Cozumel 2021
Day 4: Going wild, Big jumps, Bats,
Woke up this morning at, you guessed it, 6:30am...now I know my body is in shock! I went outside to have my morning Coca Light and it was time to practice our Espanol lessons. Hubby was armed with his "cafe" and we were anxious to learn something new and see if we retained our previous day's lessons.
Today was Monday, so guess what that means...it's pool cleaning day! I have my very own "chicos de la piscina" (pool boys). Woo Hoo! I've always wanted a pool boy. :D This time, I got dos! They vacuumed the pool, took care of the chemicals, got all the leaves out of the pool and even swept off the deck. Gracias!
Sakari was up at 9 am and ready for breakfast. She has been cooking a lot lately and breakfast is her specialty. Well, I would say Ramen Noodles is her specialty, but breakfast is creeping up as the numero uno spot very quickly! But, we had bought some waffles at MEGA (trying to make things easy on us while here) and she volunteered to make them. Hey, works for me!
Now, something that I have forgotten to mention is all of the "sounds" here. There are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood (well, everywhere), and sometimes at night or in the early morning, they all get together for a bark-fest. We noticed the first night we were here that one of the "barks" sounded very familiar to us. We KNEW there was a husky in the area. There's no denying that sound and tone! We have two huskies and love to get them howling and "talking". It's hilarious. They have such great personalities.
Sakari had yet to hear them because she's either in bed in the mornings or in bed or in her room in the evenings and she hadn't experienced this sound yet. Well, today would be her day.
Listen for the long, drawn out sound that is overly dramatic...lol
But wait, there's more! There has been this other sound that we hear no matter what time it is. From early morning until very late at night. Now THIS noise is driving us insane and we can't figure out what or who it is. It's a bulb horn sound like clowns have. EEErrrrrEEErrrr ALL.THE.TIME!
We thought maybe it was children playing on the street behind us but dang do they ever give up? We would continue to search for this noise the entire week!
So remember my "I wanna do list" from my planning stages? Well, one of them was to return to Chankanaab because it had been so many years since we were there and now that we were not doing the Snuba there that we had booked, I still wanted to go there. Another item on my list was to go to Jade Caverns. Of course, I let Sakari pick what she would like to do....and she insisted on Jade Caverns and riding the "buggy" there. I told her I would try to find a way to book it and see if it was even possible to do it today.
Now I wanted to tell you a story about when I was trying to find a scuba diver instructor for our trip prior to coming here. Remember how I had booked with one of the locals because he took the time to talk to me about the diving and where he would take us and everything that I had questions about? Well, the last thing I found out, after I had booked and he sent me the information about meeting places and the forms, was that he DIDN'T allow photography while diving. Say what??? I have NEVER been denied us taking our camera's...ever! This was a real put off and if I can't take my camera's with me, I have no desire to go. The next thing was that he told us we would have to meet him at a location by 8:20 in the morning. YIKES! Even though we had been getting up early, we still like to relax in the morning and hubby needs a few cups of coffee and we need to eat breakfast and then factor in driving time. I just didn't see it working. I couldn't understand why it would be so early. Most places have a morning and afternoon option. When I emailed him about getting a later time in the day and also the camera's, his emails started to get rude IMO. Of course AFTER I book with him and paid a deposit this happens.
Anyhow, after i had booked with this guy, another guy messaged me on fb and he seemed really nice and you could tell he really wanted my business and tried to tell me about other tours his company offered that I could book. I mentioned things we'd like to do to see if he offered those things, but he didn't. But, he was really nice about everything. I did mention to him that we were looking for a tour to Jade Caverns and he said that he could get me a discounted price there because he also worked for that company.
So I looked up the pricing online and found the tour offered by a
company called "Wild Tours". It stated that they did the tours for
$120 TOTAL for a buggy (which is really a side-by-side and both
my older kids have one of them so we are really familar with how
to opporate them). That was an AWESOME deal because all the
other websites you had to pay per person and it was around
$65-85/each.
I contacted this diver (Alex) about his "discounted rate" and he
said he would talk to the owner and get back to me. When he
got back to me, his quote was $65/per person. Um...I think not!
That's $195!!! I told him I can book online for $120 total no
thank you!
