El Cedral

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Since we still have our scooter for one more day we decide to go and check out a little town about half an hour south of here called El Cedral. It was one of the first inhabitted towns on the Island, we guess back in the 1700's. There is even one small Mayan ruin left.

Today, there are some permanent residents while others from San Miguel have weekend homes there. It's a quiet place, we like it. Some of the yards are immaculate. Most seem large and some are very well taken care of. There is much less litter in this small town than the city. There is no ocean as the town is inland by about 15 minutes.

We drive around the streets on our scooter which are not paved. We stop for a drink and look around at some little stores then check out the Mayan ruin and surrounding area which has been set up for tourists. There are a few tourists there who have come by taxi. There's a very cute little church. It seems like a religious area as many homes display crosses decorated with flowers on their fence or on their home.

We are pretty hot so instead of heading back to the condo we stop in at Mr. Sancho's Beach Club for lunch, we have not been there before. It's actually a pretty nice club, lots of loungers in the sand and a play area in the water with blow up toys for the kids. This beach club also offers an all-inclusive section. For $50 US, you get to use an exclusive area with a pool and swim up bar, some hammocks and loungers, and you can have all you can eat and drink for the day. We opt for the free side, and purchase an order of chicken fajitas to share in the restaurant for $13 US. All of the beach clubs are tourist oriented and generally very expensive for food and drinks, beer is usually $4, pop and water $2.50 US. We sit on some loungers and take a couple of swims in the ocean. I practice a little snorkeling and see my first fish in the ocean hanging around one of the anchors, pretty neat! The club is packed with tourists from the cruise ships, I think there are 6 or 7 here today.

Ian wants to do some grocery shopping with the scooter so he drops me off at the condo and picks up some groceries. There is some room under the seat for items and he also takes his pack back. It takes him two trips to get everything he wants. We watch the sunset across the street as usual, then we barbeque some chicken for dinner. Ian is getting really good at driving the scooter around, much more confident than when we first started. We have to take the scooter back tomorrow morning, we both agree we'll rent one again. For two full days of use, he will probably put $3 or $4 worth of gas in it.

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