O’ahu 2022 – The Last post

April 24, 2022 Craig Leave a comment

“What do you mean, ‘the last post”, you didn’t write any?” You’re right, I’m sorry, and maybe I’ll do better next time? Or maybe I was just writing to much before?

Here are my and Mirandas’ traditional “top lists” for our vacation. The goals here are to:

Remind ourselves for the next trip of what we did and didn’t like.
Provide an easy copy/paste link for others looking to gain from our mistakes. 😀

With that intro, here we go!

Best Restaurant

We love eating at O’ahu, but we hadn’t ever stayed in Honolulu/Waikiki before so had to find new places to enjoy. We’re not “foodies” by any stretch, but we like what we like!

For me it was a near tie between 2 new restaurants to us. Top billing goes to Surf’n’Salsa in Hale’iwa. Second best burrito I’ve ever had (and to be clear — the best burrito is still Tacofino in the Financial Distract of Vancouver — the chorizo burrito has squid in it and is crazy good). The service was weird with the front desk lady pointing me at the kitchen to solve some problems we had, which was awkward, and their chips’n’salsa were to hot for me (I enjoy spice, but I’m pretty white), but the burrito made up for it. I had the chipotle burrito with steak. The front desk lady recommended the steak and she was so right.

The runner-up for me was Five Star Poke. It was a block away from our apartment and I went there on the last day when Miranda and I couldn’t agree on where to eat so I picked up McDonalds for her. I’m so sad I found this on the last day! I had the Spicy Ahi Tuna comboed with the Garlic Shoyu Salmon and it was the salmon that won me over — garlicky and miso-y and just a ton of flavour.

For Miranda, she loved her regular go-tos of North Shore Tacos and Giovanni’s. The tacos are simple, clean and their sauce is damn good. And the garlic shrimp plate of Giovanni’s really punches you in the mouth with garlic, it’s so good!

I didn’t ask Ava what her favourite restaurant was, I’m not sure she’d know how to answer the question…she doesn’t eat much when we’re out and Miranda tends to bring a tupperware of snacks for her.

Best “for pay” Experience

These include:

Kayaking the Anahulu River in Hale’iwa (rented kayak, not a tour)
Kayaking the reefs in Kane’ohe (rented kayak, not a tour)
Turtle Canyon snorkel tour
Dolphin excursion snorkel tour
Dole plantation

For both Miranda and I, it was the Anahulu River! This is a staple of our O’ahu trips and this year was augmented because Ava had a ton of fun which made it even more fun for us. It’s just a nice paddle up a gentle river and then you slowly float back to town. Ava and I swam in the river as Miranda floated and we played on Ava’s bodyboard and tried to find a turtle, and Miranda saw a ray!

I asked Ava what was her favourite by showing her pictures and she loved everything. 😀 She loved the boats because she met some super fun kids she played with, she loved the waves and the bubbles out the back of the wake and she had an absolute blast on the Dolphin tour because they pulled out a paddleboard and paddled her and 2 other kids around a snorkel area and they all had fun “accidentally” falling off the board and climbing back on. Her kind of fun!

Best Free Experience

Miranda’s and mine are similar here — we went to a couple new beaches that we hadn’t been to before. We did this because they were said to be great spots to bring young kids — I wanted to introduce Ava to snorkeling, and Miranda wanted to sit on the beach and relax.

Miranda’s favourite was Paradise Cove, which was a public beach with no facilities and only 10 parking spots. We got there early to get a parking spot and spent 4 hours swimming around, sitting under a giant beach umbrella. The kid was happy and entertained with very little effort needed, and we had lots of snacks so didn’t need to rush off.

My favourite was a bit south at Ko Olina lagoon #4. It was similar to Paradise Cove, but better because it had facilities like freshwater showers (I love this feature of Hawai’i beaches :D).

Neither of these places were great snorkeling, but they were protected coves with gentle sandy slopes and were exactly what I wanted to be able to introduce the kidlet to looking at the fish.

Ava’s favourite “free” experience (because it was bundled, or because it’s all free from her perspective) was the pool at the hotel. She made a couple friends there and the ease of going there meant that we could say “yes” to the pool even when there wasn’t much time left in the day to do an activity. I scoff at hotel pools when you’re 2 blocks from the beach, but it turns out there is huge value in this even so!

Unexpectedly Best Item Brought

This category is about the item you brought that you found way more useful than you thought it was going to be!

Miranda had a bunch of honourable mentions:

Tupperware containers which she used to pack snacks for Ava for the day (and for me, honestly :D)
A Roku she bought just for this trip, we plugged it into the apartment TV and it was easy to get Ava to zone out for a little bit.
Shorts under her dresses.
Ava’s headphones!

For me it was two things. First was a fanny pack. I bought this thing a couple years ago because I wanted a “kid go bag” that was my own. We had a shared one, but I always found it overfull with things I didn’t think I needed, so I bought my own. Fast-forward to 2 years later and I haven’t used it for a bit, but it was perfect for this trip. In it I had a webbed strap, some clips, some twist ties, hand sanitizer, wipes and I used all of those at least once. And then it was a great place to keep my wallet and phone when I was in swim shorts!

Second place for me goes to some “sinking snakes” Miranda brought. I wouldn’t have written about these except that when making this list Miranda put these under her “worst item brought” and I was like “HELL NO, those were super useful!” Ava and I took them to the pool and not only did Ava have fun diving down to get them, but they allowed us to play with much older kids than Ava would be able to otherwise. Every kid likes grabbing things from the bottom of the pool!

