During our busy season I dream of summer when then pace is
slower and I imagine that I will slowly savor our life in paradise. Then when
our slower season of summer arrives I find that we stay busy catching up on
things we didn’t have time for earlier.
This year, a friend of mine had posted about a book called “The Happiness
Project” by Gretchen Rubin, and I started reading it, a few pages every morning
before I started my day. There was a
line in the book that really caught my attention and I will loosely quote it
here, “the days are long, but the years are short.” It wouldn’t leave my mind…..so I decided that
this summer I wouldn’t worry about catching up on all my little projects, I
would truly experience the paradise that we live in, we would travel the
Yucatan, going places that were a few hours away and do things that we had
either never done or hadn’t done in a while.
I didn’t want to be one of those people that live their last years in regret
of things that they didn’t do, simply because they “couldn’t” take the time.
We started our summer of experience by taking a free
vacation that we had won to Playa Del Carmen.
Those who know us will remember that we lived in Playa for 3 ½ years,
but once again we were working and did little else. This time I wanted to do and try things that
I had only seen as a spectator, this time I wanted to be a participant.
We began with taking a Discover Dive course at our hotel,
Doug had been diving before and totally loved it, however, I had always been
happy to lie on the beach or go snorkeling. It took me 2 days to work up the
courage to and “take the dive.” Of
course it was an amazing experience that introduced me to another aspect of
living and playing in paradise.
The next day we went para sailing, another thing that Doug
had always wanted us to do, but my fear of heights had held us both back. Taking a few deep breathes I stepped on
board, strapped up and gently floated up towards the heavens, fantastic!
The next morning while we lazily sipped coffee on our terrace
we noticed a band of coatimundis underneath us. They were making chirping
noises and playing together, much like kittens.
These friendly little creatures were very tame, eating grapes out of our
hands.
Soon the coatis were joined by some Yucatan Jays one of my
favorite birds here in the Yucatan. What a lovely way to start the morning.
Next we were off to Mahahual (sometimes spelled Majahual) about 2 hours south of Playa,
heading towards Chetumal. We were going
there to visit a friend of ours from Playa that had moved there a few years
back. We hadn’t been to Mahahual since
2004 and were eager to see the changes as well as catch up with our friend,
Jaime. Jaime is well known in Playa, he
had owned and managed many of the top restaurants there and I couldn’t wait to
have some of his shrimp tacos and secret sauce again from his new restaurant
Nohoch Kay. There through out the course of the days spent there we stuffed ourselves
with his great food including, burgers, burritos, ceviche and a couple of sweet, freshly caught lobster.
Mahahual was even better than anticipated, a small Caribbean
village with a cool, funky vibe. The town had been devastated by Hurricane Dean
in 2007 and recently been rebuilt and improved. There was a beautiful new
pedestrian only Malecon (beachfront walkway), palm trees on the beaches and an
assortment of great restaurants with local seafood, burgers and fantastic Italian
food. We had one of the best pizzas we
have had in 10 years from Pizza Papi. There is a large influx of Italians in
the area so it was easy to get homemade pasta with an array of delectable sauces. It was an enjoyable experience spending time
in a slower more laid back atmosphere after leaving the hustle bustle of Playa, Mahahual is the Caribbean at its
unspoiled best.
Nohach Kay
Sitting at Jaimes' restaurant, looking out over the Caribbean
In front of another fabulous restaurant Luna de Plata
Dos Amigos- Doug and Don Pedro
What a great trip and all within driving distance of our little piece of paradise here in Chelem !
