Cozumel 2021
Day 10: Last day to Explore, Breakfast and Airport sniff sniff
We had a late flight out today, so no rushing in the morning...although we are still getting up between 7-8am. I think our bodies have adjusted to this schedule at this point. Cafe, Coca Light and Espanol until Hija wakes up.
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We had made plans with our "landlord" to meet at 12 noon to return the keys and garage remote so we had this morning to do breakfast and explore a little.
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Hija was up around 9am and we headed out to find a place to eat. But first...the hubby had been secretly looking up skate parks in Cozumel (instead of practicing his Spanish), since he is a bladder and owned a skate shop for 9 years, and he had found a park and a skate shop he wanted to visit. It didn't matter what our bellies said, we were going hunting for this skate park. Now I have to admit every time we have done this in other countries, it has been somewhat of a bust. But, he was hopeful this time.
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He said it wasn't far from where we were staying and would only "take a minute".
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He was right, it wasn't far at all and actually it was a pretty good skate park. There wasn't anyone there. I know it was hot out already, but kids in our town could care less if it's 100 degrees out...they are there at the crack of dawn and stay until after the sun sets.
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It was a pretty big park and the hubby said it was designed pretty good for both skateboarders and bladders.
There was a big area that was covered as well for games
They had a playground, which looked like it wasn't operational. I'm not sure if they turned the playhouse over on the side to keep kids from playing in it during COVID or if someone vandalized it.
Picnic area and machines to work out on (above)
There was also a big sports field.
Caught the hubby acting like he has skates on and grinding the railing...Sakari wished that she had a pair too. Lately they have been going to our local skate parks all over the city and Sakari has been loving skating and also using her pro scooter.
After this adventure we were ready to eat...but the hubby wanted to find the skate shop and check it out. It was in the neighborhood...or was it? We drove around and around and the address it had listed online was a house. I'm not sure if that was correct or maybe it was a shop ran out of someone's house...or it maybe used to be a skate shop and they moved and now someone lived here. We have to remember, we are in a different country and they do things differently than the US, so who knows. I just knew I wasn't about to get out of the car and go up to the door that was located behind a gate in the driveway. Nope, Nada, No way!
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We finally talked mi esposo into heading to breakfast. I mean how does he expect me to drive around looking for places that don't exist on an empty stomach? My brain can't function like that!
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We drove down the main road in town and decided to try out a place called Rock'n Java Caribbean Bar'n'Grill. It had flashy colors and who doesn't like flashy colors right? It draws you in!
We headed in, sanitized and found a place to sit. It wasn't very crowded at all. One large family with 2 tables and another couple.
It had a nice view, but the table was taken by the window when we first got there.
The menu...
After putting our order in, I decided to look us up...yep, we were still in Cozumel and by the ocean....ahhhhh At least for a few more hours. Poor Kendra all the way up there in the northern part of the states. :( Yea, she was up in Michigan riding side by sides.
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My meme in scrubs...not for the last 10 days! I should have put her in a bikini and dreamed for awhile while having everyone at home wondering if I had managed to actually squeeze into said bikini.
It wasn't long before our food come out and it was pretty darn good!
If I could have someone cut my fruit up like this every morning...I would eat fruit all day long just for the cuteness factor!
So breakfast was a hit. The food was good, the service was good and the view was good. I would definitely return here when/if we come back to Cozumel.
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Now one thing I want to mention is the art work everywhere you go. So many murals painted on the buildings and I absolutely love it! Like it was everywhere. I would be so mesmerized that 90% of the time I forgot to take a picture, which left me scrambling to get a few the night before and today when driving.
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With Sakari being an artist and in art school she just loved it. There were A LOT of styles that are like her drawings...very odd, thought up animals that aren't real, ocean creatures, bones and just weird things. That pretty much sums up her style.
Punta Langosta sitting at a standstill.
I'm not sure if I mentioned the streets here on the main roads...they had a neat design to them...like birds, or claw feet, or if you stare at it long enough I can see a small giraffe like what you would see in a babys room. LOL It's like looking at the clouds trying to see different things in it.
Along the water front
We decided to head back to the house, finish the last little bit of laundry that belonged to the house (towels and wash cloths and so on) and put them away. We tried to do as much as we possibly could to leave the home the same way we arrived. I even swept the floor and it just needed mopped I believe.
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But first let's discuss TOPES! I watched a video of a couple that sold everything that had and decided to spend years roaming Mexico and they always talked about the topes (speed bumps) and how some could literally take off part of your car. LOL Well, we didn't really run into any that would do that but they were everywhere in the residential area's and all different sizes.
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Some were really huge and had a sidewalk for people to cross the streets (side view as we crossed it)
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Other's were somewhat regular in size. They had a sign that would let you know it was coming and then right at the tope, you'd see the hump sign. We never did figure out why some signs would show 3 humps and others would show 2 humps. There definitely wasn't 3 or 2 humps there and most were the same size.
We met Ana at the house at 12 noon to say our good-byes, reluctantly hand over the keys and garage remote to the house, and cry because we had to leave this beautiful place. Ana had been such a wonderful host and believe me, she helped all the time we were there even though I hadn't mentioned most of it. She was just the host of all hosts!
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Ana wanted to see Sakari's drawings from all week. When we had arrived, she looked at some of the things that Sakari had been working on the week we went down, while on the plane, and of course while at the airport. She expected to see a lot more from the week we were here... and she did.
