April 9, 2018
I got up early on Monday, thinking I would go to yoga. I left Carlos snoozing and went out to find
the yoga class which was supposed to be beside the adult pool, near our
room. I searched all over the property,
but never did find the yoga class. I
went back to the room and worked on my blog for a couple of hours until Carlos
got up. Then we went to breakfast,
arriving just before breakfast finished.
Viva Maya is like a cruise ship in that there is always food. There are distinct mealtimes, but the snack
bar operates 24/7, offering pizza, burgers, hot dogs, and an assortment of
fruit and Mexican food.
Carlos is a good dancer and one of my missions for this trip
was to start learning Latin dances. We
went back for another lesson in merengue.
The teachers went WAY too fast and the students were scrambling to keep
up. It was fun but passed by in a blur
and I retained almost nothing. As I have
somewhat of a mental block when it comes to learning dance steps, this was not
surprising.
After some time at the pool, we headed over to the trapeze
rig so Carlos could try his hand. He did
pretty well for a first time and finished with an elegant back flip. I videotaped his performance. Then I went to a Zumba class while Carlos
rested and sneakily videotaped me trying to dance. When that was over, we got another salsa
lesson. I hoped that some of it might
sink in if I kept going, but they seemed to be counting repetitions instead of
beats and we were both fairly confused.
Still, it was entertaining and the music was good.
 |
| Don Diego Restaurant at Viva Maya |
We had a 6:00 dinner reservation, so just had time to get
cleaned up and ready to eat dinner at Don Diego, the Mexican restaurant in the
resort. The restaurant was decorated in
traditional Mexican fashion with leather tables and chairs and sombreros
and zarapes everywhere. I started with
shrimp nachos and was surprised when I received two chips covered with shrimp
and cheese. They were more like small
tostadas than nachos, but at least I wasn’t tempted to gorge myself. We both ordered arrachera and it was tasty,
although the side dishes were more decorative than delicious. Neither of us were impressed with the cakes
we received for dessert, but the strawberry margaritas were good and Carlos got
shots of good tequila. The service was
good and the staff amusing, so we had a good time.
 |
| Incredible Spread of Hors D'oeuvres |
 |
| Carved Watermelon |
We had been invited to a cocktail party that evening. The party was boring and we were too full to take advantage of the incredible hors d'oeuvres. Everything was amazingly presented and there were beautiful watermelon carvings. Looking at the food was the best part. The two margaritas I had had with dinner made me ready for bed by
7:30, so I went back to the room to relax while Carlos went out on the town in
Playa del Carmen with the girls he had met the previous night. I was asleep by 10:00.
April 10, 2018
Once again, I got up early and went to get a cappuccino at
the coffee bar. The best WiFi connection
in the hotel was at the coffee bar, so I stayed there, playing with my phone
until I got hungry. Carlos met me for
breakfast and then I spent the rest of the morning using the internet in the
coffee bar.
 |
| Playing Horse Shoes on the Beach |
We met again for our dance lesson at noon and then barely
had time to eat a little lunch before our dance instructress drafted us to play
horse shoes. There was a competition
between several teams and Carlos and I emerged as the overall winners (due to
no fault of mine.) We received T-shirts
as prizes, which was a good thing because Carlos had done laundry and all his
clothes were still wet when dinnertime rolled around.
 |
| Carlos Hanging from His Ankles |
Carlos had another couple of gos at the trapeze and I begged
off Zumba to videotape him. Then it was
time for salsa again. Our days were
flying by, even though we hadn’t really scheduled anything.
 |
| The Porto Fino Restaurant at Viva Maya |
We had a later dinner reservation, so went for a quick dip
in the pool before showering and dressing for dinner. Tuesday night, we went to Porto Fino, another
Italian restaurant in the resort. The
food was not as amazing as at the Miramare, but the wine was better. I had a Caesar salad, some linguini al pesto
that was good but strangely contained potato cubes, and some very lovely
arrachera cooked in a red wine sauce.
