Rollin’ on the Riviera (and Beyond)- Caramba’s 2010 Report - Page 9

annrawa · 01-19-2011

Very nice report, thanks.

caramba · 01-19-2011

Thanks, annrawa! I have lots more to post tonight.

bigdogmom · 01-19-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by caramba

I have lots more to post tonight.

Oh, goodie!!

stcroixgal · 01-19-2011

Loving your report. This is exactly the way I would love to travel that area!

caramba · 01-19-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdogmom

Oh, goodie!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by stcroixgal

Loving your report. This is exactly the way I would love to travel that area!

Thanks!

Stay tuned, just need to add a bunch of pics...

caramba · 01-19-2011

We thought we’d go just a short way when we saw all the potholes along the beach road, but we kept saying ‘oh, just around the next corner’…. and then around the next…. and so on, until we’d gone about 10 km or so- just about a sixth of the way toward Xcalak.

Looking back toward town

It was slow going, but beautiful scenery. Of course there was still plenty of debris and some demolished houses along the way, but it was still quite beautiful and peaceful- birds everywhere and lots of butterflies and flowers and oh…. just a wonderful ride.

We stopped here and there to take pictures and video and just relished in the natural beauty of this place. We saw a few guys out fishing and a couple of people walking along the road but that was it. The road south was fenced off a good deal of the way, and right before the spot we decided to turn back we saw a lone soldier sitting at his post by the side of the road. I guess it was a checkpoint for those traveling north along the road but he barely paid attention to us as we drove by, I guess because he’d seen us coming from the other direction just a few minutes before.
By this time we were ready for lunch, and we also wanted to go snorkeling, so we headed back toward town. Next time we will make it to Xcalak. There is another, parallel road that you can cut off to in a couple of spots, I think, which would certainly save a lot of time and a lot of bumpy driving, but it was so nice, this scenic drive along the water’s edge.

Back at 40 Canones we parked and walked back down the malecon to Nohoch-Kay. I was disappointed that Jaime was not at the restaurant today. We ordered a couple of Negra Modelos and some of his famous shrimp tacos (and fish and pulpo tacos as well).

I’m not really keen on fried shrimp tacos but these are excellent, as most former patrons of Jaime’s El Oasis in Playa would usually agree. I liked the fish even better, though.

After lunch we brought another beer out to the beach and sat there thinking about going in snorkeling, but then decided to walk back to 40 Canones and go out from there.

The water was so calm and we saw quite a few fish not very far out, but before we started making our way out further toward the reef Brian started having a lot of trouble with his mask leaking, which ended up keeping us closer to shore and cutting our snorkel time a little short. Next time (I keep saying next time, don’t I?) we will do some serious snorkeling here and maybe even take a day trip out to the Chinchorro Banks- the largest atoll in the northern hemisphere, about 35 km offshore.
So back to the room we went, stopping first to chat with Jez, who was sitting in the hotel’s public area on his laptop. He told us about Andy and Rick and Sue and maybe some others coming down next week with his new dog from the shelter, and he told us about a few good local spots in town to catch the rest of the Patriot’s game, but when we went upstairs to change we turned on the game and cracked open the champagne Harris and Paul had given us when we saw the score- 27, no make that 33 to 0, right before the half…. woo hoo! We sat back and watched the rest of the game and celebrated another win. (We won’t mention the sad end to the Patriots’ season last Sunday here…. but I guess I just did.)

Around 7:00 it was pitch black outside, save for the multitude of stars- what a nice night…. There were supposed to be meteor showers later and we’d be sure to see them in this big, dark sky. We walked down the malecon in search of that Italian restaurant I’d heard was so good. A few dogs were howling and there were few people about, save for the drunk guy walking toward us exclaiming ‘This is a very friendly place! If anyone gives you a problem you just tell ME!’ Somehow we didn’t think that would be necessary but we assured him that we’d do just that. A little further along a couple guys sat on the beach, one swinging in a hammock, laughing and singing loudly out of tune. I do believe alcohol was a factor there, too. A few people were out at the nearby restaurants and at the little Mojito Corner bar we passed. We came upon Luna de Plata, the restaurant we’d been looking for, and we walked up and sat at a table out front along the beachfront/road. We were the only ones there, except for a man sitting and reading in the nearby lobby area (it’s also a hotel). We sat and waited for a long time, watching the occasional passersby and getting a little hungrier.

