Puerto Morelos, Mexico Friday 16 December 2011

Puerto Morelos has changed little in the four years since we last visited. There are no new streets expanding the town and the Western border is still defined by the mangrove swamps. A few new buildings have filled empty lots and condos damaged in previous hurricanes along the beach are being rebuilt. A few hotels and restaurants are gone; a few new ones have taken their place. A few more souvenir shops have opened in the vicinity of the town square. Teenagers play and gossip in the park waiting for the bus to take them home.

 We visit a few of our favourite restaurants and find them still good value. We enjoy a North Americanized Mexican lunch at Doña Triny’s and we join the locals at La Pepita for shrimp ceviche and fresh fillet of fish. Gringos spend the morning eating breakfast at outdoor cafés around the town square. We buy breakfast makings at the local grocery where the beer and booze section takes up more than half the space. The good news is there are now loaves of good healthy bread baked by local Gringo women sold in the grocery.

 The beach is still a long expanse of white sand with few sun worshippers. The massage tables have arrived in Puerto. T outs invite you enjoy a session on massage tables setup under sun shades at regular intervals along the beach. Several of the beach front bars advertise specials of 5 cervezas (beers) and two for one happy hour cocktails. The reef is still about ½ km offshore, lined with boats full of snorkelers enjoying the colourful fish. Deep sea fishing boats are anchored in a row beside the wharf. The boat touts stand at the entrance to the beach chatting amongst themselves, business is slow.

 For once, the weather is unsettled. Instead of clear, blue skies, dark clouds hide the sun and the wind whips up the surf. The water is chilly at first but still a pleasant temperature, about the same as our northern lakes in the height of summer. We happily float in the water, bobbing about in the waves. The current send us south along the beach for a short distance, just as it always has. After our swim we walk north along the beach to dry off. It is comforting to find familiar buildings still lining the shore.

 In short, Puerto Morelos is still the same small village we enjoyed in the past; the same good, uncrowded beach and clear waters; the same variety of restaurants. We know we are going to enjoy our stay here.

  Mayan PalaceMonday 19 December 2011

We said we would never subject ourselves to a timeshare sales pitch again, and this time we mean it! We phoned to cancel our breakfast and condo talk and were told that there were a lot of changes to the Mayan Palace organization that needed explanation. That was true but did it have to take us all morning to convince the staff that we were not interested in any upgrade. Our biannual week at a Mayan Palace resort is almost more than we can use. Even the payment for attending what is essentially a sales session was not worth the hassle. That is the downside of timeshare ownership. Yes, the resorts are already good and are becoming more upscale every year. The rooms spacious and comfortable, with kitchens for those, like us, who like our own cooking rather than expensive restaurant fare. Many people are content to spend their entire vacation at one resort but not us. We like to explore other countries independently and if we can, we appreciate a week of upscale accommodation, but we can only take so much of large resorts. Give us the small, casual places any day.

We moved to the Mayan Palace, about 11 km south of Puerto Morelos, last Saturday morning. There are several new buildings on the property since we were there four years ago, most of which are Grand Mayan Palace accommodation, the upscale condo section. We are in the standard, Mayan Palace section. Even though we arrive at 10:30 AM and check-in time is not guaranteed until 5 PM, the helpful clerk locates an available room for us. We managed to leave our bags in our new room and hop on a resort minibus bus heading for Playa Del Carmen, a 20-30 minute ride farther south. It is a large tourist town with lots of hotels and restaurants, a good sandy beach and, the most important draw for us, a big Wal-Mart with a good grocery section. We buy enough to see us through half of the week. We had planned to have a swim on the beach but the skies are overcast and it rains periodically. Instead we have a leisurely lunch in one of the resorts and make it back to the Mayan Palace after dark. If we were closer to the equator, sunset would not be until 7 PM, but at this time of year in the Yucatan, the sun sets shortly after 5 PM.

The next day we are ready for a day lounging around the huge pool complex and exploring the beach. The surf is still high so the red flags, meaning dangerous swimming conditions, are out. The access to the ocean from the Mayan beach is not good anyway. The shoreline was decimated by Hurricane Wilma several years ago and most of the sand was swept out to sea leaving a rocky limestone shelf extends several meters into the sea. The only safe time to swim, as we discovered four years ago is at high tide when the seas are calm. Instead we lay claim to beach chairs around the pool and I head for a half hour yoga stretch class on the beach. The instructor is quite good and certainly challenging for a neophyte yoga follower like me. I plan to attend as many of these sessions as possible. The other class I like is a half hour aquafit session that is quite popular. I even convinced Ray to join me and he pronounced it fun and worthwhile. Both of us passed on the pool and beach volleyball and other game sessions. We both like to read our books, swim periodically and generally relax. We did manage a walk down the beach and worked on our tans, slathering on the sun screen so as not to burn. Such is the life at a beach resort.

Puerto MorelosTuesday 27 December 2011

What! No turkey dinner with all the trimmings? What is the world coming to! But is that what we really want for in a warm climate? No, give me shrimp ceviche every time! Yes, that was our Mexican Christmas dinner; shrimp ceviche with a large, delicious salad and a bottled of chilled, white wine. To top the day off after a swim in the ocean, we had guacamole, refried bean dip and a bottle of beer.

The usually almost empty beach was a hopping place from Christmas Eve Day through to Boxing Day. All the beach umbrellas were occupied and extra chairs and beach blankets were scattered over the sand. The gringo tourists were joined by many happy Mexican families enjoying lunch, a beer and a dip in the ocean. It was the place to go and be seen and we were there enjoying the scene as well.

In fact, we have established a pleasant routine. The Mexican-Chilean owners of one of the restaurants are starting a Yoga studio and vegetarian restaurant in their home. Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning will see me learning the yoga moves at the studio and their four course meal on the patio in front of the studio earned a return visit.

At least once a day we go for a swim, sometimes with our snorkels, and a walk on the beach. Our first foray with the masks and snorkels we brought from home had us plunging into the water right from the beach and immediately encountering several rather large barracuda. They didn’t seem very interested in us, but a fellow snorkeler warned me not to wear my silver hoop earrings as the barracuda might be attracted enough to try to take a nip. I am heeding that warning. A small, brown sea turtle appeared foraging for food in the sea grass beds. I followed it as far as the corals before it took off in another direction and we were distracted by the colourful fish. Another day we took a boat trip out to the reef, just a few 100 meters offshore, to see more turtles, Eagle and Sting Rays and lots of fish. Our guide picked up a baby sting ray for us to pet the velvety underside before setting it free. The corals are only a few feet below the surface so all you need is a mask and snorkel to view them.

Our main meal is usually at one of the local restaurants at lunch time. With a small kitchen in our condo, we can prepare our own breakfast and a small snack for supper. We are now addicted to guacamole. It is nutritious isn't it? Our before supper routine is a dice game called Farkle, cribbage and gin rummy. We don’t keep a running tally of wins.