Eating my way through Mexico…
Eating in Mexico is a culinary delight. It seems like every dish offers an experience that can’t be matched in the U.S. This is a long post…but worth it. Enjoy.
Huevos Motulenos – Alexia & Geovanny’s, Isla Mujeres…excellent…one of my favorite places for huevos motulenos.
Mexican Style Eggs – Rolandi’s, Isla Mujeres…just okay.Mexican Scrambled Eggs – Mango Cafe, Isla Mujeres…excellent.
French Toast – Mango Cafe, Isla Mujeres…excellent.
Lobster – Velazquez, Isla Mujeres…very good.
Crabs – Minino’s, Isla Mujeres…okay…not very much meat and you had to fight for it.
Grilled Garlic Fish – El Viejo Pescador, Puerto Morelos…excellent.
Lemonade – Cafe Cito, Isla Mujeres…very good…and I love the tables.
Fried Eggs and Potatoes – Cafe Cito, Isla Mujeres…just okay.
Cheese Tamales – The Little Mexican Cooking School, Puerto Morelos…very good…especially since I helped to make them myself.
Mole del Olla – The Little Mexican Cooking School, Puerto Morelos…excellent.
Veggie Pizza – Pizza ‘n Love, Puerto Morelos…good, but a little on the doughy side.
Garlic Shrimp Skewers – (can’t remember the name of the restaurant), Puerto Morelos…good taste, but they should have removed the shells from the shrimp before cooking.
Chicken Tostadas – El Tio, Puerto Morelos…okay (I should have chosen something else).
Maple Fruit Crepes – French Bistro, Isla Mujeres…very good and VERY rich and heavy.
Ham and Cheese with Poached Egg – Cafe Cito, Isla Mujeres…very strange…not a combination I would put together.
Huevos Motulenos – Bucaneros, Isla Mujeres…very good.
Bimbo Dog – Food cart on Isla Mujeres…excellent (but you have to love this sort of food to appreciate it).
Chicken Enchiladas – Old Sawn Restaurant, Nuevo Progresso…good.
Chicken Tacos – El Fogon, Playa del Carmen…excellent. This is just a dive sidewalk place that is extremely popular with great prices. This isn’t the greatest photo, but it sure was good.
Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo – Hotel San Clemente, Valladolid…horrible. This is the only dish I’ve ever gotten in Mexico that I couldn’t eat. Between the dried out bread, the margarine and packaged jelly, I took two bites and walked away. Maybe the egg dish is an acquired taste, but I wouldn’t be acquiring it any time soon.
Cochinita Pibil – Hotel el Meson de Marques, Valladolid…very good. This is a Yucatan dish which is also an acquired taste. It’s definitely different than anything I tasted, but I liked it. I need to try it again at different restaurants.
Huevos Mexicana – La Hacienda, Playa del Carmen…okay…all their breakfast dishes seemed to look and taste the same.
For the life of me, I can’t remember what this was…but I do think it was at La Vagabunda in Playa del Carmen.
Vegetarian Enchiladas – El Pirata, Puerto Morelos…excellent.
Shrimp Cocktail – Pelicano, Puerto Morelos…very good.
Club Sandwich – Lol Ha, Akumal…average…but the view made up for it.
Spiced Brownie with Whipped Cream – The Little Mexican Cooking School, Puerto Morelos…WAY excellent…the chilies in the brownie mixed with the whipped cream was absolutely wonderful.
Garlic Shrimp – Justicia Social, Isla Mujeres…okay.
Huevos Divorciados – I can’t remember! I know it’s on Isla Mujeres…maybe at Alexia & Geovanny’s?? Not sure…anyway, they were very good.
Huevos Mexicana – M&J’s, Isla Mujeres…very good. This was at their old location next to the Hotel Rocamar.
Garlic Fish – Justicia Social, Isla Mujeres…okay.
Asparagus Casuela – M&J’s, Isla Mujeres…excellent.
