It has been a week since we returned to Kansas City and the time seems right to conclude the experience with some reflections.

First of all, it was not a “typical” trip for us. Since retirement 5 years ago the majority of our trips have been 4-6 weeks long, a few as long as 12 weeks, but none that I recall of just one week. VSecondly, we prefer to be “on the move” rather than stationary as we were in Cozumel.

Finally, we aren’t usually “beach people”, but find that the mountains and interior spaces are more to our liking. What was typical for us is the search for the unusual. We certainly found this over the course of our week on the island.

Ventanas al Mar, loosely described as our resort, was an exceptional experience but not for everyone. It is located 12 miles from town and is the only hotel on the east side of the island. There is virtually nothing but beach and waves washing the shore for miles to the north and south.

Electricity was furnished by a generator. The occasional flicker and “lights out” never lasted longer than a few seconds but gave a slight insecurity about continued reliability.
At most there were 40 guests which is near capacity for this small hotel. The staff of 4-6 was attentive and very friendly. They also cautioned us that the tap water was untreated and not fit for human consumption.

Our room was basic and pleasant. Glass doors opened to a sandy area above a cliff overlook.

This is the first place in Mexico that the morning sun illuminates.

The sound of the surf was constant and loud like a pulsing rocket engine. After 3 nights the roar was no longer a novelty and we began closing the glass doors at night. This had the unfortunate effect of denying us the pleasant breeze that made the night humidity more bearable. The hotel’s air conditioning system is turned off during this time of the year.

Breakfast (included in the price of the stay) was a pleasant fruit forward affair that included eggs and house made tortillas. Dinner was optional and we took advantage of it 5 of the 7 nights.

Our room cost $144.00 (US) a night. The dinners and drinks added another $450.00 to the cost of the week. Not unreasonable, but then hardly “cheap”.

The night before our return to the States was Valentine’s Day. The staff went out of their way to create a magical dinner experience with an excellent meal served under holiday lights, poolside, to the sound of a local music talent. We will remember that evening as the highlight of our stay in Cozumel.

The occasions that we dined in town were pleasant. One evening we enjoyed fine dining at a steak restaurant located at the farthest edge of the tourist area.
On another occasion the sought out a “locals’ favorite”. I doubt that it will ever make it on the list of cruise ship recommendations, but the mountain of roasted meats was astounding, excellent, and served at an incredible price. About $12.00 total for the two of us, beer included.

In an earlier post I chronicled the saga of our rental VW “Bug”.

There was a second rental car: A trusted local became aware of our experience and offered to secure a rental car for us for the last 3 days of our stay. He called a friend in the local car rental business. As intermediary using his cell phone he passed my questions on the friend and responded to me with the answers… “Is it a good car?”, “Si!”, “Do you take credit cards?, “Si!”, “Does the price include ALL insurance, taxes, and costs?”, again “Si!”.
The agreed price was 800 Pesos a day. For an additional 200 Pesos (cash) he would deliver the car to us at the hotel. Cool!
He arrived at the agreed time with the car, tailed by a young man on a scooter who would drive him back to town. From there things became a bit annoying and unsettling He wore a shirt with a rental car company insignia, different from the company name emblazoned on the side of the car. The paperwork bore the name and contact information for yet a third company. “That will be 2,400 Pesos, cash, plus 900 Pesos for insurance” said he as I immediately protested the price increase and change in the required method of payment. We finally settled on the 1,100 Pesos a day and agreed that I would pay for the rental in cash but at the time the car was returned. He did take an impression of my credit card “For security”.

But for a few dents and scrapes the car looked ok, certainly a huge improvement over the “Bug”. The rental worked out fine, but again there was an overriding sense of “What if…” that lingered until the car was returned. Incidentally, the return was not at a rental office but at the side of the road near the airport where we were instructed to wait for him. He would arrive by motor scooter piloted by his young friend. So much could have gone bad, but it ended well.

As a cruise destination Cozumel, like so many others, is packed with high end jewelry, perfume, and liquor stores. For each one of those there are another 25 souvenir and tee-shirt shops.

It seems that every local there is engaged in the art of separating tourists from their money. I quickly wearied of it and found little to recommend in the tourist district except for passible eating, a cold beer, and the occasional interesting street performance.

Mexicans that we encountered outside of that district, most notably Pedro at the San Gervasio Maya Ruins, were pleasant, kind, and helpful.

The traffic was brutal and unpredictable. There were motor scooters everywhere, often with as many as 4 people on board. Toddlers hung over the handlebars like hood ornaments.

We once saw a family of 5 traveling on a single scooter. toddler hanging on between dad and the handlebars, a young boy sandwiched between dad and mom, with an infant strapped to mom’s back.

