Last night was a little chilly, but I still slept ok. I kept waking up in the early morning and looking at the clock, but it was way too early to get up on a vacation.

Donna called at 8:30 and said she would meet us down at one of the little hotel restaurants. It turns out that her breakfast came with her room, but ours did not. Instead we got our second room at half price. It seems like a good deal to me :>

Breakfast took a while to come, but it was wonderful -- well all but Joel's French toast. Now I don't think everyone would dislike the French toast, but to me it was too cakey and not enough like bread. I ordered the molletas which are bread with refried beans and cheese melted on top. They were wonderful. If only I got to eat them! I actually split a meal with Ben, he ordered the pastry basket (wonderful too with lots of different little pastries), so I had to give him half. Then since we are the Gould family, Joel and Beth had to try a bit. Heaven forbid we don't get to try all the dishes! That would just be a disaster.

The kids didn't want to walk around so they decided to go to the beach with Grandma. Joel and I were going to walk up the strip before it got hot. But first we called National and they said they would bring over a new car. Joel wanted to just leave the keys at the front desk and not wait but they said it would be just 15 minutes. Well it was more like 45 but we finally got a car with a spare and a working speedometer.

The walk down to the plaza was pleasant. But the place seemed deserted. Btw our hotel seemed the same. There was really no one else outside by 10am. A few people but no crowds. The plaza was also deserted. It was huge and had lots of little shops. Our favorite one to window shop in was the shell shop. There were actually three shops that sold shells, but one was spectacular. Shells from all over the world and beautifully displayed. The proprietors were nice and not too pushy. Which was a far cry from our next stop -- the flea market. Again lots of little shops but they try to insist that you come in and that they have the best prices. It was kind of amusing trying to get by each shop and the proprietors will do almost anything but actually grab you and throw you into the shop. At the plaza the shops all had a personality (though some were the same), but at the flea market it seemed that all the carts sold the same items. Mexican blankets, hats, hammocks, t-shirts and silver jewelry. We were just browsing and not really interested in buying anything. I think we drove them all crazy, since we were the only people at the flea market and we wouldn't even go in the doors.

I wanted to see one last thing before we headed back to the hotel, the Mayan museum. It took us a while to find it, tucked in the corner, but we did. The entrance fee was 30 pesos (about $3). It was very small and hot inside and all the labels were in Spanish. But I enjoyed seeing them and trying to guess what the labels were saying.

We walked back to the hotel to get the kids for lunch. Donna and Larry decided to join us. I wanted Mexican food. I always like to try the native food and there is actually a lot of non-native food around. Last night's dinner was in an Italian style restaurant which imports all their food. Now I got to eat some of the real stuff. We ate at the Tequillaria. Ben and I were in true form and split a couple of meals. I got the Del Mar al tequila. It was a red snapper today, umm. Joel's done with beer was similar but slightly better. Ben got the Enchiladas con mole. It was good. Not as wonderful as the fish, but still good. Then I saw they had charro beans on the menu, so I had to get them. They were nothing like the charro beans I had had in Arizona, but also excellent. When I made Joel have a spoonful he looked at them suspiciously, but I told them to trust me, and indeed he loved them too. Ben ended up stealing most of them, but saved a little at the end for me. I highly recommend the fish here. YUMM.

Oh yeah I forgot that they also bring a variety of salsas to your table. And they are known for their salsas. Now we shouldn't be eating them and Joel and the kids were good, but I had to try them. They were excellent. Now why shouldn't we have them? Well I read a study in science news that they tested the salsas in the tourist areas of Mexico and that 50% of them were contaminated with high counts of ecoli. In addition one of the salsas was not cooked so it had fresh tomatoes. Fresh food that isn't peeled is dangerous to try if you don't want to get sick. So basically it is eat at your own risk. I minimized my risk by just having a little bit.

After lunch we took the kids over to the plaza to show them the shell store. They loved the shells, but didn't want to pick one out to take home. The same for the t-shirts. We made reservations for the Fisheria a restaurant in the plaza. We made the reservations for 10 hoping that the Courteys could join us.

For the rest of the afternoon we sat by the pool. The kids played in the sand and swum, but I thought it was way too cold to swim.

After getting ready for dinner we walked over to La Fisheria. Donna and Larry drove over. They were there before us and we joined them. The Courtneys never showed up. They never got the note that we left for them at their hotel. Ah well.

The food was not as good as lunch. That is not to say it was not good, it was, but it wasn't great. The best part is the bread they bring you. It is flat bread on which they put olive oil and basil. I wish I could just have had that for dinner it was so good.

Then it was back to the hotel to crash.