So, I booked online and got my $120 non-discounted price and
was happy with my choice. Was he trying to making a few bucks
off me? I don't know really.
People are really trying to rip people off these days. I know that
the locals are hurting for money, but I'm not the one to try to pull
a fast one on because I do my research!
Website
Our booking was for 1:30pm (see we were given the option for a later tour) and we had plenty of time to get our things together, relax and of course more Spanish lessons.
When we received our booking notification, the notification said:
Guests staying in hotel in Cozumel:
Take a short taxi ride to Royal Village Shopping Center right in front of the International Cruise Chip Pier. Wild Tours booth is located right in Rafael E. Melgar avenue, at the mall's main entrance.
So we left the house around 12:30 pm because I don't like to be late for anything, even though the Royal Village Shopping Center was right down the road from us.
When we arrived, we had to park out back, walk down the side road and into the mall area, which of course was closed down due to no cruise ships in port. I think there was a pharmacy open and I think a gift shop with a guy outside trying to lure you in to buy some leather from him. But it looked abandoned here. :(
We took this opportunity to take some pictures and look for this booth we were meeting them at. I had messaged them on facebook and they said to go to the Playa Mia booth. So, here we are trying to find that booth.
When we finally found the Playa Mia store front, it was closed! Um, ok. I even confirmed with them on fb where to go and they said to follow the directions on the email booking.
So, I tried to get in touch with them again via fb. and I told them we were at the mall per instructions and they said Playa Mia Beach club. Well, that would have been nice to know. I told them we were following what the instructions said. I sent them a screen shot of my email and told them they should probably change their instructions then and they responded with "There is a mistake with our website, and we are fixing it in this moment. We apologise for this inconvenient. We appreciate your comprehension and the feedback" Alrighty then, we were on our way...but we might be late.
We arrived at Playa Mia to find that it was closed too. But not the tours being operated out of there, which I guess is Wild Tours. There is also a Chocolate Factory there as well that is open. We were greeted in the parking lot and they knew who we were. I guess this is because we were the only people there to do a tour! They had us sit at the tables outside and fill out paperwork and were told to use the bano's if we needed to because there would not be any place to use them once we left and there were none at the caverns. They took our temps and we used sanitizer, then went to watch a video in the building, of the do's and don'ts during the tour, which one said NO CAMERAS! Are you serious??? I'm taking my camera anyhow and I'm taking pictures!!! I will hide it if I have to.
It looked so weird to see Playa Mia like this with their pointed Circus looking tents down and the walkway uncovered.
Hubby went over to the store by the Chocolate Factory tour and bought us some pop. No Coca Light for me. Ugh! At the factory, they had some birds. We could hear them talking.
We sat around and talked to several of the guides and told them we were learning Spanish and doing our apps. Hubby would look up how to say something on his google translator and then he was rewarded with a weird look. They would tell him that's not how it's said and correct him. This was turned into a Spanish lesson while we sat at the table. He even wrote down some things for us. But the NUMERO UNO thing that I took away from that lesson was HIJA! That means daughter but you say it like "EEEEEE HAAAAAA. Kinda like Yea Haw! Like you riding a horse" he said. Now this was the funniest thing I have ever heard on an explanation and it stuck with us! Sakari was now Hija from here on out and I was loving every minute of it! (Yes, to this day, she's answering to that name).
We were told that another couple was coming with us to ride a 4 wheeler on the trip and we were waiting on them. I had no issue with that and they finally arrived and while they were filling out their paperwork, we were given our bandana's to wear on the trip. We were informed that it does get dusty but there wasn't any water right now because it's all dried up. So, no getting muddy. DARNIT! We had such an amazing time getting all muddy when we did a tour like this in Dominican Republic and I was hoping for a repeat!
One last trip to el bano and we were ready to roll.
We headed to our "buggy" and got in. They showed us the seat belts, the side nets, told us to turn it on and....it wouldn't start. Oh just great! They tried and tried and the battery seemed to be dead. They had another guy come over with tools and did something under the seat in the back and it started right up. I really hoped that the cables just needed tightened and we wouldn't get stranded at the caverns.
They lined us up. The leader, then us, then the couple on the 4 wheeler. I thought this was weird. I thought they would have them second and us last since we were a big vehicle and would probably be throwing up more dust and rocks than them.
