Just a Day in Puerto Morelos

Before I get into Puerto Morelos, I wanted to post a picture of the Chili Rellenos I had at Jeanie’s my last night in Cozumel.  Jeanie’s seems to be a more local place which is just off the downtown area.

Here are the Chili Rellenos, which were really good.  I have made these myself, and it’s not an easy job.

When I left the restaurant, I was parked next to the Zocalo in Cozumel.  I am always warmed by the family feel you get when you see all the children playing here…and they are always decorated for the holidays.

When I arrived in Playa del Carmen the next morning, it was still very crowded, but not quite as bad as when I arrived on the 29th.  The line at the bus station was long, so I opted to have some lunch in the hopes that the line would go down.

I enjoy the Mexican food when I go to Mexico, but sometimes I crave just a good ol’ American dish, so I got a club sandwich…

…at this place (picture courtesy of google maps because I didn’t get a picture of it).  It was average at best, but what do you expect when you order a club sandwich at a Mexican restaurant??

As I was heading back to the ADO bust station, I saw this statue, which I had never noticed before.  I guess it could have been new.

When I got back to the bus station, I saw that the line was outside the building now, so I just waited.  Everybody takes the bus in Mexico.

Back to Puerto Morelos.  As many of you know, I’ve been to PoMo a few times and really liked it.  When I went there the first time, I found it to be a sleepy little village that only had a handful of restaurants and just a couple bars.  I will always cherish my experience at the Little Mexican Cooking School there, which you can see on my old blog here:

http://isladeb.blogspot.com/search?q=Little+Mexican+Cooking+School

You can also see the “old” Puerto Morelos on that blog here:

http://isladeb.blogspot.com/2010/03/hey.html

Well, it’s no longer that sleepy little village.  The cab driver took me from the bus to the hotel, so I didn’t get to see the beach until after I checked in.  My room wasn’t quite ready yet, so I told the owner I’d do some exploring.  The Amar Inn is right next to the beach so when I walked out there, I was quite surprised to see this…

I walked closer to the shoreline and it was even worse.  The times I had been here before, there were just a smattering of people on the beach and very few umbrellas or chairs.  I know this was high season, but when I went back to the hotel and mentioned it to the owner, he said it had been like that all year, and that’s it’s been the most crowded he’s ever seen his whole life.  He also said that people were coming from all over the world and not just North and South America.  I was sitting in a hammock waiting for my room to be finished and two very sweet little boys came to join me…they and their parents were visiting from France.  I’ll have to say that in my many visits for the past 10 years to Mexico, most of the people I’ve met have been from American or Canada.  This was a very different trip.

So here’s the Amar Inn, which is about two blocks from downtown and right on the beach.

They have a very nice courtyard area which separates the rooms on the inland side…plus they have some rooms that go right onto the beach. It’s a very quiet and peaceful little haven.

Here’s my room.  It’s very basic, but it was very comfortable.  The owner is extremely nice and accommodating.  He and is family live on the property so they’re always accessible.

While the fixtures may be dated, I loved this bathroom because the water pressure was very strong and the hot water came on almost immediately. That is a luxury.

Toilet to match the sink…

While I was taking pictures in the bathroom, it occurred to me that I didn’t see a sink in the kitchen, which seemed a little strange.

Oh, wait…there it is!  It was hiding!

I headed downtown to see if anything had changed.  The Zocalo looked to be the same.  Here were the Christmas decorations.  It seemed a shame that they had to gate the nativity scene…kind of takes away from the intent of the message.

And here’s looking towards the main pier where the crooked lighthouse is.  When I’ve been here, there have been maybe three to ten people at the most on this pier.  Not any more.

I looked for a quiet place to have dinner and ended up a La Sirena’s.  Another picture from google maps because I forgot to take a picture of the front.

I sat upstairs so that I could get a view with a nice breeze.

I had a vegetarian pasta dish that was pretty good.  I forgot to ask why the salt around their margaritas was red.

A long-distance shot from dinner of the pier…

And one of a pelican waiting for dinner…

After dinner, I went down to the pier to see what was bringing the crowds. The only thing I could see was this fisherman, who had netted some bait.

Other than that, there was more seaweed…

I tried to get at least one decent shot that didn’t have a  bunch of people or seaweed.  This was the best I could do.

Walking back to my hotel along the beach…

Just not the same feeling anymore.