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April 18, 2006
N20.3 W83.7 San Miguel, Cozumel, Mexico
An early morning flight from Guadalajara to Mexico City to Cozumel is enough to rattle the cobwebs from your head. The airport in Guadalayara, at 6:45am was a sea of bodies bustling everywhere. We barely made the flight, arrived a little bit late in Mexico City, and got our very short connection to Cozumel, with a Starbucks cafe latte con leche LITE in hand. I learned how to order Chis´ latte sin espuma (no foam) by chatting with the Starbucks guy. As leche does not agree with me, I opted for an espresso doble.
Mexicana Airlines was really impressive. Good service, on-time arrivals and departures.
Ajijic is very dry, and it is a welcome return to the warm humid sea air of the Caribbean.
We booked into a little place called the Hacienda San Miguel. Since Wilma, which really hit Cozumel hard, most of the hotels have gone to "all-inclusive". Not our scene. The hacienda is charming. About a block from the ocean, a tidy little room with a kitchen is really all we need.
While Chis dealt with work-related immigration issues, I hoofed it off to the grocery store. Fresh local mangoes, bananas, papaya, and some snacks for Chis (aka Oreo cookies).
Despite being the second best scuba dive destination in the world (according to the tourist guy at the airport, who tried to sell us on sitting through a time share presentation in exchange for a free breakfast and horseback ride), Cozumel is a tourist trap. During the day, the cruise ships arrive and barf their passengers into the streets to buy silver, leather, jewels and junky t-shirts like "Take me drunk I´m home". The prices double while the cruise ships are in town. It was recommended to us that we shop after 5pm when the prices drop considerably. Fortunately, neither of us are in dire need of leather boots, diamond rings, or tacky t-shirts. Although, it does sound like a prop shopping list for a spoof of Brokeback Mountain.
We leave tomorrow on the ferry for Playa del Carmen, where Matt and Ali will wed.
Posted by dave at April 18, 2006 08:32 PM