Playa del Carmen

We are ending our trip with the last three days in Playa del Carmen. This is a big resort area, about 45 minutes from Cancun.

Entryway to the main beach area. Lots of tourists here and very crowded.

We  rented a small one room apartment for our stay here. It had a room with a double and single bed, small kitchen and a bathroom. Very clean and the location is close to everything.

The all inclusive suite. Kitchen, dining room, and bedroom all in one room!

Beach scene. Hotel after hotel, lounge chairs after lounge chairs and tourist after tourist.

We ended our adventure in Mexico on the beach at Playa del Carmen, drinking margaritas!!

Manana, vamos a ir a la aerouerto en Cancun. Volemos a nuestra casa en Saint George.

Adios Amigos,

Juanita y Carlos

Adios to Jessica

Tulum Beach

We made it to the beach everyday, as Jessica needed to work on her tan. The  ocean was often rough but we did go in for our daily swim. Sometimes we rode our bikes, 45 minute ride, or drove our car.

We have had a great time with Jessica here in Tulum.

Our rental car.

Adios to Jessica. She made it as far as Newark, NJ. Her flight to Vermont was canceled so she had to spend the night in a hotel. She was able to get a flight back to BTV on Monday. Traveling is always an ADVENTURE!

Coba Ruins

Today we drove to Coba to visit the ruins there. The ruins are about an hour away from Tulum.

We rented bicycles as it is quite a distance between the different sites.

One side of a ball court where teams played against each other. The person who was able to get the ball through the ring was the winner. He was honored as the winner and his prize was death. The Mayan people considered it an honor to be sacrified to the gods.

Jessica and Charlie headed up the steps of the largest pyramid at this site. This is the last remaining temple that can be climbed in Quintana Roo.

Checking out another pyramid.

Entering the "Twilight Zone!!" We had a great time at the ruins.

Moving Day/ Jessica's Arrival

Thiis morning we packed up our belongings from Oso's apartment and moved down the street to our new lodgings. Jessica is spending her winter break with us here in Tulum.

We took the collectivo to Playa del Carmen and then the bus to Cancun International Airport to pick up Jessica. We rented a car so we could travel to places outside of town while Jessica was here.

We found lodging for the three of us at a hostal called Rancho Tranquilo. It is just on the outer edge of Tulum.

The casita has a single room with two double beds and a single bed. We have our own bathroom and air conditioning. There is a porch where we can sit and observe the coming and goings of the people here. 

The view from our porch. This spot orginally was nothing but sand and stone. Over the years the owner planted all the vegetation. It is like a little tropical garden in the middle of a hot, dry area.

Our Neighbors

Eugene and Tina are our neighbors. They are from the US and are here for four months. We go out to dinner together once a week. During the hot part of the day we sit outside, read, and talk about our families, intersting places to visit, and catch up on the daily news.

Abarrotes Alberto and Mini Super Poot are next door to us. Mini Super Poot sells only beer and he does a brisk business. Abarrotes Alberto sells groceries.

Our landlord is Mayan so the sculptures in the yard are Mayan replicas. Check out the basil plant beside the sculpture.

Graduation Day from Chac-Mool Spanish School

Graduates of Chac-Mool Spanish School

After two weeks of studying Spanish we finally graduated. We are with Sofia, the teacher we worked with for most of our lessons.

We know more Spanish than we arrived. We have an understanding of how to use the present, past and future verb tenses.  We just need to practice, practice and practice what we've learned.

Tim and Amy were in our graduating class. They were in the more advanced classes!!

Our classroom, where we spent 5 hours/day.

Pambazo Cooking Class

One of our afternoon school activities was a visit to a local lady for a cooking lesson.  We were given a list of ingredients that needed to be purchased for making pambazos. In late afternoon we met at the cook's house with our ingredients for the cooking lesson.

La cocina - the kitchen

Chorizo y papas cocidas juntos

Pollo, tomates verde, chiles, cebolla

A roll was covered in a tomato paste made from tomatoes and other spices.

The pambazo was fried in oil.

The roll was split open and you chose the toppings you wanted to put inside. Delicioso!

