[Composed 11/30/2024]
After two long days with early starts, Shira and I were looking forward to a chill day at the resort. We started by enjoying our resort's complimentary breakfast. I sort of hoped that breakfast would be underwhelming, as we'd skipped it the last two mornings.
Alas, it was awesome. There was a wide selection of food choices, all of it seemingly fresh. Service was great, with a server hovering nearby to top-off my morning tea. Just the ambiance of the breezy, open air seating felt like an ad for a tropical vacation.
Finishing breakfast, we were a bit surprised to get a bill. Undeterred, we figured this was purely administrative, and that ultimately it would be credited. As we made our way from the restaurant we found ourselves confused: a short walk from where we had just eaten was another restaurant, but this one bustling with people. Unlike the quaint vibe we'd just enjoyed, this was a large buffet with a typical cafeteria feel to it.
In that moment, we both laughed and cringed: had we just eaten at one of the resort's paid breakfasts? Doing so would forgo, for a 3rd day, the meal included with our stay.
Later in the evening we got to the bottom of the mystery: our breakfast spot was a restaurant that's normally closed mornings. The resort opens it as overflow when needed. The smaller location may have seemed more upscale than the main dining area, but it was still the same included buffet. Score one to the Fairmont for offering a luxury experience without an extra fee.
From breakfast, we made our way down to the resort's beach. Here we splashed in the water, took a nice stroll, attempted some awkward stand-up paddle boarding and ultimately found ourselves lounging under an umbrella. We aren't really beach people, but it was a delightfully relaxing morning. Itching for an adventure I nudged Shira into signing us up for an afternoon snorkeling excursion.
We made our way back to our room for lunch. While noshing on our balcony we had a surprising animal sighting: a half dozen fuzzy critters were foraging on the golf course in view. A foursome of golfers were unimpressed with the cute interlopers, and tried their best to shoo them off the course. I can't recall seeing such significant creatures and having no idea what species I was looking at.
According to Google, the fuzzy invaders were a band of coati (or maybe the preferred term is coatimundi?). These are a cousin of the raccoon, but unlike raccoons, are active during the day. They organize themselves into groups of adult females and children, with the males remaining solitary (insert joke about male coati's being the Lone Wolves of the animal kingdom.)
To me, they were a group of stuffed animals come to life. If I were a writer at Pixar, by the time the encounter was over, I'd have had half a screen play written detailing the band's adventures.
After lunch we made our way back to the beach for our snorkeling excursion. The experience consisted of Shira, myself, a guide and two other tourists taking a 20 minute mini-catamaran ride out to a small reef. Here, we splashed into the water and paddled behind the guide as he pointed out various fish, coral and other features in the area. After about 45 minutes in the water, we dragged ourselves back onto the boat and made the return trip home.
If you were an experienced diver or snorkeler, the experience might have been underwhelming: the boat trip was relatively short, the reef was not quite as teaming with fish and coral as other locations, and species quantity was limited.
And yet, from my perspective, the experience was top notch. It was scaled just right for a land-lover who's far more comfortable traipsing through the jungle then paddling in the sea. The guide put everyone, including and especially myself, at ease. The schools of fish and coral we saw may not have been exotic, but they were colorful and diverse. At one point, the guide got our attention and pointed to what appeared to be bland rock on the seafloor. He then swam up and disturbed the "rock", and like magic it came to life and swam away. I believe he was showing us a rockfish and its next level camouflage.
Oddly, our guide preferred to explore the area without using a snorkel. He just wore a mask, and like the rest of us, a PFD. When he wanted to take a breath, he casually rolled to his side and took in some air and rolled back. I tried the technique and found it far more awkward than using a snorkel, but I appreciated seeing an alternate technique.
One hiccup in the experience was that the valve in the bottom of my snorkel was loose and would frequently let in sea water. I made do with the setup, as I didn't have any other choice. However, I found it ironic that the last time we snorkeled in Mexico I also had a leaky snorkel. I promised myself then that I'd never get into the water again without testing the equipment. I of course broke this rule, and suffered the consequences. OK, so *next time* I won't snorkel without first checking the gear. Promise.
For dinner, Shira and I were a bit stumped. The resort has a number of upscale choices, but none of them were particularly appealing given our veggie leanings. We'd already had lunch in the room, so staying in felt underwhelming. As we considered heading to Playa del Carmen, Shira had an idea: what if we went out for Thai? I mean, that's what we would have done back in DC.
A quick Google search turned up Thai Dish Restaurant. The menu looked good, so off we went. On more than one occasion, Shira and I have arrived at a restauarant that didn't live up to its website's promise. But not so, tonight.
The restaurant was small, but brightly lit and a good distance from the touristy part of town we'd previously explored. The place seemed busy, which was a good sign. We opted to sit at their only outdoor table, positioned on the sidewalk right in front of the entrance. It felt wonderfully romantic. Especially, if you ignored the shuttered buildings around us, and the odd discount store across the street.
After perusing the menu, the owner came out and apologized. They'd had a big influx of delivery orders come in, and it would be another 20 minutes before they'd get us our food. This turned out to be a good thing, as we'd past a bakery on our way to the restaurant and this gave us the perfect opportunity to explore it.
We entered the small bakery, La Espiga and found a lone clerk manning the quiet shop. Eyeing the beautiful deserts, Shira turned to me and asked, 'do you want to know?'
'Ugh,' I replied, we better ask. I took out my phone, opened up Google Translate and typed away. I hit translate button and showed the screen to the kind lady manning the counter. My question: "are your products made with lard?" She shaked her no. Ooh, that was a good sign. I typed some more, "are they made with vegetable oil?" She shaked her head no, again.
She mentioned a phrase in response to our question, but we didn't understand it. So I handed her my phone and asked her to type it out. In a few moments we had our answer: butter. Butter? Butter! Butter is perfect.
We filled up a tray with a half dozen goodies and checked out. The total was almost certainly less than one Starbucks pastry. Hurray!
Returning to the Thai Restaurant, our food came out in relatively short order. I ordered Gaeng Ka Ree, a yellow curry that was new to me. Shira ordered tofu Ka pow, which came with a fried egg, a flourish that we don't usually get. After the meal, the owner came out and we kibitzed about his goal to bring authentic Thai to the area. I'd say he was nailing it. We've got tons of thai restaurants around us, and this one could easily hang with the best of them.
Dinner was a brilliant end to a brilliant day. Tomorrow we'd be doing little more than traveling. Oy, our vacay is quickly coming to a close.