austxdan
11th July 2007, 06:33 AM
Day 8 - May 26, 2007 - Final Beach Veg. Day
I was soooooo tired when I got up this morning. Yesterday was quite a busy day, and we stayed up past our bedtimes. So I lifted up one eye to check out the sunrise situation, and then closed it again and napped a little longer. This was our last full day, couldn't I just sleep in today? Apparently not, as I awoke for good a little while after. Chris had no trouble sleeping, so I just grabbed my book and journal and parked myself on the porch to catch up on my journaling and reading.
Eventually Chris got up and we headed into town for breakfast. We had passed a place called "Gaudi Café" a couple of time previously in town, and also saw a decent write up on Mapchick's map (from last year). So while driving into town, I saw a place to park over by the HSBC bank. This was good because I need to get some more pesos too. However, I must have thought our little VW had a tighter turning radius than it actually did, as when I pulled my U-Turn I banged the curb pretty well. We parked and checked things out. There was a good-sized chunk of rubber missing from the sidewall of the tire, and the wheel was scraped up pretty bad. Chris was worried that the tire would go flat, and I was worried that my credit card voucher was gonna get a workout back in Cancun.
We crossed the street over to Gaudi Café, which is just south of Charlie's and on the same side of the street. We grabbed a nice table and were given some menus. The service was verrry slow, but we were in no hurry. But it was reaaaaaaaaal slow. We ordered and I finally got my coffee, which always makes me feel better, and then waited for our food. And waited. I might as well tell you what we ordered, while we sit here and wait for our food. Chris ordered the healthy fruit, yogurt, and granola breakfast and I went with pancakes. Our breakfasts included a glass of fresh OJ and a cup of coffee. "A" cup of coffee. This didn't sit too well with me, but I didn't want to wait for more coffee trees to ripen in order to harvest the beans. Breakfast was adequate, but we probably wouldn't stop in there again.
We got back in our car just as a nice tropical downpour came . . . downpouring. But by the time we got back to Tita's it had stopped. Back "home" I checked out the tire and wheel again. The rain actually cleaned the red curb paint off the wheel, and things didn't look too terribly bad. I tried to smooth out the scrape on the wheel with a rock, but gave up pretty quickly on this. Today was our final full beach veg-out day. So books, journals, air mattresses, blanket, etc were dragged out to "our" palapa for the day.
One can only take so much reading, writing, laying out, and playing in the water before you work up a mid-afternoon hunger. We decided to again head south and see if we couldn't find some place new for our afternoon snack. We walked past Suenos and noticed the run-down condition and the "ejido" signs on the fencing. This is truly a shame, but something we saw more of this year than last.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1063/528955941_5c273ff0bc.jpg
Figure 68 - Suenos Tulum - closed for legal issues
Hopefully they get things worked out before the entire property just gives in to the elements. We passed Las Ranitas again and really wanted to try something else out. We stopped into Tierra del Sol, took a look around and decided to keep on walking. We turned around and headed back north before finally stopping. It was a nice afternoon for a walk.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/528955039_cf75376951.jpg
Figure 69 - Strolling the beach in search of snacks
Eventually we popped into Dos Ceibas. Their restaurant is quite hidden from the beach, but we saw a walkway and a sign, and so we went on up to check things out. I thought it would be hot behind the trees that separated the restaurant from the beach, but the breeze actually comes through quite nicely. The outdoor restaurant is very beautiful, open air, with a wall full of cutouts and candles that our waiter told us is the only lighting they use for evening dinners. Not like we need a reason to come back to Tulum again, but that is something we definitely need to do on our next trip.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1013/528957481_22b550f902.jpg
Figure 70 - Lantern wall at Dos Ceibas
The floor out here is all sand, so you need to look out for little "no-see-ums" and/or keep your footsies up on the chair legs. We ordered our lunch. I was starting out with a cold Sol, or three, and of course we had to try out their guacamole.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/528871458_4d0d239705.jpg
Figure 71 - Dos Ceibas Guac
And then for lunch we also ordered a pizza. Come to think of it, we've had tacos at only two places on this trip (Lucy's in Akumal, and Charlies fish tacos in Tulum pueblo for Chris) and this is the third time we've ordered pizza. I don't know whether to brush up on my Spanish or take Italian before our next trip.
We started out with our guac. It had all sorts of nice little ingredients in it that we didn't have to add ourselves. Hmm, not too thick, not too bland. And we have a new winner for the best guac of the trip award!!! The pride and admiration of guac lovers everywhere should henceforth be heaped upon Dos Ceibas for their tasty appetizer dish :D. Let's take one more look at the winner shall we?
