Island Fever -- Gotta Buy!!

[Carina]

Hello from Cozumel, James, Anna, et al

Still living on Coz. Still enjoying it 85% of the time. My website is expanding and getting pretty popular. And yours certainly is looking great, James, my boy. Congrats.

Since you guys are the experts, I'm hoping you can throw me a few badly needed shopping tips. I'm looking for some stuff I Just Can't Buy on the Island and if I could get it in Playa instead of making the trek all the way to CUN, I would be a very happy camper.

Busco:

1. A store that sells satellite dishes. I'm not looking for the whole she-bang. Just a 1.2-1.8 meter dish which I may use to try and bring in US Dish Network reception. I'll consider used, too, as long as it has all the panels, heh heh.

2. Any great furniture stores and especially ones that sell high quality wicker stuff. I understand there's a good one on 30 (??) north end?? Ring a bell? Any other suggestions? The furniture on Cozumel? They only have straight-backed, rustico stuff. And there are only two little stores.

3 Is the American who was selling bromiliads in a shop half a block west of Frida's (side street just west of Avenida 5) still in biz? I ask because his cellphone don't work. Of course, if I could count the number of cellphones that ......you know the end of this sentence.

4. A store that sells electronic keyboards -- like 76 key Yamaha's. (I have doubts on this one so any Cancun stores??)

Anyway, advice would be desperately, ravenously appreciated. And if I can ever return the favor with info about Cozumel, I'll be in your debt and ready to assist.

Thanks in advance for any leads you'd be willing to take the time to share.

[Donna]

The American selling the bromiliads is no longer there.

[SarahB]

Hi Carina! I don't have the answers to any of your questions, but it's very interesting to read your post! I hope you find the things you are looking for!

[Michael]

Originally Posted by Carina

1. A store that sells satellite dishes. I'm not looking for the whole she-bang. Just a 1.2-1.8 meter dish which I may use to try and bring in US Dish Network reception. I'll consider used, too, as long as it has all the panels, heh heh.

Cesar is the Satellite Guy for playa. His store is on the East side of Thirtieth Ave just South of Juarez. If he is not around (the usual situation), someone in the store may give you his cell phone number (it is better if I don’t publish it on the net). Cesar can get any Satellite supplies. There must be a Satellite Guy for Cozumel, but I don’t know who that is.

[Carina]

I will definitely track down Cesar on my next trip to playa. Does he speak any English? Always good to know just in case I need to brush up my Spanish vocab. I have learned, for example, that they call dishes "Discos" at least they do here on the island.

Thanks for taking the trouble to impart this info. I'm in your debt

[Lakenut]

The store you are looking for on 30th is called D'un Monde A l'Autre. We bought several things there. They have a very good selection and the staff is very helpful.

[Carina]

I really appreciate you're taking the time to give m e the name of this store, Lakenut. Could I prevail upon you once again to tell me approximately where it is on 30 so I can tell this to the taxi driver. As the name is in french, oui?, I fear the average taxi driver is not going to understand me when I ask to be taken to this store. So I will need to be able to give the driver approximate directions -- or a landmark that's near by.

Thanks again. Can't wait to get over there.

[Lakenut]

I have sent you a PM with all the information.


Good Luck!

[Susie Q Roo]

Originally Posted by Carina

4. A store that sells electronic keyboards -- like 76 key Yamaha's.

I would certainly check Sam's before you drive to Cancun. They seem to have all sorts of electronic "stuff."

[james]

Hi Carey!

I want to get Dish Network also. I've heard they are changing their gear soon so I'm not sure if this will affect us. If only the local cable would carry a few extra channels...

[Carina]

is that I'm a movie nut. And I love foreign movies. I take all the premium stations on cable down here and they DO show a lot of foreign movies. But, of course, they all have Spanish subtitles.

Also I would dearly love to get a TIVO type set up, wouldn't you? But that only works with US and Canadian satellite services.

I've gotten rather adept at figuring out the movie listings. I go to TV Guide online for Cozumel cable red. Click the movie -- say Venganza de sangria. Find out who the star is and what year the movie was made. Then I go to www.imdb.com or www.rottentomatoes.com and plug in the stars name. Check the movies for matching date and approximate title. THEN I can look up a review of it while I'm at it.

Needless to say, this is a time-consuming little deal and most days I don't get to it. But it sure beats using the lame magazine they publish every month which is wrong half the time.

It is my understanding that any dish that's at least 1.2 meters -- including the Directway dishes they sell down here -- will work with Dish Network. But as we are right on the fringe of the satelite, it has to be a big dish. 1.8 is better and apparently there are two satellites so you might need two dishes to get different programming. I'm just gathering info at this point.

I have had input from a friend that lives out in the jungle here on Coz and had a 1.2 dish with DishNetwork. He said bigger was better, that he lost reception even in heavy cloud cover and if it rained, fahget about it.

If I find out anything more, will post and hope you and others will do the same.
Thanks for the input.

[JimmyMN]

There are also a couple of stores that sell Indonesian type furniture. Kind of like the Pier One of Playa del Carmen. There's one on 30th Avenue between Juarez Avenue and Calle4 on the ocean side of the street. This store has been there for at least a year and a half and I was just in it at Xmas time.

Couple of days ago, I was in a brand new furniture store on Highway 307 just north of Constituyentes on the west side of the roadway. This one was similar to the store on 30th Avenue only much much larger. Hopefully, someone will read this, and supply the store names.

Jimmy