Tues. April 22, 2014 - Life is Good

Sad but true, today we woke up and prepared for the long journey home.  First step was the golf cart taxi ride from the hotel through town  where we say some more of the decorative murals

on our way to the ferry boat which took us to the mainland.

The sea was much calmer than it was on our outbound trip on Saturday.

and we enjoyed the view with Eric and Claudia.

During the 90 minute car ride back to Lupita's house in Cancun she took us to one more point of interest to see some very large and old trees - right up Eric's and Lupita knew he would enjoy the easy stop to check them out.

When we arrived back at the house in Cancun,

there was a delicious ceviche lunch was waiting for us. 

Lupita went right back to work, but made us know we are welcome back any time

with "Mi casa su casa" 

Eric and Claudia have lots to do to get ready for their drive back to the Lake Tahoe area for the summer which begins on Friday, so they took us to the airport after lunch for the next leg of the journey - an uneventful air trip back to San Diego where Mary picked us up for the airport shuttle home to San Elijo State Beach.  From one tropical paradise to another all in one day. 

Life is Good! 

Mon. April 21, 2014 - Isla Holbox, Quintana Roo

We had a VERY relaxing day today enjoying the view from the deck and from the beach at our tropical island retreat at Casa Takywara on Isla Holbox.

 

No plans to take a boat ride,

But time to enjoy the beach

and walk in to town

to get some ice cream

and a beer

right before sunset. 

Then back to the hotel for a short siesta before walking back in to town for dinner

 

Tonight was much quieter for sleeping - the music was more in the background, and more native than the amplified music we heard last night.

Sun., April 20, 2014 - Mayan temple Ek Balam

After a delicious fresh cooked breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to beat the heat and tour the Mayan ruin Ek Balam

about a 30 minute drive from Valladolid. Lupita and Claudia have visited enough times to give a pretty good tour, plus they caught some of the Spanish tour guides' information as we passed through the ruins.  We climbed to the top of the temple structure

and around the ground and smaller structures until noon. We elected to skip the nearby cenote in favor of another ice cold coco water from a vendor outside the Ek Balam parking lot

and an air conditioned 2 hour road trip to Chiquila where we boarded an 8 person shuttle skiff for a 20 minute ride across the channel between the mainland and Isla Holbox.

Isla Holbox is a lightly developed tropical paradise island that allows no cars, but does have golf carts

and quads for transportation. Lupita had reserved the 3rd floor penthouse suite for us for the next two nights. 

 She stayed on the 2nd floor and we all enjoyed the view from our balcony

and the local beach until sunset,

 

then walked along the beach for a short 10 minute walk to the neighboring hotel where Eric and Claudia stayed - they are friends with Daniel, the proprietor/ owner.

He offers an organic foods menu for his guests and we enjoyed the ambience of his outdoor restaurant.   After dinner we walked back with Lupita to fall asleep to the very loud Mexican music being served up log at a nearby festival. They played until 3:00 AM!!!!!

Sat. April 19, 2014 - Valladolid, Yucatan

We got a mid morning start for our upcoming road trip in Lupita's 4 door Dodge hatchback.

First stop, Valladolid, a smallish town about 90 minutes to the western interior.

We checked in to our hotel San Juan Posada

and took a 60 min tour of a really cool private home Casa de los Venados

owned by an American couple who are collectors of Mexican art and supporters of the local community. Next stop, an inexpensive and delicious fresh cooked Mexican lunch from the local Mayan cooks

 outside the cenote we had come to see.

Claudia's mom, Lupita

speaks more English than we speak Spanish, but not enough to converse freely, so Claudia does the translation. Very interesting!   It was a warm day and fairly humid, so a swim in the underground freshwater cave was nice -

for us and 200 other holiday week vacationers. ( Claudia had never seen it so busy - but that is what you would expect on Semana Santa - Easter Week.

Back to the hotel for a poolside siesta then out to dinner at a local restaurant where we had a taste of local specialties and good conversation at an authentic Mayan restaurant.

 

Fri., Apr. 18, 2014 - Cancun

Thanks to Mary for the 4:15 AM airport shuttle, and a good weather flying day,

we made it on time (3:30 PM) with no surprises

to Cancun where we were met by the locals Eric and Claudia

for the 15 minute drive to Lupita's house where Claudia and Eric have been staying since the beginning of March.  We were served a late lunch with fruits and veges from the backyard garden 

and then got a tour of that garden -

and seedling nursery and food dehydrator and orchard

a big growing and teaching project they have been keeping busy with since their arrival.

 

The humidity, temp and early morning start all led us to a nap next, so we decided to stay in rather than go out for dinner.  Result, good conversation, good food, and a relaxing evening, and no sight of the Cancun the tourists see:).

Sun., April 13, 2014: Cloudy day

This is what the calm sea looked like this morning - lots of surfers as usual, and today lots of paddle boarders too.  Standing on the top of the bluff, looking down, I counted over 100 surfers in the water

Sat. April 12, 2014: Busy day at the park

There was a line-up this morning before the park aide arrived - those hoping for a first come first serve campsite for tonight.

We worked camp host until 1:30, then had our first lunch out

at the park taco shop:  Bull Taco

Food is pretty good, but the view is spectacular.  People come in to the park to eat and enjoy the view - there is 20 minute parking to accommodate - making the kiosk traffic quite a bit heavier than it was at Carlsbad.

Today the Bull Taco stairway was closed for renovations - volunteers and donated construction labor.  This park has more stairs down to the beach even though the beach is shorter than Carlsbad - and all stairs are in need of repair - the ocean air is brutal on wood.

Mon. April 7, 2014 sports on TV

It was a beautiful morning sunrise from the new viewing deck looking south.

It was not a camp host day, so we went to the Marriott to work, then....

Today was the college basketball finals game, so we went to an open air bar in Encinitas to watch

the game and the people.  Then home to crock pot Mexican tacos after the game.  We are finding it more enjoyable to eat home with good food instead of eating out with bar food these days.

Sat. April 5, 2014: Walk to town ( Encinitas )

Today was an off day and beautiful, so we decided to walk along the foot path

in to Encinitas for lunch at Lotus café

then back along the beach where we saw some lifeguards practicing jet ski maneuvers

then back to rest up at the site and listen to the ballgame on the radio.

 

April 2, 2014: First day at camp host work - San Elijo State Beach

It rained a bit last night, so everything was wet.  We checked in as usual, but it was at a different kiosk, and the park felt really strange - quite a bit shorter than Carlsbad, and not just one straight road, so when we did the morning rounds to look for unregistered vehicles, it was a challenge to identify the campsites numbers.  No biggie - just different.

After work, we continued to settle in to the new campsite - quite a bit warmer than our last one because it is set farther back from the ocean bluff.  Feels pretty good as a lounging area.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014 - No fooling! San Elijo here we come

Moving day.  We had a couple visits from Steve this morning as we finished packing up, then pulled out about 11:00.  We had a short 8 mile drive south to our new home for the month of April at San Elijo State Beach.  We spent much of the afternoon arranging our site - here is Site 110 before we got it set up

We met the other camp hosts in this park - all nice and eager to make us feel welcome. We hooked up with John and Judy this afternoon to go over the campground registration report printing procedure.  This park is related to South Carlsbad - same management, so our on-duty tasks are much the same, but our work shift is completely different. 

We will work Wed. mornings and Thurs. and Friday afternoons.