Well....this post will begin with me laughing at myself! This morning I discovered that I have one "extra" day in Mexico. While I thought I had missed a meeting last night due to wifi connection issues...this morning I learned that the meeting is tonight and my internal calendar is one day off. So...it's all good news...I didn't miss my meeting and I have an extra day of adventure.
Ciudad del Carmen has proven to be a surprise to both Lynda and I. While we have enjoyed our time here we will be ready to leave tomorrow. It has been really interesting to experience what we've come to dubb as the Edmonton of Mexico first hand. The city is overflowing with oil workers. The difference here is that the oil rigs are all out on the water so everyone works on a platform. Again today we ended up sharing a taxi with a guy who was on his way to a 28 day stint on the platform. After 28 days working, he has 7 days off before the cycle begins again.
As much as it is the same it is all very different too. For example today as we were returning from an "iced coffee" (that is a whole other story!) we passed a young man (20 something) sitting on the curb passing the time crocheting a red and black something or other. Maybe a little purse or something like that as the crochet cotton was very lightweight. Can't say I've ever seen that before!
For breakfast this morning we decided to go for Tamales (chicken encased in crushed corn paste and then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked/boiled/roasted till tender and delicious) We purchased them from a street vendor and then took them across the street to a little cafe where there were tables in the shade and we could sit with a drink and enjoy our breakfast. The bonus for us this morning while we sat there was the realization that while we were people watching we were the people being watched! There are no other white people here at all and so for the locals to see blue eyes...it is a novelty. It was fun being their entertainment for the morning.
As we left the hotel for breakfast this morning we faced a painter starting work on the common areas from the reception area and right up the stairs. By the time we returned from breakfast he was well established on the first floor hallways and by dinner time tonight he was completely finished the entire hotel! Now that is some fast painting! The size of his brush likely had something to do with the speed of his work! He just carried a bucket and a brush that was at least 8 inches across and moved through the place with an air of efficiency. There were no wet paint signs anywhere...just the aroma of fresh paint hanging in the hallways to warn you to keep away from the walls!
This afternoon we decided that it was time to locate a nice beach where we could park ourselves under a palapa long enough to have a cerveca or two and get our noses back into our books. We flagged down a taxi and for 30 pesos made our way to Playa Norte expecting to find what the tourist materials all talk about....white sand beaches with clear water that is good for swimming. But....that was not to be! All we've been able to find here is brown water, hard pack beaches (cars drive on them with no difficulty), broken palapas, and very expensive restaurants. That image of a quaint beach restaurant with hammocks that invite you to stop and stay awhile we're accustomed to from our time in Troncones does not exist anywhere in Ciudad del Carmen - at least nowhere we've found anyway.
We didn't spend much time at Playa Norte but rather made our way back toward the Centro area and got off in the mercado (main market) instead. After some time wandering those streets we found ourselves back at the little coffee shop near our hotel so decided an iced coffee would help with the heat exhaustion we were experiencing. Yes folks...it is HOT here!
Now this is where the story I alluded to earlier comes in...when we ordered an iced coffee our little waiter looked at us as though we had a third eye and while we've been getting a lot of stares here...this one was very different. He eventually explained that there is no such thing as cold coffee here...only hot. We gave him instructions on how to make an iced coffee for us and he nodded his understanding of the request. As we waited at our table we knew the liklihood of getting anything even close to what we had asked for was small but we kept our fingers crossed anyway. In the end, we got two glasses of ice cubes, one steaming cup of black coffee, and one steaming hot cafe con leche (coffee with milk)...yes...it is hard to smile and say thank you when you know what you want and you just can't get it. But then that's why we travel right...for the adventure and the experience and the stories/memories. LOL.
After our "iced coffees" we decided to embrace the Mexican practice of siesta and we both fell asleep in our air conditioned room waking just in time to head out for dinner tonight. By that time the sun had set and although it is still warm and humid...it is much cooler and as a result all the shops re-open (they close in the afternoons for the most part), families come out and begin to gather in the parks and the zocalo. Once again there is an air of festivity on the breeze as people laugh and meet friends, couples hold hands and cuddle on benches in the park, children play in the musical fountains, and once again....everyone takes photos of themseves in front of the dancing waters of the fountains.
Tonight we went back to the Cultural Centre as the Festival is still underway and so there is another free show there beginning at 8:00 p.m. The performers were coming in from Campeche and according to the little girl working at the Centre...they were supposed to be great! In true Mexican fashion they were about 15 minutes late in getting started but the Centre is so comfortable with it's new seating and airconditioning that we didn't really mind the wait. As the show got underway it didn't take long for either of us to know that we wouldn't be staying for long. The opening scene of the play was short but shocking as the performance depicted the plight of woman kind from the beginning of time. I'm sure it would have been interesting to see the whole thing if we were able to understand more than the gist of it but as luck would have it...I had my meeting at 9:00 p.m. on Facetime and so we had a good excuse to slip out the back door of the theatre just 20 minutes into the show.
Tomorrow we will make our way onto the next little town along the gulf. Supposedly this one (Champotan) is supposed to be the up and coming place to go so...we'll see just what that means. Perhaps we'll find our white sand beaches and azure waters there.
Hasta luego,
L & L
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