There was this funky little tiki bar in this almost non-existant little town on the ocean side of Cozumel, Mexico, that I'm sure that I had too much to drink at 5 or 6 years back. I couldn't remember the name of the place and I was sure that if it even existed, it would no longer be there, as happens so often where I live, but it has been on my mind. Because it is so stereotypically like something out of a Jimmy Buffet song, could it have really been the perfectly desolate, thatched, have too many Dos Equis and just roll into the ocean kind of place I imagined. I do have an active fantasy life, so anything is possible. There was only one way to find out.
We took a flight to San Miguel do Cozumel, a tasteless tourist trap of a city with a Diamonds International on every block that makes you want to get out of town as quickly as possible. To get out and around the island in your own way, you have to hire a cab. Our cab driver who was nice and easy to get along with was a very hispanic looking man named David Saul of all things. I half jokingly asked him if he was Jewish and he said no, why did I ask. "Porque en Neuva York, David Saul es un nombre Judio" I explained. He seemed surprised to hear this. I was surprised he was surprised.
With formalities taken care of, we asked him to get us to the other side of the island as quickly as possible. The first stop where you make the turn onto the ocean side was Punta Sur.
After passing a few very little clusters of shanty buildings that could not quite pass for a town, that were obviously not what I was looking for, we did make a pit stop at Playa Bonita, named so for obvious reasons. There was not much there but a little restaurant on the other side of the road, a little bar with some tables in the sand and our waiter named Lucho who found us quite amusing and inferred something about us being rich Americans. Everything is relative, so after two beers and a little more small talk, it started to seem like a prudent time to move on.
Further along the road was this area called Chen Rio which did not look all that inviting a place to get out of the cab so I just took a picture and we moved on. At this point, I was beginning to doubt myself and wondered if I were going to find what I was looking for.
We were now only a few miles from the end of the ocean road which turns to the left and heads back into the city. At one point along the road, just about here;
I had the feeling we were close, and if you kind of squint a bit, you can see the thatched roofs of Mezcalito, the "town" I was looking for. And sure enough there it was.
That's me, celebrating by having the first of 3 Dos Equis, just about my limit for drinking beer.
This is the table we were sitting at, when we were sitting at all. In this day and age of photoshop and other post production techniques that allow people to cobble together all sorts of beautiful and improbable images, one might think that this great photo is is a product of photoshop magic or some such thing. Its not. Its just an improbably good and evocative shot of an improbably great spot. On the table is my second Dos Equis. I have just begun to settle down into the mind space that is Mezcalito.
I am on a little roof top deck of the bar, overlooking greater downtown Mezcalito. It is comprised of the bar, the gift shop next to the bar, the roof of which is on the right, and the two thatched buildings off to the left, a restaurant called Senor Iguana, and another gift shop named Marilyn Azul, "The Mexican Target". That is my third and last Dos Equis in the picture.
These are the two shops across the way. The only other building in Mezcalito was a boarded up somewhat derelict building across the road from Marilyn Azul. I probably should have taken a picture of it to round things out, but it wasn't all that photogenic I guess.
Next to the bar was this sign, but since we were the only people there, and I didn't feel like asking, I wasn't sure if this was a "chiste" or not. Anyway, you don't often get a second chance in life to do the next to impossible, but we did, we found Mezcalito, and it was just as we remembered. Interesting, the side of the island facing the ocean remains completely undeveloped with the exception of a few small, local, eco-friendly little places like the ones seen above. It is 20 or 30 miles of pristene beaches and warm Caribbean blue water on one side of the shore front road, and island wilderness on the other. Not a Marriott or Hilton to be found. I'm not complaining, just reporting and wondering how miracle could exist in this day and age. So if you get to Mezcalito and don't want to leave, there's no place to stay.
Pablo
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