Favourite Item Brought

This category competes hard with the above one, but is different because it’s not an “unexpected item” and neither of us really had strong feelings about anything we brought this trip.

For Miranda, it was melatonin to help her sleep and a little bag of re-usable cloths that she brought. For me it was my snorkel gear, which I like being able to pull out and use without needing to worry about rentals or fit or sanitary concerns. For Ava it was nubby (her stuffed bunny) and her backpack, which she regularly carried with a bunch of toys in it.

Best Dollar Spent

This is about efficiency!

For Miranda and I both it was a new beach/sun jacket cover she bought. She bought it after she burnt her shoulders in the first week, and I borrowed it on several occasions. It was so nice. I didn’t think I’d like having things on my arms (I hate sleeves) in the sun, but it was breezy and light and not hot and fine to get wet and so comfortable so was great.

Worst Restaurant

We had a couple rough restaurants this time around, but not many that were straight up bad.

The worst was Oahu Mexican Grill. The ordering was super confusing, they tried to give me something I hadn’t ordered and messed up my order. When we got food, the taco’s Miranda had were kind of meh and my nachos were soggy. Ew.

On our first pass of this category, Miranda had said Longboards near Ko Olina was her worst because the salad she ordered was really bad. The experience overall was decent. My burger was ok there. But America, come on, your salad’s suck. A bunch of iceburg lettuce and a few cherry tomatoes are why no one likes salads in your country. You can do better.

For me, and this was sad, it was a sushi place that had been recommended called Katsu Midori. Worst, not because of any experience or the food, but because they were “full” by the time we got to them! They wouldn’t let us in to eat! I was pretty sad I failed at this. This is my fault, not theirs, but be ware and make reservations!

A last minute addition to the list here was The Local @ HNL in the airport. The ordering experience was trying to be efficient — you ordered your food on a website and paid for it online and the kitchen got the order and you’d already paid and yay. But the system wouldn’t allow multiple orders at the same table so we had to troubleshoot that. Then when Miranda fixed part of that problem with the server another website foible appeared. The food and drinks were crazy expensive in a city with expensive food and drink and the nachos had some strange cheese on them that reminded me of fake cheese from a jar.

Favourite Animal

A family favourite, they were:

Miranda’s ray that she saw in the Anahulu River.
I saw a sweet little black squid while snorkel diving down in the Dolphin tour! (no dolphins though 🙁 )
Ava generally loved the koi everywhere, but specifically the koi at the Dole plantation. There was a fish food machine nearby that we pushed some quarters into and the koi (hundreds of them) went a little crazy to get food.

Worst Item Brought

Miranda thinks we didn’t need to bring the picnic blanket she packed.
I didn’t need two pairs of adventure shorts. I only needed 1 plus some exercise shorts.

Best Research Time Spent

For me it was when I looked into Paradise Cove, which led to Ko Olina later in the week. We had read about the area in previous trips, but just hadn’t taken the time to go, and I was glad we did this trip.

For Miranda, it was an indoor kids playground she took Ava to one day called Kid City. She wishes we had one in Vancouver, because she’d go to it all the time. It was the perfect combination of all of the things she likes to take Ava to.

Most Missed Item

For both Miranda and I, the Tula was a staple of our last trip to Mexico and I wished I’d had it here as well. The kid is still to small to go walking for as long as Miranda and I would like to walk and so I uncomfortably packed her on my shoulders for several long distances. Having her on my back would have been much more comfortable! The worst part was that we agreed to bring the Tula then both forgot to pack it. >.<

As well, anti-nausea meds — 2 out of the last 4 boat tours I’ve been on have ended with me having nausea. Not a good ratio. I think I’m getting old. It’s ruining a good time. 🙁

Saddest Lost/Broken Item

Let me itemize the things we lost or broke this trip, it’s brutal:

Our water camera
One swim fin of mine (but not two)
Ava’s body board
Ava’s sunglasses
Ava’s lifejacket
Ava’s mermaid toy

Miranda’s saddest item was the body board. I was separated from them for a short time and while waiting, Ava started using it as a kite in the crazy Hawaii wind so Miranda took it to keep it safe. I arrived back to them at the bus stop at the same time as the bus arriving and in the process of getting everything and everyone on the bus Miranda sadly left the body board at the bus stop. Ava took it well, but Miranda and I were both a little upset at ourselves. Later in the trip we bought Ava another one, and this one came with stories about how her mom had lost her old one at the bus stop. She told that story to a bunch of people, including us, several times. She took the new body board to bed.

Mine was the water camera and the fin. The water camera I’m almost immune to — I’ve broken more “waterproof” electronics than I will recount here (though you could probably itemize that list by going through the archives at this blog :D). I’m cursed. I literally just walked into the ocean with the battery door open. So dumb. We replaced it with a $40 one from Facebook Marketplace the day before our Dolphin tour.

The fin was super annoying, I lost it on the first day we were at the beach. It just slipped out of my bag and I was shoulder-carrying the child and carrying a lot of stuff and I didn’t notice I dropped it. I walked our path several times, minutes after we think we’d lost it, but I think the Honolulu clean-up crew is too efficient — it was gone. I bought new ones of the exact same type, but I’ll always remember because I now have 3 fins.

Honourable Mention

I’ve mentioned the Dolphin tour a few times here, but you won’t see any photos of dolphins and I haven’t exactly raved about it.

The tour with Iruka Tours was really really good. The operators were fun, knowledgeable, efficient, and well-run. Just…there were no dolphins in the area! We boated around for probably 3 hours looking for them before giving up and dropping anchor for some snorkeling. I want to give these guys my money again next time we’re in O’ahu, because they worked hard for it keeping a boat of tourists entertained while the “main attraction” wouldn’t come on stage!

