Day 3: As soon as my eyes open on Day 3, I realize that a few hours of detoxification are probably necessary
, so w/ LILG snoring hard, I cruise down to Java Joes for my caffeine fix.
3 cups of coffee and I can clear my head so it’s back to the room to gently wake up the “morning monster” ( much easier done when we’re in Playa than at home !!!). As usual, LILG wakes up hungry so I suggest we wander down to La Cueva de Chango for breakfast and to do some of the “Playa rediscovery” we had planned on this trip . On our last few trips we stayed in Akumal/Tankah and just went to Playa to ...
.. WOW, 5 years ago, everything North of Constityuentes (???sp) was pretty much shacks and dirt roads, now it’s paver streets and shops/hotels… but that’s cool cause we love our memories of “Old Playa” and are not so stupid as to expect Playa to remain the same forever... gee, at least now you can get somewhere in rainstorm without a Jeep. After 10 minutes of “Are we almost there yet ???” (
woman ! It’s ???’s like those that make me glad our kids have 4 legs!) we arrive at our destination. La Cueva is really cool, just like having breakfast in our frontyard… well, minus the deer herd… nice garden setting with a stream water feature providing a relaxing audible background that washes the stress right out of your body. Got our menus and first cup of coffee and who shows up… it’s Trish and Sweet Susie from Paamul (another warning to the locals … ya’ll be nice to Susie… or else!!)
LILG procrastinates w/ ordering as usual, which allows Trish and Susie to get their orders in first… LILG finally makes up her mind and orders something w/ bananas but apparently the last banana was just used for Susie’s breakfast… the waiter comes back and apologizes to LILG and she asks:
“Your out of bananas???”
“Yes…. we have no bananas today”…. The waiter is way too young to realize why we find this so funny, he probably thinks we’re high er something . The food was great and the waiter was extremely polite and appreciative of the English lessons I gave him…. Highly recommend this place, it’s kinda out of the way but it is an awesome place for breakfast.
After breakfast, its time to just wander and shop. It is this day that I realize I must be getting older
cause all the calls of “Hey, Antonio Banderas, come check out my store” have turned into “Hey Lorenzo Lamas…” maybe it’s those blonde… errr.. silver highlights creepin in. Had a lot of fun with the shopkeepers/ tour salesmen on the street:
“Hey Lorenzo, wanna go on a tour”
“Hey Paco, do YOU wanna go on a tour???”
“Hey Lorenzo, wanna rent a car”
“Hey Pablo, do YOU wanna rent a car… I got the gooooood one…cheaper than Hertz!!!”
I even snagged a tour sales station for a few minutes while LILG was dress shopping & the pitch man was away on break…”Chitzen Itza, Coba, Tulum…cheaper than Anna!!!” , no sales though… damn,
I thought it was a solid pitch line. The shopkeeper next door was rolling on the street laughing !
Bored with shopping, we decide to head up to Mamitas for a drink and to check out the beach (
)for a while. Grab a swing at the bar, order up some drinks, and then it’s not before LILG (& Leppy) strike up a conversation with the folks across the bar…. Turns out, we are in the presence of a living legend in watersports… Bill Meistrell, co-founder of Body Glove dive & sportwear , one of the bona fide scuba/surfing pioneers from the early 50’s…stokin, duuuude !!! But be warned guys... if you ever meet this old man, don’t let him fool you….. he wandered over to our side of the bar and started talking away, and it wasn’t two minutes and I heard him telling LILG :
"One of my swimsuits would look really good on you”
What the
???.. I was thinking “Alright Pops, better back off here… she’s got 36 diamonds on her left hand for a reason, lets ease up on the Viagra rush ol man!!!”
(actually I was takin some notes , Bill’s still pretty damn smooth with the ladies!!) Asked Bill where he was staying and he said he couldn’t remember cause he is in the early stages of Parkinsons… but fortunately he was branded with a “Mayan Palace” luggage tag, so I told Bill they gave him that so they wouldn’t lose him, just jump in a cab and point to your wristband… he thought that was “cool”. Incredibly nice man that we fortunate enough to meet for a only ½ hour, faced with a devastating disease, he focuses on the positive experiences in life , not the uncertainty of the future, thus enabling him to control the present….
“Note to self”
Grab some nachos and a Mexican Coke, I’m still in detox mode but LILG fires up a shooter of Don Julio to chase down her beer… afterall, it is past or somewhere kinda around noonish. Sat out on the sand for a while, watched a kiteboarder rippin by, got kinda bored after a while (no
)so we shuffled on down the beach and stopped at Playa Maya again. Ordered up some of those “BIG Margaritas”…. There is absolutely no shortage of Tequila in these Ritas at Playa Maya, your feelin pretty good after the first one, after two, everything is just fine!!! LILG wants to do more shopping, but after that margarita, I’m dragging hard and head back to the room for a power nap in the A/C… later honey, have fun shopping….
Oh yeah , I cancelled your credit card before we left !!!
A couple three hours later, we’re downstairs harassing Carlos and doing 2 fer 1 shooters when two pretty Texas ladies stroll up… it’s Trish and Tyyyyyyyrrrraaa . Carlos starts scamming the girls immediately but his hopes are crushed when SCTX heads off to dinner with all three pretty ladies… I rub it in with a nudge-nudge
and a smug smile on the way out… lo siento amigo
!!! We didn’t get 20 yards down 5th before we ran into....
McKinzie... he's just wandering the street, obviously looking for someone to front him a bucket of beer !!! The chicks decided on a place called Pokhara for dinner, Ordering here was done by asking what they had on hand…Corona or Montejo... forget what the menu says. I hadn’t had a beer in months so I decided I’d go for the Montejo with my chipotle shrimp… good choice, great food but kinda feminine portions for $15 , nice quiet place, just not a “Guy's place”
After dinner, we head up and grab a table at Tequila Barrel… weren’t there long when when we were besieged by two of the absolutely uncontested worst mariachis that have ever strolled down 5th Ave, absolutely no way to control our laughter… which made things worse cause they thought we were actually enjoying the show….. “Hey amigo, heres 50 pesos, Mirra !!! there’s cold beer way down the street there”... by the smiles on their faces, I think they knew exactly where the beer store was ! Then...I think its was on our second or third round of margaritas when a certain musician named “Grady” wanders up to our table and strikes up a conversation…. OK guys, here’s another warning for you… watch out for this Grady guy, he’s a slick one, just like Body Glove Bill !!!….. He’s talk- talk- talking away being real sociable and all
… and then he “accidentally” knocks our table, spilling margaritas all over my lap
…. Well amigos, it seemed like an accident but this was definitely a well practiced diversionary tactic because in the confusion created by the margarita spillage,
he grabs LILG and starts dancing in the street with her …. Man, what the
is up with this ??? Are the farmacias handing out free samples of Viagra today er what ????? ...
Dude, can’t you read her shirt…”I’m with stupid >” …
that doesn’t means anything to you??? Damn, whats next,
Sean Connery gonna walk up and start hittin on her ???
McKinzie is bitchin that’s he’s “burning up”
, Tyra and Trish are lookin sleepy, and me & LILG are feeling kinda drained (
)from the pace of the first two days, so we wrap the drinking up by midnight…
Overall, a fairly low key day… but thanks to many and especially Body Glove Bill, it’s a another fine day to download into our memory chips.