Cozumel: Go Slow

Too much travel combined with doing a lot of activities makes you feel weary of the world very fast. We know that from experience, so we had no real intentions of doing much in our first couple of days in Cozumel… unless cabin fever set in early. So we went with a boring and easy daily routine initially – visit the nearby supermarket in the morning for some pastries for breakfast, and bread for a sandwich later. Laze about all day reading and availing of the wifi. Then venture out for dinner in the cooler evenings. The second evening we ate at Casa Mission which had the highest Trip Advisor rating – a large restaurant complete with Mariachi band and very posh service. We had a good lime soup. Brodie had surf and turf, and I had fresh fish. It was all very nice, but nothing to write home about compared to the previous night. We watched others being served the trademark ‘sexy coffee’ (coffee liqueur poured out while on fire), but neither of us fancied drinking one ourselves. Overall we weren’t very impressed. This is the problem with recommendations – what pleases the majority won’t necessarily fit in with what you like.  But it does beat the risky approach of complete random selection.

During the days I ploughed through some books, and looked up potential excursions for us to consider once we got sick of doing very little. Brodie read the entire Internet (in between repeated cursing and ranting at the clunky kindle fire browser that failed horribly on most gaming sites) and embarked on a one-man crusade against all mosquitos that entered the house.  As it happens, mexican mosquitoes *love* Brodie. His blood is like catnip to them. They started the war the first night with a fierce biting foray that escalated into a major assault on his face. This was too big an insult. The only appropriate thing to do was take extreme measures and try to eliminate every last one of them, regardless of guilt or innocence. I, however, needed no insect repellent while I slept so long as Brodie was nearby. After the first night it looked like Brodie’s face had got into a fight with a wall and lost. They then favoured his right arm which also started to swell in patches. This was not a good holiday experience, or look. Typically this was the only time recently where we didn’t bring a mosquito net on holidays. Usually it doesn’t get used. Lesson is most definitely now learnt.

I didn’t feel too left out of the wildlife interaction, as the ant army invading the main room was out to get me. 24 hours after our arrival a mound of excavated material started building on the tiled floor in the main living area. Slowly I start developing small red spots on my legs and arms. It was hot and humid inside, and the insects gave no respite. We decided it might be time to start getting out and about before one or other species involved ended up getting completely exterminated.

We wandered along the seafront mingling with the cruise crowds. The Disney Magic was docked in port, and the nearby streets were busier than we’d seen them before. We had a few forgotten items to pick up before going out and doing any tours for the rest of the week so we joined the crowds of shoppers. We got some bits and pieces and also treated ourselves to new sunglasses. It took some effort to find suitable ones. It was a close call as to whether we or the shop assistant would run out of patience first; every pair you wanted to try on had to be taken out of a display case by them. We rewarded ourselves for a successful shopping expedition with Margaritas at Wet Wendy’s Margarita bar, which funnily enough, specialises in Margaritas. The friendly waiter shared with us his two favourites – I had the chocolate mint, and Brodie got melon chilli. They might just have been the most disgusting cocktails I have ever seen, melting into piles of sludge, but they were very tasty. We had burritos and tostadas to go with the drinks which were also good. It was time for an early night then. We had our first tour booked for the next day.  We wandered home through a refreshing mist of rain and once Brodie finished a final mosquito revenge rampage, it was lights out.