Best Photos

Our airport shuttle was late so we caught a ride with some people we met. Nice ride!

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – The Last Post

February 17, 2020 Craig Leave a comment

I like to finish off vacations with one final summary post. Most people don’t have time to read my entire 2 weeks of rambling, so I bring together the best moments and photos into one.

Scroll to the bottom if you just want a bunch of photos!

Miranda and I usually do this, but this time we’re including Ava. She can’t give an explicit opinion, so we’re making educated guesses based on her behavior.

Best Restaurant

For Miranda, it was the Indigo Beach Club, which was no surprise to me. She liked that it had consistently good food, the location was fantastic and the service was great.

She says her runner up was Aldea Corazon, the somewhat expensive restaurant with a freaking cenote built into it. The food was fantastic, the drinks were good, and…you got transported from the middle of a bustling city street to a jungle, within minutes. Super cool place.

My favourite restaurant was Aay Chabela. I liked every meal I had there (including both of Miranda’s :P), the price was right where I wanted it, and it was 2 blocks away. With so much decent food available, location is pretty key for me.

But having said that, Zitla was my runner up. I really enjoyed my conversation about Mexican craft beer with Justin, our server at our first visit, and I thought the food showed some real promise. Much of the food we ate was good. Zitla’s was really good.

Ava’s favourite restaurant was 100% Natural. The fruit platter came in a larger mason jar, and she loved the mix of fruit so much she ate 90% of it every time.

And with that, I think we’ve covered all of the notable restaurants we ate at. Everything else was either bad, or just…ok? Adequate, in the most positive sense of the word.

Best “For Pay” Experience

Miranda’s was Xcaret. She says you wouldn’t have known that we’d been before (we went 6 years ago, pre-child), with how much we saw that felt new and fresh.

Mine was Kantun Chi. I loved (eventually) having the place to ourselves, I loved just snorkeling around the most stunning natural scenery in the world while my family kayaking around me. It was peaceful and serene and amazing.

Ava’s was Xcaret. She loved the aquarium, and the monkeys (we visited each twice) as well as the rope course in the kids area (which she and I did 4 times, back and forth, making 8 times total).

Best Free Experience

Although not strictly free, mine was getting money out of the HSBC ATM. We had assumed we could take money out of any ATM kicking around (and there are lots), so when several of them declined us we got worried. I went on a walking adventure alone to try as many different ones as I could, and as soon as I saw the HSBC I knew it was going to work. HSBC always works.

Ava’s was the water fountain at Calle 14 and Av. 5th. She loved it so much she got soaked several times, and also encouraged other children to get soaked. Her runner up was the advertising display/TV at Oakley aka, her dance platform.

Miranda’s best free experience was a tough one, but ultimately she decided it was the beach at Fundadores Park. She enjoyed sitting and watching me and Ava play in the sand and build a moat.

Unexpectedly Best Item Brought

It’s easy to say your clothes were the best item you brought, this category is something that was better than you thought it would be.

Mine was the Tula. I use it about once a week at home to carry Ava to the pool, and I love it as a method of moving us both quickly. We bring it whenever we go places, but I’ve never used it as much as we did this time. I used it literally every day. I love how easy it is to get around, I love that I don’t have to feel encumbered by a stroller, and that we just get up and start walking.

I also thought it was funny whenever we’d walk into a restaurant and ask for a table for 3, and I’d turned sideways and then they’d see Ava on my back for the first time and laugh. It happened so often!

Ava’s was the swim ring. It’s a plastic yellow ring that we have, that I’ve seen at our local pool for kids to swim down and get from the bottom of the pool. We used it a lot, although Ava can’t swim down yet, she loved playing “fetch” with it with Miranda.

Ava’s runner up was Skye and Dog. Dog is Marshall. Both are small figures of animals from PAW Patrol, a popular show for kids. Miranda questioned whether this was unexpected, but for me it was unexpected that we managed to get Ynnub out of Ava’s hands in exchange for these two figures. We didn’t want Ynnub (a fuzzy bunny) out and about on the streets, and the plastic toys were easier to manage.

Favourite Thing Bought

Miranda’s was her headband, her hair was really bugging her by mid-trip.

Ava’s was snakey, a glittery stuffed snake we bought at Xcaret. She’d come home from a long day and see it and grab it and say “oh snakey!” and give it a big hug and just seem so happy.

Mine was Ava’s Xcaret swim top. We somehow forgot Ava’s swimwear when we went to Xcaret, such bad parents. So Miranda ran off to get something for Ava to swim in, and picked up a great teal long-sleeve swim shirt .

Best Dollar Spent

Miranda’s was on the Cancun Cheap Transfer, a company that picked us up and brought us from the airport to our condo. It was super nice to walk out of the airport into hot chaos (Cancun airport is a extreme chaos), to see a man standing there with a sign with your name on it. You get into his van, and he offers you water and a beer and drives you directly to where you want to be. It was so comforting and let us relax immediately.

For this one, my mind goes to the fruit vendors at Fundadores Park. Fruit is cheap, and they just stand there with cut up papaya and mango and sell it to you and it’s delicious and you don’t have to exert any effort in enjoying the most amazing fruit you’ve ever tasted.

Ava’s was snakey, as above.

Best Place To Stay

We only stayed in 2 places this trip, so this one is a bit of a gimme, but we’re including it because we really liked our accommodations and want to spread the word.

