Lunch With My New Friend

I have a new girlfriend. She is vivacious, outgoing, fearless and knowledgeable on all things. I absolutely adore her. The only problem (for me) is, she already has a boyfriend in her hometown of Izamal. I have chosen to honor that relationship, yet spoil her as much as possible while she is on the island. As such, I took her to lunch here:





It is Playa Lancheros. Renown here on the island for their rendition of Tikinxic. (tee kan sheek) What you see here is the kitchen, housed separately from the dining area.

I drove her in the Tracker. We opened the roof so that the breeze could blow through her hair, still damp from her shower.






The dining area is enormous and holds a ton of people.







So, you want to see a picture of my new love? That's her below, on the right in the picture.






Her name is Isal and she is six years old but acts more like twelve. Or 32. She is the youngest sister of my just married friend's wife. She is here visiting the newlyweds until she gets tired of them. Or they get tired of her! She is a non-stop talker. Believe me on that!



The fabled Tikinxic. Always served on a platter with a side of rice, beans and tortillas. It is covered with achiote paste and cooked over an open fire. Delicious.





A view to the water from our table.

I had promised Isal that there would be a shark at lunch and she waited patiently for us to take her out to the dock to see it.

(NOTE: I think these next two pictures clearly reflect one of the big cultural differences between Americans and Mexicans. We want children to be children, not little sex bombs.)

Here is Isal as I had her pose.

And here she is after her sister told her to "pose pretty".

From the shark tank, looking back at the dining area.

Here is the main reason that the beach is not more crowded here. It is overcrowded with Sargasso weed.

Many boats, included huge ones full of tourists, dock here.

Just down the coast is a private club which caters to boatloads of tourists from Cancun over for the day. Notice the giant water slide.

Right next door is the new Isla Palace. Very private and very elite. (yuk)

On to the shark! Actually there were three of them in the pen. Papa, Mama and Baby. This is Mama.

A few facts for the visitor about nurse sharks.

Here is Isal happily showing us how ginormous these sharks look to her.

Before we left the dock, she plopped herself down and proclaimed to me that I was to take her picture with the shark. She wanted to prove to her Mama back home that she actually saw a shark.

When I asked her where he smile was, this is what I got.

I love this kid!