We headed to the restaurant around 7:00 a.m. so Mr. Sassy could have some coffee before breakfast. This morning I had huevos rancheros (with scrambled instead of fried eggs) and Mr. Sassy got a dish called molletes, which is essentially a toasted baguette topped with black bean spread, sauteed veggies and melted cheese. Of course, Rogelio was there with his bright smile, his warm handshake and "Good morning, Amigos". We made some small talk with him. By the way, Rogelio cracked me up yesterday. Every day I would ask him to teach me how to say something in Spanish. So yesterday I asked him how to say "sandwich" in Spanish. He replied with a deadpan face, "Sandwich. We got that word from you."
The entire day today consisted of us hanging out at the beach and in the pools. Mr. Sassy felt the ocean was a little cool, but he tends to be more sensitive to cool temperatures than I am. I thought it was very comfortable. It took me 3 seconds to get used to the ocean.
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| Yes, I know I am a dork with that hat, but it's all about sun protection! |
Today we took a beach walk in the opposite direction of where we went yesterday. This time we headed north. The beach wasn't too great in that direction. It wasn't bad, but nothing special. I must say that having walked up and down almost the entire length of beach in Playa del Carmen, the BEST section of beach is right in front of our hotel. It is the prettiest, widest, with no rocks and the beach is well-maintained (i.e. raked and seaweed removed regularly). It is also the quietest - with one exception, which I will talk about later.
During our walk on the beach, we came across a handsome pelican and got a nice picture of him. We also went in both pools today, spending a good time in each (again, perfect temperatures!) 
For lunch today I had the fish sandwich with corkscrew fries, and Mr. Sass had the tuna fish sandwich with fries. Both were really good. The highlight of the day was that we spotted an elusive local animal called a coatimundi (co-ah-ti-MUN-dee) or coati for short. This animal is a relative of the racoon, but it has a long snout and a tail that stands straight up. Very cute!!!
I had heard about this animal and had seen pictures from other travelers who had posted them on the internet, but this was the first time we had actually seen one. I saw the coati first. I was sitting on the porch and I saw the coati scurry near one of the buildings across the lawn. I called to Mr. Sass who was in our room napping, but by the time he got out there it was gone. A short while later, Mr. Sassy was lucky to spot one walking across the lawn in front of our building. So he went running after it to get a closer look but it quickly scurried away. We later saw a coati walking across the roof of one of the other buildings and I was lucky to get a photo of him. Altogether there were 5 sightings today! Very exciting. (We are wildlife lovers). If you double click on this picture, it will become full size and you can see him walking across the stone rocks.
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| If you look closely, you can see the coati on the rocks...his long tail is sticking straight out |
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| Coati on the roof |
I didn't take this photo, but I saw it on Facebook...somebody had posted it. It shows more clearly what a coatimundi looks like.
At around 5:00 p.m. we went to happy hour. We ordered the Drink of the Day, "Watermelon Splash" which was very tasty, but looked nothing like the photo in the advertisement:
Here we are goofing around at happy hour.
A bit later, after lots of times in the pools and the beach and wildlife watching, we went back to our room and relaxed in the hammocks for awhile before we got cleaned up for dinner.
Our original plan for dinner was to head to a restaurant named La Mission down the far end of town, but Mr. Sass was feeling a little run down, so we decided to stay close by and went to Piola, which is a beyond-fabulous wood-fired pizza place. We had eaten at Piola on our last visit and it was some of the best pizza either of us had ever eaten in our lives! We ordered a large pizza called the "Grenoble" which was topped with mozzarella, brie cheese, and tomatoes. It was to die for. 
After dinner, Mr. Sass was still feeling run down, but I wanted dessert, so we stopped at Origenes (which is right across the street from our hotel) so I could have that brownie and ice cream dessert again. There were different acoustic musicians playing and the music was in Spanish. Mr. Sassy had some espresso while I enjoyed my brownie and ice cream.
After that, we walked across the street to our hotel and were in bed a little before 9:30. We were both pretty beat.
I have to say, one of the nicest things about returning to the hotel every night is walking through this lovely, peaceful, softly-lit lobby. Ah!!!
What We Spent Today (in USD)
Tip Maid: $3
Tip Breakfast: $3
Tip Lunch: $3
Happy Hour @ Mahekal: $7
Dinner @ Piola: $21
Dessert @ Origenes + Tip for musicians: $23
TOTAL: $60
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