Fresh out of graduate school I got a job with Mexicana Airlines as a Reservations Sales Representative. On my second trip to Mexico, in the company of two of my best friends and colleagues, I came to Cozumel for the first time.
We were met at the airport by Mexicana’s Manager at the time, Oscar Simental, who embodied the Island’s hospitality. He ushered us to the Cantarell Hotel and got us a deal on a VW rental that none of us knew exactly how to drive. Following the plan he traced for us, we rode around the Island, tried to reach the lighthouse at Punta Sur unsuccessfully, snorkeled in Chankanaab, had lunch next to the shark tank at Aquarius Restaurant and savoured a festive dinner at Café del Puerto while watching people come off the ferry.
It was on the very first morning on the Island that, already seduced by its azure waters, its sleepy village air and the warmth of its people, I inadvertently made a prediction. “I could live on this Island,” I told my friends as we walked from the Cantarell to Downtown. That was 1986 and Cozumel had captured my heart.
In 1993 I came back to Cozumel. This time I stayed at the then all-inclusive Club Cozumel Caribe. I was having dinner with friend and General Manager of the hotel, John Hamati, when this long white-haired Richard Gere look-alike flowed into the night, scintillating my aura with his watercolor eyes. His name was Larry Cleghorn, Texan, owner of Cozumel Scuba Repair and Sales Representative for DACOR Diving Equipment (in his 50s, single and available!).
Larry and I hit it off right away but it wasn’t until 6 months later, in June 1994, when I came back for a small family reunion that our paths crossed again in the dining hall of the Club Cozumel Caribe. Once again it was John Hamati who got us together. And once again I was stricken by the hazelsparks in his eyes.
Larry invited me to dinner that night, took me diving the next day and met my family that same afternoon. That was my first open ocean dive (I had been certified a year before in Texas) and he held my hand for the whole 73 minutes that the dive lasted. Then he took me to the Crazy Snake, on the corner of 7th street, across from the Post Office, where we talked and sipped beer the rest of the afternoon and witnessed together one of Cozumel’s spectacular sunsets.
I was living in South Florida at the time. Pretty soon instead of hitting the traffic on I-95 on Friday afternoons, I would board MX300 from Miami to Cozumel where Larry, always dressed in his signature outfit –cut off t-shirt and lycra shorts –would meet me.
As I remember it, except for the arrival and departure areas, the AC at the airport did not work well; the façade was painted in institutional green and every wall inside displayed a different color by design. There was a restaurant upstairs that ran out of food if five or more patrons showed up at the same time, from where one could see the airplanes landing and taking off. That year I went through that airport as often, if not more, as I went through any of Miami’s highway toll-booths.
Our weekends were carefree and yet almost predictable. Friday nights we would have dinner at the Western, where we would chat with the host, long time Cozumel resident Jim Chalmers, while eating home-style deep fried chicken.
Breakfast was always at Coco’s, across from the Western, where we would sit at the counter along other Island characters such as Aqua Safari’s Bill Horn in his eternal khaki shorts and beige sandals, and Less Pay Car Rental, JonhDeVries, with his never ending stories. Coco’s owners, Daniel and Terry Ocejo were our ‘to-go’ persons. Whatever we needed to know, they had the answer, whether it was to confirm (or deny!) Island news and/or gossip, where to find tile, pump parts or toilet fittings or what kind of animal makes a noise that sounds as if someone was using a quarter to knock on a glass door –a gecko, of course!
After breakfast we would head to Caleta where we would board the Careyitos, our dear friend’s Ricardo Madrigal’s boat for a day of sun, fun and SCUBA diving. The ride from the entrance of Caleta to the cove was an unpaved mess of pot holes and trenches that had to be maneuvered carefully and painfully slow. Parking was on the first grassy or dry spot you could find and you were always greeted by mosquitoes.
Saturday nights would find us at Prima’s, then located on top of Roberto’s Black Coral workshop on the NE corner of 5th avenue and Adolfo Rosado Salas. Later on, when Louisiana born and bred Mike Slaughter opened the French Quarter, his restaurant became the headquarters for the riff-raff table, an eclectic group of natives and ex-pats like us that sooner or later on any given night would end up there. It was a lot like Cheers –everybody knew your name and was glad you came.
Thinking back on those days I can almost hear the clan-clan from the tanks being unloaded by the Aqua Safari dock as we drove down the Malecón to Caleta and the smell of fuel that emanated from the boats once there. Back then one could see the whole outline of the Malecón, from Puerto Abrigo in the north, to the old naval building and beyond, in the south, lined up with stores bursting with onyx, colorful Mexican arts and crafts, hammocks and t-shirts. There were no horse-drawn Calesas, very few mopeds, no diamond or drug stores. Punta Langosta, Mega, Chedraui and El Cantil were not even glimmers in a dreamer’s eyes. The park in front of the Palacio Municipal was a soccer field, The Cozumel Palace Hotel was Plaza Las Glorias, the Park Royal was Sol Caribe, El Cid was La Ceiba, and Puerta Maya did not exist. There were no buildings taller than the lighthouses!
Larry and I got married in 1995. We commuted for a few years keeping jobs and homes in Miami and Cozumel. In 2004 we made the move –what many refer to as the great American dream. We “retired” to an Island Paradise in the Mexican Caribbean. Truth is we are far from being retired. But Cozumel is Paradise and we are proud and grateful to call it home. It has changed with time, but its essence, that air of sleepy village and the warmth of the Cozumeleños, remain forever caught in the sea mist, the ocean currents and the flight of the swallow at dawn.
©2013 MYRNA CLEGHORN / DERECHOS RESERVADOS
Myrna and Larry Cleghorn own Cozumel Scuba Repair, and have spent many happy years together in Cozumel.
This story originally appeared in the weekly Cozumel 4 You NEWS – the island’s number one source of positive information about our island! Be sure and subscribe to the weekly NEWS to find out all the island events!…
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Una ex yanqui de Connecticut quien llama hogar a Cozumel desde hace más de 15 años. Laura escapó al Caribe hace años, desplazándose de una isla a otra dando clases de BUCEO. Se dedicó a perder el tiempo en Jamaica y finalmente se detuvo en Cozumel para pasar unas vacaciones de 2 semanas que aún no terminan. Convenciendo a sus padres que pagaran una elegante universidad privada, obtuvo su título en Periodismo y Laura crea semanalmente Cozumel 4You, medios sociales y artículos promocionales sobre la Isla y también es moderadora en el grupo Cozumel 4 You en Facebook que actualmente cuenta con 25,000 miembros. Fabián, s umuy tolerante marido, desde hace mucho tiempo se resignó a no tener vida privada, pues se ha visto implicado en los diversos proyectos y planes que urde Laura. Son orgullosos padres de diversos perros y gatos rescatados. Mientras contempla su paso a través de la vida en el Caribe mexicano,Laura continúa siendo la pesadilla en la existencia de su muy tradicional suegra mexicana.
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