Can you guess what I’m doing or where I am in this picture?
Right next to the impressive CN Tower, that I walked around a thousand feet up, there is Ripley’s Aquarium. Ripley’s Aquaruim is only a normal height and they do let you walk inside to look at and learn about marine life that you’ve probably only dreamed about seeing or only saw in movies or tv. The pink things swimming around my head are Pacific Sea Nettles. So incredibly cool. But not as cool as…
Not as cool as seeing the endadgered sawfish that close. Sawfish are unusual and rarely seen. Could a sawfish actually saw you, maybe take a finger off if you get too close? Not likely. Sawfish are generally gentle, docile creatures that are harmless to humans if left undisturbed. Because humans are too large to be viewed as potential prey, they will not intentionally attack. However, their famous “saws” (rostra) are weapons that can inflict severe lacerations in self-defense if the Sawfish is harassed, frightened, or accidentally hooked by fisherman. (some of the info is from Wikipedia.) Although the sawfish is really cool to see, there are some better and more eye catching creatures, such as…
Yes, they have multiple kinds of sharks that you can see up close as you walk through glass encased tunnels in the dark and luminously lit pathways in the aquariam. I had sharks swiimming by me only separated by a couple feet and some strong glass. I could go on and on with pictures of amazing underwater creatues, but then you wouldn’t need to go.
Next, I’ll show you my favorite part of the aquarium..
Is there anything better than sea turtles just cruising around and minding their own business. There was a tank where the sea turtles and sharks were together. Sea turtles and sloths are the two most chill creatures on the planet.
Speaking of being chill, the entire aquarium has that vibe. There’s dim lighting, slow moving, neon creatures and zen type music in the background while you stroll being marveled by the most incredible animals on the planet. Go to the Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto. It’s worth the admission fee. If I could just stroll around this aquarium with a warm cup of coffee each morning, every day would be alright. Trust me, there’s so much more to the aquarium than you’ve seen here.
Stay tuned! One more Toronto blog post coming in two days!
In my life, I have never lived more than an hour and fifteen minutes away from Canada. When I was nine years old, my class took a field trip to Canada. That picture above is not me. It’s a Canadian. When my family went camping, we were no more than twenty minutes from Canada, and there were plenty of Canadians at the campground. My first impression of them was that Canadians were not great drivers. They drove too fast. Little did I know that Canadians were using the metric system. They were traveling in kilometers per hour. What? How do you even do that? Wouldn’t that cause you to go backward in time? Also, according to an aunt who has done extensive research on our family history, I do have Canadian ancestors, and they were cannibals.
Two weeks ago, I went to Canada all by myself to brave the wild territories in the great white north. Speaking of the Great White North, does anyone else fondly remember this song?
Anywho, as the Canucks would say, let’s get to some of the fun things you can do if you visit Toronto. I drove there, and my first order of business was to do the CN Tower Edgewalk. That involves going up in an elevator to a section of the tower over 1100 feet (356 meters) above the ground, then going outside for a walk. Fortunately, they put you in a suit with a harness that attaches you to the building. It’s a beautiful view, and at the same time, it’s a little unnerving to be outside that far above the ground.
That’s me at the end. The most terrifying part of that adventure was those dorky outfits that we had to wear. We did all sorts of things, like turning around and letting ourselves hang over the edge, with the ground waiting patiently for our impact. Once, I tried a move with only one foot on the platform, but I was told they didn’t want me getting creative. The bright side is that on the level above the Edgewalk, there is a nice restaurant and bar. The whole experience costs you about $200 American or $277 in Canadian. SMH, they even have metric money!
If you’re a thrill seeker, this is right up your alley. If you’re not, let your best friend or family member do it while you sit in the restaurant drinking a Canuck Mule. Have a great weekend! Monday or Tuesday, I’ll have more on our mysterious neighbors to the north!
No, this sculpture isn’t in the sleepy beach town that I’ll tell you about if the left hemisphere of my brain doesn’t talk me out of it. The sleepy beach town that I loved so much on my recent trip does not have that gigantic, beautiful sculpture. That’s in Playa del Carmen where I arrived after taking the ferry from San Miguel, Cozumel.
My goal on this trip was to evaluate two towns in Mexico in my quest to choose my next home. My one set in stone demand is that my future home is close enough to a beach where I can grab a cuppa in the morning and walk to waves and have my toes in the sand. See below. I was teaching myself to order coffee in Spanish at 7:21 a.m. across the street from the beach. If you’re a traveler, keep the Google translate app handy on the front screen of your phone.
(Just a couple days after that trip, my desire to move somewhere warm and sunny was reinforced when at home the outdoor temp was 8 degrees (-13 degrees celsius) and we had about 10 inches of snow) The first four nights of my trip were in the very colorful town of San Miguel on the island of Cozumel.
There are many wonderful things about Cozumel; the jungles, the Aztec ruins, fantasic restaurants and that it’s surrounded by warm Caribbean water. But…during the day when the cruise ships deposit another couple thousands of tourists into San Miguel and it feels like Spring Break all day most days. My friend Bel, who writes for International Living and lives on the island several blocks north of the madness, says that her neighborhood is nothing like the port area. The best time to visit San Miguel, Cozumel is likely to be during the summer months if you want to avoid the crowds. When I retire, I don’t want to have to battle crowds just to get to Starbucks or the beach at 7:00 in the morning.
So after I took the ferry to the mainland, I rented a car and drove north to the beach town that might change my life.
An evening view from my hotel.
I had arrived at my AirBNB earlier and it was literally a 50 yard walk to the beach. I hated it though, so I moved to a very affordable mom and pop hotel that had this view. It was completely stunning how affordable this hotel was. I took the above picture from my balcony. It wasn’t super luxurious, but I just used it to sleep eight hours each night. I’ll give you the name of the town at the end of this article.
