Cozumel, Mexico,  December 26, 2023

I decided to rent a scooter and ride around the island.  I walked to the ferry pier and as soon as I left my place, my body was disagreeing with my decision.  I was very tired and aching from yesterday.  I also may be getting a cold.  My voice is always the first to be affected - I get a deep vodka voice - you’d think I’d been partying and smoking all night.

The first booth I approached wanted 500 pesos even though I only wanted the scooter about 3 hours.  If I thought yesterday’s sidewalks and streets were busy, today was even worse.  There are two cruise ports so at least the cruisers are sort of spread out in the city-

Perhaps this is good because it gives more retailers a chance.  The downtown square was just crawling with mainly extra large people.  I don’t understand cruisers.  First, they’ve paid a lot of money for their trip which I believe includes all meals.  Why would you leave the boat to eat at a restaurant whose quality of food probably doesn’t nearly compare with what you get on the ship?  Maybe not everyone gets off at every port or maybe they only get off at one or two stops.  I’m not sure.

Anyway, I walked to the ferry terminal because when I arrived it was worse than the airport at Vallarta with numerous booths and people trying to sell you a tour or rent you a car or a scooter.  I found a booth that would rent to me for 400 pesos so we walked to their “office” which was a hole in the wall a few blocks away.  When I pulled out my driver’s liscence this morning from my money belt, I noticed it had expired.  I’m not sure why I didn’t get an email from SGI the end of October about that.  Anyway, the crazy Mexican noticed, mentioned it and shrugged.   Once I’d signed whatever I signed, he suggested I take pictures of all sides of the bike just like a rental car.  Fine.  This scooter was a wreck-

I headed south from the ferry pier-

amongst a lot of taxis transporting cruisers to nearby beaches. Today there are 5 ships and 18,500 people here for a few hours.  Fricking hell.  It so disgusts me but it allows some of the people, probably a lot of the people to make a living while increasing prices substantially for the poor locals.  Anyway…

I putted along, trying to get used to this bike that listed to the left, trying not to get taken out by passing taxi vans and trying not to hit topes at a great speed.  There’s a bicycle lane I tried to stay in but also didn’t want to get stopped by the police and have to show my liscence.  Once out of the city it was better with a wide road and big shoulder.

For the whole west and south sides of the island, I drove through trees-

I stopped at a couple of places; the first was a marina where they were loading divers into boats, the second was a beach club where it costs $40 U.S. for a chair, umbrella and wifi as well as access to the blow up toys-

People seemed to be having fun and the sand looked lovely.

I carried on and came to Mirador which is a lookout rock.  The waves were really crashing in-

There’s also a reggae bar called Rasta’s-

I thought it best not to have a drink and I had no intention of going in the water so I carried on. 

Some beaches had soft waves and others were wild.  Some had sandy shores and others had hard lava-

There are a few thatched roof bars/restaurants along the way-

I continued around the island and the further I got away from the town, the quieter the road became.  I liked that.

Eventually I made the full circle and now had the task of finding the bike shop.  I had decided I would get to the main square and call them to come and get me because I had no idea how to find the small office especially with all the oneway streets. Street signs do not exist except on the major boulevards but thank goodness for google maps.  I was in a bit of a traffic jam when I heard someone yell “hey amiga!”  I turned and looked and a man was walking towards me; he knew me but I did not know him - I am so brutal at remembering faces.  I hope that improves once I have cataract surgery in early January.  Wouldn’t you know it - I just happened to be on the right street and had gone right by the other bikes they had parked on the street!  How lucky is that?  Of course I don’t believe in “luck” like that but anyway… I parked at a yellow curb and he sent me back to the shop and he brought the bike around.  I had made arrangements to have them drive me home and the man who did did not have a clue where my street was.  Finally I mentioned Sam’s Club which is a block or so away and we were off. 

I got home very tired, had left over chicken for lupper and spent the afternoon reading and enjoying my room.

Tomorrow I will take a colectivo to the main square and wander a bit - it won’t be a strenuous day!