COZUMEL-- June 2011 Part Tres.

This kid approached Gene at the hotel pool area and asked for help with his English homework. Did Alexi know he was a teacher on vacation? HA! I got one of the answers that Gene couldn't get.

Ice cream AND beer? That's a silly combo Senor Geno. The coconut was especially good.

This guy on the plaza is frying french fries, hot dogs...something else I forgot and my favorite...CHURROS...which is what the top 2 pictures are. Two dollars for a bag of 6....or was it 8? Pay close attention to that machine on the left.

Extruding the dough, then he fries it and dunks it in cinnamon sugar. They're real crispy on the outside and soft inside like a french fry. There's also a guy we see every year named Xavier who would come by our beach/hotel area and his churros are filled with vanilla, chocolate or blueberry cream. Me likes the plain unfilled the best. Heart attack in a bag.

Old zapatas...new zapatas. Every year we'd stop by this little shack on 30th street...back in the hood- to get new huaraches and this year our shoemaker wasn't there anymore. He retired or got sick or something. We got our new ones this year on the plaza. They cost more and aren't made quite as well. What Gene is wearing are actual "huaraches"...mine are more like Mexican sandals.

COZUMEL--June 2011 Part Dos.

Arriving- the Caribbean sea welcomes us "home".

Lunch at La Hach. Beef Fajitas and fish-n-fries. As the island grows...it is attracting some great chefs and unfortunately I didn't get pictures of the couple of "chi-chi" meals (with great presentations) that we had.

Our hotel...with lots of dive air tanks and scooters which you see everywhere you go.

The Dos Equis beer guys are here...and that's a good thing since we drank up all they had.

Villa Blanca...restaurant on the left. They keep the grounds beautiful and rooms extra clean. A flamboyan tree on the right. These trees are everywhere on the island and one of my favorites.

This place is next door to our hotel and the owner lives there.

Flamboyan tree pods. I harvested a couple of pods and broke them open and smuggled the seeds home. We had grown 7 of these trees from seed years ago but they froze. Ours got 7 feet tall but Toby's lasted the longest. I'm trying again.

A picture of the "flaming tree" I got off the internet. The leaves look like a mimosa.

ViVilla Blanca Hotel with La Hach in the background. They have live music there 3 nights a week so I was glad our room was farther in the back area away from the noise. They cut their hibiscus bushes into hedges etc...amazing. Mine here in Del Rio are so puny in comparison. We liked the quiet, gentle sound of all the palm trees a-blowin' in the breeze.

Jamey, Bruce and Gene & I's rooms were behind this wall of ficus by the pool.

Bruce, Jamey and I at Punta Morena on the undeveloped east side. This place is pretty but too crowded with tour buses. Things on Cozumel get more expensive every year of course, but at this place they charged as much for a bottle of water as they did for a bottle of beer. There is no electricity on the east side so it closes down at dusk. There are about a dozen beach clubs over there. The east side is where the sea turtles come every night during the summer to lay their eggs. The turtles are 30 to 35 years old when they lay eggs and always return to where THEY hatched to lay their eggs...that's COOL! The beaches over there are patrolled all night by military guys with machine guns. Do NOT disturb the turtles and they are looking for drugs washing ashore. No one is allowed over there after dark.

Buccano's Beach Bar & Grill at CCC. Geno and Bruce are going snorkeling. It was a rainy day.

COZUMEL-- JUNE 2011

Geno enjoys the hot tub at Villa Blanca Hotel. But it wasn't hot..."normal" (or tepid) is as good as it gets. Ocean is right across the street behind him.

Dive boats at the Villa Blanca pier.

A gray day at La Palapita pier...with a white heron checkin' things out. This beach bar was right across from our hotel and has live salsa music on Friday nights. One of the two cruise ship piers to the far left.

A blooming palm tree next the pool at Villa Blanca Hotel. I brought back some seeds.

Gene and Jamey smilin' thru the rain at our hotel.  We rented a VW bug hardtop for $30. a day.

Anchors aweigh at Buccano's Beach Club. This was a beautiful and expensive spot that we had not been to before. Big pool and great food with ocean views. Another rainy day so we pretty much had the fancy pants place to ourselves.

Mary loves to photograph lots of plants and flowers.

These seeds or blooms look like grapes, no?

Two of the four "Fury" catamarans. They takes cruisers for a party, snorkel and a stop at a deserted beach. We did it once years ago.

We had breakfast twice at Alicia's B&B. This day it was omelettes and the next time we had waffles. Chuco always makes guacamole, a big platter of fruit and fresh tortilla chips. We love Alicia, Chuco and Orlando very much even if we don't stay there any more. They are our great forever friends.

This is on the undeveloped east side and I was wondering at how powerful the ocean was to toss this huge rock up on shore. Must've been in Oct. 2005 during Hurricane Wilma. That was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin-a Cat 5. The shore snorkeling hasn't been the same since. It takes at least 10 years for the coral to recover.

More remnants of Hurricane Wilma. It devastated the island but we were there in Jan. 2006 and it was amazing how the place bounced back. The islanders worked HARD and FAST! Not any govt. red tape like in the U.S.

Bruce has his bucket of beer, so contemplates the menu at Playa Corona Beach Club. He's been our pal for years and joined us from San Antonio for 4 days. O.K. shore snorkeling here..purple sea fans. We always stop at this spot for ol' times sake.

Huge palapa bar at Money Bar.... O.K. shore snorkeling spot with good happy hour and a live "house" band 3 times a week. Pretty sunsets.

The Red Eye house band at Money Bar. Their 1st set kicked ass...an excellent cover band. Their 2nd set not so good...their choice of songs wasn't my cup 'o tea. There's a 4th guy in the band that ya can't see in this picture.