One of them ask if we wanted our picture taken and ask me did I have a camera. Was this a trick? Man I really wanted a picture. Ok, I confessed that I had a camera and handed to him hoping that I would get it back. I let Sakari sit up front because I knew she enjoyed it so much the last time when we had switched places. I work better as a back-seat driver anyhow...ask the hubby. :)
Off we went on our adventure, following the guide on his 4 wheeler. We headed down the street and passed many beach clubs we had been to before. They all looked familiar to us and I smiled as we went by because of the fond memories we've had at these place. Before long we were crossing the street into something called "El Cedral". There was a big welcoming entrance for us and we knew this was going to be interesting.
We were riding along in what seemed to be a little town of it's own. I have to say, there were some pretty nice places back there and even had their own inground pools.
Then it was about to get fun. The roads turned into dirt and got a little more narrow. The greenery and brush was more prominent and our excitement was building. The hubby was having a bit of fun, espcially around corners. We'd hear a squeal here and there out of Sakari and he knew he was doing something right.
This area reminded us of the time we did this in Dominican Republic. The hubby said remember when we were going down the dirt road and all the brush along the side of it and all of a sudden those cows or bulls or ox or whatever they were came running across the road a split second after we passed and almost hit us? (They did end up running in front of Kendra and she had to stop). Well this is was this area felt like.
Then all of a sudden he yells "LOOK....THEY'RE HERE!!!"
Well they were behind a fence, so no running in front of this time. There was an entire field of them. I totally missed it and couldn't get situated to turn around in time to take a good picture. (I had hoped to get some on the way back, but we ended up going a different way.)
We were having so much fun twisting and turning and spinning around the corners. HIJA was laughing and screaming. At one point there was a huge tree hanging out and down toward the road. The hubby ended up hitting part of the branches and it broke off and yep...the people behind us ended up running it over. We had to stop and help them out. They had the large branch twisted up in the undercarriage of their 4 wheeler and leaves and branches wrapped around the tires. Oops! The tour guide went back to try to pull it all out and the hubby hung his head in shame. The other couple spoke Spanish and they were a bit away from us but we did see them point to us and I waited for the guide to come back and scold us for hitting the tree branch. But, he just came back, told us what happened, and said everything is good and they were not hurt or anything. I mean we didn't do it on purpose, it's just we were so big and it was hanging out in the road. See, this is why the people behind us should have been in front of us. At the very end of the video, you see the tree for a split second and then Sakari turns the camera toward her dad and you hear us hit it and me say something like "geeze", but you can see him swerve to try to not hit it.
A few pictures Sakari took while we were waiting for the guide to pull tree branches out of the other 4 wheeler.
Then we were off again...and finally arrived at our destination
Now I knew there was going to be a lot of walking involved and I had mentally prepared myself and took my walking medications so hopefully I would be good to go. I can go up perfectly fine, other than getting out of breath because of my added weight these days, but going down is such a challenge for me since I can't bend my foot forward. But, I can go sideways. Sideways seems to be the "in thing" for me over the last 1 1/2 years so it now has become a way of life for me if I want to be mobile and do the things I used to do. The hubby gets so worried about me and thinks I push myself too much and I'm going to get hurt, but I attempt to prove him wrong each time. If I'm aware of my surroundings, I do good. It's those dumb little things I do like not paying attention just standing there and I'll take a step backwards and step off something and hurt myself.
So down the stairs we went and seen the beautiful water below awaiting us.
It was definitely beautiful down there. But the smell...I had smelled this smell before! Oh yes, St Lucia! You could smell the sulfur...and bat poop. I'm sure that was part of the smell my nose was encountering and it was in overdrive.
The water is a greenish blue color. We were told that it's the sulfur at the bottom of it causing that. However, he told us that despite the appearance of the color we were seeing, the water was actually clear as can be. On our walk down to the water, I noticed the guide had dug a water bottle out of the trash can and was walking with it. He now showed us why. He reached down and dipped some of the water into the bottle and showed us just how crystal clear the water actually was. Now I have read reviews in the past that stated that they arrived and the water was murky and brown. Maybe it depends on the season or if it has rained? I'm not sure.
