Day 29: Cozumel to Puerto Morelos

February 1, 2018

We found out today that with the included breakfast at Plaza Cozumel we could choose anything from the menu, in addition to the buffet items as set out. Super!

I had a discussion with the man about eggs over easy, and he taught me to ask for huevos volteados. I thought this man looked rather stern, and that if were my Dad I would surely be doing everything he instructed. But in fact he was a sweetie pie. Here is is with Dodie. By the way (Evee take note!) that permanent stain on Dodie's shirt is from monkey poo!

Frotos Revueltos is always my choice, and Dodie will always go for omelette. Motulenos? Huevos motuleños originated in the town of Motul (Yucatán). The dish is made with eggs on tortillas with black beans and cheese, often with other ingredients such as ham, peas, plantains, and salsa picante. In addition to being served in many restaurants in Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Oaxaca, this breakfast dish is also common in Cuba and Costa Rica.

The stir fried zuchinni and peppers were especially good

I was trying to forget that we needed to take the ferry before we could begin pedaling today. I was actually still feeling a touch queasy from the other day and was dreading what this run would do to me. But mercifully the sea was dead calm today.

I took another photo of the Friday being loaded. I like the care the crew uses, but it also amuses me to see four guys and one supervisor working on a bike that I commonly have to hoick onto a train or up long flights of stairs.

For 10 km out of Playa, riding the 307 is hell. The shoulder is dubious or not there, and large side streets are difficult to cross obstacles. One the side streets are done, there are still many instances of construction eating up the right hand side of road, and if not construction there may be stopped or even parked cars and trucks. Worst are the collectivo vans. These will swoop out of the left lane and pull in front of you to a stop when they a potential customer roadside. Then you can stop behind them and wait, or go around - gambling that they will not then decide to swoop back out into traffic.

To make things more interesting, construction eats the right hand lane

This was part of a crew of 10, trimming the bushes outside an All Inclusive

After the ten kms 307 stops being hell and resorts to just being "like hell". It does this by hosting a heavy volume of noisy traffic. It seems way more than I remember from 15 years ago when we traveled this road in a collectivo ourselves.

We pulled over for a breather, and surprisingly were soon joined by another cyclist. This turned out to be Fernando, who actually lives in Puerto Morelos, and is a Warm Showers host there. Fernando is planning a cycle trip to Panama in July, and was super enthusiastic about the whole concept. From here to Panama is about 3000 kms, a healthy distance especially if roads are in any way lacking.

Fernando's enthusiasm for bike touring and for Warm Showers was energizing, even for us committed travelers. We tried to convince Fernando to post his trip in a journal here. It would be fun to follow his progress.

Fernando, happier and certainly handsomer than even the Grampies.

The GPS reminded us about where our spot for the night - Buenas Dias Guesthouse was, in the jumble of the town. Soon we were installed in a small but comfortable room. There is no A/C, no hot water - in fact almost no pressure of any water - but we like it here. Tomorrow if we can convince them to put out the toast and fruit early enough we will have a nice breakfast, before our last sad trek over to Cancun airport.

Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,336 km (830 miles)

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