We weren't all that impressed with our initial view of Cozumel: typical cruise ship port city consisting of US and cruise chains, and fake Mexican crap. However, it was a relatively quick walk out of the commercial area, and the rest of Cozumel felt more like typical Mexico. We found a decent place to stay out of the hubbub, dumped our stuff, and went out to explore. Cozumel has a park just like Chetumal and the same type of community fair was happening there, although there were a lot more tourists and we weren't singled out by the clowns. We walked along the waterfront and then ducked back into the back streets, and found a nice little steakhouse where we had a great steak dinner with Mexican beef.
After a quiet night's sleep, we got up, had breakfast, and decided to rent a car and spend the day driving around the island. The clerk at the hotel told us where to go to rent the car for a reasonable rate, and we found the guy without any trouble. We were a little surprised when we picked up the car that it wasn't exactly up to US standards as far as maintenance went, but to us it was in normal shape for Belize, although we don't see too many ancient VW bugs running around Belize.
We drove out along the waterfront and headed out to the end of the island. We stopped at a small village named El Cedral that has a small (very small) Maya ruin and an old Spanish church. It was obviously outfitted for cruise ship tourists, and we did a quick walk around and got back in our buggy and headed for the next stop, which was the southernmost point on the island. We looked at the sea, which was much rougher on that side, and then headed up the eastern side. We stopped for a yummy lunch of mixed seafood ceviche at Chen Rio, and got our feet wet, plus a bit more since the water was very rough. We then continued on our way to the San Gervasio ruins, which are small, but very nicely restored, and not at all crowded.
As we finished touring the ruins, we noticed that clouds were moving in, and decided that we would hightail it back to the town to return the rental vehicle. We had to get fuel first, which was slightly stressful since the fuel gauge had been diving as we drove around the island and we weren't actually sure if we were going to run out and need to hail a taxi, nor were we sure that we weren't going to get scammed and get pulled over by the police for driving a illegal car as we headed back into town. But, we didn't need to worry; we made it to the Pemex, got fuel, and got back to the rental agency without incident.
After returning the car we had a brief discussion about going to a museum or getting a snack, but the sky was getting very dark so we decided to head to the ferry terminal. We were just in time, as the deluge hit about 2 minutes after we were under cover.
We got back to Playa, checked into our hotel right across from the bus station, and then headed out for an early dinner, again at El Fogon. The food was delicious - again - and when we were just about done dinner, the water came over and asked Tom, in Spanish, if he could ask him a question. Tom of course said yes, and the question was where we were from and where Tom learned to speak Spanish. Tom told him we were from the US but lived in Belize, which is where Tom learned Spanish. The waiter got a big grin on his face, asked if we lived near Guatemala, and when Tom said yes, he told us that he was from Guatemala, and that Tom sounded like home, which is why he asked the question. He told us where he was from in Guatemala, asked if we've been there (we have), talked about where else we've traveled in Guatemala, and called Tom "mi amigo" for the rest of the time we were there. It was fun, even though this was not the first time Tom has had this discussion. Tom can't decide if his high school Spanish teacher would be horrified or happy that he sounds like a Guatemalan, but I think it's great.
We stopped at Walmart on the way back to the hotel, where Tom found some gym shorts he's been looking for for quite a while. We then stopped at the bus station to get our tickets for the 5am bus, and headed back to the hotel for an early night.
We got our bus, got the plane, and arrived in Orlando without any difficulties, and even a bit early. We got to Tom's parents' house and have been having a good visit, interspersed with a bit of shopping we have to do for ourselves and friends in Belize. The week will be gone before we know it, and we will be doing the return trip to Belize.
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