Keep in mind that I was visiting this small beach town during the high season. It was the first week of January, the time when so many northerners from Canada and the States flood Mexico for half a year to get away from the snow. And I walked into a hotel and got the best room in the building immediately. I’m not saying that it was a bad hotel. It wasn’t. I’m saying that just about every other beach town like Tulum or any of the Playa named towns on the east side of Mexico were likely Spring Break for the over 60 set.
Am I advertising for Corona? Not necessarily, but if they want to sponsor my travels if I keep taking pictures like this, I won’t complain.
Everyone’s question when they are looking to move to other countries is “Is the cost of living really less than at home. The answer is yes, with a caveat. I was staying down by the beach and I was only there three days. I’d estimate that restaurant meal prices were about 25% less than in the States. Walking down the street I was chatted up by a Canadian woman who said she lived in the middle of town and her impression was that the further you are from the beach, the costs get lower. I didn’t need to go away from the beach area though because there was a supermarket in this town that rivals any supermarket in the States.
One thing that I loved about this community was the music. One evening I was just walking around the neighborhood and I heard music. I followed the music until I found a very nice three floor restaurant called La Sirena. Each floor had something different going on, and I followed the beautiful Spanish music to the third floor open air bar where people were dancing with reckless abandon. Loud, happy, and spinning everywhere. I stepped into the middle of the celebration and soaked in the joyous atmosphere.
I was so immersed in the moment that I didn’t take a picture. This is from La Sirena’s website.
But the intoxicating Spanish music wasn’t just at this bar, it was everywhere. There were traditional troubadours who would just walk up to the outdoor seating of restaurants. During the day there were traditional mariachi bands that would set up on a sidewalk. On the beaches there were traditional Aztec singers and dancers. Also, near my hotel there was a Music Hall that had live classic rock for the the over 60 folks visiting town. One night they had a great alt rock band too.
At 4:00 pm they block off the main street so the restaurants can have outside seating. Look at that picture! During the busy season for heading south and the street is so chill.
This (below) was my favorite coffee shop and it’s named The Local Cafe. Absolutely great!
Open at 7:00 a.m.
So where is this incredible sleepy beach town? It’s Puerto Morelos, which is about halfway between Cancun and Tulum. The next time you’re in Mexico, don’t drive by the Puerto Morelos exit to spend more in Cancun or Tulum. I’d rather stay here.
When we go on vacations many of us rent cars when we get to our destination city. Rarely do we regret that decision. But if you do it in a foreign country, you may not realize what you got yourself into. And when I say “you”, I mean me in Mexico this past week. “I’ve been driving for decades. It’s just regular driving.” The first setback was procuring the rental car in a foreign country.
Yes, I know some of you are thinking that Mexico isn’t really a foreign country because it’s connected to the United States and we can drive to Mexico from anywhere in the States. Try going to Mexico and don’t stay in a resort area. Find an AirBnB in the middle of a Mexican town where only 2/3 of the people speak a language that you don’t. Pretty quickly you feel like an out of place foreigner.
Pic from RockyPointTimes.com
That’s a real Mexican road sign. So, I needed a drive from a Mexican port to a small beach town most people haven’t heard of. Then a few days after that I was going to have to get myself to the airport. So, at the port, I found a trusty Hertz Rental car and paid one billion pesos for the car rental and ten pesos just to be able to use the rest room right after I got off the boat. I didn’t have ten pesos on me, so I had to borrow it from the Hertz guy. That’s a little humbling.
With my miniscule Spanish vocabulary I was able to figure this out.
Fortunately for me this Herzt location had their cars parked over a half mile away. Yay, free steps for me. Also fortunately, it wasn’t raining and it was only 87 degrees. I took a video of all the way around my vehicle and hopped in. I was happy as a clam for about 50 yards. Then I realized that I was in charge of a 3000 pound vehicle in a country where I didn’t understand any of the road signs except for stop. I also very quickly realized that the Mexican’s had made the foolish mistake of putting out their road signs in Spanish without considering that I might want to drive there.
This is a familiar sight on the road and in towns in Mexico.
I was able to plug in my destination in my phone. Unfortunately, my phone was on the side of the Mexican road signage because it immediately gave me the speed limit in kilometers. In the States I’m used to driving 65-70 mph on the highways, but in Mexico and in kilometers, I was going 80 kilometers/hour and was getting passed by everyone. Then about 3 minutes after I got on the highway, I saw a cop car about three cars back who just turn his red lights on. Of course my mind immediately told me that he was obviously going to pull me over and take me away to a Mexican prison. I tried to stay calm and employed the only gringo driving trick I knew.
Where was this before my trip?!!?
I slowed down to 60 kilometers/hour, hoping that the cop and everyone would just write me off as a scared foreigner and be glad to pass me easily. And it worked! Eventually the cop passed me and I eventually got safely to my destination. You can bet I was white knuckling it all the way.
It was uncomfortable, but not truly awful. I can’t even imagine trying to drive in a country where they dive on the left side? Chances are though that if you keep reading my travels, I just might end up in that predicament. Try to be a better planner than me and you should be just fine!
Not as cool as seeing the endadgered sawfish that close. Sawfish are unusual and rarely seen. Could a sawfish actually saw you, maybe take a finger off if you get too close? Not likely. Sawfish are generally gentle, docile creatures that are harmless to humans if left undisturbed. Because humans are too large to be viewed as potential prey, they will not intentionally attack. However, their famous “saws” (rostra) are weapons that can inflict severe lacerations in self-defense if the Sawfish is harassed, frightened, or accidentally hooked by fisherman. (some of the info is from Wikipedia.) Although the sawfish is really cool to see, there are some better and more eye catching creatures, such as…
