The first 40 hours in the Sandos Caracol Eco Resort in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Arrived in Mexico after 24 hours' travel.
A bit knackered but very happy.
Jet lag is a bugger, but we were coping reasonably well.
Went out to a very late supper to the Italian Restaurant
after getting to our room, which was delightful.
The resort is really fascinating and we were off to
discover it more fully after breakfast the first morning.
Neither of us slept more that about 4 hours the night
before flying out, but with a bit of judicious napping
we hoped to be on our way to catch up normal patterns
by the time the family arrived on Thursday.

On the terrace of the Brazilian restaurant

Roy by the pool next to the Brazilian restaurant

Roy had three glasses of red wine with lunch on Monday and
as a consequence slept like a baby in our lovely air-conditioned
room in the king sized bed for a while. I didn't want to sleep,
as I had a little nap between 10am and 11am, and felt fine.

Our room is underneath that thatched roof on the left

Chandelier at the Lobby/Reception

We went to breakfast after we booked our table in the Japanese
Restaurant for Saturday night. After breakfast we went walkies
and discovered the beach, the coatis raiding the bins, the turtles,
lots of pretty flowers and the Spa. Roy had icecreams, I just kept
myself to cold water.The humidity was horrendous in the first few
hours, but the heat and a little wind dried it up later. We sat
around in a shady spot until we could go to lunch. My salad was
absolutely yummy, Roy had 3(!!) burgers with salad and other
goodies.

Beautiful hibiscus flowers everywhere

Coati raiding the bins

En route back to the room after lunch we sussed out the
Brazilian restaurant and decided to go there for dinner that
night. You can't reserve a table in the Brazilian, but I
decided to take my book and hang around waiting for
a table on a lounger by the pool if necessary. Tough life,
I know, but somebody has to do it!! Evenutally, as it
happens we didn't have to wait as it was a case of
arriving and being shown to our table instantly.

Palm trees and ...

... the beach.

In fact, I left my camera chip behind, so had to run back for it,
but Roy held the fort in the meantime. About 10 minutes after
we got in easily the queue started forming and in another 10
minutes it was about 200 yards long. Phew!!

I don't eat meat on the whole, so I had to be content with the
appetizers, but I could have spent the next 3 hours stuffing
my face with them. Gorgeous prawns, sushi, salmon, brilliant
salads, fruits etc, etc. Roy switched to meat after a plateful of
appetisers and had a very good time. It started with a guy
coming round with two 2ft long skewers with a lot of meat on.
Initially the choice was between turkey and pork and then it
switched to beef. The latter was heavenly pink in the middle
and Roy had a feast.

Dramatic flora everywhere

Is this hibiscus too?

This morning we overslept again, so we were quite late to
breakfast. We tried the Mexican this time and fell instantly in
love with it. I am going to use that one for breakfast from now on.
The hall is somehow more intimate than the other two, although
this was just as big as those. On the other hand, what sold it to
us instantly was the ice bucket full of champagne bottles with
unlimited refills. I thought a champagne breakfast was only
provided for honeymooning couples, but that shows what do I
know! With a cute little woman serving, Roy was getting drunk
again as she would fill up the champagne glasses while our
heads were turned. I had a massive plate of tropical fruits, then
a smaller plate of other bits and pieces. Yum, yum!

First course of my champagne breakfast this morning

Cheers!

After breakfast we went on a voyage of discovery round the
parts of the complex we haven't yet been in. Lovely mangrove
forest everywhere, we came across some cute little spider
monkeys hanging from branches, then went on one of the
Mayan trails, saw some gorgeous vegetation, then the Water
Park, and finally found a different way back to our room
through some more jungle and flowers. Now we are having a
small siesta in the air conditioning and will leave for a swim in
the pool at the Adults only part of the complex. Lunch is
probably going to be taken in the Surf and Turf place,
provided we can get in. :

Terrace round the Mexican restaurant.

Ma\an mask

Las Mascaras - my favourite Mexican restaurant

Just hanging about!

Kids' water park

Mangrove roots

Red Mayan god

English tourist in the Yukatan jungle

A magnificent peacock just hanging about

Yellow Mayan god

Gauge the size of this tree from the guy at the bottom!

Mayan piglet

Some more beautiful flora

Ditto

Last pre-Mexico week in the country

The last couple of weeks was spent in the village, having a rest and doing some spring time work in the garden. After Hulk's Survival Hash we returned to the village and the weather was springlike, but cold. I was watching a fair amount television and got on with my transcription of Fred's leadoff on the Comintern from the last World School in 2017. Without the comfortable equipment that was much the vogue 30 or 40 years ago, where you could use your foot to control the dictaphone, it was pretty uncomfortable to move on the MP3 file when I lost the thread and had to go back. Still, I have now done about a quarter of the work.