Will we do it again? Possibly, but not the same way. I think that for a 1 week trip we would arrange 4 of the nights in a high-end “all inclusive” mainland resort and the remaining 3 would be on the island at Ventanas. I also think that we would explore the possibility of working in extra days for a side trip to one of the monumental Maya archaeological sites. For now we have our travel sights set on other destinations.

Later this year we plan a two month trip with our camper to Labrador and Newfoundland Canada which is the easternmost point of mainland North America.

I will probably work in a solo trip or two, and overshadowing everything will be the construction of our vacation home about 25 minutes south of Breckenridge Colorado.

Until later… Peace Everyone. Pete

It is Tuesday, February 18th and we have been home in Kansas City since Saturday. It is good to be home, and a few days of “down time” after our week in Cozumel feel good. I intend to post some summary thoughts about our week on the island, but for now I want to address a particular experience off the Yucatan Peninsula.

The island of Cozumel is located approximately 12 miles east of the mainland and 50 miles south of Cancun. The island is 30 miles long (north to south) and about 10 miles wide. It is highly developed on the west, but virtually undeveloped the length of its east shore. Its chief economic driver is tourism. The name Cozumel is derived from the Maya language “Ah Cuzamil Peten” which means Island of swallows. Which brings me to its Maya roots and history.

Central America and the Yucatan, the area that was eventually the heartland of the Mayas, was populated over 10,000 years ago. By 2,000 BC settlements were established and the people were cultivating crops, developing pottery, and producing art. Cities and large monumental structures were developed by 750 BC. A complex system of phonetic and hieroglyphic script, the most elaborate in the Americas, was in use by 400 BC. Around the 3rd Century BC the Maya City of El Mirador had grown to cover an area of well over 6 square miles. It was one of many Maya cities connected by a well-developed system of transportation and trade. A number of cities in Mesoamerica ranked among the largest in the world in both size and population. The Maya civilization was among the most advanced in the world in astronomy, math (perhaps the first in human history to employ the use of zero as a placeholder), and agriculture. It has been estimated that over half of all crops cultivated world-wide trace their origins to agricultural Mesoamerica where maize (corn), beans, squash, tomatoes and peppers were first developed.

On Thursday Christine and I visited the Maya archaeological site, San Gervasio, located in the center of Cozumel. Small by the standards of better known Chichen Itza or Tulum, it was nevertheless very important to Maya women. Here the sun rose first in the land of the Maya and women sought to make a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to the shrine of Ix Chel, a goddess of fertility, childbirth and arts of the home. It held this status for approximately 1,000 years until it was abandoned around 1550 AD, perhaps because of a smallpox epidemic of Spaniard origin that decimated the island. Archaeologists have identified 3 mass graves on the site that appear to contain the remains of disease victims.
The original site extends over several square miles, but the restored portion that is available to the public is much smaller. Restoration was conducted with the assistance of archaeologists from Harvard and the University of Arizona.
Here is a map of the site:

A virtual tour is available online.
( https://www.capafilms.com/360/chan4/ )

Admission to San Gervasio was a very reasonable 183 pesos (about $10.50 US). Visitors are free to wander the grounds on their own, but we had been encouraged to avail ourselves of the assistance of one of the guides.

My school derived notions that pre-Columbian America was a land of primitive savages had already been turned upside down and inside out.

(See https://mediationkc.com/2019/12/12/chile-before-chile-santiago-december-10-2019/ )

What was “new” to my understanding came in the form of our guide Pedro, a young Mexican who self-identified as Maya.

Through him we learned that a distinct Maya culture continues to this day. Pedro is a handsome young man with a winning smile and a baseball cap worn backwards. He spoke excellent English which we learned was largely self-taught. What is more, Pedro’s first language is Maya, his second Spanish, English is third, and he is currently working on learning Mandarin Chinese!
Pedro accompanied us for over an hour and provided a detailed explanation of the history of the site and his people. Pedro identifies as citizen of Mexico, but he speaks with great pride of his Maya language and heritage, much as I would of my own German and Lebanese roots. Over the course of our tour I often found myself doing a double-take that accompanying us was a bristling intellect disguised by loose slacks, backward cap, and a very relaxed bearing.

Among the buildings and structures that we visited were the small house shrine,

The altar platform,

The residence of an elite family,

The elite family shrine,

The archway and road to the coast,

The “Temple of Bats” (so named because when it was discovered it was full of them),

The celestial observatory,

The Palace and central plaza.

There was more, but our favorite part of the day was making the acquaintance of a delightful modern Maya gentleman.

Peace Everyone. Pete

PS. The Maya elite were highly literate. Their books were written on a form of paper that folded much like a map does. Only three examples exist today because of the efforts of conquistador bishops that resulted in the destruction of all of their literature.

