Martine Pagé

Je suis un taco

Il fait tellement chaud � M�rida que je me sens comme un taco avec beaucoup beaucoup de sauce piquante. Nous avons trouv� refuge dans un caf� Internet et nous n’osons plus sortir. Pas moyen de trouver un taxi pour rentrer � l’h�tel: tout le monde est parti faire la sieste, et c’est ce que nous devrions aller faire.

Cette vieille ville coloniale espagnole redevient active en soir�e et les rues sont pleines de monde. Vraiment, vraiment pleines de monde. Il y a beaucoup de spectacles et de films gratuits. Blork vient d’acheter son quatri�me hamac (mais c’est quand m�me son premier pendant ce voyage)! Il y a une heure, nous avons trouv� refuge contre la chaleur dans une petite bijouterie. Nous avons eu la surprise de nous rendre compte que la vendeuse �tait une qu�b�coise-v�n�zuelienne dont la m�re vivait en plein coeur du Plateau Mont-Royal! Ca faisait drole de parler francais (avec l’accent qu�b�cois) dans cette petite rue mexicaine!

Nous essayons maintenant de rassembler notre courage pour marcher sur une distance de 7 rues pour nous rendre jusqu’� un petit restaurant c�l�bre pour ses tacos… de chevreuil!

Nous quittons M�rida samedi pour retourner vers la plage, cette fois-ci � Tulum. Il devrait faire un peu plus frais dans notre petite hutte…

Day 3 in Mexico

We woke up to a gorgeous day, without the crazy wind from the two previous days, and I knew this was going to be a hot one. We rode the scooter all the way to the southern tip of Isla Mujeres and had beef and chicken tacos for breakfast since our B&B owner takes Mondays off for cooking. The small outdoors restaurant we picked was overlooking the sea which looked just like a postcard: shades of blue and green, with fairly quiet surf for the season. We rented snorkeling equipment and plouf! jumped in the water with the fishes. Now here’s a problem: I am stupidly afraid of fishes. I am the kind of person of asks to change table at a restaurant when they sit me near a fish tank. But the little black and yellow fishes all around us in the water didn’t know about my fear, so they quickly surrounded me to see if I was edible. Taking deep breaths to calm oneself is a hard task when one is breathing through a snorkel. But then B., who thought the whole situation was pretty funny, showed me how the fishes run away when you try to catch them. So I found myself actually running after the little guys to make sure they wouldn’t do a staring competition with me right next to my mask.

And then I got over it of course, because there were just too many fishes and they were so beautiful! We even followed a stingray for a while, but I have to say I was glad this one didn’t come up to my face! It is forbidden to wear sunscreen in the waters of this national park because they are trying to get the abused corral back into shape, so of course, parts of our bodies are now as red as lobsters. We rested in the shade, surrounded by the biggest iguanas I have ever seen. And then we had to have fish for dinner, but I’ll let Blork tell you about that part.

We are now cooling off in an air conditioned Internet « cafe », which is not really a cafe because nobody is drinking and everybody is typing. There are Internet « cafes » everywhere in this small town and the locals seem to use them as much as the tourists do. I’ll probably keep writing in English because I can’t find the French accents on the keyboard.

Tomorrow we leave this paradise and we’re off to the very very hot city of Merida.

Sand in the brain

It’s about 32C. My legs are sore from playing in the waves. I fell asleep in a hammock right after lunch. The air smells of salt and sea weed and it’s so humid our clothing is constantly damp. So we spend most of the time in our bathing suits. B. and I have been riding around Isla Mujeres on a scooter, the preferred mode of transportation on this small island. Whole families ride on them: I’ve seen a father balancing a kid in the front, another one in the back, and a baby in a diaper on his lap, driving the scooter with one hand.

We’ve only been here for a day and a half, and my mind is in complete slowwww mode. The hardest decision we have to make is picking the restaurant where we’re going to eat. In fact, B. is waiting for me to be done, so I’ll leave you here. Man, life is tough in Mexico.