Cozumel Taco Tasting

 This was the first time we had left the ship at Cozumel in a very long time, not that we've been there very often in the past few years. We thought it would be interesting to see how the town has changed, and try out some local style tacos at the same time.

Fortunately we were docked at the town pier which was close to everything and right across from the original Cozumel tourist shopping plaza. We weren't alone, though. It was quite busy with a total of 5 ships in town with the largest of them at the Carnival pier a little farther away.

There were 21 people on our tour, so we were split over two minibuses to take us between our three venues. None of them were actually very far apart, but it would have added at least an hour to the tour time to walk between them.

Our first stop was at the Mercado Municipal, the public market. The taco stand there, Taqueria Molina, had lots of seating and a huge menu of all sorts of Mexican delicacies. Here we were told to try the Tacos Surtidos, made with a mixture of pork meat, skin, and meats from other parts of the animal like tongue.

A seating area at the market

We had seats at the counter and could watch the action
through the glass.

More fillings with the cooking action in the
background

My Tacos Surtidos, with homemade corn
tortillas. Larry's tacos had chicken instead

One of the fruit and vegetable stands
at the market

We climbed back into the buses and drove over to the main street by the water. Here we were taken to a spot called 'Senor and the Queen' which bills itself as a 'boozy diner'. Here we also had our choice of tacos and drinks. Some of our fellow guests had Margaritas and really enjoyed them as well.

I had Tacos Pastor, which are made with shredded pork and included diced pineapple and pickled onion. Larry chose beef tacos that came with a very spicy sauce on the side.

The interior of the diner. Very retro!

My Tacos Pastor. Delicious!

Larry's beef tacos with refried beans on the left and
the super spicy sauce on the right.

Before our final stop, we spent a little time at the town centre where there is, of course, a market with tourist shops and also a good sized park. While some of our number elected to go with the guide for a tequila tasting, we wandered around for the half-hour and found a few interesting photo subjects, not being at all interested in the shopping that was not included in the tour description.

A statue in the market square

And one in the park

Someone had painted the 'rainbow staircase'

And of course, every place now has a
photo sign to pose in, on or in front of.

Once we had everyone back on the buses, some with tequila bottles in tow, we were driven over to our final stop at the Al Mar Beach Club. This was a very nice place with a big terrace, but it seemed to me that they weren't going out of their way to provide a great tasting taco. Nobody even explained what kind of taco we were getting, and the topping did look a little skimpy compared to the previous stops. Although they were fine, there was nothing special about them except the slice of avocado on top. I think they were hoping that everyone would purchase a Margarita or a beer. Again, our Margarita drinkers didn't disappoint, and it felt like we were there for a little longer than necessary.

The only takeaway I had from this tour was that I'd like to make my own corn tortillas for tacos, because they are really delicious and soft. Even though we'd had 6 tacos each, we weren't really full. What I missed was a little more explanation about tacos and their importance in Mexican cuisine, and things like that. There was none of that on the tour, so it was a little disappointing.

At least we had a bit of time to see the town and get some local food.

That was the only port we visited on this segment, so I'll post some of the onboard restaurant experience next.