Isla Mujeres 2013- Day 3, Rain Delay

March25

My cyber friends on the Isla message board often say ” A rainy day on Isla, is still better than a fair day, anywhere else.” This is pretty close to the truth for my time on the island and my enjoyment of it. On this particular morning, it was a bit muggy and you could anticipate the rain. But because we (the Royal “we” of those lucky enough to be on Isla), often watch rain storms over the sea, completely avoid the island and pour as soon as they make landfall over Cancun (te he, we are a smug lot sometimes), I was as optimistic as the rest of the beach babies that morning.

I had a lovely swim to eliminate the humidity and then was just getting comfortable to read my book. When the rain came, I stood under a palm tree, quite sure that it would soon pass. Sisters 2 and 3 were swimming in the ocean and decided, what the heck, no use coming out. It reminded me of when they were little and we would all holiday at Grand Beach. I am the eldest daughter and so hyper-responsible and I would anxiously watch them from the shore with my Mom, hoping that lightning was not part of the storm. Back in present day, after we were completely drenched along with most of our things, we decided that the rain was not going to stop and began slogging down the streets of Centro carrying all of our wet stuff. Once I got out of my wet suit, I was still content to mosey around town doing all that I love to do.

Often times, rainy days mean a visit to our friend Hortencia and her family. She is our dress-maker friend that has a stall at the north-east corner of the local market. We could shop at other stalls or on Medina or Hidalgo, but we have know Hortencia and her lovely growing family for eight years now and we really, really care about her, so we make a conscious decision to buy whatever we can with her. This year, we got to spend two really special times with Hortencia outside of her stall at the market. One was when she took her adorable grand-kids to north beach for swim and another when we had the distinct honour of being invited to her home for mole (these stories to follow).

The other person that we were intent on meeting up with on this day was Jackie. Jackie is a foodie, also from Winnipeg, who discovered my blog and decided (without ever having been to the island) to book a month vacation at the Sailfish condos! I was delighted to inaugurate another Islaholic but I was also hesitant. It is hard to be objective about someplace that you love. If she focused on the north winds, the smell of sewage in Centro and the piles of rubble that often seem to turn up on Isla, how will I bear it? Well I can tell you that she loved Isla and I had no reason at all to be concerned. Anyway, we had hoped to meet up with Jackie and her travel companions for an evening at El Varadero but we were concerned about dining on an partially exposed dock out in the rain, and so we postponed our get together for another day.

In the mean time, we wanted to ensure that we would find an inside table, without walking too far in the continued rain so we headed to Angelo’s for pizza. We are hearty stock from Winnipeg, knowing how to deal with the extreme cold but damp and chilled is a different story. Sister #2 and her hubby were making the trip to Centro from punta sur in the pouring rain, on their scooter!

This me in my cropped pants and flip flops. Sometimes there is no avoiding the puddles on Hidalgo, so I am prepared to wade through them. Hey, if there is pizza at the end of my trek, I am prepared to do lots of things.

I think that Angelo does an amazing job and not because I am one of those travellers who like to enjoy my favourite foods from home when I venture to a new place. I think that Angelo does a great job when measured alongside Italian restaurants in Italy! Dishes are always made from scratch, using fresh whole ingredients, they are blended with a light touch and the recipes let the natural flavours of tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil shine through.

Now I will not profess that every meal that I have eaten at Angelo’s (and there have been a great many of them) has met this same standard but his seafood pasta dishes are as delectable as ones that I have supped on, on the Italian Riveria (I am teaching a blogging course in Tuscany this October if you are interested in knowing more).