Cozumel, Mexico: Day 4: Thurs. 2/4/10

We actually had plans for an excursion today - our one big excursion for the week. The plan was to pick up a rental car and drive around the island. First we had breakfast. Today, the mini breakfast consisted of scambled eggs with vegetarian sausage mixed in (yes, believe it or not, they do not cook with meat at Mi Casa, I was happy to learn). It was delicious and was accompanied by a tablespoon-sized dollop of bean sauce, which Mr. Sassy said looked like cat puke. (He knows just how to get my appetite going). We also each received a piece of delicious pound cake today.

After breakfast we walked down our street a few blocks to pick up our rental car from Isis (I had reserved via email ahead of time). The rental pick up went well, except that I think there was some kind of miscommunication because I had reserved a "VW Sedan" (which I envisioned would be a regular car) but what we received was a VW Bug. I thought I had specified in my email that I did not want to rent a Bug (I find them annoying to drive) but I guess my email was misunderstood. At any rate, when the car was pulled up to the curb and the rental guy motioned for us to come over to the car, I told him there must be a mistake because I reserved a sedan. He knocked on the roof and said it is a sedan (I guess they consider anything with a hard roof to be a sedan). Whatever. No biggie. I've driven them before decided to make the best of it.

Mr. Sassy has never driven a stick shift. I have, but it has been years, so it took awhile to get the hang of it again. Poor Mr. Sassy was hanging on for dear life. The first 15 minutes or so on the road were a bit stressful, between me trying to get used to the manual transmission (and the accompanying herky-jerkiness), and trying to figure out how to get to the main road (with all the one-way streets making it difficult) to drive around the island, let's just say it was one of the few stressful moments of the trip. Finally, we found our way to the main road. The Bug was just as annoying to drive as I had remembered from the last time I rented on in Cozumel, back in 2002. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same car. Bugs don't go very fast and it's kinda like driving a go-cart.

Here's a video I took during our drive on the east side of the island:



It was a fairly cloudy day. The sun would come out for a few minutes and then it would get cloudy We drove all the way around to east side of the island where we saw some really beautiful vistas - I took lots of photos. The scenery here reminded me of Aruba which also has a "wild" side with rocky terrain and big waves.

We stopped at one location where there was an area of rock that resembled lava and blow holes where ocean water was spraying up through the rocks. The rock was difficult to walk on because it had sharp edges and of course silly me wore the most inappropriate shoes possible (flip flops) which made walking even more perilous (that's why I am hanging onto Mr. Sassy in the photo below). We stayed at this location for awhile and took many photos and a couple videos. It was really a beautiful spot and we also met some nice fellow Americans who took our photo.














Here's a video of me getting splashed by a blow hole:




We got back into the Bug and drove further and eventually came to Chen Rio. Initially our plan was to hang out at Chen Rio for lunch and swimming, but as we sat in the parking lot, the water looked kinda rough, so I suggested we should go back to the west side for the rest of the day and enjoy the calmer waters where we could swim (we're kinda zen when it comes to swimming). Mr. Sassy was okay either way, so we drove back to the west side.


Once on the west side, we headed to Playa Palancar Beach Club which seemed to be a frequently-recommended beach on the discussion board and on other places on the internet. I was excited to see what this beach club would be like.

The second we arrived at a table, before we even had put our bag down, a waiter came over to place a menu in our hands and take our order. I felt a little rushed, but okay - he was willing to wait while we looked over the menu, and we were hungry, so we placed an order for some food. He then asked if we would like drinks and we replied, "not right now". He shot us a dirty look and then took off to put in our food order. We then got to work setting our space up. As I mentioned, I burn very easily, so I must be in the shade whenever possible. At Palancar, the food tables and chairs are under umbrellas, but the lounge chairs are in the sun, so once we put our stuff down at the table, I began to pull a nearby lounge chair toward our table to position it under the shade of our umbrella and out of the sun. Right away, the waiter came rushing over and began to yell at us "no no no no no!!! You can't do that. That chair has to stay there." So I tried to explain to him that I cannot sit in the sun because I burn. "No no no. That chair is for people who order drinks" - or something to that effect that made absolutely no sense, and he had a really cranky attitude about it - as though we were commiting a capital offense and were a major pain in his ass.

His attitude really rubbed me the wrong way and have zero tolerance for mistreatment, so I picked up our stuff and said to Mr. Sassy, "let's go". I told the waiter, "never mind. Please cancel our order" and we began to pack up our beach bag to leave. As we packed our stuff, he came back a moment later and said, "okay, you can keep ONE chair in the shade, but NOT TWO", as though he was granting us some big favor, but I said, "no, gracias". I was not willing to give him our business at that point.

