k-strat: Everything else (Mexico, part 4)

A few things about our trip as a whole... First, Chris and I are not very keen on being solicited, and the culture in Mexico is a little pushier than the U.S. It seemed like you couldn't look at anything, make eye contact with anyone, or even walk down the street without being offered to buy something (legal and otherwise). Just walking down 5th Avenue (the main pedestrian area in Playa del Carmen), we were offered souvenirs, tours, rentals, drugs, massages, cigars, you name it. In fact, Chris and I ate dinner at an Argentinian restaurant (we had already eaten a ton of Mexican and Mayan food at this point) and started a running tally of what we were solicited for just during dinner.

If you are interested, here's what it was: (1) a mariachi band, (2) a homeless girl trying to sell some sort of tassel trinket, (3) a guy trying to make Chris buy me flowers, (4) another mariachi band, (5) a deaf-mute trying to give us candy or a cricket made out of palm leaves in exchange for cash for his kids, (6) a guy playing guitar, (7) another guy playing guitar, (8) a nun asking for donations for her convent or orphans, couldn't totally translate that one, (9) the same flower guy came back again, (10) a third mariachi band, (11) a new guitar guy, and (12) a trumpet and violin player.

You couldn't drink the water where we were so we went grocery shopping for water and breakfast food the first night we were there. Grocery shopping was quite the experience! So was having a limited water supply...

Some of the architecture in this area was so interesting and pretty!

Chris and I flew in and out of Cozumel, an island off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula. Not a big deal and another great opportunity to see another part of Mexico on this trip, but the ferry crossing was horrendous. The way over was in the midst of a storm so I thought the turbulence was strictly due to the weather, but on the way back it was gorgeous and there was no excuse. Yikes.