Melia Golf Resort in Cozumel September

First time to Mexico during Hurricane season and it turned out awesome for us in Cozumel. See the crowd in the picture. Not so much for the peeps in Cabo San Lucas. Yikes. Nicky and I used all our combined points to pay for the airfare and all-inclusive hotel. Yea! Several years ago, I had about 48K points and American expired them for me. Thanks AA.

First day was a day of swim up bar. Learned that a Margarita at this all-inclusive was about 3/4 cup of tequila, a splash of another liquor (Cointreu?), and a splash of margarita mix. Awesome....well, if you don't need to be anywhere early the next day. The hotel staff was super friendly and helpful the entire trip. We had a beach view room, but were upgraded to a beach suite for free with a walk out room to our own personal Jacuzzi and the beach. 

Second day was golf. The Cozumel golf club is awesome. The workers are so nice and accommodating. The course and the greens were amazing. We were warned multiple time about the crocodiles, but were disappointed to NOT see any of them. You are not allowed to retrieve lost balls that are not on the fairway or near water so we brought 50 refurbished balls with us. We were too embarrassed to count how many were left at end of the round. We both had to walk the walk of shame after our round and the score card was surely eaten by an invisible croc. The golf course is also a bird sanctuary so many colorful birds. Our hotel stay included green fees which are expensive there...at least $150 a person. We only paid $62 for the both of us....I think that was cart fee and club rental.They provided herb smelling moist towels at the end of the round. 

Third day, we rented a clown car to drive around the island. We stopped at the Money

Bar. It has a nice little beach and you can snorkel on a reef nearby. The food....meh. The prices..meh. We kept driving on a road that had a bicycle symbol, but so was everyone else. Later found out that it was a bike only lane for the Ironman that was taking place over the weekend. Oops to us and a lot of other people. We were looking for the lighthouse and couldn't find it because the sign said Point Sur. I told Nicky  "Let's pull over at 7-11 to get directions...said no one ever in Cozumel". Anyway, we finally figured it out.

We then did the snorkeling trip from hell. I am a certified scuba diver and have dove in

Cozumel in the past. They drop you in a reef and the current floats you down the reef until the boat picks you up at the end. Easy peasy. I  have also snorkeled in Chankkanaub right on the beach just floating around.

At the lighthouse, a guide said he'd help us. He told us we'd have to snorkel out to the buoy WAY out in the ocean. You can't even see the buoy in the picture. It seemed really far and we were skeptical. We decided we could swim that far. Bless our hearts. We get to the buoy and this was the START of our snorkel trip. We are almost 50 years old. We swam against currents for an hour or more. Then, it was time to swim ashore, we are against the current again. Our legs and feet are cramped by now. For every two strokes you take to shore, you are taken back by the current 1.5 strokes. We finally get to shore and now we have to walk a mile back to where we started. Oh, and after all that huffing and puffing, I joined the gym tonight. My gym has a pool. Told Nicky I would probably never swim again. 

After the snorkeling trip from  heck, we stopped at Coconuts on back of island. Coconuts dropped off the photo books at our table. Back in the day, it showed bad Polaroid photos of boobs. It now has clear photos of much more graphic images. Almost pornographic, but not quite. Also, bring cash. They still don't have electricity over there and do not take credit cards. We also had two friends join us for lunch.

Next day, fortunately, we had scheduled a couples massage on the beach. Awesome. They even massaged our faces. Aaaawwww. We ended up on the beach and at the swim up bar. Note to self.....love Nick when he is tipsy. He repeatedly told me that I was "smoking hot".

Speaking of only taking cash...you need it if you lose your customs paper. Gosh darnit. I'm the most organized person ever and my fancy paper disappeared. Had to go to immigration at airport and then go to ATM to get pesos to pay my $27 USD ($300 peso) lost paper fee. Ugh.  

So my Citibank lets me make purchases in Cozumel, but Saturday night, when I'm back to Arlington (where my credit card is registered), I order a pizza and my card is declined to credit card fraud. Really? It is fixed now, but REALLY?

Inexpensive low carb nachos

Go Cowboys! Nachos sounded awesome but I'm trying to keep my carbs low, so tortilla chips are out and bell pepper is in. This recipe as I made it serves one.

My total cost of ingredients was $6, but I only used about $2 worth of them.

• Bell pepper $.99 (used entirely)
• Refried beans $.85 (used about 1/4 of a can)
• Cheddar cheese $3 (used about 1\6 of bag)
• Sliced jalapenos $1.50 (used just a few of them)

If you want to really low carb, nix the beans and replace with ground beef or shredded chicken. I was using what I had in my house today.

If you follow this recipe, it ends up being about:

204 calories, 11 fat, 15.5 carbs, 5 fiber, net carbs 10.5, and 11 protein.

1. Cut bellpepper into small pieces.
2. Top with beans or meat.
3. Add cheese and jalapenos.
4. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Personally I prefer tortilla chips, but lets just do a quick compare.

My new favorite website.