We got back into the Bug and headed to Mr. Sancho's Beach Club where we would not be hassled. We planted ourselves under a nice big palm tree and as soon as our butts hit the lounge chairs the waiter came over to take an order (they really don't waste any time, do they?). We were hungry, so we placed an order for food. "Any drinks?" "No, gracias". (We had brought some soda and water and didn't need anything at that time). "Ohhhh....just to let you know, if you brought your own drinks, make sure you hide them so the manager doesn't see them. If he asks me, I will tell him you bought drinks from me, but I am really not supposed to do that." His English wasn't great, so I don't know why I bothered, but I tried to ask him why - if we are ordering food and spending money - is there any problem? But he wasn't getting my question, and my Spanish isn't good enough to ask him in Spanish, so I dropped it. At this point I was really reaching my limit with beach bar waiters, although this one at least didn't have a cranky attitude like the last one, but he was trying to make us feel badly for not ordering drinks. Mr. Sassy was pretty annoyed too at this point. We could see if we were freeloading all day and not spending money, but we were paying customers buying food and would also buy drinks later. Back the frig off already! Anyway, we decided not to let the annoying waiters ruin an otherwise lovely day.


We enjoyed the food today - we ordered the Caribbean fries again (which are sooo good) as well as "Sancho's Nachos" with shrimp...scrumptious! We also ordered 2 drinks each and spent a total of $36.00 on everything.

The sky got sunnier as the day went on and I got to swim for over a half hour. The water was a little cool at first, but I got used to it within a few seconds. Mr. Sassy didn't go in. It was too cold for him. Later in the day we relocated ourselves to the swimming pool area and enjoyed that for an hour or so. It's one of those infinity pools that blends in with the horizon and the view is just gorgeous from the pool. Mr. Sassy sat with his feet in the pool listening to his IPod and I got a cute video of him jamming to Yes.



We left around 4:30. We stopped at the Mega to stock up on water while we had the car (easier to transport back to the hotel than by foot) and then we drove to the Covi liquor store to buy some rum (Havana Club) and then back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.



We decided to try an Argentinian empenada restaurant called Del Sur down the street from our hotel which was another "cheap and good" recommendation from the Trip Advisor folks. This is a very small cafe with just a couple tables inside and out. You go inside and look inside the glass case and point out the empanadas you want and then they cook them for you (think Hot Pockets as a rough idea of what they are like, although of course, Hot Pockets aren't anywhere near the same league as these). We each ordered 3 empanadas to start with. One of mine had mushrooms and onions, another had mozzarella and basil, and the third had veggies and corn in them. Mr. Sassy got one that had tuna in it and a couple others with veggies. These empanadas were pockets of ecstacy. They were so freaking delicious. The dough was really flaky and the fillings were just delectable. And cheap cheap cheap. I think they costed $1.25 -$1.50 each. Mr. Sassy also got this special tea called mate ("mah-tay") that is made out of leaves from the mate plant. The tea came in this special container with a metal straw and the novelty of this really appealed to Mr. Sass. The owner of the restaurant, Rene (who was a real doll), stood and talked with us for awhile, explaining to Mr. Sassy how to drink the tea so that the leaves don't come up the straw, and telling us about the energetic properties of the tea. He also talked to us a little about running the restaurant and that he is also a diving instructor. Rene is Mexican and his wife (who also runs the restaurant) is Argentinian and we talked a little bit about Argentinian cuisine. He was super nice. I ordered 2 dessert empanadas - one had a filling of a fruit called membrillo (otherwise known as quince), which tasted like a cross between pear and apricot, and the other had a dulce de leche (or creamy caramel) filling. To die for. Our bill, including tip, came to only $13.00. A steal for this quality of food.

After dinner, we walked around a little on the main drag and for some reason, we weren't hassled that much. Maybe the salespeople sensed that we had been hassled enough for one day.


On our way back to the hotel, we decided to stop in at Le Bistrot, which is a restaurant just a couple doors down from our hotel. Mr. Sassy was jonesing for some coffee and I felt like having another dessert since the dessert empanadas were very petite. I ordered a piece of chocolate cake, which was okay but nothing great and Mister ordered coffee (total with tip was $7.50 USD). I have noticed that breads, pastries and cakes are not a strong suit in Mexico. Le Bistrot has a really cute garden dining area and looked like an appealing place to have dinner, but we never ended up eating there. Once back at the hotel, we crashed out. We just can't seem to keep our eyes open at night.