Cozumel, Mexico: Day 5: Fri. 2/5/10

The morning was a little rushed because we had to eat breakfast and return the rental car by 9:30. For breakfast today, we had 2 tiny corn empanadas which were stuffed with veggies. They were tasty, but nowhere near as good as the ones we had a Del Sur last night. We also were served the delicious pound cake.

We took a couple minutes to check email and then were off to return the car. Oh but wait - first we had to fill the tank with gas. I had remembered seeing a Pemex station on the main road, so we went there and filled up and then tried to find our way back to Isis which took some doing. We got a bit turned around. Those damned one-way streets!

We did get the car back on time with no problems and then walked back to the hotel. We talked about what we wanted to do that day and since the weather seemed a little iffy, we didn't want to spend $14-$16 to take a taxi to the southern beaches only to get rained out and have to spend another $14-$16 to get back. We decided to pay a visit to the Barracuda Hotel beach bar which was within walking distance. We had never been there before, but we figured it was worth checking out.

When we arrived, things looked promising. We liked the look of the place and we also liked that it was waterfront, even though they did not have a traditional beach. We also liked that there was a swimming pool as well as plenty of shady areas. When we arrived, we were happy to discover that the music being played was bearable (Elton John, The Beatles, No Doubt). We planted ourselves down and enjoyed ourselves for awhile. We ordered some food - guacamole and chips (can you tell how much we like guacamole?), cheese enchiladas as well as some french fries. The food at Barracuda was average and nothing to write home about.


As time went by, the enjoyment quotient began to diminish because the music turned from decent music at a reasonable volume, to unbearable music (i.e. pulsating club music) at a blaring volume. The bar area was getting more and more crowded with lots of 20-somethings, so I guess the DJ was catering to their tastes. I had brought a book to read and decided to put my IPod on (with some New Age music to hopefully block out the noise) so that I could read. Mr. Sassy wasn't in the mood to listen to his IPod and the club music was driving him batty, so he told me he was going to go for a short walk to check out a cigar store in the same building as the hotel (called "No Name Cigar Store").

Mr. Sass came back aggravated because he had a bad experience in the cigar store. At first things seemed promising and the store seemed to be a serious cigar store. Mr. Sassy had stopped in there a day or so before and had spoken a knowledgable customer who was shopping in the store. He had recommended a particular cigar to Mr. Sassy and Mr. Sassy took note of the name of the cigar to get later.

This time in the store, he encountered a situation with the female sales clerk. Mr. Sassy pointed to the cigar he wanted, telling her he would like to buy one, and the clerk proceeded to grab the sample cigar out of the tray to give Mr. Sassy (the cigar had been sitting out in the open and was likely stale), so Mr. Sassy asked her to please give him one from the box. Suddenly she seemed not to understand English, so he repeated himself, pointing to the box and asking for a fresh cigar. She turned her back to him in a way that she thought her hands were out of view, but Mr. Sassy could see her hands and she tried to pull a shell game on him, fiddling her hands around and handing him the stale cigar again! So Mr. Sass said, "no, the other one please" and she gave him a blank stare again, so he said, "the one in your right hand" and she began to play coy with him, giving him a flirty smile and batting her eyelashes at him. She was trying to play him for a gringo muy stupido.

Finally, she gave him the right cigar and began to write a hand-written receipt for him. As she was writing the receipt, a young trust fund kid (who apparently had been sitting at the counter drinking for awhile) rudely interrupted Mr. Sassy's transaction and barked at the clerk to refill his drink, telling her he's in a hurry. The clerk dropped Mr. Sassy and his transaction and left to wait on the trust fund kid. Mr. Sassy asked her to please ring him up but she batted her eyelashes again and pretended not to understand, so Mr. Sassy told her to forget it and left.

Needless to say, when Mr. Sassy returned to the beach, he was in a worse mood than when he left. He told me he couldn't take this place anymore and that he was going back to the hotel. (He rarely gets like this and when he does, I know not to argue with him). I wanted to use the pool before we left, so I told him to go ahead back to the hotel and I'd meet him there in about a half hour, after I swam.

So Mr. Sassy left and I went over to the pool to swim. At this point the music was really blasting and highly annoying, and the pool was filled with people, but I was determined to swim for a little. Once I dipped my toes in, though, I changed my mind. The pool was pretty cold and that coupled with the bad and loud music made me change my mind about swimming. I walked back to the hotel.