The caves are filled with a lot of stalactites and there is a wooden pathway that takes you along the side of it and down to where the bats hang out at. They were pretty active the day we were there and would fly from spot to spot within the cave area but never coming out. Harmless. The guide told us to watch the water. You could see it gently move back and forth. He said all the caverns in Cozumel flowed together underground and that is what caused the gentle movement of the water. It is all natural water and what is used in the black tanks you see around the island.
Sakari had walked off and when I turned around...this was happening...
EEEEHAAAAWWW (Hija)! What are you doing?!? Yep, she was jumping! She couldn't wait. She's my little daredevil and always has been. Well, except for a very brief moment when she was 9 years old and all of a sudden she was scared to do anything from a BABY zipline in Aruba to anything that had to do with heights. This child has been jumping off 2 story docks into the ocean in Roatan and ziplining in the jungle way above the trees since she was 3 years old. She has never been scared to do anything!!! She was always like a mini-adult and was up for anything we would throw at her. But 9 years old...nope! She wasn't having it! I'm glad to say she quickly overcome that age in about a years time and went right back to loving heights and doing anything again.
Now this "ain't no baby jump" es muy grande! It's pretty high up there and I don't know what it looks like when you are up there standing by the ledge but from below...yikes! The guide took her up there and then had her take her shoes off and approach the jump area. Now there are 2 areas that you can't plummet from. One is a lower area on the opposite side. Nope, she wanted the higher one. Go big or go home I guess and she was going big...of course. I wouldn't expect anything less from her. Now I'm always ok with her doing things like this, However.........once they said "the water is 150' deep", that freaks me out. Why they gotta go and tell me this crap??? I was perfectly fine not knowing this. LOL
Actually, she was ready before we were. LOL We had to get both camera's going, one for pictures and the other for a video.
They counted down and off she went.
She had so much fun. "I wanna do it again!" Then off she went up the stairs and to the top. The guide brought her shoes back down half way for her so that she could make it back up on the rocks. I guess they were somewhat pointy and sharp.
Now if she'd just grow out of this stage where she wants to stick her tongue out in every picture we'd be back to normal.
We decided we would take a walk up where she was jumping and get her point of view. Although we weren't standing on the edge, I could tell that it was way down there. The pictures don't do it justice!
As we headed back up to the parking lot, there was a place you could buy drinks. The guide did give us agua, but you know me I need pop!!! If I don't have caffeine flowing in my veins I'm not going to be able to function. Pop will cost you $3 a can here...yes I said can and a can meant that it was about to spill when we were riding not to mention get shook up. Oh geesh.
Also, remember that the guide kept telling us to use the bano's before we left Playa Mia because there wasn't any here? Well, yes there are! Bano's are here!!! So don't worry.
The hubby went to the restroom and I was starring at this very large tree that had holes in it all the way up. The guide told me it was from termites. Termites must have OCD or something to make them all in a line like that. Whodda thought? We told him about the time we were in Belize and the guide got termites out of a tree and we ate them. Taste like minty water! Oh the experiences we've had over the years.
So back to the buggy's and it had been a good time. He asks if I was getting some good pictures and then said "but no picture taking by the driver". So I guess that's what they are talking about when they say no cameras. Only the driver. But we all knew I'd do it anyhow. ;)
But wait, there's more he tells us. We are going to another cavern! But this one did not have any water in it. Well that was a nice added surprise (going somewhere else that we didn't expect). But I was definitely up for some more riding and fun and I knew Sakari was too. She loves doing things like this and doesn't always get to go riding with her sister and brother when they go, but when she does, she loves it!
A couple of very slow cranks to get the buggy going, but it did start thank goodness because our "maintenance guy was not with us this time. However, the second guide (which was supposed to be the person watching everyone from the back) had arrived to the caverns. I guess his 4 wheeler had an issue and he had to turn around and get another one, then he had to play catch up to get to us.
We were off and headed to the next cavern. We were glad to see there was a pop holder in the middle of the buggy...but what good did it do when you have cans spilling as you are riding? LOL
We passed some horses along the way and we were having more fun
The ride to the next cavern wasn't as long as getting to the first (obviously since we were already back there in the jungle already).