Maybe it's just me, but this ATM machine looked slightly out of place here.

I finally got up and walked over to the nearby reception desk where the clerk was sitting at a computer. I asked if the restaurant was open. “Oh, si!” “Well, do you think someone will be by to wait on us soon?” “Si!” Okay, I walked back and sat down and we thought that maybe someone was late coming to work or hmmm… whatever… I mean, we were in no hurry… We could hardly contain our laughter when a full 15 minutes went by, the streetlights suddenly came on, and the woman from the reception desk – the same woman- came over with a couple of menus and asked if we’d like a drink. Ha!! And THEN, the man- that same man who had just been sitting there for a half hour- got up and went into the kitchen- he was the chef! Of course we just found that to be so hilarious and just shrugged and ordered a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abbruzzo. We also had a delicious eggplant appetizer. I ordered spaghetti with a gorgonzola sauce that was very good. Brian wanted pizza and ordered one with olives. Our waitress/receptionist eventually brought out a huge, square salami pizza, saying they were out of olives.

She also said that that was half of the pizza. Brian’s eyes bulged out of his head and asked that the other half be boxed right up to go, then, please. The pizza was tasty, and it was all we could do to keep from laughing uncontrollably at the slightly surreal night we were having. It was great fun, really. After dinner we slowly walked up the beach road toward home, huge pizza box in hand.

No meteor showers, but we saw a lone shooting star along the way and it was very quiet, save for those guys up ahead still singing away on the beach.

thejillybean · 01-19-2011

What a great report!!! Such wonderful thoughts and pictures....they do add to the story!!! You've done a tremendous job.
The Italian restaurant story is sooooo funnnnny!!! And so Mexico

That's why we all love it the way we do...
I think Mahahual is my kind of place...beautiful, peaceful and just perfect!!!
Thanks for sharing...

snappysammy · 01-19-2011

luna de plata, hahahahaha
i think i recommended this place
now that you mention it, our dinner was very similar
i had forgotten about how bad the service was, but we really didn't care either
we sat all alone and had a glass of wine and watched the moon come up

and we thought the food was very good, too
i would go back there, for sure, and it would probably be the same

Sol · 01-20-2011

Anne,

I love your attitude! I would have thought the bad service at the restaurant was funny.

The great food and cold beer would have made me forget about it.
How was the beach in front of 40 Cañones?

cb1 · 01-20-2011

You have a wonderful way of bringing your trip to life.I can close my eyes and feel the breeze and smell the air.These are the simple pleasures that my husband and I so enjoy on our vacations in Playa. Thanks,Charlotte

caramba · 01-20-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejillybean

What a great report!!! Such wonderful thoughts and pictures....they do add to the story!!! You've done a tremendous job.
The Italian restaurant story is sooooo funnnnny!!! And so Mexico

That's why we all love it the way we do...
I think Mahahual is my kind of place...beautiful, peaceful and just perfect!!!
Thanks for sharing...

Yes, we love all the crazy things about Mexico too.... and I highly recommend a trip to Mahahual!

Quote:

Originally Posted by snappysammy

luna de plata, hahahahaha
i think i recommended this placenow that you mention it, our dinner was very similar
i had forgotten about how bad the service was, but we really didn't care either
we sat all alone and had a glass of wine and watched the moon come up

and we thought the food was very good, too
i would go back there, for sure, and it would probably be the same

Yeah you did

, but I'd read about it too. Don't get me wrong- we really liked that place. It was just toooooo funny.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sol

Anne,

I love your attitude! I would have thought the bad service at the restaurant was funny.

The great food and cold beer would have made me forget about it.
How was the beach in front of 40 Cañones?

Oh, I know- it just added to the whole experience, really.

The beach in front of 40 Canones? My pics starting with this one are from right out front.

It wasn't a big wide beach, but nice, and raked.... and the water is so smooth and calm being protected with the reef.... there was a little grass as you entered the water but not bad- no rocks or anything....

Quote:

Originally Posted by cb1

You have a wonderful way of bringing your trip to life.I can close my eyes and feel the breeze and smell the air.These are the simple pleasures that my husband and I so enjoy on our vacations in Playa. Thanks,Charlotte

We like those simple pleasures too.

Have one more full day in Mexico left to add to this report (and lots more pictures). I'll be working on it tonight.