French Toast – Brisas Grill, Isla Mujeres…lame.
Cheese Pizza – Brisas Grill, Isla Mujeres…average at best.
Huevos Motulenos – La Vagabunda, Playa del Carmen…excellent…one of the best.
Garlic Shrimp – Justicia Social, Isla Mujeres…average.
Fish Soup – La Bruja, Isla Mujeres…WONDERFUL. I didn’t think I’d like it, but I ate everything and was a mess when I was done. I think it was about 100 degrees when I had it…needed a shower afterwards.
Garlic Fish – Sergio’s, Isla Mujeres…excellent. I ate the whole damn thing.
Can’t remember exactly what this was…some kind of mushroom fettucini – Rolandi’s, Isla Mujeres…okay. Normally, I really like Rolandi’s, but this was just average.
Shrimp Cocktail – Playa Maya, Playa del Carmen…excellent. I especially liked all their dressings of avocado and lime.
Pico de Gallo – Picus, Isla Mujeres…excellent.
Close-up…
Shrimp Cocktail – Picus, Isla Mujeres…excellent. They also served a complimentary fish soup that day. It was good, but not as good as La Bruja.
Shrimp Cocktail – Justicia Social, Isla Mujeres…very good.
Shrimp Cocktail – Cafe del Mar, Isla Mujeres…lame…tasted like tomato soup poured over shrimp.
Garlic Fish – Picus, Isla Mujeres…great.
Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas Mole – Sancochos, Isla Mujeres…below average. I’ve heard good things about this restaurant, but the enchilada mole was dry and tasteless and the soup was just okay.
Huevos Motulenos – Tacostumbras, Isla Mujeres…great…definitely a top contender for huevos motulenos.
Grilled Shrimp – Minino’s, Isla Mujeres…great.
Chicken Enchiladas Verde – Hotel el Crucero, Tulum…excellent.
Fish & Chips – BallyHoo, Isla Mujeres…excellent…and a great view.
So, that’s it. My wish is to add many more dishes to this menu. I want to experience many more culinary delights in Mexico. Stay tuned.
Chichen Itza…
I thought I’d do a post on these wonderful Mayan ruins. I didn’t do a tour when I was there, but now I wish I had because I’m sure I could have learned quite a bit more about it. I have taken direct quotes from Wikipedia to describe the buildings, but the photos are all mine.
El Castillo is the first thing you see when you walk past the entrance. It is truly impressive and makes you feel very, very small.
“Dominating the center of Chichén is the Temple of Kukulkan, often referred to as “El Castillo” (the castle). This step pyramid has a ground plan of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. On the Spring and Autumn equinox, at the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a plumed serpent – Kukulcan, or Quetzalcoatl – along the west side of the north staircase. On these two annual occasions, the shadows from the corner tiers slither down the northern side of the pyramid with the sun’s movement to the serpent’s head at the base.
Mesoamerican cultures periodically built larger pyramids atop older ones, and this is one such example. In the mid 1930s, the Mexican government sponsored an excavation of El Castillo. After several false starts, they discovered a staircase under the north side of the pyramid. By digging from the top, they found another temple buried below the current one. Inside the temple chamber was a Chac Mool statue and a throne in the shape of Jaguar, painted red and with spots made of inlaid jade.
The Mexican government excavated a tunnel from the base of the north staircase, up the earlier pyramid’s stairway to the hidden temple, and opened it to tourists. In 2006, INAH closed the throne room to the public.”
While they no longer allow tourists to climb the pyramid, a couple of guys were doing some repair work the day I was there.
“The site contains many fine stone buildings in various states of preservation, and many have been restored. The buildings are connected by a dense network of formerly paved roads, called sacbeob. Archaeologists have found almost 100 sacbeob criss-crossing the site, and extending in all directions from the city.“
The Great Ball Court is also very impressive. I would like to have seen them play a game, although it sounds like the end was pretty violent. I think it was safer to be a spectator.
