Grimas

Half Moon had a ton of it a few weeks ago but we stayed at the northern edge of the bay and the wind/waves pushed most of it to the center of the bay...

No clue on the source... Stumbled across it a few years ago and thought it was perfect for the old Shag site...

The Danes didn't consider a processed "cheese" a real food product especially when it doesn't need to be refrigerated... and I can attest that after about 4 years, it does go old...

Lived in Copenhagen for a few years and we had people bring us Velveta and flour tortillas from home...

Nash's on Hildago but get a table near a fan as it was hotter than hell in there...

Enjoy Isla! After fighting the rain to get to the airport yesterday, we returned to Houston. The wife and kids liked Isla better than Akumal - mainly because "there was stuff to do"... Nevermind the sweltering afternoon heat and not leaving the a/c condo in the afternoon... While the condo we had on Half-Moon bay in Akumal was on the water and all you had to do was to step out the door to snorkel, the rest of the family (wife and 12 year old twins) liked Isla last better because of the vibe... I had originally booked 9 nights at Isla but then cut it down to 5 as I thought the kids would be bored, in the end, we could have spent the whole time at Isla and everyone would have been ok... that being said, whenever we go back, it will be at/near North Beach and within walking distance of Hildago street mainly for the reasons above. If you are in the middle or southern part of the island, you need to take a taxi or get a cart to go anywhere and might as well be somewhere else rather than Isla... North beach was more of the vibe that we had in Hui Hin, Phuket, Penang, or Hoi An (minus the hookers)... Will definitely go back! We really liked Hotel Secreto and Ixchel and would probably stay at one of those next time... ( Nautibeach condos were fine and the Mayan beach club for dinner was probably had the best food we ate besides Bastos but the community Wifi sucked there...)

Totally different scene than Isla... Wife liked the "shopping", walking to bars and resturants and people bringing her drinks on the beach on Isla while in Akumel, we had a condo 40' from the water and snorkeling out the door but it was more of a "do it your self" sort of place (like a beach or lake house). You had to drive to resturants/bars down here which kinda sucked for me as I waited to imbibe beverages when we got home... if you were single and looking for chicks, Isla is your place, not Akumal...

WTF with the speed limits on 307? Left Isla for a week in Akumal and made the drive down. Damn speed limit signs jump from 100 to 80 to 60 and back every kilometer. Not wanting to get pulled over as the car has rental stickers on it, I'm following the speed limits as all the other cars go flying by me... What a racket... SMH... oh - tropical wave hitting down here. Had 9 days of sun but looks like next few will be wet...

Kids wanted Roosters again so we did that for breakfast. Drove to the southern part of the island then hit Bastos for an early dinner after snorkeling at GdC. Loved the salsas at Bastos and then brought up divorce with the wife when she asked the chef his "favorite" when we all ordered the arracherra and he said the"northern" version was his favorite. Basically the same steak but covered in green salsa and white cheese. - she said why don't you get it and we will share... she took one bite and said we weren't sharing... I did get a few sympathy bites from the kids and one from her... Damn fantastic steak! Anyone figure out how he seasons it? The green salsa water down the flavor of mine... I'm taking them all back tomorrow before we give up the golf cart so I can get an arrecherra for me... Driving around the island, I'm glad we are on north beach rather than in the middle or down south. I think we would feel trapped without stuff to just walk to... we'll see the family opinion when we move to Akumel next week with the slower vibe down there compared to here... Oh, shared complex wifi sucks at Nautibeach. Good luck trying to stream a movie at night... Need to find a sports bar on Hildago that will carry the baseball game tomorrow afternoon...

Got a golf cart and drove the island today. So far, the best food was Roosters for breakfast and the Mayan Beach club for dinner (shrimp stuffed peppers, grilled octopus, grilled red snapper and coconut milk fish were the highlights).... Dopi's tacos were good but for lunch, not dinner (gluten intolerant kid in tow and no corn tortillas) Bally-Hoo's grilled fish was ok but I wouldn't return... Headed to the southern part of the island tomorrow with plans of Mango cafe for Brekkie and Bastos for dinner...

Sitting on the patio overlooking North Beach right now with fam all crashed... was a bit of a pain getting here- mainly because SWA had an issues with the A/c on the Houston to Austin connection that gave us 10 minutes to make the Aus to Cancun connection, wife had to pee and they didn't turn off the seatbelt sign until the last 30 minutes of flight... Oldest "flight attendant" I've ever seen working the flight... Wife and kids calling me a hero after the dinner on the beach as the sun was setting at the Mayan beach club though... Damn good food and all crashed happy. Just an FYI - used my Chase Sapphire Reserve card and paid in pesos. Exchange rate in dollars was 15 to one if I paid in dollars on the bill when the "official rate" is close to 20. Waiter said they are better than the other places on Hildago.. Walked by Dopi's on the way to get some provisions at the grocery store and it was totally empty but will do it for lunch tomorrow. Actually all of Hildago was pretty empty around 8pm...

Tomorrow...

6 days... Bastards on Houston news ran story about Cancun murders today that wife saw... of course she forgets the Thailand and Indonesia beach trips we took when we lived in Asia where people get mugged on the beach...

Gate pull from Lowes

I bought 2 black "gate handles" that were 10" between holes for my 22.5 and was able to use the existing bolts. Had to do some creative bending in a vice to make the tip of it to miss the upper lip of the drum and to get the holes to line up. Would have been easier if my golden retriever pup didn't steal one of the bolts...

Kingsford Blue for 5.99 bag at Kroger (in the Woodlands)

17 days and counting...

Went to my bank (BBVA) to buy some pesos and the rate was crap... 17 peso per $ when the current rate is over 19. Gonna try the place in Memorial City mall as they say the rates are closer to the real rates...

I did a brisket this weekend and pulled it at 204 and I must have overlooked it as it felt like it was going to fall in half when I pulled it off and when I cut into the fatty end 2 hours later, it basically fell apart like pulled pork... still tasted fantastic but we were eating chopped beef rather than slices... it hung around 200 the last hour (fire was dying but still had 235ish at the top rack) but I never tested the meat for "softness" at that point and was just waiting on the probe to get to 204...

Come on Peso - keep dropping... 19.47 to the Dollar - getting close to the 12 month low of 19.8ish...

Ask your bank in the US to order some peso for you before you go. My BBVA branch said they need 3 days notice... Over 19 to 1 this week...

I found a good deal on a nice condo on the northern part of Half Moon Bay which is the next Bay north of Acumel and next to a good cenote... the owner contacted me outside of VRBO and we were able to avoid the $75 "service charge" that VRBO charges by booking direct...

On their website, it says you have a choice of pickup location and one is Pto. Juarez Ferry (but no actual address when you see the list of locations). When I has asked the lady running the chat on their website if I could get picked up by them at the ferry pier and taken to their downtown location (or the one in the Hotel Zone), she said I could just get the car at the pier. Maybe they bring the car to the pier???

7 days on Isla then headed south to Akumal and Puerto Aventuras for 5 more days... Need a car to get from the ferry to Akumal for the 2nd leg and to have down there to get around. American Car rental has an office at Puerto Juarez and I can drop it off at the airport location. When I tried to book via Chase, it only lists the airport location for dropoff/pickup with American and Chase site says nothing about the rental being "all-inclusive" (Chase Sapphire Preferred provides full coverage as a card benefit that I've had rental companies claim doesn't apply to them...) Trying to decide if it's worth the hassle to save a few bucks per the scenario mentioned above...

Bingo! I bought a roll of the tape rather than the gasket kit as I can use the remaining tape on another smoker...