We’re in Playa Del Carmen where I booked a really nice boutique hotel for a very reasonable price. A very large room with 2 queen beds, a 32” flat screen TV and a balcony overlooking the pool. We ate dinner at a Brazilian Steak House which was a 1st for Dave. I’ve been to them in Atlanta and Orlando and really enjoy them. They have a salad bar and dinner is all kinds of differently spiced meats (beef of course, pork, chicken, and lamb) brought to your table on skewers and sliced before you. Each table has a set of tongs to hold the meat as its cut. There were several kinds of sauces for dipping and an herb butter and liver pate for the bread sticks. Needless to say we were in heaven and stuffed to the gills when we left. Next was a walk along 5ht Ave which is a pedestrian shopping street of all types of boutique shops and restaurants. I was looking for reading glasses because I left mine back on my table in the trailer so I was working with a pair that had no ear arms and were hard to use. I asked someone outside a store where I could buy a pair and he said, “Turn left and go 2 blocks to…WalMart.” So off we went! It turned out to be a super center but not nearly as large as the ones in the states. Dave bought some calamine lotion for a rash he has and I got 2 pair of glasses. They didn’t have any fishing equipment though, which is high on my shopping list. We went back to the hotel for the night and more movie downloading. One of the bad features of this hotel is that you place the room key card in a slot and it powers up the electrical outlets in the room so I couldn’t leave my laptop plugged in and downloading while we were gone. After a good night’s sleep we are spending the day chilling. I walked around the corner to Starbucks for a couple of bagels for breakfast. And we sat on the balcony with coffee (me with amoretto in mine), cigars, and books and watched the people coming and going in the hotel and the pool. I did solve my electrical problem by unplugging the small fridge behind the TV and plugged my laptop into that so we can leave if we want to. The other failure in the hotel is that the wireless network drops connection every minute so it’s taking a long time to download movies and we can’t access email or Facebook while downloading. But worse things could be happening and we’re dealing with it. We’ll walk the streets tonight and decide what dinner will be. It ended up being BBQ chicken, fires, and corn on the cob in honor of the 4th. Monday was Mexican food and more relaxing after a walk, twice, the length of 5th Ave and some shopping.
We went to the U.S. Consulate today and I applied for my new passport. The lady working there was really nice, and REALLY cute. She’s the only one working this office. She advised me that I will have to go to The U.S. Embassy in Belize City within 3 months because I’ll only be issued a temporary passport good for that amount of time. My temporary pass will be here tomorrow or Thursday. Then it’s off to Chetumal for another night and then on to Belize City for shopping and then to Hopkins. Dave leaves on Sunday so most of his trip will have been spent in Mexico. Oh well, it’s be a nice vacation for me too. Now I just have to worry about the guys recognizing me at the border. I guess I’ll tell them that it was my twin brother that was having the problem and I’m coming to help out. Whether they believe me or not is another question. I may still end up having my car impounded and paying the thousands in fees and fines…
As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