This quote is from www.chichenitza.com:
“The Mayans were great sportsmen and build huge ballcourts to play all their games. The Great Ballcourt of Chichen Itza is 225 feet wide and 545 feet long overall. It has no vault, no discontinuity between the walls and is totally open to the blue sky. Each end has a raised to the temple area. A whisper from end can be heard clearly enough at the other end 500 feet far away and through the length and breath of the court. The sound waves are unaffected by wind direction or time of day and also night. Archaeologists engaged in the reconstruction noted that the sound transmission became more and more strong and clear as they proceeded. In 1931 Leopold Stokowski spent 4 days at this site to determine the acoustic principals that could be applied to theater for an open-air concert he was designing. Stokowski failed to learn the secret. Today it has not been explained.
It is easy to imagine a Mayan King sitting here presiding over the games. Legends say that the winning Capitan would present his own head to the losing Capitan, who then decapitates him. While this may seem very strange reward, the Mayans believed that this to be the ultimate honor. The winning Capitan getting a direct ticket for heaven instead of going through the 13 high steps that the Mayan’s believed they had to go through in order to reach peaceful heaven.”
I don’t know what these numbers mean…wish I did.
From Wikipedia:
“At one end of the Great Ball Court is the North Temple, popularly called the Temple of the Bearded Man. This small masonry building has detailed bas relief carving on the inner walls, including a center figure that has carving under his chin that resembles facial hair. At the south end is another, much bigger temple, but in ruins.”
“Built into the east wall are the Temples of the Jaguar. The Upper Temple of the Jaguar overlooks the ball court and has an entrance guarded by two, large columns carved in the familiar feathered serpent motif. Inside there is a large mural, much destroyed, which depicts a battle scene.”
Here is the Temple of the Warriors…
“The Temple of the Warriors complex consists of a large stepped pyramid fronted and flanked by rows of carved columns depicting warriors. This complex is analogous to Temple B at the Toltec capital of Tula, and indicates some form of cultural contact between the two regions. The one at Chichen Itza, however, was constructed on a larger scale. At the top of the stairway on the pyramid’s summit (and leading towards the entrance of the pyramid’s temple) is a Chac Mool. This temple encases or entombs a former structure called The Temple of the Chac Mool.”
And the Group of a Thousand Columns…
“Along the south wall of the Temple of Warriors are a series of what are today exposed columns, although when the city was inhabited these would have supported an extensive roof system. The columns are in three distinct sections: an east group, that extends the lines of the front of the Temple of Warriors; a north group, which runs along the south wall of the Temple of Warriors and contains pillars with carvings of soldiers in bas-relief; and a northeast group, which was apparently formed a small temple at the southeast corner of the Temple of Warriors, which contains a rectangular decorated with carvings of people or gods, as well as animals and serpents. The northeast column temple also covers a small marvel of engineering, a channel that funnels all the rainwater from the complex some 40 metres (130 ft) away to a rejollada, a former cenote.”
The rest are just miscellaneous photos in no particular order.
These are close-ups of the little figures at the top of the building shown above.
It was really hot the day I was there, so I stopped at the restaurant in the visitor’s center for a cold one. These guys were dancing with cervezas on their heads… (Notice the expression on the kid to the left…haha!)
Maybe it’s just me, but I think the “beer on the head” dance kind of takes away from the “majesty” of the ruins. It would be okay to be doing a native dance, but the beer thing is weird.
But I did like their fancy clothing…
Chichen Itza is definitely worth a visit. There is a LOT more to see there than I thought there would be. There are little side walking paths to various areas. Many of the ruins are just piles of rubble or parts of buildings, but it’s amazing how much is still standing and in good shape.
Next on my list are Ek Balam and/or Coba. I hear you can still climb up these ruins, so that makes them worth a trip.
