I hope you said the title to the cadence of the Milky Chance song. (I don’t know if I’m allowed to link stuff like that, but I’m not making any money off of this so… shrug…) While you’re over on Spotify, check out Country Boys by B. Boyd.
This thread category of blog posts, “Where Are Dog and Dragon”, is going to be written more conversationally. The intent of this entire website is to update friends and family on where we are and what we’re doing. That’s exactly what this category is all about. I’ll try to keep it lively, add some pictures and whatnot, but you may occasionally just get a quick little blurb about changes, updates, and anything quirky that may have happened. Having said that…
It took awhile, but it finally happened! Tiffany made it to Alesund, Norway having gotten there via a two day trek. Denver -> Miami -> Atlanta -> Amsterdam -> Alesund. Today she boarded her cruise ship to begin her four month stint as a cruise ship RN. I am in Playa del Carmen, having spent one night in Cancun. This is a Dog update, as most will be. I’ll try to get some input from Dragon and post updates on her behalf, but the logistics are squirrely.
So we went out for beers with Nick and Yuki on Tuesday night. After getting home, I got online, booked airfare and rooms, and hopped on a plane the next morning. The rooms have left a little to be desired, but they’re cheap so go figure. I’m sure you anticipate this, but it is really hot in the Yucatan in July. Newsflash!
I’ve spent a couple days just wandering around on foot. There’s been a lot of people watching and taking in the buildings and art work, while scoping out places to find grub and tasty beverages. My very poor Spanish has been enough to get me by so far. I’m continuing to work on my Duolingo. The word comprehension is there, just really slow. People talk so fast it is hard to follow. Trying to process quickly is the real challenge.
The food has been awesome in Playa del Carmen. It isn’t really the cheap experience I was anticipating, but that is because I’m in a tourist area. While I like walking through the 5th avenue scene, I am trying to venture away a few blocks to eat. I did have tacos, guacamole, and margaritas at El Gobernador a block from the beach on my first day here. The food was really good, the staff were super nice, nobody spoke any English, they made a tasty margarita from scratch, and the price wasn’t outrageous. I even had some nice people from the States buy me a shot of tequila. Thank you AJ from Atlanta!
I was walking by the Bar Ranita a few blocks from my hotel and heard a lot of English happening. It was shady and had this large flowering tree growing up through the middle of the bar, covering the roof. It was pretty cool. Check out the photo below. I sat down next to a Canadian named James who happily chatted with me for about a half hour. Don’t be afraid to pop in to the little off beat places in this town. There is a killer little taco shop right next door too.
One more stop to mention is the Logia Cafe which is only a few yards from my hotel. This place threw me for a loop at first. It’s a really eclectic and artsy coffee shop that serves some food too. The place was hoppin’ at 6pm which I thought was odd for a coffee shop. The menu, while written in Spanish, had some artsy images and a few words in English. The problem was that the food offered was croffles and sandwich magicos. A croffle is essentially the intersection between a croissant and a waffle. It can either be savory or sweet. I hadn’t had dinner and went savory. This place also has a massive selection of craft coffee drinks and mocktails. There are too many to show you really, just check out the drool worthy Logia Cafe Instagram page. Here are a couple of amateur pics of my meal.
I know I’m only talking about food. Have we met yet? I have actually been to the beach, but it was a little disappointing. I think there’s still a lot of seaweed washing ashore which makes it a little stinky and brown. The water feels good. I plan to spend a little more time at the beach and less time walking the streets at some point. More on that later maybe. For now, cheers and salutations from Playa del Carmen.
Enjoyed reading the write up.