with garlic toast, Excellent.
The main Post Office is on the waterfront. The building's back lot is guarded by this guy. So far every Iguana I've seen this trip has a new tail regenerating.
What he is guarding is this cannibalized PO beetle. That back bumper looks OK, I'm surprised it remains. Note the classic rust hole under the battery position, under the back seat (to position the battery close to the starter).
The Barracuda Hotel's back yard is served by the 'No Name Bar' and caters to the cruise ship crews. Mostly young socially oriented normies (non addicted drinkers). I erred in referring to this scene as an alcoholic battlefield last week. If I could drink as responsibly as these folks, I'd do it every day, all day. =)
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Ive got a 30 year old Benz diesel at home that I drive every day and found myself very attracted to this lovely 1961 model here. The owner caught me taking a picture and showed me the engine. This is a hot-rod with a late model dual over head cam '6' with dual carbs and dual exhaust. The wide angle shot isn't very flattering but an interesting view.
Someone in my hotel is looking after a couple kittens and I brought one home for a little while. Sure miss Bortola.
I doubt the cat knows the difference but I call it Oreo because of the white underside of it's tail.
One of the AA's opened their home for a New Years Eve party. Lots of food. I brought a three cream cake that was as delicious as pretty.
(¯`·.¸*Happy New Year*¸.·´¯)*
(Thanks to Amy for the fireworks))
During the party I noticed this straw crucifix on the wall.
A problem in the tropics is the smell one's cap or hat develops after it's been sweat into for a while. My solution is to soak them in a 5% bleach solution. More bleach does not effect the outcome beyond loosing some color.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays the 6 pm meetings are 'Narcotics Anonymous' (same faces, different books). Here is an excerpt from last night's reading:
This could be a stretch but I suspect there may be an MG aficionado out there yet, who might enjoy seeing this late model I come across on Cozumel (Cool car capitol of Mexico).
Someone wrote last week about the absence of graffiti in my pictures and I must admit there is a lot less here than in Minneapolis, however there is some. Here are two buildings across the street from each other on 15th.
There was a handsome young guy in AA at Playa Del Carmen last fall who had come to town to deal drugs because it's such a happening town. He ended up living on the street after a modest success in the beginning. Once he'd fallen on hared times (many 'dealers' end up consuming their earnings and in debt to rapacious creditors). As his need for income turned to seamier enterprises the cops finally asked him to leave town. He turned to AA and was getting along pretty good when the cops noticed he was still in town and despite his claims of reformation roughed him up and threw him in jail for considerably longer than authorized. When he got out he was promised more stringent treatment if he stuck around, so. . . . . He was on the next bus to home and family in Mexico City. All of that is to possibly explain the absence of more graffiti in Mexico. As unlawful as the street justice actually is here the final result seems to benefit the community.
There is Internet access here at Hotel Blanquita but I'm out of WiFi range. I stopped by the local Apple store to see about a roll of ethernet cable to run up to my place from the router. 6 pesos per Meter (~2¢/ft usd) so I may be on to an affordable solution. Talking to the store's Director, I asked about the Smart Car parked outside. and it was his. He got it from the Mercedes dealer in Cancun for ~10,000 € (~$14,7500 usd). Only available as gas now with the diesel model coming to Mexico sometime in '08. We can only hope the US will get it's diesel fuel cleaned up in time for the Smart Car diesel this year too.
Talk about diversity, check out the monster gas Hummer behind the SpartCar. That Hummer is particularly un-green for me because of the lovely V-8 diesel GM had Isuzu draw up for them. It has 4 valves per cylinder and uses a very sophisticated computer fuel delivery program. Quiet, fuel efficient and powerful enough GM had to use their industrial strength Allison transmission behind it. I'm sure there is some explanation of why that great engine isn't available in the least fuel SUV in the marketplace, All the Humvee's in the military are diesel, so what the hell?
There are three Mission restaurant locations. The one I frequent is called the Mission Grill on 30th. It provides the Take-out/Free delivery service and has the most competitively priced menu. One of the interesting things for me is that the owner still likes eating there regularly and sometimes takes over the grill to cook for his friends and family.
Here is one of the lunch choices for a rainy day. That spicy green soup was excellent with the garlic toast and may have been a cactus of some sort. The main course was a thin Chili with shredded beef and hominy.
I wanted to head South and explore around the Caleta marina entrance for a dive site entrance and passed Scuba Shack on the way. One of our members was an instructor there before he relocated in the Virgins. Roberta says Hi. The Palapa next door caught fire and burned a couple years ago. Note the red Diesel refueling hose.
At a dock behind Scuba Shack one of the 5 Fury snorkeling catamarans is fueling up.
Scuba Shack is located at the far right of this Goggle Earth satellite shot. Note the compass in the corner; this picture is not square with the world. Notice also that the main coast road heads inland as it goes to the left (south). There is a stretch of the original Army coast watch perimeter road (1941) that continues along the coast headed to the entrance to Caleta harbor and marina.
That section of the coast road has not been used in ages and sort of breaks up after the first half. This is the end of the line. The coast road and airport were built for WWII submarine hunting.
This closer satellite look shows where the old coast watch road turns inland to go around the harbor. Right at the turn is an excellent entrance for beach diving on 'Paradise' reef. There are frequent glass bottom boats visiting the reef with snorkelers and scuba groups. I was checking out the site for a future outing after my ear heals up.
Ear, his ear, what's with that?
On my first dive of the winter I was a little stuffed up and had trouble equalizing the pressure in my ears. On one occasion I had to blow pretty hard to get my ears to pop and bruised one ear drum doing it. I'm taking Ibuprofen and an antihistamine for a week to help with the pain and swelling.
For the details go here: http://scuba-doc.com/Midearbt.html
I started my exploration at the North end of the old abandoned coast road, on foot, beach combing along the way. Here is a doll face I found staring up out of the bare rock beach.
Now I've got a question for Joe.
Does this say JOE or 305
=)
Here is an item Joe just sent me tonight.
It's a cell phone picture of Minihaha falls today in Minneapolis, near his home.
Back to the beach. There is a lot of concern around all the plastic debris on the worlds beaches and I think pound for pound one of the major contributors is the shipping industry casting off their frayed and broken hawsers.
During my exploration I found a nice board that I could use at the hotel. I took it home on the Triciclo and it sort of blocked my view. Well, it blocked my view enough that I tagged a parked motorcycle outside a noisy cantina. Not really a biker bar, just a lot of Moto's and bikes. I took a picture of the bike and went into the place, showing the picture on my camera, asking for the owner. I was the closest thing to some entertainment and there was lots of interest in my asking for the bike owner. I was imagining the worst but no one knew anything about that bike so I left. This big, long haired Mayan guy calls to me as I walked away from the bar and he turned out to be the bike owner. What a miracle, his English was fluent. I explained the deal. He looked at the bike and my Triciclo and said to forget it. His name was Tiger so I asked him if he played golf. He laughed.
There is a scenic and spiritual AA meeting in the Barracuda Hotel backyard Sunday mornings overlooking the sea with palms swaying etc. On the way out I noticed this DuneBuggy at the curb. I'd seen it running around town but never parked. As I was taking a picture the owner comes up and we chat. He had the body shipped from Miami years ago and assembled here after it was shortened 10". The stock fiberglass DB body requires a 14" cut to begin with so this outfit is 2' shorter than the original bug.
There is a ferry for trucks and cars that sails between Colico, on the mainland, and Cozumel. Because of scheduling one always spends Sunday tied up at the cruise ship pier.
Here is the sun setting just byond it's bow.
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