Isla Files 1.14

Isla Files: 1.14
We are gradually settling in to a routine. This morning we went for a run around the south end of the island “Punta Sur.” It takes us about 35 minutes to complete the loop but we are never out much before 9:00 so it is pretty hot. We run by the dump which only smells bad on the days they are burning it. The Mexican people don’t generate as much waste as we do but use everything until it is truly gone. We have looked in vain for second-hand shops on the island but there are none. Ditto for yard sales. We are going to try to find a coffee table but we will either have to buy one in Cancun or have one made for us.
We rode into town this afternoon to do our emailing and also pick up a few groceries. We found the bakery. It is run by a French woman named Lola. She says she found the island about 15 years ago and kept coming back on her vacations until she finally gave up and moved here. She has just expanded her bakery to include a restaurant. We will check it out one of these nights. Her bread is good but really expensive: 84 pesos (or about $8.00) for 2 skinny little loaves. I bought yeast and flour at the market today and will begin baking, maybe one day each week.
Adrian’s Internet was chaos with several senoritas chatting, some kids goofing around, and this one really obnoxious American woman yelling into her internet phone. It got to be too much for Steve, so he waited outside.
We stopped by Coral Divers and set up a dive for tomorrow. One of the things that we are going to try to do is work a deal with this guy to trade work for diving. We talked to him about the need for extra qualified personnel to chaperone dives. Right now he says there are more workers than divers but will keep us in mind.
We have many big iguanas living on the grounds here. I have named the biggest one Don Guan. He is about 4 to 5 feet long, including his tale. He has an amigo that is perhaps a little bigger but no tale. Looks like a traumatic amputation to me! I wonder if he is in the process of growing a new one?
Big storm this afternoon. We could see the rain coming across the Caribbean in long gray sheets. When the storm hit the island the drops were as big as saucers splattering on the pavement around our place. It only rained for about 15 minutes here but the coast of Cancun was obscured for an hour or more. Now, several hours later, it is still very windy and as cool as it has been since we got here, may only 74 or 75 degrees. We are hoping the storm blows over during the night and that we wake to blue skies and calm seas for diving in the morning.
Isla Files 1.15
Big storm last night. Big wind. Puddles in the road. The port is closed for little boats so no diving for us today. Constanino gives the message to Jose Luis as he passes by this morning. Already we are known: the 2 gringos in Numero 1 that like to dive. We hear that the storm is from the Northwest and may last 3 days. That’s OK with us…we can go diving on Friday.
We take a taxi into the town. Little red taxis that pass by our house.“Beep! Beep!” A nod, a wave, a shrug. “Do you need a ride? Can I help you? Is there anything…? Are you happy?” The quiet communication intrigues me. It is so different than the in-your-face approach from home.
We decide to take the ferry to Puerto Juarez and go to Costco in Cancun. We need pillows, a mattress pad, maybe some beach towels. It is amazing because the Costco is just the same as the one in Boise. The only difference being that they only have about 3 types of tires and the food court is outside. We look at Blue Bunny carrots from Stockton. They are so pale!! Not at all like the ones that we buy from the open air market on Isla. We get our stuff and then remember we don’t have a car. We pack the wine, cheese, bread, and beach towels into the back pack and I take the pillows and mattress pad, one parcel in each hand.
It takes us 4 hours to travel round trip to Costco and costs about $25.00 in transportation fees. Whew! We are exhausted by the time we get back and have to take a nap! Our new pillows are just too inviting. We think we will go snorkeling when we get up again but a new piece of the storm moves through and it rains about an inch in 20 minutes. Nothing else to do but sit on the balcony, play some cribbage, and watch the little red taxis.