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1077/528870650_0171ba4195.jpg
Figure 72 - Guac contest winner!
So after devouring the guac winner (above) we received our pizza. This was a little greasier than the one up at Zamas, but it was still good. It was a veggie pizza on white crust, and served piping hot. It was very good.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1140/528872288_5dae061e0d.jpg
Figure 73 - Veggie Supreme pizza at Dos Ceibas
One thing that must be noted about our lunch at Dos Ceibas was the service. Our waiter, and I'm sorry I didn't write down his name, did an awesome job taking care of us. True, it was later in the day, beyond the lunch rush and they weren't too crowded - with only one other table occupied. But our waiter employed the perfect amount of both "checking up" and "leaving alone" and was a wizard at conversation. I waited tables to get through college (a long time back) and still very much appreciate a high level of customer service. Dos Ceibas rocks!
We walked back up the beach to our palapa at Tita's, passing a kite surfer having a field day with the ocean breeze, and digested pizza for the remainder of the afternoon.
Since this was to be our last evening at Tita's, and an official veg-out day at that, we decided to "stay home" for dinner. So after showering up and washing the beach off our bod-kins we got dressed to have dinner at Tita's restaurant. Here was my date:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1152/528625519_926d378fb4.jpg
Figure 74 - Chris dressed for dinner
OK - Definitely worth a closer look!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1179/528626347_b613225abe.jpg
Figure 75 - A Smile that can light a Room!
And, of course, she got to go with me! ;-) (No picture required).
To start off our dinners, Chris went with the Pina Colada. I opted for a "house specialty" - Tita's Famous Big @ss Margarita! I think I may have translated that incorrectly, but it was a big margarita. So big that for my second drink, I believe I went back to beer. We both also went with house specialties for our meals. Chris ordered the Fish in Coconut Sauce, and it was extremely tasty. There were no veggies, but it was served over a bed of rice. I ordered the Camarones (shrimp) Dona Elena. This was Tita's grandmothers recipe. I must say that grandma hit it right on the pesos! This dish was fabulous. We had coffee for dessert, as they were out of bananas for the flambé, and just ordering the flambé by itself sounded a little "dodgy". (Neat phrase I picked up from Joelle).
We headed back to Cabana #5 for our final nights sleep. Tomorrow we would have to leave :mad:. At least I had arranged a late flight.
I was soooooo tired when I got up this morning. Yesterday was quite a busy day, and we stayed up past our bedtimes. So I lifted up one eye to check out the sunrise situation, and then closed it again and napped a little longer. This was our last full day, couldn't I just sleep in today? Apparently not, as I awoke for good a little while after. Chris had no trouble sleeping, so I just grabbed my book and journal and parked myself on the porch to catch up on my journaling and reading.
Eventually Chris got up and we headed into town for breakfast. We had passed a place called "Gaudi Café" a couple of time previously in town, and also saw a decent write up on Mapchick's map (from last year). So while driving into town, I saw a place to park over by the HSBC bank. This was good because I need to get some more pesos too. However, I must have thought our little VW had a tighter turning radius than it actually did, as when I pulled my U-Turn I banged the curb pretty well. We parked and checked things out. There was a good-sized chunk of rubber missing from the sidewall of the tire, and the wheel was scraped up pretty bad. Chris was worried that the tire would go flat, and I was worried that my credit card voucher was gonna get a workout back in Cancun.
We crossed the street over to Gaudi Café, which is just south of Charlie's and on the same side of the street. We grabbed a nice table and were given some menus. The service was verrry slow, but we were in no hurry. But it was reaaaaaaaaal slow. We ordered and I finally got my coffee, which always makes me feel better, and then waited for our food. And waited. I might as well tell you what we ordered, while we sit here and wait for our food. Chris ordered the healthy fruit, yogurt, and granola breakfast and I went with pancakes. Our breakfasts included a glass of fresh OJ and a cup of coffee. "A" cup of coffee. This didn't sit too well with me, but I didn't want to wait for more coffee trees to ripen in order to harvest the beans. Breakfast was adequate, but we probably wouldn't stop in there again.
We got back in our car just as a nice tropical downpour came . . . downpouring. But by the time we got back to Tita's it had stopped. Back "home" I checked out the tire and wheel again. The rain actually cleaned the red curb paint off the wheel, and things didn't look too terribly bad. I tried to smooth out the scrape on the wheel with a rock, but gave up pretty quickly on this. Today was our final full beach veg-out day. So books, journals, air mattresses, blanket, etc were dragged out to "our" palapa for the day.