LarryH · 01-20-2011

Thanks again, Anne. Enjoying it - looks like you guys were really out in the boonies on this one.

caramba · 01-20-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryH

Thanks again, Anne. Enjoying it - looks like you guys were really out in the boonies on this one.

Well, kinda, I mean, it is remote..... pretty easy to get to though. I highly recommend it!

You'll see a little difference when Monday morning rolls around.
Thanks for reading, Larry.

Tallyho · 01-21-2011

Lovin your trip report, I don't want it to end.... so sorry we didn't get down to Mahahual with you guys. Next year! Thanks so much for taking all the time to post this. You are such a good story teller!

Townsend · 01-21-2011

So how far out is the reef? Is it basically where the dark spots are in the water or is that sea grass?

01-19-2011	#121 (permalink)
annrawa life=playa Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Michigan Posts: 582	tr Very nice report, thanks.

01-19-2011	#126 (permalink)
caramba añejo Join Date: May 2002 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 6,643	We thought we’d go just a short way when we saw all the potholes along the beach road, but we kept saying ‘oh, just around the next corner’…. and then around the next…. and so on, until we’d gone about 10 km or so- just about a sixth of the way toward Xcalak. Looking back toward town It was slow going, but beautiful scenery. Of course there was still plenty of debris and some demolished houses along the way, but it was still quite beautiful and peaceful- birds everywhere and lots of butterflies and flowers and oh…. just a wonderful ride. We stopped here and there to take pictures and video and just relished in the natural beauty of this place. We saw a few guys out fishing and a couple of people walking along the road but that was it. The road south was fenced off a good deal of the way, and right before the spot we decided to turn back we saw a lone soldier sitting at his post by the side of the road. I guess it was a checkpoint for those traveling north along the road but he barely paid attention to us as we drove by, I guess because he’d seen us coming from the other direction just a few minutes before. By this time we were ready for lunch, and we also wanted to go snorkeling, so we headed back toward town. Next time we will make it to Xcalak. There is another, parallel road that you can cut off to in a couple of spots, I think, which would certainly save a lot of time and a lot of bumpy driving, but it was so nice, this scenic drive along the water’s edge. Back at 40 Canones we parked and walked back down the malecon to Nohoch-Kay. I was disappointed that Jaime was not at the restaurant today. We ordered a couple of Negra Modelos and some of his famous shrimp tacos (and fish and pulpo tacos as well). I’m not really keen on fried shrimp tacos but these are excellent, as most former patrons of Jaime’s El Oasis in Playa would usually agree. I liked the fish even better, though. After lunch we brought another beer out to the beach and sat there thinking about going in snorkeling, but then decided to walk back to 40 Canones and go out from there. The water was so calm and we saw quite a few fish not very far out, but before we started making our way out further toward the reef Brian started having a lot of trouble with his mask leaking, which ended up keeping us closer to shore and cutting our snorkel time a little short. Next time (I keep saying next time, don’t I?) we will do some serious snorkeling here and maybe even take a day trip out to the Chinchorro Banks- the largest atoll in the northern hemisphere, about 35 km offshore. So back to the room we went, stopping first to chat with Jez, who was sitting in the hotel’s public area on his laptop. He told us about Andy and Rick and Sue and maybe some others coming down next week with his new dog from the shelter, and he told us about a few good local spots in town to catch the rest of the Patriot’s game, but when we went upstairs to change we turned on the game and cracked open the champagne Harris and Paul had given us when we saw the score- 27, no make that 33 to 0, right before the half…. woo hoo! We sat back and watched the rest of the game and celebrated another win. (We won’t mention the sad end to the Patriots’ season last Sunday here…. but I guess I just did.) Around 7:00 it was pitch black outside, save for the multitude of stars- what a nice night…. There were supposed to be meteor showers later and we’d be sure to see them in this big, dark sky. We walked down the malecon in search of that Italian restaurant I’d heard was so good. A few dogs were howling and there were few people about, save for the drunk guy walking toward us exclaiming ‘This is a very friendly place! If anyone gives you a problem you just tell ME!’ Somehow we didn’t think that would be necessary but we assured him that we’d do just that. A little further along a couple guys sat on the beach, one swinging in a hammock, laughing and singing loudly out of tune. I do believe alcohol was a factor there, too. A few people were out at the nearby restaurants and at the little Mojito Corner bar we passed. We came upon Luna de Plata, the restaurant we’d been looking for, and we walked up and sat at a table out front along the beachfront/road. We were the only ones there, except for a man sitting and reading in the nearby lobby area (it’s also a hotel). We sat and waited for a long time, watching the occasional passersby and getting a little hungrier. Maybe it's just me, but this ATM machine looked slightly out of place here. I finally got up and walked over to the nearby reception desk where the clerk was sitting at a computer. I asked if the restaurant was open. “Oh, si!” “Well, do you think someone will be by to wait on us soon?” “Si!” Okay, I walked back and sat down and we thought that maybe someone was late coming to work or hmmm… whatever… I mean, we were in no hurry… We could hardly contain our laughter when a full 15 minutes went by, the streetlights suddenly came on, and the woman from the reception desk – the same woman- came over with a couple of menus and asked if we’d like a drink. Ha!! And THEN, the man- that same man who had just been sitting there for a half hour- got up and went into the kitchen- he was the chef! Of course we just found that to be so hilarious and just shrugged and ordered a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abbruzzo. We also had a delicious eggplant appetizer. I ordered spaghetti with a gorgonzola sauce that was very good. Brian wanted pizza and ordered one with olives. Our waitress/receptionist eventually brought out a huge, square salami pizza, saying they were out of olives. She also said that that was half of the pizza. Brian’s eyes bulged out of his head and asked that the other half be boxed right up to go, then, please. The pizza was tasty, and it was all we could do to keep from laughing uncontrollably at the slightly surreal night we were having. It was great fun, really. After dinner we slowly walked up the beach road toward home, huge pizza box in hand. No meteor showers, but we saw a lone shooting star along the way and it was very quiet, save for those guys up ahead still singing away on the beach. __________________ My last few trip reports- Around the Roo in 16 Days The Alux & the Shaman Rollin' on the Riviera Playa by Way of Coz Bringing Ixchel Home- our Mexican puppy adoption! Last edited by caramba; 01-19-2011 at 07:05 PM..

