austxdan
27th June 2007, 06:20 AM
Day 2 - May 20, 2007 - Our Anniversary
I awoke just before 6:00 am, as the lightening sky was just beginning to brighten our room. Well rested, I let Chris sleep (it WAS our anniversary, so consider this the first of your presents, babe) grabbed the camera and walked out onto the beach. I planted my butt in the sand, and waited to get the first sunrise pictures of the trip.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/235/528480343_131c1cf90f.jpg
Figure 8 - May 20, early am
But I had this feeling I was not alone . . .
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1237/528481515_5d4dfd58fa.jpg
Figure 9 - Flock of Seag . . . nope, Pelicans
No, it wasn't just the birds, something or rather someone else was watching me. Finally, she came over and said "Hi". She was a local gal, rather scantily attired with a "barely there" top. She came across as someone who just wanted to have fun without any attachments, and although I never did quite grasp her name she came across as quite playful. She would throughout this trip become known as "my girlfriend".
And here she is:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1217/528483513_03beeb9c0f.jpg
Figure 10 - My girlfriend
This gal turned up on and off throughout our stay. She was actually quite the "crabber", as after I had checked on the status of Mr. Sun I turned back to find my gal up to her shoulders in the sand.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/235/528491211_0ea743d08e.jpg
Figure 11 - Crabbin'
Finally the sun made its appearance, and I was able to snag a few good shots.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/234/524143264_26c79d829a.jpg
Figure 12 - Mr. Sun
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/225/528490011_c2a8c80373.jpg
Figure 13 - ditto
Since it was our anniversary, today was a bona-fide "vegemitate day". I had secret plans for dinner that Chris knew nothing about, but during the day we were gonna lay on the beach, relax, and just enjoy the day. In order to minimize our actual movement we decided we would start out with breakfast at Tita's. We walked over about 7:40 and were told they don't open until 8:00. I wanted some coffee, and they were nice enough to give us a couple of mugs to take back to our cabana until they were ready to serve. This was a nice touch, so we sat in our porch chairs and read our books for a little while until breakfast was open.
Tita's has fantastic coffee and orange juice. We remember this from last year when after being served juice from a box where we were staying, we stopped on down during a morning hike. We recalled the fresh OJ that was served here, and of course now a year later we had to indulge ourselves again. Mmmm - a nice breeze, fresh orange juice, and a big mug of hot coffee. Yup - the anniversary is starting out nice. We ordered and I decided to go with a mayan favorite - the juevos motulenos. In a nutshell this is eggs, peas, and tomato sauce over tortillas. And it looks just like this:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1143/528755738_6960adcd19.jpg
Figure 14 - Motulenos
Chris, being the good dietitian that she is ordered the yogurt/granola/fruit dish. I must admit that this looked quite tasty as well. It just didn't appease my "I'm on vacation and want to eat bad stuff" taste that I had in my head this morning. I would try some later on though.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1026/528756398_ad669537fc.jpg
Figure 15 - Healthy Breakfast
After breakfast I dragged a couple of chairs over under the palapa closest to our cabana on the beach. There isn't any "towel game" here at Tita's, as I didn't even think the place was filled up yet. I asked the maid if we could take our towels to the beach, and she responded by getting us a couple of larger, striped beach towels from back at the office. This kind of "going the extra mile" stuff is really making the beginning of our stay quite nice.
So onto the beach, for a day of relaxing, swimming, reading and of course journaling for our upcoming trip reports.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/239/528762188_4960847d3e.jpg
Figure 16 - Chris journaling
As you can see we packed a couple of inflatable floats to use primarily as cushions for the wooden beach loungers. This was a great idea and muchly appreciated by my butt. Thanks Chris! It took a day or so to get both of them blown up, so I had "numb butt" for a little while the first day. As you can see above, we blew up Chris' float first. I guess it was her idea in the first place.
Tim and Susy stopped down for a little bit to visit with us. They were checking out tomorrow so we arranged to pick them up at Cabanas Tulum in the morning and head on up to Akumal together. Tim and I got a couple of "morning beers" and we all chatted around our palapa for a while.
