Saturday, May 22, 1993

The Mexican island of Cozumel, 12 miles from the Yucatan Peninsula, is a famous tourist resort. The town of San Miguel is the cleanest, prettiest, most prosperous-looking city we've seen in a long time. When we first came to Mexico from the U.S., we thought Mexico was a poverty-stricken country, but after visiting Panama, Colombia, and Honduras, Mexico looks wealthy. It is certainly the most prosperous of all the Central American nations.
There was a 25-knot wind out of the northeast this morning, so we were able to sail all the way to San Miguel. First we sailed due north, and then, when we were at the same latitude as the town, we changed tack and sailed due east. We anchored just off the Port Captain's building, which is an attractive, white, two-storey building that actually has "Capitania de Puerto" painted on it in letters large enough to be seen from the sea. Of course, Migracion is at the opposite end of town, and Customs is at the airport.
There's no harbor here; we're anchored out in the open. The land protects us from east winds, but we have no protection from any other direction.
After lunch, we fought the wind and paddled over to a small boat ramp. We didn't expect any of the offices to be open on Saturday, but we took our papers with us just in case. We walked over to the Port Captain's office; it was closed. Went a little farther and found a variety store that had a large display of sunglasses. To my delight, they had clip-ons! Bought a pair. What a relief!
Walked to the south end of town looking for Migracion, which is in the same building as the City Hall and the Police Station. Found it, but it was closed.
When we passed the town clock, we realized Roy's watch was off by an hour, so he reset it.
This being a tourist resort, it's also rip-offville. We went in a little ice cream parlor for a couple of scoops of ice cream. We were leery when we saw no prices posted, but we thought, How much can ice cream cost? Ha! We each had two small scoops of ice cream, and Roy bought a can of Gatorade, which tasted so awful, he couldn't drink it. The bill came to 28 pesos! Over $9! We could have bought a gallon of ice cream for less. No wonder the place was empty. We'll never go there again.
Walked over to the ferry pier. They have ferries going to Playa de Carmen to visit Mayan ruins. The fare is $54 per person!
Got on a bus (fare 1200 old pesos, about 40 cents) and rode around looking for the native vegetable stands. Found a whole bunch. Bought two big bags of fruit and vegetables for 20 pesos, 8 pesos less than we'd paid for that little dab of ice cream. Then we went to a super market and bought milk, fish, and orange juice. They had a freezer full of popsicles, so we each bought one. One peso each! And they tasted every bit as good as that exorbitant ice cream.
The wind had died down when we returned to the boat, so it was an easy paddle. Enjoyed a delicious supper.