El Taj Oceanside and Beachfront is a hotel, but is a group of condos. So you get multiple bedrooms, and a kitchen and a living room and couch and space. We stayed at the El Taj Beachfront, and we’d do it again. Some of the Oceanside condos had stunning views, but most of them looked into the courtyard. While our view wasn’t great, it was close to the best (of 4) pools in the complex, which was exactly what we wanted.

Worst Restaurant

We don’t love being negative, but here it is.

Mine and Miranda’s worst restaurant was Blue Lobster. It was expensive, the service was “ok” and the food was “ok”. Our second trip was what gave it this award, with the food being kind of bad and the servers (initially) ignoring our child and then ignoring that we needed more space with the kid than 2 adults at a 2 adult table.

Ava’s was the restaurant at Kantun Chi, as the only thing she could eat there was chips. Ava ate a lot of chips on this trip, but usually she could have something from our plates. This place that was really hard.

Favourite Animal

My favourite animal was the very large iguana at the parking lot to Dos Ojos. I was standing there, waiting out my decompression timer and I saw just this giant lizard sunning itself in the middle of the parking lot. That’s some confidence, lizard.

Ava’s favourite animal was the monkeys at Xcaret. She loved them so much she was giggling at their antics, and I’m pretty sure she said “monkey!” for the first time here.

Miranda’s was collectively all of the birds at Xcaret, particularly the tucan because they are so cool to see.

Best Body of Water

Miranda’s was Uch Ben Ha at Kantun Chi. We had it entirely to ourselves, it was gorgeous, and she got to kayak above the thing that she finds very frightening.

Ava’s was pool #2, the “hot tub”, aka, the “slightly warmer than the regular pool” tub. She spent a lot of time in that tub, and loved that she could jump from a ledge and swim across quickly to the other ledge. She also loved that it was slightly warmer than the main pool, because she got a little cold at times.

I choose our Zacil Ha cenote at Kantun Chi, although my answer is really the same as Miranda’s. Zacil Ha was a super cool hole in the ground with amazing stalagmites and stalactites and was just beautiful.

Worst Item Brought

Unfortunately, for me it has to be my scuba camera. I usually get such good use of it, even if I only scuba once, that I don’t even consider leaving it behind. But it’s a large item and needs a lot of management, and…I don’t feel like I got any “stand out” photos with it. I got some good ones, but ultimately, it felt like a waste of space.

Miranda’s was her conditioner. I had bought her Lush conditioner for Christmas and it was in a conveniently sized container compared to her regular stuff. Unfortunately, it didn’t do what it needed to do – make her hair feel nice.

Ava’s item was a list of small things:

Her white noise machine. Because, oddly, this suite came with them. Probably because of the night clubs surrounding it. >.>
Her hair de-tangler, which we didn’t use once.

Best Photos

Lastly, here are the best photos of the trip.

First look at our place in the morning, this is the view walking up the stairs to the El Taj Oceanside.

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – Day 14 – Last Day

February 16, 2020 Craig 1 Comment

It barely counts as a last day in Mexico, seeing as the entire day was spent travelling away from Mexico.

We got up at 5:15am, Mexico time, which is like 2:15am Vancouver time. We’re adjusted to Mexico time, but this post will switch to Vancouver time at some point, and I need you to know that I’ve been awake all day.

Ava was far happier to wake up than this photo implies, but it’s a hilarious photo.

Miranda and I were awake earlier than our alarm, so we quickly finished packing, stuffed some yogurt into the kid and caught a shuttle to the airport a half hour before we’d planned to.

At the airport, we zoomed through the check in line, and the security line and had a decent breakfast at Air Margaritaville. Miranda got her first wine of the day here. I decided to start stopping drinking as much, and had tea.

The flight was long. Ava screamed before she fell asleep, which we both found very stressful.

Caught a cab home and got to unpacking some easy things, and ordered Boston Pizza delivery.

Ava and I walked up to the park. Miranda and I both felt she needed some outside time to help ease us back into Vancouver time (it’s about 3pm PST now, 6pm Mexico, so we’re pretty close to Ava bed time…).

There was a lot of kids at Edmonds park, and we had an absolute blast climbing stuff and going down the slide. Maybe helped by a slightly manic mood from both of us, but I’m really glad we went.

Home again, played for a bit before we put her down to bed at 6:30pm PST, 9:30pm Mexico. Almost 2 hours past her bed time from yesterday. She passed out immediately.

Miranda said our goal is to make it to 9pm. I’m feeling really good, like energetic and maybe a little crazy. Miranda is now lying down watching the Bach, and she saying she’s not going to make it to 9pm. I made bread, and it’s weird and delicious.

This won’t be the last post, there will be a summary/best of post tomorrow sometime, but this will be the last in the series! I’m sure I’ll be vacationing again soon…

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – The Beer Post

February 15, 2020 Craig 2 Comments

(if you’re reading this in real-time, I posted the day’s writing before this one, with a couple photos)

The last couple trips we mostly ate in, cooked for ourselves or were cooked for. This trip we ate out every day, most often twice a day, so I got a lot more opportunities to try different beers, and every restaurant had a good selection of different brands.

The unfortunate part, is that the craft beer scene in and around Playa Del Carmen doesn’t appear to be thriving. There were a handful of local beers, but for the most part it’s a steady stream of labels you would recognize from your local liquor store.

The further unfortunate part, is that it appears that although there are lots and lots of different beers and beer companies, there are actually only 2 companies that own them all. It feels somewhat stagnant, but the fact that I had a couple craft brews in tourist areas brings hope.

