February 28, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

Well, there was no beach day for us today. It was chilly and overcast all day, so we decided to just have good beach memories.

We walked to the Pescaderia for lunch today. It is a fish market where you can buy fresh fish, or you pick out the fish you want, they weigh it, then fry it. We both had the boquinete. The boquinete is a hogfish, part of the largest of the Wrasse family. It was fried with with some garlic and served with marinated tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions and tortillas. Neither of us likes radishes, so we skipped them! The boquinete is a firm, white fish, and we both enjoyed it!

After lunch we headed back to start packing. This is another beautifully painted building.We decided to go to La Barracuda for dinner tonight. Tobey had seen a review and a picture of their shrimp nachos and it sounded good.The presentation was really nice – chips, beans, shrimp, cheese, and guacamole. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the review or the looks. We picked out the shrimps and guacamole and left most of the rest. Oh well, you can’t hit homeruns all the time with meals!This was the start of Carnival tonight. We had been told the parade started at 6pm by the tourist information people. Barbara and Chris, our landlords and friends, said 7pm. Reality – 8pm!

It was a small parade – five floats and a few dance/walking groups. I think it lasted about 10 minutes! The good thing – it went down the main street one direction then turned and came back the other way, so we saw it two or three times! It was still moving through town at almost 9pm!!We walked through the “fair grounds” area where the carnival rides and other vendors were set up. They are having music, but it doesn’t begin until 11pm! Our taxi is picking us up at 6:45 in the MORNING tomorrow, so we headed home and will finish packing and call it a night. As we returned, Tobey said, “I don’t care what anyone says, Tulum is still easy.”

February 27, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

Last night it rained … and rained … and rained! Once we got back after dinner and shopping we were settling in to watch a movie when the skies broke loose! The power flickered off and on, then stayed on. We closed windows and listened to the rain – and wind - all night! Today it was overcast and cool all morning, so we stayed in.

It’s a good thing, too, because we ran out of money today. After we finished lunch (carnitas tacos) we only had one peso, but … we sold both of our bikes, so all is good! After the sale, the bikes ended up costing less than $67USD for the time we had them. Very inexpensive!

This evening we took a taxi to El Dorado for dinner one last time. We had the ceviche and garlic shrimp. We walked back down the main street on the way home. We walked by some road construction and I was amazed at the giant road saw!A pizza restaurant we passed had three signs I liked.El Dorado Restaurant is at the opposite end of town – about two miles from the apartment – we were missing our bikes by the time we got home!

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day. The weather is supposed to be nicer, so we hope to go to the beach one last time.

February 26, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

I’m not sure if it was too much sun yesterday, but I felt wiped out today. I managed to get up, eat breakfast, read, take a nap, have lunch, then take another nap! This afternoon, we sat outside by the pool for a while for a change of scenery!

Tobey always gets up before me and this has not been his week. He managed to jam his toe on the coffee table and it is swollen and purple! He has been icing it today and it is a little better.

We had tamales for dinner tonight. It was a nice change. We both had the salsa verde con pollo and the rajas con queso. The rajas con queso is made with poblano chilies and cheese. Both were good but we both like the salsa verde con pollo better. (chicken with green chili). We got a piece of flan to go. After we got home we realized we forgot to pick up fruit for breakfast so headed back to the market (just across from the tamale stand!) It started to rain while I was in the market and sprinkled on us all the way home. It was forecast for today and it finally happened!

We are watching a movie tonight and hope I am feeling better tomorrow.

February 25, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

Tobey’s shoulder seems to have healed – YEAH!!! He thinks he just pulled something and resting it did the trick.

It was a great beach day. The water was warm and it was fun spending time in the water and on the beach.We enjoyed a long walk on the beach and spotted this pelican hanging out. He was not at all afraid and didn’t move when we walked by.This log has obviously been in the water for some time based on the number of barnacles.We always appreciate how hard the hotels and restaurants work to keep the beaches clean and nice. Rake, scoop, and load the seaweed into wheelbarrows and haul away.We needed a few groceries so we biked to the store before dinner. This dog was hanging out on the roof and let us know that we were on his street.There were some bees out tonight, too. Not a good thing for me! One zipped through my hair, but didn’t sting me. The next one that zapped my arm did. Lucky me. NOT!!! I am hopeful the antihistamine works!

We went to the Xiximak Restaurant on Palenque Avenue, just a few blocks from our apartment for dinner. They had a special of three tacos and a beer for $110 pesos. Since we don’t drink beer, they substituted soft drinks instead. So, $13.25 USD for dinner and tip was a good deal – and they were delicious!We are going to watch the presidential debate tonight.

