Of Cozumel and Carnivals...

Alright! The Mexico posts are finally going up! Brace yourselves for Mexico week on the blog today - we'll have posts with some of the highlights from the trip but honestly, we had such a wonderful time that I could easily turn this blog into an Ode to the Yucatan (the only part of Mexico I've seen so far).  I won't...but I could.

First up - carnival in Cozumel.  Venice is had been our usual stomping ground for this and I had been missing our usual routine, but this year was a totally different experience.  We started our trip in Cozumel for a little scuba diving to kick off our trip.  Perfect temparatures, warm crystal clear water, big fish, turles (always an underwater fave of mine), lots of swimthroughs - definitely some of the better diving we had in a while.  For the curious, we stayed at Blue Angel Resort which runs a first class dive operation, solid hotel and oh yeah, one of the best restaurants on the island.

In the evening, the Cozumel Carnival was our domain.  There are structured nightly parades, full of floats and glittered, feathered Cozumelians of all ages - it turns out neon yellow spandex jumpsuits are a good look on more people than you think.  Some of the best streetfood I've had next to Thailand, though my favorites were the simplest things - "marquesitas", a thin waffle like crepe made to order and stuffed with cheese.  I think we had about three in one evening alone.  We secured seats on the upper deck of a restaurant and were able to see absolutely everything as the parade rolled on, and let's just say the margarita glass was never empty. 

Sometimes new is good...enjoy the pics below!



Traffic jams in anticipation of carnival when we arrived.



Carnival decorations everywhere.



Last minute queso delivery.



Local TV station broadcasting the action.

 


"Move the camera over there while I continue to sit here"




Hotcakes!  I'll take a dulce de leche, gracias!



Cotton candy in every color.



Little revelers in tutus and make up.

 

Balcony watchers - also, Cozumel is full of Canadians.  Note the flags. 




Balloons for sale! They were so colorful I almost bought one for myself.




Chairs being set up for spectator rental.



Viva Mexico!



Pork wrapped in pork - this could practically be Austria!





Plaintain chips.



Carnival maks decorations, hanging on all buildings downtown.



Yum yum streetfood.



Carnival organizering staff out for a spin. 



Dance contests in the street.  They called over for us to join after I snapped this pic but
I didn't dare expose my gringo lack of rhythm for all of Cozumel.



The best marquesitas.




Mortality reminders.



Cin cin margaritas.



View from our seats on the terrace.




Let the neon spandex begin! Love the confidence of this senor. 
Also, ladies in bikinis are de rigeur on these floats.



A battalion of dancing hombres on foot.



More bikinis!




And what carnival isn't complete without a Jesus float surrounded by women in bikinis?



Note to self, look up "solteritos" in spanish-english dictionary.



You can never have too many marquesitas.



Some sort of assembled white bread sandwhich torta thing sold out of a shopping cart. 
I couldn't even get passed the throngs of people to try to buy a slide to see what it was.



Fireworks to end the night!

All photos by The New Diplomat's Wife.