In my youth a catch phrase for regret often started with the words, “But it sounded like a good idea at the time.” Yesterday we found those words still ring true.

Recall that we missed our appointment to pick up the rental car on Saturday due to the late arrival of our plane. Fortunately, we were able to reschedule the car for Monday. I had reserved a newer VW GOL, standard shift, no ac, but good serviceable transportation at a fair price.

We arrived to pick up the car. In front of us were two American gentlemen, each about 60 years old, who had just returned a car complaining of some safety issues. They were quickly given a substitute vehicle and left. Focused on our business, I virtually ignored the discussion between them and the manager.

When I originally reserved our car I had asked if one of the advertised VW convertible “bugs” was available. On Saturday it was not, but it was Monday and one was available, gassed and ready to go for the same price as the more pedestrian GOL. Hell Yessss I thought!!

I entertained visions of my more reckless days… Sunglasses on, top down, my love at my side, buzzing down the road in a real classic with the wind streaming through my thinning white hair. We signed the paperwork, captured the keys, and walked around the block to the lot where our dream VW was parked.

So it was a little rough around the edges. Heck what 20+ year old car wouldn’t use a bicycle cable and lock to hold down the hood. Who really needs a working seatbelt… or for that matter a speedometer. Using a blowtorch to convert a sedan to a convertible speaks of creativity and enterprise. The windows don’t roll up, so hand signals easily substitute for a non-working left turn signal. This is going to be FUN!

When the attendant began his walk around checklist for visible damage it began to occur to me that it would have been easier for him to check-off the non-damaged areas. With each checkmark I smiled and gave an understanding nod. When he had significant difficulty starting the car Christine began shooting me concerned looks. Heck, that overwhelming odor of raw gasoline only meant that he had flooded the car. “Christine, it has a REAL carburetor, this is part of the charm of timeless German engineering.”

We seized on the opportunity to leave the car on the lot to walk the pier and cruise dock area of west Cozumel.

We have not been here before. But we have been to Cozumel’s clones in St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Ketchican, Juneau, and a dozen other places where huge ships disgorge cash laden tourists as prey for vendors who stand in the shop doors ready to pounce. I have marveled that a commodity that is as “rare” as diamonds can be offered in such an endless supply by so many shops worldwide.

We made short work of our sojourn through the markets and decided to seek out a beer before returning to our little “Luv Bug”. As luck would have it a promising bar was just ahead and the two Americans were each having a beer, fingers wrapped around the biggest burritos I had ever seen. They waived us over to join them. We were scarcely seated before that began to share the saga of rental cars #1 and #2. I vaguely recalled their complaints at the service desk about rental #1. However, I now learned that they had only gotten 2 blocks in #2 before the clutch did a complete fail. They were forced to push the car half up on a sidewalk to avoid blocking traffic. Clearly, the Universe was telling them, “no car rental for you”. Damn the bad luck for those agreeable fellows. They were waiting for their gals to come back from shopping and explained that they had decided to catch a cab to the resort on the east side of the island. Small world, they had rooms at Ventanas where we are lodged! We promised to continue our visit over beer there later in the evening. Back to the VW.

I got it started, barely. Finding reverse, first gear, and second gear became a game of “hide and seek”. Turning the steering wheel between 10 and 2 o’clock had absolutely no effect on the direction the vehicle travelled. There is much more, but suffice it to say my delusional bubble had popped. Within 5 miles I executed a U turn (given the steering, it was more like a cursive “W”) and much to Christine’s relief I announced that life is too short and I didn’t want to make it any shorter. We returned the car and caught a cab.

Back at Ventanas we were greeted by the two Americans and found that the rental car perils we shared made for big smiles and fast friendships. Al and Elizabeth are from Minneapolis and their good friends, Rick and Holly are from Denver. The world shrank just a bit more as we discovered that they were staying in rooms that adjoined ours! The tone for the evening was set for wine, dine, tequila and talk. My jaw dropped when we learned that Rick and Holly had owned a log home a stones throw down the road from where we are building a vacation home in rural Colorado. What a coincidence!… as if running into them at the car rental place, then the bar, and then finding that they are among the 34 guests at the same resort where we are staying wasn’t coincidence enough.

Later, our cadre grew by one more couple. Tracy and Mark from Springfield Missouri. During the evening we discovered that Tracy’s favorite uncle is Scott Sifferman… who 40 years ago was my friend and classmate throughout 3 years of law school. Damn, but you just can’t make this shit up!

Peace Everyone… and as Eddie in San Juan Puerto Rico told me in 2018, “Pete, In life there are no coincidences.”

PS. It is worth remembering that had our plane landed on time, or our car rental been perfect, none of this would have happened and we would have been poorer by 6 friends never met.