Until next time, Isla…
This will be my last post on this trip to Isla Mujeres. I’ve already done a post on why Isla lovers love Isla, but I will reiterate. No matter how many times I go there, I will never be able to believe how blue the water is. I am amazed every single time. And that is probably one of the reasons I keep going back. I think once you’ve seen it, you’re hooked. And photographs don’t do it justice…it’s something you just have to see to believe. I think that’s why they painted the Ultramar ferries yellow. Since blue is the opposite of yellow on the color wheel, both colors seem to pop when you put them together.
Then there are the beautiful beaches…
And the peaceful boats bobbing in the water…
Like I said before, Isla is a healing place…a place where you can leave all your worries behind and let the breezes and the mesmerizing water take you away.
I saw a wedding on the Posada del Mar beach one day. I’d like to think that a marriage that starts on Isla would be one that would last forever. (I know…that’s the romantic in me.)
Here’s a happier picture of this little sweetie…
This would sure make a nice shop for some kind of business. But between the lousy economy and the bad publicity about Mexico, it would probably be a risk…especially since it’s not on Hidalgo or Medina.
Here’s a little fixer-upper on the south end of the malecon. It looks small, but just imagine what a nice deck you could put in that empty space which would look out to the sea. Food for thought. I wonder how much it is.
So, I was coming back from Playa Norte one day, and I took a picture of this place just as he was coming out the front door. It made me think. The vast majority of natives on the island are very, very poor. What must it be like to totally rely on comfortable tourists to make their very meager living?
And to see all these people coming off boats (who kind of remind me of lemmings as they’re walking down the pier) to have fun, spend money, have a bunch of cervezas and margaritas…and then go back to their homes with flat screen TVs and granite countertops. Most of these natives will never have that. And we can pretend that they’re happy living the way they are, but how patronizing is that…especially when they see wealthy strangers spending lots of money while they’re there? They will try to get by as best as they can by selling their goods, but they will always have a very hard life just trying to make a living. Civilization has introduced a whole new world to Isla which is inevitable, but I can’t say that it’s good. More and more foreigners are buying property there. I would venture to say that Isla will eventually be an island full of foreigners because they will make it too expensive and impossible for native Mexicans to stay there. How sad that would that be?
This place is also along the malecon, which could probably bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars. I’m glad that the owner is still holding out and living there no matter how unappealing the place may look to tourists.
So, it’s time to leave. I was sad, but for a different reason. I want to go to Mexico to experience Mexico. While I enjoy meeting new people, when I’m there, I want to meet the locals. I can meet Americans every day of my life, so it’s not on the top of my list to meet Americans when I’m in Mexico. Call me strange. In fact, I cringe when I see the stereotypical loud-mouthed, arrogant foreigners who act like they know everything and have that “attitude” like they’re seasoned travelers. Give me a break. They’re the ones who complain if the bathroom isn’t up to par or they didn’t get a lime with their cerveza. While I was waiting for the ferry on my trip back, I had the pleasure of listening to a man in a group who who was wearing a fedora and wielding a cane going on and on about all his experiences. I wanted to grab the cane and hit him with it. Those are the times when I’m embarrassed for my so-called fellow Americans.
So, here I am back in “civilization” at the Cancun airport. Yay. (NOT)
I decided to have a last one of these while waiting for my flight…
…and Alan Jackson…
…and couldn’t resist getting a shot of this woman’s boots waiting in line to get on the plane in front of me. Definitely back in civilization. They kind of reminded me of the wicked witch of the west’s shoes when the house fell on her and the toes of her boots curled up. Hell would freeze over before I would wear these…well, maybe on Halloween.
Since this is my last post on Isla, I’m going to start doing some posts on prior visits to Mexico…like Valladolid, Tulum, Chichen Itza, Puerto Morelos, etc. It will be like re-living some of my vacations and giving me the opportunity to redo some of my photos. And Spring break is coming up…who knows what that will bring!
Hasta luego, Isla…
Random Travel Musings 
