Sanity in the Midst of Craziness

“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling

We are now on the Riviera Maya, a 100 mile stretch of the eastern Yucatan coast that goes from Cancun to Tulum. This part of Mexico has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, some of the best diving and snorkeling anywhere, and has the second longest coral reef on earth. It also consists almost exclusively of big, fancy schmancy resorts costing hundreds of dollars per night, private beaches where the only locals you will meet are the ones serving you your margarita, and giant "Eco Resorts", that are anything but eco. 

But amongst this overdeveloped and overpriced craziness is an oasis of sanity, the small town of Puerto Morelos. Somehow, someway, the city fathers here have fought off the corruption of the big resorts, Mexican government and the almighty dollar to keep their lovely small town small and, as far as is possible here, Mexican. There is a very, very nice white sandy beach that is, gird your loins...public!  This means that, as opposed to about 90% of the rest of this coast, where the big resorts and Eco parks have taken over the beaches and the public (unless you pay to get in or are staying at the resort) isn't allowed, can come and enjoy themselves. Yesterday we saw many local families enjoying refreshing beverages and frolicking on the beach. In addition, there are many tasty restaurants with the freshest fish you can imagine...one is actually owned by the Cooperative of Fishermen from Puerto Morelos. And the town really can't grow anymore from its three streets as behind the town is a huge swamp that you can't build on. 

Before we got here we had a nice long drive through central Yucatan, to the Mayan ruins of Coba. This was a HUGE city of about 70 sq. kilometers. But very little has been excavated and the little that has is a bit disappointing. The only really big building is a pyramid about 2 kilometers from the entrance. So most of the tourists, especially the ones in the big groups, get there by pedicab. So you're walking along in this nice jungle, listening to the birds, while literally hundreds of tourists whiz past you in their pedicabs. The good thing about this is that the drivers are local Mayans and this gives them good jobs.   But I have to say that of the 25 or 30 Mayan ruins we've been to, Coba is probably my least favorite. The best part was going off a side trail, which I'm sure is illegal, and climbing up partway on an unexcavated building, with strangler figs and tumbling boulders. 

Further on up the road we stopped at a hammock store, as we needed a new one since our cats have pretty much destroyed one we got in Merida. There we met a local Mayan man, Alberto, and bought a nice hammock made out of sisal (or henniquen as it's also known). 

Scenes from Puerto Morelos...

There are very few things in life better then sipping an ice cold beer with your toes in sand. 

Do you see the dog and the duck?

For dinner we went to a nice place on the beach, Ojo de Agua, and had a whole fried local fish called a bocanete, or something like that. AWESOME!