Changes and things that stay the same...

First of all, I'll apologize in advance for the lengthiness of this post. I take lots of pictures, so rather than doing numerous short posts, I'd rather take a block of time and do a longer one at a time.

My friend and I rented a golf cart yesterday and went for a quick tour of the south end of the island. I love the sea at Punta Sur...it's so much more rugged than the north end. But the colors out there are amazing and mesmorizing...and it never ceases to amaze me.



Especially at Garrafon. I wanted to climb up in the zip-line tower to take what would be an awesome photo, but the guys wouldn't let me...they said I had to pay. Bummer.

A close-up of Cancun next to one of those stupid scupltures on the tip of the island...

These flowers are as plentiful as the iguanas there...

The next series of photos are from the road between Punta Sur and the Dolphin Discovery...in no particular order. There's a lot of new construction going on in that stretch.

This is the Palace. A guard sits at the entryway and doesn't let anyone in unless they have a reservation...he wouldn't even let us check out the place.

I've never stayed on the south end of the island before, although I considered it this time. It seems like such a totally different atmosphere without the big stretches of beach and activity of downtown...much more peaceful and secluded. Maybe I'll stay there when I'm in that mood some day. But I think that I would miss the activity and people-watching opportunities...like this little guy sitting at the table next to me at breakfast this morning...

...where I had huevos Mexicanos...

...at Rolandi's on Hidalgo. They were okay...nothing special. I love their dinners, but I think the little loncherias at the market are much better for breakfast.

Continuing with the golf cart drive yesterday, we happened to drive by...

...so we stopped for a late breakfast. I had the scrambled eggs with cheese potatoes...

And my friend had the French toast...there's a special name for it which I can't remember right now, but everything was excellent. The French toast is actually more like bread pudding, but very tasty. The place is small...only four tables, but definitely worth a stop.

It was time to check out of Almendros this morning and what good timing. As I was leaving, a huge group of families was checking in...I think they had about a million kids, so I was glad I was going.

Before I made the choice of staying at the Privilege Aluxes, I checked out the Rocamar as a possibility. It's all finished now and is looking pretty good...

...with that kick-ass view of the eastern shore...

But the room they showed me was very bare and while I'm not a high maintenance kind of gal, I thought it was lacking for $65 a night.

Besides that, it doesn't seem the same without M&J's casuelas next door. Here's what that area looks like now...

So after breakfast this morning, I took a little walk around town to catch up on the changes. These three places are still abandoned and empty. Such a shame. I think all the Islaholics should get together and buy these places and fix them up. Ha!Ha! Honestly, though...they have such a great location, it's hard to believe no one has tried to renovate them.

Here's the new Cafe Mogogua. I passed by this morning to check out their breakfast menu. Much more expensive than most of the others. I'll have to see what their dinner menu looks like.

This place has been painted since the last time I was here.

This was down a side street. I don't remember seeing it before...and have never heard anyone mention it on the Isla board.

The basketball courts look like they were freshly painted. (Although that's something that I could have just not noticed before.)

This was in a shop window. I wonder if M&Js still has their "K-Mart Special" sign in their new location.

This is an area just a short way down from San Cocho's where the street workers spend the night. Sorry...not a very good picture.

Looks like they did some repair work to the little yellow house that everyone has about a hundred pictures of...

I hardly recognized this place when I went by. They did a total color change to this...

...from this, one of my favorite pictures from my first visit in September of 2006. (Don't tell the owner, but I think I like the 'before' picture better.)

And, finally...I took these three pictures this morning...

And I have almost identical pictures taken of these three gentlemen every time I've come to Isla. Which only goes to show...there may be many things that have changed on the island...but there will always be the things that stay the same...and that's why we all keep coming back.