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Sakari showed her the etch pad and explained what all the drawings were.
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(Now I'm honestly not sure which drawings were the week that we left or while we were there. She fills up these drawing pads so quickly it's hard to keep track. She may do 5 a day with no problems). So, I'm just going to share them all in her notepad because I know at least 90% of them came from while on vacation.
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Now remember, Sakari's art style is called "drash art", which are mainly made-up creatures, or exaggerations of real animals, and she throws in a little "normal" animals from time to time. But, every picture that she draws has some sort of meaning and it's something she will see in her imagination...which is crazy, or an animal she has seen recently in life or on a show. Most pictures come from her dreams. Yes, her dreams. She has always had a wild imagination both while awake and sleeping. She's my kid who would forgo playing with a toy and use her hands to act as if they were some sort of creature and talk to each other...for hours! She always liked any toys that were of a dinosaur, dragon, or animal. Her imagination was always a lot different than my other kids.
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Now I mentioned her dreams...yes, most of these animals comes from her dreams. Although they appear scary to us and something that we would consider a nightmare, to her they are not scary and they are all friendly with a majority of them "needing her help". I remember a recent story and she showed me the picture and it was a "monster-like" creature but she said it was hurt and needed her help and the only thing that could help it was for a special mushroom to be picked and put on it and when she did it, it was all better and it thanked her. But, of course this story was told over a period of probably about 25 minutes...so you got the short version.
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She also likes incorporating bones, teeth and skulls into her pictures. Those are some of my favorites personally and I have so many of her drawings up on my wall at our business that when people come in, they all mention that they want THAT tattooed on them when she starts tattooing.
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Ok, be prepared...you are about to get a picture overload...she filled her entire sketch book up and was drawing every minute that she could. You also need to know that this isn't something she does over a long period of time. She can sit down and draw one of these in less than an hour if she's not interrupted... details and all. Once she has something in her mind, she goes to work.
Remember the story about the animal that needed Sakari's help by putting a mushroom on it? This was the picture that went to that dream. It had jewels hanging from it's horns but I can't remember the significance of it when she told the story.
One of my favorites that she's done is the next one...it reminds me of the day of the dead...maybe because of all the flowers.
Well, it was time to head over to drop off the car. We arrived, hand him the original paperwork, then he ask if we needed a ride to the airport! Heck yes! That was awesome that they do this.
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So we were chauffeured to the airport in our own vehicle.
We headed inside and up to the line, which wasn't much of a line or wait. Then we were told we needed to fill out a form at some kiosk but if we wanted paper form we could do that. I decided to hand write it out.
After filling out our forms, showing our passports and everything else involved, she did ask "do you have your negative COVID test?" I said "yes" and started searching for them in my phone to show her. She then went on to ask a few other questions and when she was done with everything she said we were good to go. She never even ask to see our COVID results nor did they collect this "tax" that everyone has been talking about online. Hmmm, weird.
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Our forms...yes everything on this has a meaning...can you figure it out? (Yes, the phone numbers are REAL, call them and find out). LOL
For the first time, I noticed my ticket says "RN" lol
We headed to gate 3. There was shopping, stores and food here (a lot more than most island airports it seemed like)
We arrived to our gate and it was packed and every "available" seat was taken. They had pushed together seats so that people would social distance, but it still seen several people in them anyhow. We were forced to sit on the floor and all I could do was hope that no one tripped over me or hit my foot. I'm not able to sit Indian style anymore and I'm forced to sit with my leg straight out now.
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It was a hot beautiful day here. I didn't want to leave. It was COLD back home...like REALLY cold.
When it was our turn to board, we headed outside to walk the VIP line up to the plane.
When we got closer, we noticed this going on...
There was a complete search going on with the employees. I don't think I have ever seen this done before.
Sakari's ritual since she first started flying at age 3...to touch the plane before getting on it. Not only have I always taken a picture of her doing it, but now she also takes her own picture touching it. LOL
We were ready for take off...
And we have lift off. Goodbye crystal clear blue water! Goodbye sunny days! Goodbye warm breezes! We will miss you!
After lift off they passed out the no-nuts-allowed-anymore packs of trail mix. Hey, at least it's good.
The announcements were made to keep your mask on at all times unless you were eating and drinking...and no this doesn't mean you can decide to eat SLOWLY the entire flight and keep your mask down. Yes, they said that but in a funny way and I'm not funny so I can't come up with what they said but I chuckled.
We landed in Houston Texas and had a few hours delay and decided to head outside for some more sunshine one last time.
We didn't make it home until around 10:30pm, which meant that by the time we got our luggage, waited on the shuttle outside to take us to the parking lot, piled everything in the car and then stopped at Wendy's on the way home (another tradition we've been doing for years) then it was about 1pm when we were ready to settle down and go to bed. Needless to say, Sakari was absent the following day, which was actually that day since it was after midnight. Oops, I guess we extended her spring break one extra day. It's ok, she earns it. She's an honor roll student all the time.
If you've made it this far in the review, thank you for sticking with me and I hope you all enjoyed the review. It was an amazing vacation and I didn't expect anything less out of beautiful Cozumel. I'm just really happy that none of the "bad things" that people had been reporting happened to us. I am very grateful that we are able to take these vacations and spend quality family time together. Sakari is growing up quickly and we are never promised tomorrow. I cherish every minute I have with my family as I'm sure you all do with yours.
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From mi familia to yours....Gracious and Adios!
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