Saturday January 19, referred to as 2 Saturday here, was the second best day of this trip. I have described the actual ride elsewhere. This would be my last lunch and I was treating myself to Surfin Buritto which is at about the 9K marker on the Hotel Road.
After a normal ride, I am back in by Airbnb by 8:30. I spend the next hours reading email and writing on this web site. My aim is to get to Surfin about noon. Surfin has great food and drink but the real attraction is that it offers me the best chance of any lunch place of finding someone to talk to. And, we assume, that target person probably eats lunch at noon? I sometimes take a nap before lunch. I do not set an alarm clock, I can count on waking up, especially since I do not put on the CPAP machine so my own breathing interruption wakens me. I think I did not take a nap this Saturday but I really could not prove it.
Cancun has a WONDERFUL bus system. Along with the Colectivos, it would be hard to imagine a better public transportation system. In past years, the bus has even provided me with much needed social interaction. I’ll get talking to the other tourist passengers. I can advise them. The best was last year when I guided/walked a mother and daughter from the bus to Mall of America and they tried to tip me. This year there was lots of interesting action but no conversations of any note.
I walk from my Airbnb, through a park, to the main feeder road for the Hotel Road. The park is wonderful, especially on Saturday, as the Boy Scouts and other groups meet and have activities there. Once on the Bus route I try to move down to where someone else is flagging the bus, The buses come like one every minute if you can believe that. My idea in having someone else at the “bus stop” is that it gives me a moment, before boarding, to look in the windows and be sure there are seats. If the bus is packed, I’ll just step back and wait for the next.
Surfin Buritto is easy to spot. The East and West lanes on the Hotel Road diverge at 8.5K and Surfin Buritto is about 1k after they rejoin. I just watch for that rejoin, move to the back of the bus and push the “let me off at the next stop” button. It leaves me off right across the street from Surfin.
Surffin is one of 4 or maybe 5 establishments in one little cluster. The first offers surfing lessons, 360 Surf School. The school operates out of 3 clossets right on the road.
This is the dude that runs it. No, not me in the blue shirt, the guy sitting down. I ate at Surffin 3 times this trip , got to watch him operate each time, and he was here other years. I think I got away with the fake selfie, “I am really taking a picture of you”. I would love to hear his story. There seems to be another man who is the owner but this dude runs the day to day, sending the clients out with a member of his team of your instructors. Just wonderful to watch.
Next is a 7/11 store, they are called OXXO in Cancun. Next Surffin, then a tour operation that sells day trips to places in the area and lastly a sit down restaurant that is very good called Restaurant LeNatura. There is a hostel of the same name, Hostel Natura behind it.
Surffin is just a hole in the wall, maybe 12 ft wide. Customers sit at 3 parallel to the street bar tops, with maybe 4 high stools on each side.
I order a Margaritta, It comes in this large styrophone cup, and a chicken Baritto. When it arrives it is whole, not half eaten as this one is. About 1/2 way through the Baritto, I order a second Margaitta.
Because the seating is so limited and the location popular, I often get to share the table and maybe strike up a conversation. 2 young Asian girls arrived. One came out front and took a picture of the guests. They than ordered and, luck be with me, thay came and sat at my table.
The above picture is taken later but it is the best I have of my 2 friends so I might as well introduce them how. I have no memory of their names. The one on the left is the most talkative. She is from mainland china, at Columbia in a master’s program in political science. Lets call her political. Her mother works in Geography? Her father started a restaurant, sold it and now works for other restaurateurs. The family started outside Beijing so Political has a sister who she would not have, due to the one child policy, if her parents had been long time residents of Beijing.
I will call the other young woman teacher. She is in a master’s program at Columbia studying education. I think her program has a focus on English as a second language but I am unsure of that. Teacher lived in Beijing for many years though she is Japanese. Her father was with a large corporation and just assigned for many years to their Beijing subsidiary. Now he is back in Japan. Her mother has a 9 year old and is very involved in many artistic? endeavors.
They were leaving today, flying back to NYC. I showed off that I was reading Young China and was able to show them the Chinese characters for “leftover Women” who are what we used to call old maids. But they are only 28 years old in the China version. My two friends had been staying at a hotel on the beach. They wanted to take a picture of themselves in front of the “Cancun” sign. It is out at about 18K, overlooking a public beach. As I ride by int he morning. I often see brides and grooms awaiting a sunrise picture with the sign in he background.
The three of us take a bus up to the sign and get in the “picture” line, shown above. I use one of their cameras to take many pictures of the two of them with the sign
We then went down to the beach. The girls on the left in the above photo is not with us. We sat down at a bar on the beach and had a beer. Then we walked to their hotel and I said goodbye. Political and I talked a lot about the Chinese government. I did not press her much, but her general questions lead me to believe that she agrees with the idea that stability is more important than how leaders are chosen. Political has a specialty in European government. She lately did a year in Africa working for an NGO. I gained a lot of points when I talked about my daughter being at McKinsey. Political had applied for a McKinsey position in Panama, not gotten it, and been told she how has to wait 2 years before she applied again. It is kind of her ideal job.
I call this entry China high and low. The high is the joy of meeting and spending time with the two young ladies and talking about China. The low is that they never followed up, never wrote to this old man. If nothing else, I hoped one of them could help me with one of my many present problems. I am planning a month long trip to China in September and I can find nowhere to rent and ride a road bike!