The good part is that there are lots of different beers, even if they are all from large-scale breweries and even if they are similar in style, they compare well to each other. It may feel like a Sol and a Corona and a Dos Equis are identical, but there are subtle differences that are easier to find when you drink new ones each day.

To the beers!

TL;DR

You should really read it, I think it’s fascinating.

But if you’re looking for a quick ordered list of what beer to order in Mexico, here’s my opinion:

Cucupa Amber Ale – I love craft beer, this ones an easy top of the list. I wish I’d been able to try more of theirs!
Dos Equis Ambar – It’s been two weeks since I drank this, but I thought it was pretty damn good. Sweet and delicious.
Bohemia Vienna – A darker sweeter beer
Bohemia Pilsner – A pilsner that doesn’t taste like Heineken. I’m sick of Heineken and I think it’s been 15 years since I had one.
Tecate – Sweet and tasty.
Indio – Basically the same beer as Tecate, but less available.
Tecate Light – A totally different beer from the Tecate, it’s light and crisp. If you’re looking for low-alcohol, go with this one.
Dos Equis Lager – After this trip, Dos Equis moved up my list quite a bit.
Modelo Especial – Crisp and easy to like.
**** I did not really like anything below this line ****
Sol – Kind of like a Corona, but less skunky.
Barrilito – A super light beer that had no flavour. I enjoyed it’s experience, drinking on a shuttle bus, rather than it.
Negro Modelo – A dark beer that just didn’t grip me. Tasted like someone had added “dark flavour” to a beer.
Pescadore Blonde Ale – Loving craft beer, I wish I’d tried other Pescadore brews to give them a chance, but I couldn’t find any other than this and the IPA.
Montejo – I didn’t write any notes, or find any reason to drink it again to take any notes. Thoroughly uninspiring.
Victoria – Kind of like a Heineken. Do not like.
Corona – Corona is the absolute worst beer I drank this trip.

Your most common options are going to be Sol, Corona, Dos Equis. If this is true, have the Dos Equis. After that, both Bohemia’s and Tecate Light are somewhat common, I’d probably pick one of the Bohemia’s in that list, both are good and are actual options between dark and light beer that you might not have in other places.

Barrilito

Untappd. 3.4% lager. I drank this in the shuttle bus from the airport to our condo, as offered by our shuttle bus driver. It had been a long day, and I was grateful for a drink and this was that.

However, aside from the time and place, this beer doesn’t have much to recommend it. If you truly stop and savour the flavour, you find… it has none. It was utterly without any taste, and was merely a vehicle for cold non-water liquid entering you. Might not drink again, unless for a purpose. Someone on Untappd said it made a good morning beer, for example.

On the drive from the airport to Playa Del Carmen.

Tecate

Untappd. I had this one twice, because at the start of the Mexico beer adventure, I forgot to write about it. It’s 4.5% and in the restaurant it came with a lime, which I drank it with.

I picked up a can from 7-11, wanting to give it another try after forgetting my notes. Not really the same beer as Corona/Sol, it’s maltier and sweeter. I wasn’t really feeling like drinking when I had the can, so I don’t think I gave it a really fair shake to start. I let the can sit (which some people think is a travesty, I’m ok with it) and came back to it a little later and it grew on me more.

It’s virtually the same beer as Indio, but easier to find. However, most places that serve Tecate, serve the Tecate Light which is a totally different beer!

At Mexico Loco, a restaurant really near Fundadores Park.

Can from 7-11 2 blocks away. I was buying Pepsi and chips and milk and got a beer off my list.

Tecate Light

Untappd. 3.9%, and Untappd says 7 IBUs which I totally believe. Crisp and cold, not a lot of flavour, but nothing bad either. No weird aftertaste, or weird taste like a Corona or Sol. Would drink again, but likely not compared to other options. This one is comparable to the Barrilito, but the Tecate Light is available at restaurants and feels slightly tastier. I avoided it for a while because I’d had the Tecate, but they are totally different beers that they are worth discussing separately. The Tecate is sweeter and maltier, where the Light is crisp and doesn’t have a lot of flavour to it.

*At 100% Natural, a great restaurant nearish our place that we went to several times.*

Tecate Light Michelada

I was at a restaurant where I’d tried every beer they were serving, and didn’t want to repeat so I did a michelada of Tecate Light.

A michelada is where they take worcestershire sauce, some spices and maybe some tomato juice, toss some salt on the glass rim, and call it a beer cocktail. It’s not my favourite preparation, but it is an interesting drink and worth drinking.

In this case, it added a lot more umph to a very light tasting beer. Basically you’re enjoying the spices, and the beer is a liquid vehicle for them.

At Aay Chabela, a good restaurant about 2 blocks away (it’s pretty much across the street from the 7-11). I just noticed that in a lot of my beer photos, Miranda has a Coke.

Cucupa

Untappd. Brewery on Untappd. Brewery. The first craft beer I had in Mexico was found at Zitla, an exceedingly highly rated restaurant about 6 blocks from our condo.

It’s a 4.5%, 17 IBU, very round, and sweet amber ale. Untappd says it’s a red ale, and I don’t usually like reds because they tend towards highly hopped beers that are “red” because they remind people of “copper”, which isn’t my thing.

This is a great beer, and I would definitely drink again. Unfortunately, I was unable to find other Cucapa’s nearby, because it looks like they have a great selection!

At Zitla, the #1 rated Mexican place in PDC.

Dos Equis Ambar

Untappd. 4.7%, a crisp lager, but more flavorful, as you would hope an amber would be. Sweet, but not as sweet as the Cucapa. This is a really good blend, and I would drink it again. After drinking this, I decided to prioritize having a Dos Equis. I’m not even sure if we have the Ambar in Vancouver, but if we do, I should drink it there! This is a great beer!