After Susy and Tim left to go back to their hotel we were hungry and decided to go for our daily "snack run". This time we headed south and ended up at Las Ranitas. Rather than eat on the beach as we did last year, it was hot so we decided to stay up at their little outside lunch patio place area and eat there. We of course, had to try their guac.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1056/528766254_2f2298003c.jpg
Figure 17 - Las Ranitas Guac
It's decent, but nothing special. They do, however, bring a side dish of some verrry tasty pico de gallo. Once you mix all that into the guac, the flavor really gets going.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1087/528852187_706ee6bb0d.jpg
Figure 18 - Awesome Pico de Gallo
They also brought out some "salsa picante", which literally translates to "hot sauce". Now this is not like that red Pace stuff you get in a plastic bottle here in the states, no indeed. This salsa was tan in color and the consistency of a smooth paste. The waitress warned us that it 'hay mucho calor' so on her word I just touched my fork into it and put a little dab on my tongue. OMG !!!!! She smiled and said (through Chris, my interpreter) that our one bowl of salsa was big enough for the entire hotel to share. And she wasn't kidding. Yup - we left that out of the guacamole.
We also ordered some black bean nachos. These were quite tasty, and also very filling. It took me two cervezas to be able to help do my part to consume this big plate of nachos.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1230/528765398_e37ef1ebee.jpg
Figure 19 - Black bean nachos
Stuffed and happy, we proceeded back up the beach to Tita's. Along the way we found a wallet washed up on the beach. There was money and identification inside, someone from Mexico. So we brought it to the beach bar it washed up near (el Viejo y el Mar?) and told the bartender where we found it. He said the guy was from one of the northern Mexican states and tried to give the wallet back to us. Chris told him that "No, he was to hold it in case anyone came looking for it". And then we walked away. I think the bartender was stunned, but this wallet was no longer our concern.
Once back at Tita Tulum Chris laid down for a nap, and I sat on our patio and read. Relaxation was in order as we had dinner reservations for 8:30.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/221/528855977_788e04c9fc.jpg
Figure 20 - Chillin' before dinner
(to be continued)
I awoke just before 6:00 am, as the lightening sky was just beginning to brighten our room. Well rested, I let Chris sleep (it WAS our anniversary, so consider this the first of your presents, babe) grabbed the camera and walked out onto the beach. I planted my butt in the sand, and waited to get the first sunrise pictures of the trip.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/235/528480343_131c1cf90f.jpg
Figure 8 - May 20, early am
But I had this feeling I was not alone . . .
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1237/528481515_5d4dfd58fa.jpg
Figure 9 - Flock of Seag . . . nope, Pelicans
No, it wasn't just the birds, something or rather someone else was watching me. Finally, she came over and said "Hi". She was a local gal, rather scantily attired with a "barely there" top. She came across as someone who just wanted to have fun without any attachments, and although I never did quite grasp her name she came across as quite playful. She would throughout this trip become known as "my girlfriend".
And here she is:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1217/528483513_03beeb9c0f.jpg
Figure 10 - My girlfriend
This gal turned up on and off throughout our stay. She was actually quite the "crabber", as after I had checked on the status of Mr. Sun I turned back to find my gal up to her shoulders in the sand.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/235/528491211_0ea743d08e.jpg
Figure 11 - Crabbin'
Finally the sun made its appearance, and I was able to snag a few good shots.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/234/524143264_26c79d829a.jpg
Figure 12 - Mr. Sun
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/225/528490011_c2a8c80373.jpg
Figure 13 - ditto
Since it was our anniversary, today was a bona-fide "vegemitate day". I had secret plans for dinner that Chris knew nothing about, but during the day we were gonna lay on the beach, relax, and just enjoy the day. In order to minimize our actual movement we decided we would start out with breakfast at Tita's. We walked over about 7:40 and were told they don't open until 8:00. I wanted some coffee, and they were nice enough to give us a couple of mugs to take back to our cabana until they were ready to serve. This was a nice touch, so we sat in our porch chairs and read our books for a little while until breakfast was open.
