Blogs from Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico, North America - page 4

Ian gets up early and takes the scooter for a run around the Island, then stops in at a little hole in the wall restaurant for breakfast while I write our blog and do a little cleaning around the condo. Then we run out to pick up a few groceries. My arms are pretty sore from all the golfing yesterday since I'm not used to swinging the clubs so many times. After a nice shrimp and avacado salad for lunch here at the condo, we head back out to Paradise Beach on our scooter. Paradise is still my favorite beach for a number of reasons. The grounds and amenities are plentiful and immaculate. There's a restaurant, two bars, a few shops, two rest room areas complete with showers and change rooms, locker rentals, large heated swimming ... read more

Cozumel Golf and Country Club: Warning: Do not try to retrieve your ball from any water on the course as there may be aligators present. Aligators are known to lunge twice their body length. When we see the warning posted in our golf cart and the starter tells us to look around the tee boxes before we tee off for aligators, I think about little two or three foot aligators. We had been to the aligator sanctuary out at Punta Sur and had not even seen a single gator. This was not even close, in total, we see four or five aligators in various places throughout the course ranging in size from a baby swimming around to the largest about 10 feet long! No kidding, these guys are just right there on the course, sunning themselves ... read more

Cozumel Island is basically flat, there's no natural high point like a mountain or volcano, but there is a nice little restaurant called Prima Tratorria that offers some pretty spectacular views. It's funny how great minds think alike, we didn't find out until later, but Mary and Ken went there for breakfast, while we went there for lunch. A hostess stands outside at the entrance, which is an elevator at street level in the front of an apartment building about 10 stories high. The restaurant is cute and very clean, there's more staff than customers. Ian has a 1/4 lb cheeseburger with fries, but after chatting with the fellow at the next table, if we go back again, he'd definitely opt for the Juicy Lucy burger which is a little larger and loaded with fried onions. ... read more

I realize after being in Cozumel for almost seven weeks that we have fully acclamated to life on the Island. When you get off the main drag to any of the back or side streets, there are far more scooters and motorcycles than cars, this is because it's a more cost effective way to get around. As contemporary as the tourist areas has now become, Mexico in itself is still a third world country, so average people live pretty cheap. There's local ettiquette on how to drive scooters here, basically a third scooter lane is created on the double lane streets between the row of parked cars and lane of moving cars. If there are no parked cars, then scooters drive in the right lane. In town, all the single lane roads are all one way. ... read more

No trip to Cozumel would be complete without a stop to Wet Wendy's for one of their famous moutain-high margaritas, especially on a hot day like today. Wet Wendy's is a little bar / restaurant located downtown in the shopping plaza near the big clock across from the ferry. I'm honestly not sure how they get their ice to pile so high, they must have some kind of fancy blender, it stays frozen a really long time too! Although they offer 42 varieties, Ian opts for the regular lime flavor with salt. I had to quit tequilla drinking years ago, but I did sneak a little taste. Generally we find that margaritas here are served on the rocks as opposed to blended. After wandering around town for a while, we come across a tiny restaurant on ... read more