I think this was at Blue Lobster, a seafood restaurant that was a little too expensive for me to be happy going back multiple times. And then we went back a second time and had a pretty terrible experience.

Montejo

Untappd. 4.5%. I didn’t write any notes on this one! I didn’t end up seeking it out to try again, and while I’m sad my list isn’t complete, I’m pretty sure this was a wildly uninspiring beer.

At El Oasis, a seafood restaurant we weren’t impressed with.

Dos Equis Lager

Untappd. 4.2% lager. Crisp, refreshing, not to much and not to little.

I did the Whistler Tough Mudder many years ago, and at the end of transporting myself 18km and doing a bunch of obstacles and getting electrocuted, they give you a beer. I’d never had a Dos Equis before that, and it was the most delicious beer I’d ever had. I assumed it was because after that level of exercise, anything would have been refreshing, but it turns out that I think I really like Dos Equis. Enough alcohol and overall flavour to have a flavour (unlike the Barrilito), but it try to be more than it is.

After this trip, I’ve decided that I think Dos Equis (and the Ambar, which I’ve never seen before Mexico) is a really good beer.

At La Familigia, an Italian/pizza place we went to a couple times. A fair distance from our place, unfortunately.

On the Cozumel ferry back to Playa Del Carmen.

Pescadore Blonde Ale

Untapped. Untappd Brewery. Brewery. 4.5%, a blonde ale that I drank after I finished a Dos Equis at La Famiglia. Slightly hoppier than I prefer, but good enough bite with the fatty pizza.

This is a local microbrewery at Puerto Morales about 35 minutes drive from Playa Del Carmen. One of a small number of craft brews I had in PDC, so while I didn’t love this beer, I like that they exist! The brewery has a Habanero Ale that sounds fascinating!

*At La Famiglia*. I had 2 beers that night, because the Dos Equis was so light and cheap and we were still eating when I finished it. That never happens!

Corona

Untappd. You know Corona, you’ve had a lot of them. But you’ve likely never taken the time to compare it to other brands of a similar nature. Corona, in my mind, is the reference lager against which all other “Mexican” or “cervesa” lagers are compared to.

I’ve decided that I don’t like it. >.>

It has a “skunky” taste that at first I attributed to bad batch, because my first Mexican drinking of it was at a buffet where I got served it in a short glass.

I later got a bottle of it at a restaurant, and noted the same skunk flavours.

Reading about it now, some of these flavours are said to exist because (for whatever silly reason) Corona is sold in clear glassware, which is very very bad for beer. Beer is sold in brown or green bottles because that kind of glass absorbs light frequencies that catalyze these kind of off-flavours.

I’m going to avoid Corona in future, in favour of…well…almost anything else. Not that I wasn’t avoiding it anyway. But now I have a scienticious reason for it.

Glass at the Mexican buffet at Xcaret. My first mole chicken, which was damn good despite being from a buffet.

Victoria

Untapped. 4% and comparable to the Corona, but more like a Heineken, with a slightly more “green” taste. Didn’t really like it, and if you’re going for a low-alcohol beer you have much better choices in the area (Tecate Light, for example).

Sol

Untappd. Where I live, Sol is a brand you might pick up if you want a Corona but don’t want a Corona. 4.2% and closer in flavour to Corona, but less skunky. I didn’t like it enough to have it again, once I was on duplicates.

Modelo Especial

Untappd. 4.5%. crisp, light, very tasty and easy to like. I’m sad I didn’t take any photos of this one, because I like the somewhat minimalist and cute bottles.

Negra Modelo

Untappd. This was not a good beer. My first thought is that it was a lager with “dark flavour” added. Holding it in my mouth left no flavour, until I swallowed and then it was there.

It reminded me of an experience with drinking beer in Costa Rica many years ago, when I had the “Imperial Dark” which tasted like the “Imperial Regular”, but had a darker colour.

Unfortunately, this beer was worse than that experience, because at least the Imperial was a decent lager.

Bohemia Vienna

Untapped. 4.9%, 14.4 IBUs. Dark lager. Tasty, dark and crisp. Bohemia does good beers, and you can’t go wrong with either of this one or their Pilsner “Clara”.

At Playa Mia, in their giant buffet tent.

Bohemia Pilsner

Untappd. A 4.7%, 21 IBU pilsner. After drinking Mexican lagers all week, I wasn’t prepared for a pilsner. Tasted sweeter than I think l pilsner usually is. Less of the bitter or sharp flavour I associate with them. My reference pilsner is Heineken, which I’m sick of, and this was reminiscent, but quite different. Quite nice, would drink again.

At Fairfield Inn & Suites near Cancun airport.

Indio

Untapped. 4.1%, Sweet and comparable to the Tecate. Virtually the same beer to my taste.

And that’s it!

Wow, that is a lot of beer. I think I drank 1-3 a day for 2 weeks. Time to go home and not drink daily for some period of time. 😛

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – Day 13

February 15, 2020 Craig Leave a comment

(I added a couple photos to yesterday, so if you’re reading these in real-time, go back and take a look)

Breakfast at Indigo Beach club this morning, because we had wanted to finish our PDC trip off with a nice Mexican meal. I had breakfast quesadillas, Miranda had a scramble and Ava had papaya and sweet breads.

Last trip to pool #1! (and #2, then #1, then #2. Ava was really back and forth this morning). Going to “swim camp”/”poolpocalypse”/”poolland” has been excellent for her skills, and it’s amazing to see her doing so well.

