Cancun and cuba

Written at 2:15 am after a day of travel and a night of drinking.....

Ramblings of a drunken exhausted man.

So it is 2:00 am and I don’t have a fat-burger…. * reference to a college rap song…. 2am got the fat burger…

But I am in Cancun, yeah baby, Cancun!

Lets run down the past 24, no 36 hours… lets see, I got up at 645 on Friday morning. I had a hectic day at work, one of those, I cant believe that all this is happening to me in just one day, days.

After negotiating an counter offer with a client, I rushed out across town to get a new power cord for my laptop computer, the one I am typing on right now. The laptop that had a hissing power cord for the past 2 months. The one I should have stopped using and sent in for a new one, the one that had been known to catch fire after overheating a few dozen times…… Another bullet I have dodged.

So, after the trek to 3 different stores who tell me that they cant help me, I find myself at Costco, trying to return a darned camera that has failed on me. Well, they want the 16 meg. chip that it came with, or they wont take it back. ARGH! No one sells the 16 meg. chip anymore… heck, I have taken single photos that take more than 16 megs of space.

As I write this, I am on a 4th floor balcony, sipping some jugo de pina, or pineapple juice for you gringos… The waves are breaking loudly, the brisk, yet warm breeze is blowing a constant 16 knots…. I hope that it will be calm enough tomorrow to dive as the sun comes up.

So, where was I, driving back to Santa Barbara to find that darned 16 meg. chip. I ended up buying a 32 meg chip and exchanging it with a new chip in a camera. Some luck fool will buy his new camera, expect to have a 16 meg. throwaway chip, but a 32 meg chip will be in the box. * thanks joe.

Anyway, after another trip back to Goleta and back, I have returned the camera, and found a power cord that will charge my laptop, or so it says on the box.

After a Fatal Execption Error and the black screen of scary almost death, I call the manufacturer to find out that, to quote them, “oops, we need to take your laptop model off of the box” ARRGH!

Long story short, it was 730 pm before I got a chance to get home and start thinking of packing. I found a replacement charger that seemed to work and all looked good.

We were to leave at 330, so after 2 loads of laundry and 45 minutes of ironing, that left just enough time to shave shower and pack the car.

So, after a few snafus at my parents house, I was driving down the 101 to the 405 at a high rate of speed. The sun comes up as I drop off the rental van. 24 hours that I have been awake.

The flight to Mexico city was not bad, I must admit that I did nap a few itmes, but it seemed that I was awakened about every 23 minutes… no, I don’t want a drink, what is the choice for breakfast? Ok I will have the scrambled eggs…..

We land in mex city and take off after going through customs. Long lines, Disney land lines without the celebratory ride at the end, just a long faced Mexican immigration officer stamping my passpuerte…..

We finally land in beautiful Cancun, oh yeah, every nap that I tried to have on that flight was interrupted every 18 minutes. It is quite surreal to go from deep sleep, to finding your food tray down, a food plate infront of you, and a dry ham sandwich in your hands, bearing down on your mouth.

We land, walk off the plane into a warm tropical paradise. As we walk off, I remark to my sister, “wadda u think, 45 minutes until we are sipping margaritas?”

What a curse I put on us….

We get into the van that will take us to the rental car dealership. He had not gone 300 yards when he rearends a lady at about 20 miles per hour.

We spend the next 57 minutes in a hot, cramped van, muttering aobut our missed sunsets, missed margarita dates…… another hour delay at the rental dealer and it is just about dark when we finally get to our hotel.

Back to tonight, a good time out, great dinner with the family. Everyone is exhausted, but I will not go to bed at 10:00 on a Saturday night in cancun, HELLO!!! Party Party….

Venturing off down the street, I come to a bus stop. It seems to be all local workers, off from a long shift of entertaining, cooking, cleaning for touristas.

I see a couple of guys with a guitar and violin. I ask them which bus to take to get to this Bongo Bongos, they motion to get on the bus that was arriving at a high rate of speed.

SO I get on the bus. Not the red shiny bus that all the gringo tourists take, but the dirty white bus that the all the locals take. I think it was three pesos or six. What an adventure, this bus would speed down the street, see someone flag him down, screech to a slow crawl, doors open, the person would hop on, and the bus would be on the way again, sometimes not coming to a complete stop. This would have been lawsuit city in the states, but here, a way of life.