The new edge

The garden needed some attention again, although thankfully it is still too cold for the grass getting going for this year. It is still short, so now we will only start mowing it after our return from Mexico. Roy saw how hard one of our neighbours cut his fruit trees back and suggested we have a go as well.  Remembering the disaster that happened after I pruned our rosemary bush, de facto killing the poor thing, I wasn't very enthusiastic.  Eventually we worked together, Roy securimg the ladder and I was chopping down branches and gangly new growth from the top of the ladder.  I am an old lady now, so I will soon have to give up such physical jerks, but I managed it this time.

Close-up of new edging

Roy got out the edgings for the rose bushes, that we bought months ago and started to install it in the courtyard. There was only enough for one side, but it looks really nice. Eventually we put the car on the garage forecourt and caught the 9:05 bus this morning into town. I have a concert tonight and tomorrow we are having lunch with a family history friend of Roy's from the Internet. I also have an appointment with my homeopath to check if her prescription of teas, garlic and olive oil, with no dairy or meat products had done the trick. I seem to feel just as bad as when I last saw her, but I am beginning to suspect it might be an allergy of some sort. We'll see!

This time looking towards the front

We are still to go to the money exchange for our dollars and shop for a few things we still haven't got for our trip. Then pack it all, order the taxi and off we go. I'm taking the Chromebook, so I may put some photos up and/or post from Mexico, but if not, I'll talk to you all afterwards.

49th Wedding Anniversary, a concert, caching with friends and Hulk's 5th Anniversary Survival Hash

It's been over a week since I last posted, but I have a (or several) good excuse(s). It has been a rather busy week, but practically all of it was brilliant and very enjoyable.

Roy with his duck drumsticks in the Rosenstein

On Monday 4th we celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary, which - of course - means that the Golden one is now only 12 months away. Put early next March into your diaries, as something good is being planned. Assuming, of course, that we are both still around then!!

The interior of the Rosenstein

I have heard a lot about a restaurant called Rosenstein near the Keleti station, so I booked a table and off we went. It is a Jewish Restaurant, but we stuck with dishes that we knew and found it quite nice. Whether it was nice enough for the high prices, that is still debated. The decor was quite industrial come pop art, which is OK with me, but less so with Roy.  It was still a very good occasion, especially that we very rarely celebrate anything.

David Fray

In the evening I went to the Music Academy for a recital given by the absoutely brilliant French pianist, David Fray. He played Bach's Goldberg Variations. This was the first time I saw him play anywhere and also the first time I ever heard the entire piece of the Goldberg Variations. I was in a trance, it was that fantastic. Bozsa agreed with me and we both had a marvellous 90 minutes.

On Tuesday Roy and I went home to the village and caught up on stuff that piled up in our absence.  The weather was good enough for a bit of gardening, the herb patch got tidied up and Roy started making headway on putting down the edging by the roses in the courtyard. We obviously didn't buy enough, but as we will be installing it bit by bit, I'm sure we can buy more later.

Shaun Evans as Endavour

We both watched some TV, I enjoyed the last episodes of this year's Endavour, both of us adored the last instalment of David Jason's life on the telly. This was the episode that contained some news for us, as we missed some of the programs in the 10 years that he was talking about. Great guy and a brilliant actor. I am still of the firm opinion that comedians are also great actors when they are given the chance to prove it.

David Jason

I also started another tape transcription for my comrades in London, but found that I can't do too much in one go, it is that tiring.  Still, I am plodding on with it, hopefully it should be done in a month or so. I was told it is not urgent, I hope that is still the case.

Early sping forest with the river in the distance

On Friday I went off very early in the morning to meet Mariann and Gabi to go for a geocaching hike in the SW corner of Nógrád county by a mountain called Naszály. A few months back the three of us cleared all the caches off the Eastern end and the top of this mountain, on Friday it was the turn of the Western end and a few more around it.

En route to meeting them at Vác railway station I got one, which would have made our hike too long, but was accessible at the cost of a 2km walk from the East, where I was coming from. Basically, I was trying to be careful with the Duster on a very steep bit, to make sure I don't wreck the whole day by getting stuck at the bottom of the incline on my way back from the cache. Had I been a bit more adventurous, I could have got away with a couple of hundred yards' walk only.  Still, it was magical in the early morning to walk amongst fields and woods, having them all to myself to admire.