No nap, on purpose today, because we had to check out at noon. Almost had a lunch disaster, we went back to Indigo because it was close and cheap and our hotel said they were serving lunch (it’s associated with our hotel) but when we got there they weren’t and the waiter was pretty useless at communicating. I walked back to buy breakfast tickets (we get a discount) and while I was doing that they told Miranda we could have lunch. Baaaah.

We had breakfast again — I had chilaquiles, which I think is my new favourite Mexican dish. It’s like nachoes but with a sauce covering it and chicken and onions. If it had potatoes instead of tortilla chips, you’d call it a breakfast hash.

Our car to Cancun was 15 minutes late, so we were getting a little worried.

The trip to Cancun was a little crazy, just because our toddler was a little crazy. No seatbelts and she kept trying to stand on chairs and move around the vehicle and got very upset when we firmly said she couldn’t, and held her down. Baaah times two.

We were pretty exhausted when we got to our hotel, hence the photos of us all lying down. Back into the pool! The main pool at the Fairfield Inn near the Cancun airport is somewhat chilly (like all the pools), but the hot tub was actually hot.

Dinner was nachoes and a mostly-cheese vegetarian pizza.

Our flight is at 9 tomorrow, and I think we’re getting up at like 5:30. >.> Later!

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – Day 12 – Last Full Day in PDC

February 14, 2020 Craig Leave a comment

~~No good photos today~~. Update: a couple photos added from Miranda. And something happened in Chrome to close this tab while I was 75% finished writing, so I’m annoyed.

This day did not go well.

I had a plan to take Ava to a playground I’d found. There aren’t many in the touristy area, so we were going to cab to it. She refused to put shoes on, to the point of her being extremely angry about it, and we cancelled that plan and reset and went swimming instead. Happiness was found.

Dinner was at McDonalds. I usually resist eating chain food in a foreign country, but it’s late enough in the trip I didn’t mind.

It RAINED on our way back. Which is rough because McDonalds is one of the further restaurants we’d been to (Senior Frogs was further, but it was on the way through from the ferry). Like rain where all the street shops packed up, tourists gathered in store entrances, and puddles past my ankles developed as the storm drains were overloaded. We walked home in spurts, got home and stripped of wet clothes.

Nap.

Post-nap swimming.

Dinner was at Blue Lobster again and was a disaster.

It started when Miranda asked for a table for 3, and they gave us one for 2. We tried to correct, and they brought over a high chair instead. We accepted this, grudgingly. Then Miranda and I had a misunderstanding, after which I was upset. Then Miranda was being dripped on by something. And our table was much to close to our neighbours, which made me feel anxious and boxed in. We had it out, then sorted out the misunderstanding, then switched to a better table…and then dinner arrived. We’d both ordered lobster steak, going for a memorable meal for our last night, and the amount of food on the plate was so small it was laughable. We both started laughing (at least, I was laughing…Miranda might have been crying, or laughter turning to crying). The meat was smaller than your fist and it came with only a salad. The lobster was not very good, somewhat flavourless and tough to chew. The salad was ok, but not what Miranda had wanted.

Overall, bad.

We walked up to Ava’s fountain where she got soaked again.

Home to a dance party and books and bed, and now just relaxing watching Anne of Green Gables and writing.

Later!

The condo gave out balloons for Valentines Day and Ava loved it.

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – Day 11

February 13, 2020 Craig 2 Comments

Another light day, as we wind down the trip.

Worried still that I’d broken her, we went to the pool that she had eschewed the other day, in her wetsuit and a long sleeve shirt in case it was the cold that was turning her off.

She was back in action! I’m still pretty sure she can be broken, but not today! The wetsuit really helped her bouyancy, and she had an excellent horizontal form in the water. 🙂

Lunch was at 100% Natural, I think our current favourite place. The food is good, it has a good option for Ava, it’s pretty nearby and nice.

The Oakley advertising screen is Ava’s favourite place to dance.

It was a no-nap day, and after nap we were back in the pool. This time there was a 4 year old and her mom (who didn’t speak English or Spanish). But it doesn’t matter what language you speak, when you’re a toddler who doesn’t speak much. Her and the girl had a good time playing in the pool together…until Ava got up and left the pool. Kids!

Dinner was at Aay Chabela, about 2 blocks away. We’d been here previously for breakfast (because breakfast is served until noon, and we eat lunch at 11…) and Miranda hadn’t liked it much. I advocated for trying it again at dinner, and she agreed. I had a shrimp burger, with avocado and a beef patty that wasn’t “well done”, so it was very smooooth. Miranda had a pizza from a stone oven that was right there. The proprietor was very talkative, and I felt he set the mood just right.

After dinner Miranda went home and Ava and I went for a walk. I think she knows exactly how to get to the water fountain, although her route goes around it by about 4-5 blocks. For the second time, while “aimlessly walking”, we ended up right at it. Tonight I had to pick her up past it and go home, as it was time for bed.

View from Indigo Beach Club, across the street from our condo, and on Ava’s route to the fountain.

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – Day 10 – Kantun Chi

February 12, 2020 Craig 2 Comments

Ok! Lots of photos and they were a little jumbled and I hope it all makes sense.

Our plan for the day was to head to a group of cenotes called Kantun Chi. It was recommended as toddler friendly by this article I read before we planned the trip.

We woke up early, had desayunos, then walked down the street and got on an unmarked white van that may have been heading to our destination.

