Monday, November 22, 2010

Mexico Mondays, Cozumel



rebecca is doing Mexico Mondays and someone is hosting it and I'm not even going to sign up but I love the idea of it because I yearn so for the tiny island off the coast of Mexico where the water is a thousand shades of blue and the stones are ancient and the people are the nicest I've ever met and their profiles are the same as the ones painted on the walls of the temples on the mainland.

When the plane begins to descend and I can see the island, I begin to shake with tears.



Literally. I don't even feel as if I can contain the emotions which pour from my heart. It is that strong, this feeling I have for this tiny island where I always feel safe. Always feel happy. Always, without explanation or reason, feel at home in a way I have never felt anywhere else.

We descend farther, landmarks come into view and that water. Oh. That water.

Clear as a baby's soul and by the time the plane has landed, my feet are scrambling to touch that ground and then, when I do, the smell of the island hits me. Salt and lime and something I can't describe but it is the smell of the place I love so much and I take my husband's arm and I walk across that tarmac and I get in line for customs, my pieces of paper in my hand and when the man stamps my passport and I say, "Gracias, senor," and he hands me my passport back...well.

There are always people in the airport, come to party and dive and dive and party and they are loud and they are excited and they're planning the first dive and they're calling out to each other and I am so quiet. I just want to take it in and take it in and take it in through my skin and my eyes and my ears and my nose and my mouth and if a place, an island, can be a lover, it is mine.
And I cry, like I am crying right now, to tell you the truth, just thinking about it, just feeling it in my bones, the way it feels to arrive in Cozumel from the air like a god, to step out onto the earth like a human, to thirst for it like a beast, to want to gather it to my heart and breast like a woman.

23 comments:

  1. Wow! I feel like I have been there now even though I haven't, but I definitely want to go. What beautiful pictures!

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  2. Dam it, missed out on being the first commenter here by nanoseconds!
    Hope the Cozumel feeling extends to Cancun - I'm going there in Jan.
    Just bagged my 3rd mouse of the season in 1 of those enclosed traps - check them out, they're great!
    If I had a food processor, I'd try your cranberry sauce recipe, but my family will only eat the jellied stuff that has lines from the can on it!
    Happy Thanksgiving Moon family!
    Lucy

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  3. I could just dive in and have, actually -- right into your post. Thank you for all that blue.

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  4. I have not been to Cozumel but I have seen it across the water from the Mayan Riviera. It is very beautiful.

    But, Lady, I wish I could feel emotion for any place or anyone the way you do.

    I used to feel at home at the family's cottage long ago. That ended when the cottage became a house.

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  5. i am in the hospital today for my bi monthly infusion...
    have to say, loved your infusion of pure emotion and all the lust and longing of you more!
    xoxoxoxo,
    rebecca

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  6. Lois- Those pictures are nothing. NOTHING!

    Lucy- NO! NO! Change your plans! Cancun is a made-up tourist destination. Seriously. Cozumel does have tourists but it's a real place where people have lived for hundreds of years. The island was sacred to the main Mayan goddess-Ixchel, and it is magical.
    Cancun? Not the same at all.
    Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, sweetie.

    Elizabeth- So much blue there.

    Jeannie- It's so odd. I cannot explain the way I feel about Cozumel.

    rebecca- Oh honey. I hope you can close your eyes and be in Mexico.

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  7. ow wow, love the way you described this. this is just how I feel about Block Island. i didn't get to go this year. And when I first went 2 years ago I hadn't been for 15 years. Stepping off that plane was like magic, like coming home, like a perfect dream....
    so glad you have such a place.

    clear as a baby's soul!

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  8. I feel that way about the gulf. I love the gulf. Want to live on one of the islands off the gulf cost.

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  9. a tiny island
    clear waters to cleanse the soul—
    you are welcome here


    Mexico Mondays: Garden Wall

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  10. ah..how beautiful...you should live there....dont you and the man in the moon plan that anyway?

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  11. Bethany- Isn't it funny how we find these places that call to us so strongly?

    Rebecca- They're beautiful, I agree. But not as beautiful as Cozumel. And the culture there- ah.
    Not to mention the food.

    Magical Mystery Teacher- Thank-you! Love the haiku.

    Danielle- No. We'll never live there. We plan to build on the coast here to retire. But hopefully, we will visit.

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  12. Well, I wish I didn't read that...

    I'm only going to Cancun for 3 nights and had to put the trip on a credit card Friday. I am going on an excusion to - don't know how to spell this, so forgive me Mayan Gods - the pyramid at Cheats-in-eats-in, then there's one day on the beach, then the next day I fly home. How bad coult it be?
    But, next time, I'll go to Cozumel.

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  13. Lucy- Chichen Itza is wonderful. That will be terrific! Just make sure to speak to as many of the local people as you can. If you are friendly and truly interested in them, they will treat you so beautifully and you will discover a whole new culture. Not just the ancient one, either.
    Have a wonderful time! And then, next time, go for a week- to Cozumel.

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  14. oh silly me...i thought Apalachicola is somewhere in mexico..blush*

    you know us silly europeans..we never know where anything is..:-)

    but..what is there in Apalachicola what is better then where you already live???

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  15. Danielle- DO NOT APOLOGIZE! I have no sense of geography whatsoever. Well, Apalachicola is on the water and our lot, where we would build, is on the bay and yet, a few blocks from downtown where we could walk to the grocery store or shops or restaurants or to bars.
    Lloyd requires that we drive to go anywhere, just about. And Aplachicola is charming as hell. http://www.visitflorida.com/Apalachicola
    Mr. Moon could keep his boat right down the street and there's a river to go out on and then the bay which leads to the Gulf of Mexico and there are water birds and the fishes and we could have a dock.
    You'd like it. I promise you and you could come and visit us there.

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  16. oh wow..that sounds really like a piece of heaven indeed...:-)

    you must be very lucky to live in florida...here we had the first winterfullmoon..its getting really cold now..snow is expected for the next few days...

    i so have to come one day...

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  17. oh and i always wondered for what the second blog on your rpofile is ...the heart one..is that your future retirement blog when you move there?

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  18. Danielle- Yes. Come visit. And Apalachicola Rose is the novel I wrote. Well, one of them.

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  19. It sounds like a place I might like to go. I have never much wanted to go to Mexico, but after this review it sounds lovely.

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  20. Syd- It's magic to me.

    Lisa- That clear.

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  21. well, I've only been twice, both times to Mayan Resorts. I would include a few days or perhaps the whole time on Cozumel if we ever return. It's breathtaking, and yes the people are so so wonderful. I truly would like to visit more, and also the place Rebecca holds so dear.

    I'm going to google your retirement area now.. it sounds so inviting.

    I've been looking a bit around here, wondering how much longer we are going to remain in our suburban spot. I am shocked at how expensive it is in our area. A move to the "country" might not be part of our plan any more. And I agree with what you said about the driving thing. Especially here with the snow and ice factor.

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  22. Your words are lovely. So are the photos.

    Much love,

    SB

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.