Sunday, May 25, 2014

Happy Womens Dancing

We went to Chankanaab Park today which is a state park and I have very mixed feelings about it, the park, not the place. When we first started coming here it was very small and there was a beautiful little pristine laguna which even in those pre-environmentally aware days, was protected as a treasure. A small, tiny eyeball of a body of water and the fish swam from ocean to lagoon and there was a place to get into the water to snorkel and a huge palapa underneath which was a restaurant and a little garden to walk through with plants labeled and not much else.

Now it is huge and there is a SEA LION show (so many sea lions here in Cozumel, you know) and a giant beach to hang out on where waiters will bring you food and drinks and some of those drinks come in carved out pineapples and some in coconuts and they are beautiful, a sort of beach-bar fantasy of drinks (although I have never had one but I do want one you know- who wouldn't- fruit hanging off the edges everywhere, come on) and lots of chairs under palapas to sit in the shade and still places to snorkel and I don't know how many restaurants and the gardens hold replicas of archeological treasures and a zip line and there is also a swim-with-the-dolphins thing.
Ay-yi-yi. I have no mixed feelings about dolphins in captivity whatsoever. It is wrong and it should not be allowed. At least these dolphins are in a penned up part of the ocean rather than a tank but that is cold comfort and still so very far from right.

We went to the park today because I thought that today was the day the Mayan women were paddling over from the mainland to recreate the pilgrimage of their foremothers who came to Cozumel to worship Ixchel and I was all about that. There were to be sacred ceremonies and I don't know what all but damn if it didn't happen yesterday and they paddled off again this morning back to the mainland at nine a.m. and we missed it all.
This is your brain on Mexico.
Or something like that.
So we walked through the gardens and the little replica Mayan house and kitchen. And we posed in front of the archeological replicas. My favorite is the one which I always call the Alux House which is actually here in Cozumel down by the southern part of the island which is now also in a park but when we first came here, we were able to simply climb all around it and I actually have a picture of me inside of it. INSIDE OF IT!
Oh well, no more of that.




And it was hot. We got in the water for a few minutes but we are still watching our sunburns and we sat in the shade and read for awhile and then we got hungry and came home.
Our neighbors here at the hotel left this morning and I was sad to see them go. They were interesting people and very kind and they love Cozumel with all of their hearts and visit here several times a year. They actually own a condo farther down south but stay here at the Blue Angel because it is so peaceful, so perfect.

And so it's been a good day. We went into town tonight and had our supper on the square because there was a band playing and people were dancing and families were walking around and there were children and grandparents and dogs and teenagers and couples of all ages and it was lovely. I said to our waiter, "Everyone is so dancy."
He said, "Happy womens dancing."

Exactly.

And it is time for bed again.

Here is what we looked like before we went out.


And here is what we saw in the clouds tonight at sunset.


Now if that's not a dog, I don't know what is. 

Yeah. Magic on the Big Screen. Every night here in Cozumel. 

Sleep well. I will.

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. I finished reading Life After Life today which made me so sad to finish. I tried like hell to string it out as long as I could but finally, it had to be done. I am tempted to just start the whole damn thing again. If you haven't read it, do. Kate Atkinson. One of the most fascinating, well-written, delicious novels I have read in forever and ever. 
I promise. 

8 comments:

  1. I can not get over how tall Mr. Moon is. And you are right, swimming with dolphins is just wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

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  2. Yeah, no more captive animals for our moronic entertainment. No. I went to Sealife once, ten years ago, and I thought it was amazing - but it wasn't, I was wrong. Wish I hadn't supported them.

    Happy Womens Dancing, however - so perfect!

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  3. It most certainly looks like a dog! I thought so even before I read that you thought it looked like a dog.

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  4. Amazing cloud dog. What an adventure!

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  5. I'm so glad that you loved that book. And I'm so glad that you continue to have the best of times.

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  6. I'm so glad that you are having a great time. We did also. But it is good to be back home too. I missed the dogs and cats and just being home.

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  7. Allison- The Mayans can't get over how tall he is either. And I am still, after all of these years, rather astounded and sometimes amused.

    Jo- I went to Sea World once and it struck me with a huge force that keeping Orcas and dolphins in captivity in order to amuse us was a major sin and I could not longer be a part of that.

    Birdie- I swear. i think it WAS a dog.

    Rebecca- Yes! Everything is an adventure for me here and even the smallest things. This is where I can slow down and see the animal gods in the sky.

    Elizabeth- Thank you so much for telling me about it. It is now a part of my joy in this trip.

    Syd- I am very grateful I have a home to come home to which I love. Otherwise, it would be unbearable to leave.

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  8. Did you ever visit a place called Moore's Stone Crab restaurant in Sarasota? I went there several times as a kid -- they used to keep a dolphin in an aquatic pen behind the restaurant. It seems so ridiculous and savage now.

    I'll keep "Life After Life" on my list. I have heard mixed things.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.