Carlos had a chicken breast stuffed with crab and served in an almond
sauce. The sauce was good, but the
chicken was dry. The desserts were once
again disappointing. Carlos barely
touched his mango mousse and I only ate the fruit and custard out of the center
of my tart. Still, they kept the wine
coming and brought coffee with Bailey’s after dinner. It surely beat the cafeteria.
 |
| Daniel Singing |
 |
| The Backgrounds Really Made the Show |
 |
| May Pole Dance |
One of our dance instructors, Daniel, began the show by
singing a solo and he asked Carlos to videotape it for him. He was actually very good and his singing
expressed a lot of emotion. We
congratulated him afterward and had our pictures taken with him and the rest
of the cast.
Neither of us were really tired, so we walked out to the
beach and sat for a bit, enjoying the cool breeze and the lights of Cozumel in
the distance. Then I went back to the
room to write and Carlos went off to find his friends.
 |
| Me with Daniel and the Rest of the Cast |
April 11, 2018
We made it to breakfast before the doors closed and then
relaxed in the members lounge until it was time for my dance lesson. Carlos was stuck on the phone, so I went
alone. My partner was a rather arrogant
young man who was a professional dancer and informed me that I would have to
keep up. I mostly managed to do so and
had a good time.
 |
| Lounging by the Main Pool at Viva Maya |
The afternoon passed quickly. I relaxed by the pool and Carlos went back
for his trapeze session. I did a Zumba
class and then we took a salsa lesson. I had danced so much in bare feet on the
travertine tile that I had raised a blister on the ball of my left foot.
We ate dinner at the Viva Café, a windowless room that might
once have been a conference room. I did
not recall its existence on my previous visit to Viva Maya. The food was beautifully presented and tasty,
if a somewhat strange combination of dishes.
I began with an assortment of bruschetta, followed by cream cheese
stuffed shrimp and then a petite cheesecake covered with assorted berries and
graced with a tiny chocolate sailboat.
 |
| Trapeze Act |
 |
| Flying Around the Stage |
The highlight of the day was definitely the Las Vegas show
that evening. There were a number of fun
dance numbers, but the two circus acts stole the show. The first was a fellow who performed amazing
feats of gymnastics while suspended from a trapeze. He was amazingly strong and not a small man.
The second act which was in many ways even more fantastic
was a young man who flew about the theater suspended from a rope, sometimes
hanging from one foot. At one point he
even hung with a loop around his neck.
He swarmed up and down the rope and swooped and spun while the audience
held its breath. It was a spectacular
performance.
April 12,2018
 |
| A Beautiful Place to Sail |
I had a 9:00 appointment to review the status of my
membership in the vacation club, so I grabbed a cappuccino and went to the
office. When I finished there, I had to
hurry to the beach to meet Carlos in time to make our reservation to take out a
catamaran. The wind had finally died
enough for the port to be opened. It was
lovely sailing on the beautiful, warm, turquoise waters. The little Hobee catamarans offered by the
hotel have no headsails and so are nearly impossible to tack. They stall at the point where the bow is
straight into the wind and only throwing our weight to the low side sufficed to
complete the maneuver. Gybing was
somewhat easier.
 |
| Landscaping at Viva Azteca |
I took a swim in the ocean.
The water was very pleasant. I
spent the majority of the afternoon reading under a palm tree on the beach. In the late afternoon we walked over to the
Viva Azteca and walked around the property.
It was a smaller, quieter resort with only one pool and not a lot going
on. We had met several guests who
preferred the Viva Maya, even though it was not as expensive, because of all
the activities and shows. The Viva
Azteca was beautifully landscaped and peaceful when we were there.
 |
| Me with Carlos at Viva Azteca |
We ate dinner at Bambu, the Asian restaurant at the Viva
Azteca. It offered a strange variety of
Asian cuisines. I had spring rolls and a
dish billed as Indian that was made of beef and tasted like Turkish meatballs
atop fried rice. It was tasty, but
strange. I had deep fried ice cream for
dessert, which was fun. It was a short
walk back to Viva Maya and felt good after the meal. Carlos took a nap while I went to the
show. Then I wrote while we watched a
movie on TV.