Now the path to get to these caverns were a little tricky for me to walk. There were pebbles along the way and it was just downhill and slippery somewhat for me. Hubby was trying to hang onto me and hoping for the best. Now for normal people, this isn't an issue. Everyone else was navigating it easily. I was just wishing for actual steps.
He told us that this caverns was on someone's land and they recently obtained permission to go on it and the guides would come along and put coins in a rock to show their respect. This must be a new part of the excursion because I hadn't seen anyone else mention it.
The cavern was beautiful with different colors in the stalactites and you could watch them drip onto the floor and was creating stalagmites. It takes many many years for this to happen.
He told us some really neat stories about the Mayns and their beliefs. If there was no rain for awhile, the Mayans would sacrifice their daughters, between the ages of 12-15, to bring rain. They would load them down with jewels and put them down in a water hole and it would cause them to sink and die. They thought this would bring them rain in return for their sacrifice. I'm not sure how this worked out for them but I let Sakari know she's within this range. Her eyes grew big as he told this story and putting things into perspective from her age-point.
Then, if they had too much rain, they would sacrifice the boys. But, this was done in a different way. They had to play a game and the WINNER would be the one sacrificed. Like who would WANT to win? He said it was a big deal and the boys all played to win. The winner would prove they are the strongest of the bunch and that is what was needed for the rain to stop. They would paint them blue from head to toe, then chop off their head and rip out their heart and hold it up to the sky as a sacrifice.
Then it was time to head out again and we were back on the path.
We arrived at El Cedral Village. The guide said this is usually the meeting point they take all the excursion people to in order to get their buggy's and 4 wheelers. I don't know how they get them all there, but I was glad we were able to drive ours from Playa Mia. I guess we got an extended ride.
It was a little village that was basically set up as one of those tourist area's with stores and venders selling things and trying to get you to come in and buy items because it was "almost free".
We took a look around and I was more interested in taking pictures of the area of course.
There was a church there that had been around since 1848. There was a vendor that came up and was telling us that one of the hurricanes had come and tore up the church and they had to redo it at some point but was yet still all original.
I found this tree really interesting for some reason.
We came to a little limestone house, where the goddess Ixchel worked. She was considered a goddess that represents birth and medicine. This place had very thick walls and was used to stay cool during the hot summer months.
He said that when danger came, she had a tunnel way under the ground and she would go into this place and escape underground to another place...which I thought was odd because if someone was after her and went in her temple, they would see the tunnel AND the other thing is, the place the tunnel came out at was another house/temple that was right across the yard.
In the next picture, I was standing where the tunnel comes out at and you can see the distance to the other house.
This is the home she would escape too. It was also destroyed with one of the hurricanes and this is all that is left. There are big tree's growing on top of it and the house is very covered and hard to see. Maybe that was how she was able to escape, it was hard to tell there was a place there.
Then there were 2 statues of the people that first arrived here and claimed the land.
There is a wide open building in the middle. I assume maybe this is where they have a lot more vendors usually set up for tourist when they come. But there were just a few men hanging out there selling coconuts.
Now the guy telling us the history about the area was a vendor. He wanted you to come in and "just have a look". I honestly didn't bring any money to buy anything other than a few dollars incase we ran across a place to buy drinks (which of course we did at the caverns) so I could just have a look, but I wasn't purchasing anything. The shops had your normal souvenirs and trinkets, leathers, clothes and so on. I had no idea we would be stopping at a place like this to shop. Either way, there really wasn't anything we seen that we had to have if we did have money on us.
But this guy...I really wanted to buy something from him...just for the fact he had a funny sign.
Now HIJA was really interested in the coconuts. I don't particularly like coconut milk but the fruit itself is ok. They sold it for $3 and she ran off to get one.
I'm waiting for her to return (we are sitting in the same area but a ways from her) and I see her sit down by them and she wasn't coming back. Um ok, what's going on. I yell for her to come here and I ask her why she was sitting over there. She said the guy told her once she drank the milk, they would chop it up for her so she was trying to drink the milk up....but wasn't enjoying it. LOL
I tried to help her out a little despite me not liking coconut milk, and she was laughing at us struggling to get it all down. My pop had spilled on the way there, so although I didn't like the taste, it was cold and refreshing. This coconut was LOADED! Like I've had them before and they never had this much in it!