The view from the top of Kis Orom towards the river

The day gave us lots of interesting woods, hills and a study route with forests, suspension bridges, swamps (currently bone dry) and a lot of funny stuff besides. The cache total was 7 for me and 9 for the other two, we also hid a moving cache that Mariann brought and which was a great present for me as I haven't had it before.

Forsythia at the study centre

The moving cache was hidden in this rootstock

The weekend contained a very important event, which even though we intended staying in the country for two weeks, we still hopped on a bus and got into town for. We have a lovely English friend, David, whom I have met years ago on the Hash. Some 5  years back he had an operation and when he got better, he organised a Survival Hash, suggesting that he was not ill any more.

Gabi and Mariann on the wobbly suspension bridge

Well, that was 5 years ago and he is still with us, so he thought to organise another Survival Hash run, followed by dinner, and we couldn't miss that. I knew I was a bit ropey after my Friday hike, which had one very nasty hill in it, where we had to climb 150 metres in as little as 650 metres of distance.  So I was a bit concerned whether I will be able to manage the run, but I was OK. Everything was great, David had a good time and the turnout was pretty good too.

Starting group photo on Hulk's Survival Hash

Roy doesn't hash, but he came and joined us at the restaurant. The other great happening was the return of our friend Adrian from a very long way away where he went not of his own volition.  We thought that they would have put him away for years for his sins, but the lucky devil had such a good solicitor that laying it on thick about the privations in a Hungarian jail while awaiting extradition worked its magic and they let him go. I like him, even though he is a banker, but he assured me that he has retired now.

Peddling Pussy and Bogi, the hash hound

The stragglers

Finally on Monday we returned to the village where we are now to stay until next Monday or Tuesday, when we depart for town, followed by our adventure into Central America, a part of the world not only we have never been to, but never thought we might end up in at any time, for any reason whatsoever.

Hulk, often the Hare and always the gentleman! Cheers!!!

I'll probably post again before we are off, but after that only after our return.

Pécs

Baba Idris's mausoleum in Pécs

We bought a month's motorway pass so we took the full length of the M6 down, an experience we haven't yet had. Verdict: fast, comfortable but very boring. It seems to be devoid of traffic most of the time, so those that declared it to have been an extremely expensive white elephant were probably quite close to the truth. Still, Roy had a relaxing time driving and it enabled us to leave just after 8am and start caching before midday at over 200km away from home.

Ancient tree in Bicsérd

Pellérd chateau park

We started with villages to the South of Pécs, clearing all but one of them, which amounted to 10 caches in what was really only half a day. We arrived at the hotel just before 6pm and found a lovely pizza place to have dinner in. Roy had "Super Pizza", which he reckoned was a bit of a kitchen sink affair, with everything on it that was around in the kitchen.

Keszü look-out tower

Keszü lake

 I had a spaghetti aglio i olio, which is my favourite pasta dish and loved that as well. Next morning we went walking around in Pécs, which took us over 4 hours, but we visited something like 17 places, including lots of wells, churches, statues, the old city walls, the main cathedral and the old mosque, which is now a catholic church etc., etc. We were both very thirsty by 2pm, so we popped into a bar for a beer for me and a Coke for Roy, as he was due to drive in the afternoon.

En route to the mill lakes

Roy and his kitchen sink pizza

Swans

After finishing the walking bit, we popped back to the hotel, had our sandwiches and got going by car for the afternoon. We started on the more hilly bits, where there were more churches, statues, memorials, a stages of the cross and some pretty views.

A section of the city walls

For dinner we returned to our little pizza place, this time we both had chicken, Roy's was in breadcrumbs with a delicious sauce, while mine was just roasted with a lovely salad and thick chips.

Furrier's sign in Franciscan street

The cathedral from the gardens

The old mosque, now a church

The last day was still spent in Pécs, also by car and this time we ventured well into the forested hills above the town. Additionally, my friend Feri, who lives in Pécs, joined us for an hour or so and helped me find three caches. We found lots of caches in the hills, most of them were about the views, some were in an Arboretum, some by old graves of Turks, who occupied Hungary in the 16th and 17th century, memorials, statues and such like were still in evidence, as well as the Zoo and a narrow gauge railway.

Medieaval decoration on Málom church

Málom church

We finished caching about 2:30 in the afternoon, left just after it and were home bang on 6pm completely exhausted, but very happy. Total cache finds numbered 29, which is respectable and was in most cases really interesting and enjoyable

Zsolnay majolica vase in the hotel

Nagyárpád church

Art nouveau stained glass in the hotel

Nike statue above Pécs

Forest flora in February