Photos by Julia Aron, except the one of us. (Thanks Matt!)


In the evening, Julia and I headed to the beach for a really nice dinner at Posada Margarita. It’s a small hotel with a restaurant overlooking the beach. The prices are more New York than Mexico, but I heard it’s worth it and thought it would be nice to treat ourselves.

Posada Margarita didn’t disappoint. We sat on an oversized bench overlooking the ocean. It felt more like chilling in my living room. Even our table resembled a coffee table - low to the ground.

Alessandro, our waiter, whom we found out later is also the owner, greeted us by asking, “So, how much do you eat?”

Always ready for a little sarcastic banter, I responded, “Everyday, or just in Mexico?”

Amused, he explained that the portions were very large and then spoke about the appetizers and side dishes. I was completely lost by then. He’s Italian and his accent was thick. Couple that with his lightning fast speech, both Julia and I were confused. In the end, we ordered two dishes, a pasta with lobster, tomato and pine nuts and a local fish grilled simply with salt water, lemon and olive oil. There is no menu at Posada Margarita – there is only Alessandro who is warm and intimidating all at once. We agreed to fall into his hands, sit back, drink our wine and enjoy the ocean air.

The food was incredible. For starters, there was a platter of everything from olives to bruschetta to pistachio nuts to tortilla chips. We happily munched on our snacks when an American guy walked over to us and asked if we’d like our picture taken. We obliged, of course and proceeded to strike up a conversation with him. He was handsome in a distinct way – maybe 40 years old, shaved head, dark eyes, lots of tattoo’s. Matt was his name and he and his friend, Josh were sitting at the table just to our left.

Matt was very friendly and we talked a bit only to find out that I’d met him once before!! His sister owns the hotel, Amansala, home of the famed Bikini Boot Camp. Their step mother was the “angel” who came to my rescue the day that I crashed the moped on my last visit to Tulum. I’d seen her in town a few days later where she introduced me to Matt and his sister, Melissa. She’d sent Matt to the hospital to check on me, but they wouldn’t let him see me. He was also the one that alerted me to the fact that mopeds for rent are often not in the best condition. He told me to make sure there wasn’t an equipment malfunction, which indeed there was!

Such a small world, it is. Matt and Josh joined us after we’d finished dinner and they invited us over to Amansala to hang. We declined with the promise of a raincheck for the following evening as Julia and myself were exhausted from a long day in the sun.