April 13, 2018
Friday was our last full day at Viva Maya which felt a
little sad, but also somewhat welcome.
We couldn’t eat, dance, and lounge forever. It was time to get on with life.
We ate a late breakfast and then returned to lounge around
the room until I went off to my last merengue lesson. I was starting to get the hang of it and was
sorry I wouldn’t continue to have a regular opportunity to practice with sexy
young partners. Carlos went to the beach
in the afternoon while I dozed by the pool until it was time to head over to
Viva Azteca for our dinner reservation at Xul-Ha, a Mayan restaurant.
 |
| Dinner at Xul-Ha |
The restaurant was in an open-air palapa. While the ambiance was delightful, it was hot
and humid which may have contributed to my lack of appetite. There was nothing wrong with the food but,
after eating my sopa de limon, I barely picked at the little hard-boiled egg
enchiladas in green mole and sliced pork seasoned with achiote. Even the carrot cake for dessert didn’t tempt
me beyond one bite. The only thing I
really enjoyed was the cold beer.
 |
| Dance Number from Chicago |
We had time to walk back to the Viva Maya in plenty of time
for one more show. The entertainment
team performed a selection of dance numbers based on Hollywood movies. The huge screens provided vivid backdrops for
the dancers. In a few numbers, the
dancers would disappear from the stage, only to reappear in the video, which
was quite effective. I especially
enjoyed the selections from Chicago,
but there were also impressive performances based on The Matrix and Grease. When the show was over, I was happy to go
back to the room to read while Carlos went out for one last evening with the
friends he had made.
 |
| Grease |
We had just enough time to eat a leisurely breakfast, pack,
and check out of the hotel before noon.
We took a taxi the short distance to the tourist bus station in Playa
del Carmen (There are two.) Carlos caught
a bus from there to the airport for 190 pesos and I hopped on a bus to Puerto
Morelos for 32 pesos (<$2.)
 |
| Downtown Puerto Morelos Was a Mess |
The ride took most of an hour. We first threaded our way through Playa del
Carmen to the long-distance bus station and then followed the coast highway,
past numerous resorts, to the Puerto Morelos station. The bus station was on the highway, but the
beach portion of the town was a mile or so off the main road. I got a taxi into town for 30 pesos. The entire downtown area of Puerto Morelos
was torn up and blocked off because of a repavement project. The taxi dropped me a block and a half or so
from my AirBnB. I had to lug my bags
over the piles of sand and concrete forms to the place where I was staying.
 |
| My House in Puerto Morelos |
 |
| My Room |
My host had left me instructions for operating a lockbox to
get the key, but he just happened to be there and let me in. There were three units but I was the only
guest. There was a restaurant in the
front and three units in the back. Most
of the property consisted of a huge covered patio. Each unit had an outdoor kitchen under the
patio roof. My room was spartan, but
adequate. The bed was comfortable and
there was air conditioning and a limited supply of hot water that was
sufficient for one person. The hot water
heater held all of two gallons. I had an
identical one under my kitchen sink to provide hot water until the water from
the main heater kicked in. The room
could have used some paintings on the wall or something, but it was clean and
comfortable enough.
 |
| The Kitchen |
 |
| Puerto Morelos Malecon |
It was very hot when I arrived, so I stayed indoors and read
until the late afternoon when I went out for a walk. There actually is a port in Puerto Morelos. A coral reef just offshore provides a safe
anchorage. There were many fishing boats
and tour boats, but not one sailboat.
The reef was protected in a National Park and sunscreen was prohibited
on the otherwise attractive white sand beach.
