Cozumel

Happy New Year from Cozumel, Mexico.

New Year's Eve, December 31, 2014 found us on a Ferry making our way over to Cozumel for the day.  We had a nice relaxing morning at our hotel.  We didn't want to relax the whole morning away, but we also didn't want to get up early either.  I think we timed it just right.  We walked down to McDonald's for breakfast.....I know what you all must be thinking.....You are in Mexico, why in the world are you having McDonald's for breakfast??  Because it was easy and convenient.  If it makes you feel better, we did eventually buy some Mexican Frosted Flakes and Mexican milk to have for breakfasts.

When we were at the beach the previous day, I noticed buildings out in the distance over the ocean.  We found that it was the island of Cozumel and the Ferry over to Cozumel was right there in Playa del Carmen.  It was a 40 minute Ferry ride to Cozumel, so not too bad.  We caught a taxi down to the Ferry.  The Ferry was just a straight shot down the road from where we were.  We were happy to find that if we wanted to walk to the beach, it wouldn't be too far.  It was nice to start getting a feel for the lay of the land.  I'm way too used to huge towering mountains to use as landmarks.

Meow-meow being adorable in the taxi.

The beach near the Ferry was a really nice beach and less crowded.  I told Nathan that if we couldn't figure out what to do on Saturday that I would want to come back to this beach.

Gateway to the beach.

Cozumel is a small island but big enough that you really need a car to get around.  As soon as we got out of our taxi, we were accosted by a guy renting cars for Cozumel.  We listened to his schpeel and rented a car.  In the end, I'm really glad we rented from that guy because the lines to rent cars when we got to Cozumel were atrocious.  We were able to get off the ferry and get our car really quickly.  We found the ferry dock, got our tickets and waited in line for the ferry.

Waiting for the ferry.

The ferry was quite bouncy and windy but a lot of fun.  I loved watching the wake our ferry made, it turned the water all white and foamy.

On the ferry.

Saying goodbye to Playa del Carmen for the day.

Other ferries. 

Hello Cozumel.

They have a pirate ship.  We didn't go see it.

There were cruise ships everywhere at Cozumel.

Pulling into the dock at Cozumel.

We got off the ferry and made our way to the place to pick up our car.  We could tell that Meow-meow was just about ready for his nap.

Waiting for our car.

Meow-meow fell asleep and I was getting hungry so we stopped at a hotel by the beach and ventured down to the restaurant on the beach.  I had the best Chicken salad I have ever eaten.  We weren't in any hurry so we took turns holding Meow-meow and relaxing in the sun.  I guess a couple of years ago, a pretty nasty hurricane ravaged things, so a lot of the beaches were demolished.  The once pristine beaches were swept away leaving rocky shores behind.  I wasn't too upset because the beach at Playa del Carmen was so disappointing.  As a matter of fact, neither Nathan or I had even brought our swimsuits with us.  Neither of us figured we would play in the sand or the water.  I later regretted that decision.

Ocean from where we stopped to eat.

Nathan's turn to snuggle Meow-meow

Zonked out.

My turn to snuggle Meow-meow.

After lunch and when Meow-meow woke up, we took off to explore the rest of Cozumel.  We found a likely beach to visit. From the location of this part of the beach, we guessed that it was protected from the hurricane by the dense jungle.  We hadn't planned on staying long....... But as we got walking in the water, I started finding sea shells.  If you know me well, you know that I can't pass up a pretty rock or a pretty sea shell.  The water at this beach wasn't too bad and it wasn't too crowded either.  The really good shells were a bit deeper in the water.  I wasn't happy that I decided to bring a swim suit.  Nathan took pitty on me and bought me a swim suit from one of the vendors.  We found an excellent shady spot for Meow-meow and Nathan to hang out at while I hunted for sea shells.  I had an absolutely fabulous time hunting for shells.  Nathan met a small family from England that he chatted with and we all had a good time.

There were peacocks where we were at.

Doesn't that just look so inviting?

Meow-meow was fascinated with the peacocks.

I could have stayed at that beach for several more hours, but we had a lot of island we wanted to see before we had to turn in our car and head back to the mainland.  We went down around another side of the island where you really could see the havoc the hurricane wreaked.  We found a nice place to stop for a visit.

Rocky beach.

Awesome waves.

More waves.

All rock, no sand.

More cool waves.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Not sure if these were vultures or not but they looked like they were.

I thought this looked pretty interesting.

We finished our drive around the island and returned to the main part of Cozumel.  There were tons of cruise ships in the water.  They must have all been coming in so the passengers could come ashore for New Year's Eve rabble-rousing.  Neither Nathan and I had any interest or desire being out and around a ton of drunk people and our plans for the next day were far more interesting than staying up late to see the New Year tick in.  We were planning on Isla Mujeres for New Years Day and Isla Mujeres is a small island off the coast of Cancun.   Cancun was at least and hour away from Playa del Carmen and a 20 minute ferry ride from Cancun.  We wanted to get an early start so we would have enough time to see all of the sights at Isla Mujeres.  We turned in our rental car and caught a ferry back to Playa del Carmen before the crowds descended on the place.

Cruise ships.

While I was waiting for Nathan to return the car, I noticed these huge eagle statues.

When we got back into Playa del Carmen, we figured we would just catch a taxi back to our hotel.  Well, the taxi's that night were more than we wanted to pay.  It was still early enough that we decided to have an adventure and walk back to the hotel.  We left the touristy part and ventured into local areas.  We happened to walk down a shopping district.  Talk about culture shock!!  Each store has huge speaker systems blaring out music loud enough to put a rock concert to shame, and every store is playing something different.  Talk about an all out assault to ones senses and I like rock concerts!!  Each store also has a guy with a microphone out trying to convince people why they should go shop in that store. It wasn't like the touristy vendors who would practically accost you to shop in their store.  These guys were just there shouting out the sales and such.  There were people everywhere.  I figured the crowds were because of it being New Year's Eve.....nope.  Nathan said Korea was the same way.  This is their version of a mall and their way of shopping and it's the same in other parts of the world.  As I've mentioned before, shopping and I aren't the best of friends, I don't even think I could go so far as to say we are friendly acquaintances and I'd rather have a root canal than spend hours upon hours shopping in a mall.....but I really think I prefer the American way of shopping.

The people, however, were awesome.  They were very friendly, they smiled at us, and those who could speak English would talk to us.  Everyone LOVED Meow-meow and we would get stopped so people could look at the white red-headed baby.  Meow-meow loved every minute of the attention he got.  We found a nice looking place to eat and had more delicious Mexican food.  My goodness, REAL Mexican food is wonderful.  I ate way too much.  It was some kind of soft taco with pork cracklings.  And here I am typing up this blog post while making our pathetic version of tacos for dinner.  Sorry, American-Mexican but I like the real stuff better.   I loved the food so much that we got a couple extra to go so I could snack on them later.....and I totally did, they didn't last very long.

From the beach to our hotel was about a 15 minute walk, so we figured there was no reason to need to take a taxi to the beach again....I'm not the biggest fan of taxi rides......and gee, I wonder why :P   But truth though, all of the taxi drivers we rode with were fun and very helpful.

All in all, we were all in bed and asleep by 10:30............


Like I said, getting enough sleep and energy for to spend the DAY at Isla Mujeres was far more important than staying up to ring in the New Year.  I'm a sun worshiper not a vampire.