Mayan Riviera Travel Blog--Day Two

We had a restful sleep, followed by breakfast at the Mexican buffet. We attended an information session done by our Signature rep and then we booked two tours; Tulum Explorer for Monday morning and Mayan Adventures snorkeling trip for Wednesday. Then we booked reservations for dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant for tonight. We located the internet room and updated my face book status and sent messages to our daughters. We snapped a few photos and then had a nice lunch at the Italian restaurant, which has better wine than La Laguna. We ate salmon, grouper and pasta. I had some pizza, and then I thought, “What am I thinking? I can have that anytime.” So I had more fish.
We purchased a few souvenirs at the gift shop, and then came back to our room. I’m sitting on our balcony, listening to exotic birds, as I write this. We are planning to catch the two p.m. shuttle bus to Playa del Carmen to do some shopping.
We spent a few hours on Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue, which is a pedestrian-only street, lined with touristy shops. We stopped for ice cream and we purchased a beach bag, sunglasses, two t-shirts, coasters, a ball cap, and two Mayan wall hangings. Sometimes, we’d make a purchase, only to find the same thing a few doors down for less money. We also learned to haggle for better prices. They say to only pay 40-50% of the beginning price.
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I had left a note in Spanish, for our room steward. I don’t know if it was incomprehensible, or if the have rules about how much water they can stock in the mini-bar, but there was nothing extra. He probably had a good laugh at my note, much like I laughed (inwardly) at the note inside the shuttle bus, which read, “This service do not incluyed the driver’s tips. Thank you for you atention.”
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We dressed up for the dinner at this Mediterranean restaurant. I ordered stuffed crab, beef tenderloin and pavlova. My husband had shrimp cocktail, duck, and chocolate cake. Our table overlooked a shallow pond, and it seems the local raccoons knew the routine. Five of them waited for the waiter to come over and toss some buns to them. For the fact that they are so well fed, they are quite scrawny, not like our fat Canadian raccoons.