01-19-2011	#122 (permalink)
caramba añejo Join Date: May 2002 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 6,643	Thanks, annrawa! I have lots more to post tonight.

01-19-2011	#124 (permalink)
stcroixgal way into it Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: St Croix River, MN Posts: 163	Loving your report. This is exactly the way I would love to travel that area!

01-19-2011	#127 (permalink)
thejillybean way into it Join Date: May 2009 Location: Michigan Posts: 150	What a great report!!! Such wonderful thoughts and pictures....they do add to the story!!! You've done a tremendous job. The Italian restaurant story is sooooo funnnnny!!! And so Mexico That's why we all love it the way we do... I think Mahahual is my kind of place...beautiful, peaceful and just perfect!!! Thanks for sharing...

01-19-2011	#128 (permalink)
snappysammy añejo Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 12,271	luna de plata, hahahahaha i think i recommended this place now that you mention it, our dinner was very similar i had forgotten about how bad the service was, but we really didn't care either we sat all alone and had a glass of wine and watched the moon come up and we thought the food was very good, too i would go back there, for sure, and it would probably be the same

01-20-2011	#129 (permalink)
Sol añejo Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: The Gem State Posts: 16,176	Anne, I love your attitude! I would have thought the bad service at the restaurant was funny. The great food and cold beer would have made me forget about it. How was the beach in front of 40 Cañones?

01-20-2011	#130 (permalink)
cb1 beachaholic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Montpelier,Vermont Posts: 279	You have a wonderful way of bringing your trip to life.I can close my eyes and feel the breeze and smell the air.These are the simple pleasures that my husband and I so enjoy on our vacations in Playa. Thanks,Charlotte

01-20-2011	#132 (permalink)
LarryH way into it Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 205	Thanks again, Anne. Enjoying it - looks like you guys were really out in the boonies on this one.

01-21-2011	#134 (permalink)
Tallyho life=playa Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 558	Lovin your trip report, I don't want it to end.... so sorry we didn't get down to Mahahual with you guys. Next year! Thanks so much for taking all the time to post this. You are such a good story teller!

01-21-2011	#135 (permalink)
Townsend way into it Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Silicon Valley, CA Posts: 115	So how far out is the reef? Is it basically where the dark spots are in the water or is that sea grass?

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