This morning Claudia took the car in for servicing and came home to make molletes (pronounced moyettas). Lots of chopping of onions and tomatoes. Then refried beans are spread on a fresh halved bun and then manchego cheese, broiled and topped with the sautéed onions and tomatoes. It is called University breakfast as all the students with little money go to the cafe and asked for University breakfast (molletes and coffee) - the cheapest item on the menu. By the way, Vic and I are loving the Mexican cuisine.we made a schedule the other day of our upcoming adventures. It is posted on the frig so there are no mixups.
Then it was off by bus to Playa del Carmen to walk, shop, eat, drink and be merry. We had to take a local bus to the bus station then get on another bus to Playa. We arrived at the bus station with a minute to spare before our bus left. Outside the city we noticed a lot of garbage along the highway. We also noticed this on the beach. Many people just leave their garbage and empties scattered everywhere.
Playa del Carmen is the third-largest city in Quintana Roo and is a trendy spot on the Yucatán Peninsula. It is situated on the lee side of Cozumel and the town’s beaches are jammed with superfit people. The waters aren’t as clear as those of Cancún and the beaches aren’t quite as champagne-powder-perfect as in Cancun, but still Playa (as it’s locally known) is beautiful.
Strolling down Playa del Carmen’s pedestrian corridor, Quinta Avenida (pronounced keenta Aveneeda), makes you feel like you are a movie star. La Nueva Quinta (New Fifth Ave) is also called La Zona Italiana for the number of Italians operating businesses there. It begins on Calle (street) 22 and stretches north for 10 blocks.
We strolled down Quinta Avenida and fended off the shop owners trying to persuade us to look in their stores. Then we doubled back on the beach all the while trying to look like rich & famous movie stars. The beach was full of seaweed that had floated up to shore. Claudia said she had NEVER seen it looking so bad. There were workers digging huge holes to bury the seaweed and then cover it up. I'm not sure how that was going to work as there were huge mounds all over the beach. I felt so bad for the workers. It was so hot but there was a nice breeze to help with the heat. We stopped at one of Paul & Claudias favourite beach restaurants and had a cerveza and some appetizers. The waiter seemed to have a problem understanding Spanish and seemed not to understand what good service was. Also, our portions seemed a lot smaller than other tables. So we left that place and carried on to another restaurant to test their commitment to service all the while people watching. The waitress there seemed better but mixed up our orders after clarifying them with us and writing it down. She asked if we would accept the wrong order (which we did not) and another waitress delivered the proper drinks and said the first waitress was goofy sometimes. So we did not have great service on the beach. We then went back to Quinta Avenida and had a nice dinner at a restaurant that provided exemplary service and food.
After dinner we went back to the bus station and caught the bus back home. Again our timing was perfect. The bus was waiting and left within 5 minutes.
It was another great day to add to our long list of happy memories that are building up here.