Tita's has fantastic coffee and orange juice. We remember this from last year when after being served juice from a box where we were staying, we stopped on down during a morning hike. We recalled the fresh OJ that was served here, and of course now a year later we had to indulge ourselves again. Mmmm - a nice breeze, fresh orange juice, and a big mug of hot coffee. Yup - the anniversary is starting out nice. We ordered and I decided to go with a mayan favorite - the juevos motulenos. In a nutshell this is eggs, peas, and tomato sauce over tortillas. And it looks just like this:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1143/528755738_6960adcd19.jpg
Figure 14 - Motulenos
Chris, being the good dietitian that she is ordered the yogurt/granola/fruit dish. I must admit that this looked quite tasty as well. It just didn't appease my "I'm on vacation and want to eat bad stuff" taste that I had in my head this morning. I would try some later on though.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1026/528756398_ad669537fc.jpg
Figure 15 - Healthy Breakfast
After breakfast I dragged a couple of chairs over under the palapa closest to our cabana on the beach. There isn't any "towel game" here at Tita's, as I didn't even think the place was filled up yet. I asked the maid if we could take our towels to the beach, and she responded by getting us a couple of larger, striped beach towels from back at the office. This kind of "going the extra mile" stuff is really making the beginning of our stay quite nice.
So onto the beach, for a day of relaxing, swimming, reading and of course journaling for our upcoming trip reports.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/239/528762188_4960847d3e.jpg
Figure 16 - Chris journaling
As you can see we packed a couple of inflatable floats to use primarily as cushions for the wooden beach loungers. This was a great idea and muchly appreciated by my butt. Thanks Chris! It took a day or so to get both of them blown up, so I had "numb butt" for a little while the first day. As you can see above, we blew up Chris' float first. I guess it was her idea in the first place.
Tim and Susy stopped down for a little bit to visit with us. They were checking out tomorrow so we arranged to pick them up at Cabanas Tulum in the morning and head on up to Akumal together. Tim and I got a couple of "morning beers" and we all chatted around our palapa for a while.
After Susy and Tim left to go back to their hotel we were hungry and decided to go for our daily "snack run". This time we headed south and ended up at Las Ranitas. Rather than eat on the beach as we did last year, it was hot so we decided to stay up at their little outside lunch patio place area and eat there. We of course, had to try their guac.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1056/528766254_2f2298003c.jpg
Figure 17 - Las Ranitas Guac
It's decent, but nothing special. They do, however, bring a side dish of some verrry tasty pico de gallo. Once you mix all that into the guac, the flavor really gets going.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1087/528852187_706ee6bb0d.jpg
Figure 18 - Awesome Pico de Gallo
They also brought out some "salsa picante", which literally translates to "hot sauce". Now this is not like that red Pace stuff you get in a plastic bottle here in the states, no indeed. This salsa was tan in color and the consistency of a smooth paste. The waitress warned us that it 'hay mucho calor' so on her word I just touched my fork into it and put a little dab on my tongue. OMG !!!!! She smiled and said (through Chris, my interpreter) that our one bowl of salsa was big enough for the entire hotel to share. And she wasn't kidding. Yup - we left that out of the guacamole.
We also ordered some black bean nachos. These were quite tasty, and also very filling. It took me two cervezas to be able to help do my part to consume this big plate of nachos.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1230/528765398_e37ef1ebee.jpg
Figure 19 - Black bean nachos
Stuffed and happy, we proceeded back up the beach to Tita's. Along the way we found a wallet washed up on the beach. There was money and identification inside, someone from Mexico. So we brought it to the beach bar it washed up near (el Viejo y el Mar?) and told the bartender where we found it. He said the guy was from one of the northern Mexican states and tried to give the wallet back to us. Chris told him that "No, he was to hold it in case anyone came looking for it". And then we walked away. I think the bartender was stunned, but this wallet was no longer our concern.
Once back at Tita Tulum Chris laid down for a nap, and I sat on our patio and read. Relaxation was in order as we had dinner reservations for 8:30.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/221/528855977_788e04c9fc.jpg
Figure 20 - Chillin' before dinner
(to be continued)