Finally we gave up and she poured the rest out. She headed back over to them to get the coconut cut up for her.
They had sprinkled a little "sal" on it, but this salt had some zing to it and a lot of brown stuff. But, it was really good and we enjoyed eating the rest of the coconut.
Finally it was time to move on. It was hot out and I was glad we weren't sitting in the sun at this point, but I was ready to feel the breeze!
Then our buggy wouldn't start. We tried over and over.
I just knew this was going to happen. They worked on it for awhile and finally...varoom! We were good to go! We headed back a different way and I was sad that i wasn't going to get any pictures of the animals that I missed before.
On our ride back a big bee had attached itself to Sakari's net on the side of the buggy. She was freaking out and almost sat on her dad's lap at some point. We were going fast and it was not giving up. It was a trooper and determined to hitch a ride!
We were back at Playa Mia and had an awesome time on our trip. I would imagine that it would be a much different story if cruise ships are here and travel isn't so restricted. But it was like a personal tour and we loved it! I would highly recommend doing this tour and with these tour guides. They were awesome. It was an added bonus they taught us some new Spanish words too! EEEEHHHHAAAAWWWW!
On the way home, we decided to head to the grocery store. I needed more pop! We ended up at Super Aki and this one reminded me of a Sam's Club Warehouse type of store. The only thing I knew is that they had DIET PEPSI and that was good enough for me! We picked up a few items and then headed home to have a BBQ because we were starving. The hubby needed more cookies for some reason even though we still had another package left from Ana.
Our cookout consisted of some hamburgers and Italian sausages and I almost forgot to take a picture.
Hija and I decided it was time for a little pool fun because we had not had our swimming time in for the day, well at least I hadn't, and we were going through withdrawal at this point.
I found the basketball and told her we were playing a game of "out". That then turned into "dog" (should have spelled perro instead) and then cat (gato) then we started spelling a bunch of silly different words. For those that don't know this basketball game, you shoot the ball and if it makes it in, then the next person has to shoot it from the same position that you were in when you made it. If they lose then they get the first letter of the word. Once they spell the word, they are out and lost the game. Now not to toot my own horn, but I was doing good, and by good I mean every 10 shots I would make it in. LOL EEEEHHHHAAAWWWW! Do that shot!!!! Hija was only able to make shots at one position in the pool and if you got her to move around the pool, she just couldn't do it. She was the one shot wonder!
Now I don't know if I have mentioned this before or not...but if I did sorry, I'm saying it again. So I have always worn bikini's. Then in 2010 when we started cruising "full time" (kinda), I started just wearing the bathing suit short bottoms and a bikini top. At some point, I graduated to a tankini top and shorts. Then graduated to a skirt bottom. I'm now the official owner of swimming shorts that go to my knees. I am so self-conscious about my weight these days and after being in a wheelchair, and now not much activity or anything walking or exercise related, I have put on so much weight and it bothers me so much. So, I cover as much up as I can.
Well, obviously I thought I was bigger than I am because I purchased these two pairs of swimming shorts for girls online and they are a bit lose on me. I suggest never buying things online if you don't have to because you never know what you're gonna get and you can't try it on.
So, I struggle with wearing these things. I'm constantly pulling them up and they constantly go back down with movement. Tonight would be a special night. I got so fed up with them that I gave up and this happened...
Yep, I let them slide off and I just decided to swim in my underwear! Thank goodness for high walls is all I can say. I wasn't skinny dipping, I was skinny pimpin! Either way, the hubby said I should do this more often!
When I was done playing basketball I decided to sit on the shallow end. There's a large shallow area at the end of the pool. I learned up against the side and I hear "plop". Um, what was that??? I look down and find some of the tile from around the inside of the pool had fallen in! Oh my goodness! All I did was lean on it. I immediately texted Ana to let her know and she said she would have someone come out tomorrow to take a look at it.
After that, I decided to get out and it was now time for some more Español lessons.
We went to bed early again and my brain was spinning with Spanish words. I honestly didn't sleep good that night because I kept dreaming of talking Spanish and it was just weird dreams about it. I couldn't get it out of my head. But, I guess that means it was being drilled into my memory.