February 24, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

The day started off cloudy and windy, and it sprinkled a bit this morning. After lunch we decided to head to the beach anyway.The wind was the right direction today for the kite surfers. We only saw two today, but we have only seen one the entire time we have been here! The police patrol the beach on quads here.Despite intermittent clouds and wind, there were quite a few people on the beach today.We saw several of these boats taking people out to snorkel. The water seemed pretty rough to us, but it was only $100 pesos per person. ($5.25 USD) We have snorkeled before and didn’t really feel the need to go today. We spent some time in the water and relaxing on the beach.On the way back to the apartment, we stopped to see some of the art along the way. Buildings and walls all over town are decorated with some pretty amazing art. It sure beats graffiti!We also passed town square with the Tulum sign. It was street burritos for dinner tonight. Tobey had the asada (beef) and I had the breaded chicken. They came wrapped in foil which made eating them easier! Mine was loaded with chicken, lettuce, cactus, tomatoes, and was very good. Tobey’s had beef, beans and cactus. He liked his, as well.How do you like the table? It’s a metal ironing board!This is one of the public markets. There are a few restaurants, flower shops, party stores, and leather shops, as well as a couple convenience type stores. With dinner finished, we continued down the street to see if people were at the carnival. There were a few children in the bouncy house and on the kids’ rides. We walked through the carnival’s market place and headed home. We will probably go back on Friday night after the parade when things get hopping!

February 23, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

Last night the weather turned cooler so Tobey closed our bedroom windows. While he was moving the curtains, he felt something in his shoulder pull – not a good sign. He said it felt similar to when he tore his rotator cuff. He is going to take it easy and hopefully it will be better in a couple days. He said it doesn’t hurt if he doesn’t move it.

We had a low-key day. We rode our bikes into town, then looked in all the tourist shops. I love the pottery and would buy it all if I could find a way to get it home!

Back home I beat him at two games of gin this afternoon, so I am ahead, 6-4. I should probably quit while I am ahead! Maya came in to hang out with us this afternoon. She keeps hoping we will feed her, but we don’t.Dinner tonight was at El Camello, Jr. Restaurant. I had the fish filet with garlic sauce. It was okay, but definitely not as good as I remembered.Tobey usually orders ceviche, but changed it up tonight and ordered the seafood soup. It was most unusual. It had crab (the whole thing!), fish (bones in and scales on!), octopus, squid, and shrimp (tails and shells on). Dinner with two drinks and tip was $365 pesos ($19.25 USD). We both decided that we would probably not go back, even though Camillo's has been one of our favorite restaurants in the past.We’re going to watch a movie and hope Tobey’s shoulder gets better!

February 22, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

SO … this morning I was able to get the videos from the cenote trip yesterday uploaded, so here they are:

https://youtu.be/5v4hFdvhaq0

https://youtu.be/U337pwxSh9Y

https://youtu.be/tK2tIwKqfkA

TODAY: February 22

Our beach trip today started with lunch at Antojitos La Chiapaneca for tacos al pastor, then on to La Zebra. Going through town to the beach makes it a 7 mile ride each way. That isn’t usually bad, but it was quite windy today, so it’s not as much fun! The temperature today was cooler – only got to 80F.

We walked south on the beach for at least a mile. There were two hotels that were setting up for beach weddings. They had a lot of work to do to get ready!Another property had an unusual structure. We weren’t sure what it was supposed to be – art? Maybe?There was another property with a giant hammock – it reminded us of a catamaran sailboat!We definitely enjoyed the walk.There weren’t nearly as many people on the beach today. I supposed the cooler temperature and wind kept some people away. This is a video of the beach today:  https://youtu.be/aP8NCympw9M

We noticed they were starting to set up for Carnivale. In the past it has been quite noisy and we wanted to find out when the parade and activities begin.The parade is scheduled for next Friday night. With all of the new construction between our area of town and the Centro, we are hopeful the noise will be muffled or non-existent.We tried Tulum’s food truck park for dinner tonight. It’s an interesting concept. The park is fenced and they have a large playground area for children. The food trucks ring the area and there are plenty of tables set up for dining. To honor my Polish heritage we had a shrimp burrito from the “Tulumski” truck! That was our waitress. We split the burrito – it came with French fries and was a pretty good size! It was $170 pesos with tip, (about $9 USD), so comparably priced to food trucks in the US. We ordered our Cokes from another waitress so another $70 pesos with tip ($3.75) Still a relatively inexpensive and tasty meal!It was a nice evening and a fun change. Afterwards we biked to the Town Square to see what was happening. A group singing gospel music and vendors set up around the outside. It’s fun to see so many families out enjoying the evening.The street taco stands were doing a good business tonight, also. There are carts like this all over town and we have to wonder how they manage to sell enough to make a living. It will be nice sleeping tonight – the temperature is supposed to drop to 64F and there is a nice breeze. No fan tonight!