Mexico 2022. Day 4. Table for 11.
Today we got up and headed to breakfast. Same great breakfast as usual.
We were seated amongst a bunch of families. It’s really nice here for families; have I said that enough? They have a kid camp and everything. There is also babysitting for $25 an hour. It seems that everyone loves the babysitters. I think we’re going to need to bring the kids here eventually.
At breakfast Chef Jorge came over to say hello. He was the chef who had presented the menu at the La Ceiba dinner, and we had spoken to him at breakfast on Thursday. This morning we chatted a bit and asked him how to make the avocado eggs, because I definitely want to make those at home. He explained the process step by step. Nice man.
We went to the pool and had the same seats as yesterday. We basically spent the entire day sitting by the pool and reading. I got through the new Daniel Silva book and Tunde Oyeneyin’s book (also a Peloton instructor). Amazing what you can do when you can’t use your phone. I would have started my third book but Tzvi had convinced me I didn’t need to bring it to the beach because was I really going to finish 2 books?
At the pool we played the ‘what do they do’ game where we took turns guessing what other guests do for a living. Tzvi was pretty sure that everyone was in the cartel.
We ordered lunch and as soon as the food was ready it started to rain, so they set up our food at a table under the covered area. We sat there for a while reading and eating. Today I had salmon tacos for lunch. It was three small tacos and one was fishy but the other two were delicious. Odd.
It was getting a little gloomy out, so we decided to spend some time at the spa. We didn’t have treatments booked, but we were able to go in and use the spa facilities. I was given a locker and a towel and told to have a nice time. Tzvi had a very different experience.
[Tzvi: After receiving my locker and towel, Alex, the spa attendant, proceeded to follow me around and walk me through the spa process. First he sent me into the steam room with a bowl of coarse scrub and a cold towel. My skin felt great after that. Then he had me use the rain shower, then brought me into the sauna. He had me lay down on one of the pre-arranged towels with a. towel pillow, then he placed a cold eye mask on me, then covered that with a cold washcloth, and then proceeded to spray me with a cool misting spray. After that I went for a quick plunge in the cold pool, followed by some time in the hot tub. When I was done with that I sipped some red hibiscus drink. Great experience.]
I got none of that. I went in and saw our British friends in the hot tub, so I joined them. They decided to go in the cold pool and when they came back they said I had to do it. I succumbed to the peer pressure and made it for the 5 seconds I had to.
After the spa we came back to the room. We stood on the edge of our boat dock and watched the turtles in the lagoon. We saw so many turtles, but got twice as many bug bites. Then we spent time in our plunge pool and read some more. I probably made it about halfway through my third book.
Finally shabbat ended and we headed to dinner at the Zepote Bar. There were about twenty seconds of fireworks somewhere over the beach, so that was nice.
When we got to the bar we gave our name and they said, “Table for 11?” I guess someone made a mistake when they made the reservation, so we had to wait a bit for a table since the only open one was an 11-seater. That was fine because Tzvi was on the phone with Jet Blue anyway dealing with our check-in for tomorrow. Eventually a table opened up right in front of the band playing live music, so we had a front row seat for dinner. They were actually very good and played a mix of Mexican and jazz/pop music.
The food at Zapote Bar is mostly a Mexican/Mediterranean fusion. To start we had a trio of dips – guacahini, humus with barbacoa chickpeas and an eggplant and labneh thing – which came with pickled vegetables and an assortment of breads. Tzvi also had the Boquerones, small pickled fish filets with a gremolata on top. He said they were delicious and ate all six himself. Next we had felafel and roasted smoked cauliflower, except Tzvi didn’t read the menu closely enough and both came sitting on a base of labne (cheese), so I kind of had to pick through that to avoid the labne, but it was fine because I was already so full.
For dessert we shared a chocolate lava cake and a rice pudding with dried fruits and a tahini ice cream, both of which were delicious.
When we finished dinner we stopped to say goodbye to our British friends who were having a post-dinner drink at the bar. They invited us to sit and have drinks with them. So nice of them to let us intrude on their family time. We sat for an hour and a half chatting about everything from Donald Trump to Johnny Depp. They also told us about the “Wagatha Christie” trial, another trial going on in England between two wives of “football” players, where one wife was posting fake Instagram stories on her private Instagram and blocked all her friends except for the other wife who was leaking those stories to the tabloids. I think we totally missed that trial in the US, but it’s pretty funny. Anyway, it was so generous of them to treat us to drinks and it was great talking to them and getting to know them.
It was after midnight when we got back to our room and passed out. Great day. Sad that we have to leave tomorrow.
