Out and About, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

I have decided that a most accurate and powerful indicator of whether I will like a particular part of the planet is whether avocados and papayas are both freshly, easily, widely, and inexpensively available at the local markets. This place wins on all counts! 

Here's my neighbor's cupola again under different morning light.

The town of Puerto Morelos is a narrow three street wide town along the coast line. Just to the west of it is an area of jungle and mangrove swamps. A few kilometers south of town is the Jardin Botanico - Dr. Alfredo Barrera  Marin. The garden includes the last patch of conserved forest between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen.  Among the three kilometers of trails is an observation tower at the top of the canopy - this is  the view.

It is a bit sketchy climbing up the tower and not for the faint of heart, nor for those expecting sturdy engineered steel construction approved by OSHA.

The beginning of the trail system starts with a moss covered limestone bedrock - a primary geological feature of the peninsula.

This cactus garden was among the many exhibits.

And this somewhat annoyed fellow seemed put upon that humans were on his walking trail.

By the way, here's how we're getting around for the first two weeks.  Yes, this is a real car and not a plastic toy - although it sure does look like a toy. It's a Dodge/Hyundai/Hertz something or other and the least expensive I could find.  Even though it's the first 5-speed manual transmission I've driven in probably 20 years, I've only stalled it out once so far. It's like riding a bike - you never forget but you might get rusty. I'm lucky there are not any hills around here to park. (Photo courtesy: Amy's iPhone).