Change in Weather

For the past few days, it has been humid here with some clouds though that does not mean that the sun does not do its job. The wind, which there has been plenty of, has been coming from the south; today it switched and is now coming from the north. I was advised that the north beach would mean blowing sand so I decided to go to the west side of the island. This is where Mexicans hang out, and I get the view of Cancun and the ferries on the way to the mainland.

I had to go to the market and checked at the travel agency about tours. Breakfast this morning was one quesadilla and one tostada; the food is so tasty with the extra bonus of being quite affordable. My meal was a total of $25 pesos which is just over $2.00 CDN; I also had a fresh squeezed orange juice for $10 pesos. The orange juice (jugo de naranja) is every bit as good as I remember, and with a fridge in my room, I pick up a bottle to have some on hand. Before my breakfast was served, I read the newspaper; read is a bit of a stretch. Some day.

When I got back to the hotel, Gabriel - the host - told me that there was going to be an authentic guacamole creating lesson at noon so the beach would have to wait. Gabriel´s wife, Selina and their 2-year-old son, were the chefs. Max, the young boy, even had his own apron; he was very entertaining and irresistible for the photographers in the crowd. His biggest task was to squeeze the lemons (that´s what they call them here but they are green so my inclination is to call them limes). The guacamole was great, though without garlic, I wondered. But I didn´t miss it a bit. They also gave us free cerveza but I passed - still don´t like beer.

After stopping at the grill next door for ribs (they weren´t ready), I headed to the beach. The sun, gratefully, was not as hot as previous days, and I was actually a little chilly getting out of the water but not for long.

A while after I got there, a man came out of the water, and starting chatting with me. This day I had no beach companions so we had a long conversation about work, Mexico, speaking Spanish, and his home town of Merida. We had a lovely conversation, and I was ready for a break as I have been reading The Blind Side, a book left by a former occupant of the hotel. It is everything to do with football, which I know absolutely nothing about. I am learning a lot about Michael Oher. Ishmael works on Isla Mujeres but lives in Cancun; he speaks English quite well, and I got to practice some Spanish.

The sunset was beckoning so I said farewell (with some sort of nod after he invited me to come and see his hotel tomorrow) because the camera was back at the hotel. I stopped at the rib place, but it was closed. Life is always about timing.

It is Saturday night on the island, and party time. Happy hour has definitely started, as I can hear from my spot at this Internet spot, and people are flocking to the restaurants. Me too. I still have my list of "must goes," but ribs are what I was hankering for. Soon, I will be more inspired by other ideas.

My new word of the day is "popota" which means straw. This is not in the dictionary. Alfredo, the maintenance guy, knocked on my door this morning after me coming back from the market and presented me with a popota. Visual and auditory. A well-rounded education.