Not a Good Day

We needed to do our laundry after the first week. We packed up our clothes, sheets, and towels and took them to the Lavanderia on Saturday. They told us that we could pick them up Monday afternoon because they were closed Sundays. Probelma grande.  We did not have extra sheets or towels, so we took our landury back to the apartment.

We decided to take a bike tour of Tulum and stop at the Panaderia to buy a loaf of whole wheat bread.  On the way we had an accident.  I stopped my bike and Jane ran into my back tire. She fell off her bike and damaged the left side of her body. Her watch took a licking but kept on ticking. She is ok but very lame.

A Dinner Invitation

At the end of our first week at Spanish school, we were invited to Kris's house. He lives in the U.S. and has a house in Tulum.  He was at the school for one week. The students and teachers were invited for supper.  We all chipped in and prepared our meal together. We made guacamole, home made tortilla chips, baked chicken breast with peanut sause, rice, salad, and assorted beverages.

A fun evening together.

Art Class Activity

We did not know what art activity we would be doing.  We were given a list of  items we needed to find and bring back to the school.  We each were given list of  items to find, two small containers of acrilic colors, a couple of paint brushes, and an old neswpaper.  When we returned at 4:30, we were told that we would be making paper mache charactors similar to the famous mexican artist Pedro Linares Lopez.  Barbie, the director, made the paper mache and we began by molding the newspaper and covering it with the paste.

When we had molded our amimal, we let them dry a little and then began the painting.

Our characters are drying after they were painted.

Segunda actividad del día

This afternoon we began our second activity after we finished our conversation session.  We were given a list of ingredients to purchase for our evening meal together.  We are making cerviche.
Ingredients:
2 kilos filets de Mero (sin espinas) - Grouper
1/2 kilo camarones - shrimp
5 tomates rojo - red tomatoes
1 cebolla grande - large onion
2 pepinos - cucumbers
1 zanahoria - carrot
6 limones - limes
2 bolas de totopos - bags of taco chips
Oil
Vinegar
Sal
Pepper blanco

Preparation

The evening meal

First After Class Activity

All five students and Barbie, the diredtor of Chac-Mool, went out in the evening to a cafe to meet with each other and relax. Of course the cafe had a special, one shot of mescal and a beer for 50 pesos. It was a great deal.

Here is our group.

Left to right. Amy, Barbie, Chris, Tim, Charlie and Jane.

After three rounds we headed back to the School and later headed home. It's a good thing there were taxis near by to take us back.

Instituto Chac-Mool School Day

This is our classroom. Notice the whiteboard in the background.

In the morning, we started class with a new student, Chris. Our teacher is Sofia and she speaks only a little English.  Our instruction is only in Spanish. We begin with basic instruction from 9:00 - 12:00 with one 10 minute break.  At noon, we have a 15 minute break.

In the afternoon, 12:15-2:00, it is time for conversation. During this time we have conversation activities.  Sometimes individually and other times as a whole group, all 5 students and 3 teachers. We are having a great time, the people are wonderful and we all get along.

Yoga classes on Tuesday and Thursday before school. The yoga instructor comes to the school and we have class on the second floor deck.

Instituto Chac-Mool Spanish School

This is our first day of class in Spanish School. We will be attending school for ten days with five hours of instruction each day. There are currently five students at the school, including us, and three teachers!! We work with two different teachers during the day. We were told not to speak any English during the day but that did not happen today. We had a great time and had to come right home to do our homework!!!

School is held outdoors. This was our working space today.

After class we rode our bikes to Chedraul Supermarket to get food for supper.

Our First Day

We spent time with Barton, the person that rented us the apartment, and his girlfriend.  He introduced us to the local store owners, whose store is right beside us.

Then we met our neighbors from Michigan, Gene and Tina, who are here for four months. We made plans to go out to dinner with them on Sunday.

We walked into town and checked out the cost of renting bikes, (around 60 pesos a day/bike) for two weeks.

We had no pots or pans to cook with so the owner's son showed up around 7:00pm with some new ones. Now we have a way to start cooking our own meals.

Our Kitchen