Sunday, December 17, 2006

isla holbox

it's been a hectic 6 months of moving, adjusting to new jobs, meeting new people... so purpleman and i decided we needed a vacation.

isla holbox is a tiny island off the northeastern tip of the yucatan peninsula. from cancun, it's a bumpy, 3 hour car ride through the jungle of quintana roo, followed by a 20-minute ferry ride from a small town called chiquila.

holbox is still recovering from hurricane wilma, and the island is basically a sleepy fishing village anyway, so there are very few tourists --after a few days you start recognizing the same faces.

i was surprised at how good the food was everywhere. the most impressive dish was the seafood ceviche: raw lobster, shrimp, octopus and fish, all marinated in lime, with chopped cilantro, onions and tomatoes. a very simple dish, but impossible to make without fresh seafood. xaloc, the small hotel where we stayed for 6 nights, did an exquisite version of this and i suspect they added a secret twist to the standard recipe. another memorable dish was xaloc's langosta xtabentun, lobster cooked in a creamy, anisette-flavored sauce...

but having returned to chilly new york, one of the things i'm already missing is waking up to the sound of waves. starting monday, it will be back to alarm clocks and subways...