One can only take so much reading, writing, laying out, and playing in the water before you work up a mid-afternoon hunger. We decided to again head south and see if we couldn't find some place new for our afternoon snack. We walked past Suenos and noticed the run-down condition and the "ejido" signs on the fencing. This is truly a shame, but something we saw more of this year than last.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1063/528955941_5c273ff0bc.jpg
Figure 68 - Suenos Tulum - closed for legal issues
Hopefully they get things worked out before the entire property just gives in to the elements. We passed Las Ranitas again and really wanted to try something else out. We stopped into Tierra del Sol, took a look around and decided to keep on walking. We turned around and headed back north before finally stopping. It was a nice afternoon for a walk.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/528955039_cf75376951.jpg
Figure 69 - Strolling the beach in search of snacks
Eventually we popped into Dos Ceibas. Their restaurant is quite hidden from the beach, but we saw a walkway and a sign, and so we went on up to check things out. I thought it would be hot behind the trees that separated the restaurant from the beach, but the breeze actually comes through quite nicely. The outdoor restaurant is very beautiful, open air, with a wall full of cutouts and candles that our waiter told us is the only lighting they use for evening dinners. Not like we need a reason to come back to Tulum again, but that is something we definitely need to do on our next trip.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1013/528957481_22b550f902.jpg
Figure 70 - Lantern wall at Dos Ceibas
The floor out here is all sand, so you need to look out for little "no-see-ums" and/or keep your footsies up on the chair legs. We ordered our lunch. I was starting out with a cold Sol, or three, and of course we had to try out their guacamole.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/528871458_4d0d239705.jpg
Figure 71 - Dos Ceibas Guac
And then for lunch we also ordered a pizza. Come to think of it, we've had tacos at only two places on this trip (Lucy's in Akumal, and Charlies fish tacos in Tulum pueblo for Chris) and this is the third time we've ordered pizza. I don't know whether to brush up on my Spanish or take Italian before our next trip.
We started out with our guac. It had all sorts of nice little ingredients in it that we didn't have to add ourselves. Hmm, not too thick, not too bland. And we have a new winner for the best guac of the trip award!!! The pride and admiration of guac lovers everywhere should henceforth be heaped upon Dos Ceibas for their tasty appetizer dish :D. Let's take one more look at the winner shall we?
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1077/528870650_0171ba4195.jpg
Figure 72 - Guac contest winner!
So after devouring the guac winner (above) we received our pizza. This was a little greasier than the one up at Zamas, but it was still good. It was a veggie pizza on white crust, and served piping hot. It was very good.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1140/528872288_5dae061e0d.jpg
Figure 73 - Veggie Supreme pizza at Dos Ceibas
One thing that must be noted about our lunch at Dos Ceibas was the service. Our waiter, and I'm sorry I didn't write down his name, did an awesome job taking care of us. True, it was later in the day, beyond the lunch rush and they weren't too crowded - with only one other table occupied. But our waiter employed the perfect amount of both "checking up" and "leaving alone" and was a wizard at conversation. I waited tables to get through college (a long time back) and still very much appreciate a high level of customer service. Dos Ceibas rocks!
We walked back up the beach to our palapa at Tita's, passing a kite surfer having a field day with the ocean breeze, and digested pizza for the remainder of the afternoon.
Since this was to be our last evening at Tita's, and an official veg-out day at that, we decided to "stay home" for dinner. So after showering up and washing the beach off our bod-kins we got dressed to have dinner at Tita's restaurant. Here was my date:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1152/528625519_926d378fb4.jpg
Figure 74 - Chris dressed for dinner
OK - Definitely worth a closer look!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1179/528626347_b613225abe.jpg
Figure 75 - A Smile that can light a Room!
And, of course, she got to go with me! ;-) (No picture required).
To start off our dinners, Chris went with the Pina Colada. I opted for a "house specialty" - Tita's Famous Big @ss Margarita! I think I may have translated that incorrectly, but it was a big margarita. So big that for my second drink, I believe I went back to beer. We both also went with house specialties for our meals. Chris ordered the Fish in Coconut Sauce, and it was extremely tasty. There were no veggies, but it was served over a bed of rice. I ordered the Camarones (shrimp) Dona Elena. This was Tita's grandmothers recipe. I must say that grandma hit it right on the pesos! This dish was fabulous. We had coffee for dessert, as they were out of bananas for the flambé, and just ordering the flambé by itself sounded a little "dodgy". (Neat phrase I picked up from Joelle).
We headed back to Cabana #5 for our final nights sleep. Tomorrow we would have to leave :mad:. At least I had arranged a late flight.