I am not sure where to go, someone mentioned Bongo Bongos… and as we motor down the way, all of a sudden, I hear a violin crank up, and then a guitar, and then a couple of voices cry out into the bus. It was the nice musicians, playing for all the tired workers who enabled this giant tourist machine to keep grinding the tourist dollar out of the tourist wallet. They belt out a couple of great sounding songs, then walk up and down the isle with outstretched palm. The machine keeps grinding the dollars out, a couple of pesos from my pocket, pesos from the workers pockets as well.

Rolling to a stop, I see Jimmy Buffet has been here, and has created another Margaritaville. I must visit. I feel like a pilgrim, visiting the shrine of Jimmy. 3 bucks at the door, and I am now wearing one of many wrist bands that I will wear this week. They have different packages. $3 gets you in the door, $25 gets you all the margaritas you can drink….. not bad, but I think I will just stick to beer tonight.

There were several dozen people, parting like they do in a Jimmy Joint. Most were dancing the night away, nibbling on spongecake, tourists covered in oil, looking for that cheeseburger in paradise. I feel like a pirate born 400 years too late. Alright, enough Jimmy puns.

Beer in hand, I wander through the bar, and through the store. Imagine that he is not only a singing superstar, but also successfully markets his own line of bars, restaurants, clothing line, shot glasses, silly bumperstickers, shrimp, funny hats, knick knacks and I am sure, if profitable, paddy whacks. Fido, want a bone?

I spy a couple of cute girls with coconuts as bras, grass skirts selling shots of sour apple liqueur.

Random sights:

Musicians on the bus….

Margarita ville 00 dumb us gringos tryin to get the tequila girls to flsh them….

Taking a sour apple shot from cute teq girl

Cab to down town

Wandering around downtown cancun, avoiding the hustlers trying to get me to go into the strip clubs and escort services…. no thanks!

Silly drunk girls dirty dancing with 12 year old local street vender boys

Italian talking shit to bus driver

Going to bed now….

241 am.

Drink count: 6 beers, a tropical fruit drink, and a pina colada.

*******************************

Im off to CUBA tomorrow... will be drinking a mojito in old Havana on monday night!!! will update with more photos.

*************************

In havana, one mojito down, wow, they make them small and strong! Off to La Florida to drink where Hemmingway once sat and drank.......

The sights here are amazing, sat with some locals and talked about the differences in culture.... lots of baseball, old cars, bikes and cocotaxis......

Stay tuned.
mco

Back to cancun tomorrow.

**************************************

We spent the day in Tulun, a slice of paradise. It could have been any beach in Tahiti or the Cook Islands too. Long and wide, white powdery sand beaches, lots of palm trees, warm wind blowing off the sea, a barrier reef, very friendly people, a beach bar with great DJ spinning everything from dance, to trance, swing seats at the bar. Many hammocks, hammock seats and swings hang from trellises, small palapa roofs provide shade and have a little table for resting drinks. Food is delicious, the ceviche de cammarones is delightfully refreshing. The water was clear, full of fish. The pinacoladas were the best I have ever tasted.

There were beach bungalows, right on the sand, for only $40 a night, but electricity was only on from 5pm till 2am and no hot water, but still, u were in paradise. There were many little bungalows that were built right on the beach, I will have to return and explore this side of the Mayan Riviera soon.

There were some kite surfers, the wind was perfect, a steady 16 knots, long stretch of water to work. I may return on Friday to take some kite lessons, but will probably return to Isla Mujeres, our destination today. The diving is fantastic there, and we have been told of a little reef to find. I will report on the beaches and bars there later tonight.

The wind has been blowing 24/7 here, a steady 15 knots, increasing to about 18 knots in the late afternoon. The beach infront of the hotel here has some fun 2-4 foot windswell, short little breakers that are fun to bodysurf, but are also a workout, as they have about a 5 second interval. When swimming back out, you get a little worked constantly fighting against the sideshore current and diving every 4 seconds.

All for now.

mco
- Marco, Thu, 21 Apr 2005 6:48AM

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