The water was that clear Caribbean blue, marred only by the sargassum
that grew everywhere in the region. The
weed washed up onto the shore and was raked into mammoth piles. It wasn’t pretty, but did provide habitat for
sea creatures. I walked a little way
along the beach, but the wind was blowing hard enough that sand was flying
everywhere, so I quickly retreated inland to the street paralleling the beach.
 |
| Boats and Piles of Sargassum in Puerto Morelos |
 |
| Catholic Church in Puerto Morelos |
 |
| Bianco Restaurant |
Bianco was an Italian restaurant and I had some very good
gnocchi there. After three and a half
months in Mexico, I no longer felt I had to eat the local cuisine at every
meal. The food prices were quite
reasonable, but the drinks were at least 50% more expensive than on the Pacific
side. I wondered if this was because
people came to Cancun to drink. I
settled for beer which, even at inflated prices, was still only about $2.50 a
bottle. I enjoyed the meal and the view
and chatted with a Mexican family at the next table who were friends of the
owners.
After dinner, I strolled around the town. The square was lively with vendors and street
performers. Music poured out of several
restaurants. My place was very noisy
until well after midnight between the restaurant in front and the bar across
the street. At least I enjoyed the
singer across the street, although I was amused to hear her perform the same repertoire
played by all the musicians in La Cruz.
I longed for some good Latin music, but I hadn’t heard any on my
stroll. The best music I heard was
coming from a lot featuring a collection of food trucks. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to have time to
eat my way through all of Puerto Morelos.
I did manage to stop at an ice cream shop off the square on my way home
and get a waffle cone full of chocolate ice cream.
April 15, 2018
I got up early and went for a swim on Sunday morning. I walked down the beach, past most of the
boats, and stopped to swim in front of one of the hotels where I saw a few
other bathers. The water was cool, but
not too unpleasant. I didn’t stay in
long, since I had left my things unguarded on the beach. I dripped dry on the walk back to my lodging.
 |
| The Cafe D'Amancia |
After a shower, I went to the Café D'Amancia on the corner for
breakfast. I ordered a latte and huevos
rancheros. The latte was good and the
eggs tastier than they looked. Two fried
eggs were served atop about four tostada shells and drowned in what looked like
marinara sauce. I had never had crispy
tortillas with huevos rancheros before, but I enjoyed the meal nevertheless.
I went back home after breakfast to practice the guitar and
work on my blog. After a while, I heard
water splashing and wondered where it was coming from. Then the rain really started to hammer on the
patio roof and I realized that we were having quite a dramatic thunderstorm. The patio leaked quite a bit and water was
puddling everywhere. I spent the
afternoon huddling in my room, drinking champagne, working on a blog post, and
reading. I was a couple of weeks behind
on the blog, so there was a lot to do.
By the time I finally uploaded the post, it had stopped raining.
The rain had left the much-disturbed ground in front of my
house a soggy mess and I sank up to my ankles as I stood outside to lock the door. I had to wade across to the pavement of the
street proper. The rest of the town was
less muddy, but still covered in puddles.
All construction had halted with the arrival of the rain. I began to despair of the project being
finished in time for me to get a taxi near my house when I went to leave.
 |
| Tacos.Com |
I had come to Puerto Morelos on the recommendation of a
friend from the United States who said it was his favorite place. He had also given me a couple of restaurant
recommendations. On Sunday night, I went
to the first of these, Tacos.com. It was
a little hole in the wall down the street (Javier Rojo Gomez) from my lodging
on the other side of the plaza. They
offered a wide selection of gourmet tacos, most of which featured seafood. I ordered shrimp, spinach, bacon, and cheese
tacos on flour tortillas. They were
amazing, as was the orangeade they made from scratch. After the champagne, I could pass on
overpriced drinks. I don’t know if it
was the rain or just that I had gone out at dusk, but the jejenes were so bad
that I almost fled before the food came.
My feet and ankles were badly bitten.
Fortunately, the itching from those bites subsided after a few hours,
unlike the ones on the Pacific side which left big welts that lasted for days.
It was a little quieter at my place on Sunday evening and I managed
to practice the guitar a bit more and do some reading before watching a bit of
Netflix. My lodging had decent internet
and, being the only resident, I didn’t need to worry about hogging the
bandwidth. I tried to go to sleep about
midnight, but was kept awake by a very drunk man trying to sing Pink Floyd a
capella. He sounded like he was in my
courtyard but must have been out in the street.
No comments:
Post a Comment