Back at the hotel, we hung out in the main courtyard for awhile and relaxed on the lounge chairs. After a little while, a storm blew in and it got very windy and rainy. We went to our room and hung out for an hour or so and watched some t.v.

For dinner, our intention was to go to Especias, a highly-recommended (and reviewed) restaurant on Trip Advisor. I was very excited about this dinner and made a point to make reservations on a night when the much-talked-about guitarist would be playing. Our reservation was for 8:00 p.m. When I made the reservation, I requested seating on the outdoor patio.

When we arrived at 8:00, they seated us inside the restaurant and when I asked about the outdoor patio, they said it was too windy to sit out there. So we were seated inside the restaurant, which was fine, because we got to sit right in front of the wonderful guitarist. And when I say he was wonderful, I mean this guy was FANFREAKINGTASTIC. I am a guitarist, so I know a fantastic player when I hear one. He played mostly Spanish classical-style music, but just as I turned my video camera on to film him he suddenly went into an interpretation of Stairway to Heaven which was just awesome (and as luck would have it, Mr. Sassy and I are huge Zep heads).



A waiter came by to take our drink order and deliver food menus. Our drinks and menus were delivered promptly but then we waited. and waited. and waited. and waited. and waited. and waited for someone to take our food order. We sat with our menus for over 40 minutes and were never waited on.

Now, I know things move a little more slowly in Mexico and we are not rushy, demanding Americans. I can chill and wait longer than is customary and even expect it, but this was getting ridiculous. It had been 40 minutes since our menus had been delivered and at this point it was 8:40 p.m. and our food order hadn't even been taken yet. We were beyond starving. We watched the waiter and Adrian (the owner) walk past us over and over again, hob-knobbing with other patrons, bringing food and drinks, taking orders from everyone, removing plates and clearing tables, and yet each time they walked by our table (which, by the way, was located smack dab in the center of the restaurant - we were not off in some corner somewhere), neither of them so much as made eye contact with us - that is, until we finally got tired of waiting and took our wallet out to leave money for the drinks and leave. As soon as the wallet came out, Adrian came rushing over, "are you ready to order?" We told him no, we had decided to leave. I think he realized why we were leaving (because he didn't ask). We asked him how much we owed for the drinks. He told us the drinks were on him and we tried to pay him, but he insisted. It was an awkward moment but I thought this was the right thing to do, considering the circumstances and we appreciated the gesture.

(Things were so "off" today - we wondered if it was a full moon or something.)

We left Especias and discussed where to go. We decided to try Casa Denis which was on our list of places to try and was recommended another good & cheap place. It also is (supposedly) the oldest restaurant in Cozumel. If I am not mistaken, the owners of Casa Denis are the parents of Adrian from Especias so as you can see, we held no grudges ;)

Casa Denis was a basic Mexican restaurant with decent food. It wasn't the best food we had on the trip, but it was good enough. Mr. Sassy got cheese enchiladas with (his favorite) mole sauce. We also got jalapeno poppers (I was surprised to see these in the Yucatan...I thought they were an American/Tex Mex speciality). I got fish filet with cheese sauce. As always, salsa and chips were also brought to our table. The sauce was WAY WAY HOT and we could only eat a tiny bit at a time. I believe I also ordered flan for dessert and we ordered a soda and a beer. The bill came to $29 USD including tip.

As we were eating, we heard some good music coming from the main plaza, so when we were finished eating, we walked over to the square to see what was going on. To our delight, there was a Latin band playing (never did find out the name of the band) and they were great! There were about 6-8 players in the band with a female singer.

Mr. Sassy's mood was still a little foul and at first, he wasn't interested in dancing. He stood and watched me dance while I twirled and pulled on his hands and tried to get him to spin me. It took awhile, but finally he gave in and did my favorite dance, which we call "the Alfie Butt Scrape Routine". Here's the story. Did you ever see a dog or cat drag their ass across the floor to scratch it by scooting themselves with their front legs, while their butt drags on the floor? Well, we used to have a cat (Alfie) who did this and Mr. Sassy's impression of him doing the butt scrape never fails to crack me up. So here he is, doing the Alfie Butt Scrape in dance form:



That was about all the dancing Mr. Sass was up for, so I danced with some other locals and tourists for quite awhile. It was soooo fun dancing to that awesome music. You can't help but feel happy when that music is playing. After all the fun at the square, we went back to the hotel to go to bed and WOW - a late night! It was 10:30 p.m.!