Only kind of kidding! Collectivos are a common way of getting around in this area, and we did a lot of research before getting into that unmarked white van with ourselves and our precious daughter. We had been told that a cab would have cost ~$30CAD, where this cost ~$5CAD, and we were going to have to do the cab twice. And besides, I like a good adventure. 😀

We arrived at the cenote, and we’re pretty sure we were the first people there. It was pretty eerie, as it’s kind of an “eco park” and no one was there.

Anxiety was rising pretty high after our transit and the eerie place, and getting tickets and getting our stuff sorted. But when we got to the 1st cenote, it was magical and it was entirely empty except for us for a long time. We kayaked around and snorkeled and Ava didn’t want to get into the water. 🙁

I’m going to let the photos speak for the rest of the day, it was pretty good and I would totally go back to this place! Later!

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – Day 9

February 11, 2020 Craig 3 Comments

I have no photos today!

Today was a little troubling. Ava didn’t want to go into the pool.

Maybe I broke her? Maybe she’s upset at yesterday’s excursion? Who knows, she can’t tell me!

The whole family is also suffering from a little bit of spending to much time with each other. So after breakfast (I made instant “Hot Cakes”, wow they were sweet) Ava and I walked down to the beach to see if she’d changed her mind about it.

She had not. But she was happy to play in the sand for a bit. Then she requested we go, and that we go in a very particular direction.

Sometimes we play this game in Vancouver, where I carry her and ask her “Where to?” and she points in a direction and I carry her over that way. I think it’s a fun game that has put us in some interesting places, and more often than not, in a place where you think to yourself “Did…she know we were going here?”, where if you answer “yes”, it’s disturbing because she doesn’t seem to remember a lot from day-to-day, and then…well…

In this case, after 4 blocks of choose-your-own-adventure “pointing style”, we ended up back at the water fountain from the previous two days. >.>

We played there for a bit until she asked for mom, and I took her home. For lunch we wandered right on 5th, further than before, and ended up at a lovely restaurant called “Bip Bip” at Av. Constituyents and 5th. I think we may eat here again, as we both enjoyed our food, Ava enjoyed their waterfall, and the food came with chips and salsa. (which is notable, as we haven’t seen as much as you would expected).

Post-nap, we tried the pool again and Ava was kind of almost ok with it, but not really. I worried that I broke her bad. In the hot tub she was her old self again.

Dinner was at a pizza place called “La Famiglia” which we’d eaten at a couple days ago as well. They have a very nice meaty pizza and serve a bottle of chili oil with your pizza that is just the right amount of spicy. Miranda and I were both sweating additionally from it.

Ava and I walked back up to Walmart for diapers and yogurt, because I bought the wrong yogurt the other day and she didn’t like it, and because we were dangerously close to running out of diapers.

Dance party at night, as has become our tradition! (Pharrell’s “Happy” is a favourite). Good night!

Mexico

Mexico 2020 – Day 8 – Playa Mia

February 10, 2020 Craig 2 Comments

Adventure day! We woke up early and had desayunos de la casa and got walking. Our destination – Playa Mia on Cozumel.

Miranda had scoped this one out before we left but we hadn’t committed to going until a day or so ago. It’s a long trip!

We walked down 5th Ave to the area where they sell ferry tickets. It’s an “area”, because as soon as you get close to the ferry terminal, you’re inundated with people trying to sell you tickets. We bought some, and tried to follow the person in front of us until we got on the ferry.

Once there, we found seats and sat in what Miranda later called “the cattle car”. It was packed and hot. I asked to look at our tickets, because something didn’t feel right with them, and when I compared them to the advertising it turns out that we had accidentally bought First Class tickets which meant we got to go upstairs to a place that had plenty of space, air conditioning, and people who would bring you whatever drink you asked for. This is no SeaBus, folks.

On the other side, we caught a cab and headed up island to the water/adventure park. Once there, we showed Ava to the playground/water park and asked if she wanted to play there and she indicated affirmative so we hoped we’d found a place that would make her happy and we got all our swim stuff on and headed out.

And then we couldn’t find the fun.

She was anxious and needed picking up and holding through out the entire morning. We tried swimming in the pool, and playing with her, but she would get happy and then clingy again.

We had some lunch at the buffet and then changed her into her wet suit (rather than swim suit), then got a kayak on the beach to try to find some fun. She looks a little awkward in the photos, but she enjoyed it. We found a spot in the middle of the allowed kayaking area and dangled our feet in the ocean, which she was initially not ok with, but accepted it.

We weren’t allowed to snorkel in the kayaking zone, so the underwater photos are us putting the camera in the water and clicking and they turned out pretty good!

We paddled in after some relaxing floating on the ocean, and I decided to try the water park again. Then we found the fun! She was going down water slides and climbing up them and playing with water spouts and laughing and being so happy and it was just so great.

Towards the end, we got Ava out of her wet stuff and her and Miranda sat in some lounge chairs while I went out to play on some water adventure floaty stuff. It’s like giant floating toys with ladders and balance beams and a climbing pyramid and a giant floating water slide. No photos, but it was awesome. There was a couple other families playing there, and I look forward to my future where that can be my family. 😀

We got a cab back to the ferry terminal, wandered around a Cozumel market briefly. On the ferry back we both had a drink and put our feet up in the AC. Back in PDC we went to Senor Frogs, a chain restaurant, and we got balloon hats made.

I think next year Ava will be more able to explain what her difficulties are, and then we’ll be maybe more able to address them. As it is, we’re stuck trying things until they work, and hoping we solve enough problems to find the fun!

Overall, I’d definitely go back to Playa Mia. It had enough fun things that I think me and my family will enjoy for years to come!