The Club Sandwich

Being a long time traveler, I have happened across the most remarkable of sandwiches on more than one occasion. A sandwich you will find all over the globe. From its humble beginnings in New York, to East Africa, the Peruvian Andes, and even the place the Buddha received enlightenment.

The Club Sandwich.

I can’t remember my first Club but for some reason it gave me comfort. It is the quintessential room service item. The go-to food when I need a hit of western indulgence. And when you order it, you know what you are generally getting because the ingredients should not change. It can only be served well, or poorly. Well, that’s the theory anyway.

A bit of history:

There are various theories on the origin of the Club Sandwich. One common theory is that a man came home late one night pissed (as men do) and needed something to eat, so he just smashed together whatever was in the fridge. He enjoyed his creation so much that he spoke to his friends about it at a club they were members of the following week. They decided to have one made at the club as an experiment, and they all loved it. Thus, the ‘Club Sandwich’ was born.

It is also thought that the sandwich first appeared in 1894 at the famous Saratoga Club-House, an exclusive gentlemen only gambling house in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York, where the potato chip was born.

Whatever the case, the Club seems to have originated from the New York region in the late 19th century. I wish it hadn’t have come from the States, but oh well…

How to make a Club:

Toast three slices of bread.
Lightly butter.
On the first piece lay down some shredded chicken, fresh fried bacon, tomato, and mayo.
Lay another piece of toast down.
On top of that lay a couple of lettuce leaves, a fried egg, cheese, and a slice of ham.
Cover with the final piece of toast.
Then, place on a grill for a few seconds each side to ensure it’s all hot and crispy, and the cheese melts.
Slice the sandwich in quarters and hold each quarter together with a toothpick.

Importantly, the Club must be accompanied by fresh chips, or fries. They should be thin fries, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

The Club is presented with the four quarters lying on their backs angled towards the centre of a dish with the fries scattered in the centre of the plate.

The Club MUST be presented hot! No cold chips, bacon, or unmelted cheese!!

Whenever I travel I rate the Club on a scale of 1 to 10. Each Club starts with 10/10 and if they miss any of the ingredients then they lose a point. If they do something poorly they will lose a half a point.

Oddly enough, both the best and worst Club Sandwich I've had presented to me were in India.

The worst was room service at a small hotel in Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha received enlightenment.

Score board:
Only two pieces of bread -1,
Not toasted -1,
No bacon -1,
No ham -1,
No lettuce -1,
No tomato -1,
No egg -1,
No mayo -1,
Not cut in quarters -1,
No fries -1,
Cold -1.

Score: minus 1 out of 10.

Shame Bodh Gaya, Shame!

The best Club Sandwich in the world, so far, goes to the Hilton in Mumbai. Presented exactly as described above in the How to make a Club, section. Glorious!

Monday in Mexico

After a relatively early rise at 9.00am, I checked the emails and news and waited till Rach stirred around 10. We put on some bathers and went for our usual walk along the beach.


Leaving Playa Palms, looking down the beach


About 15 minutes up the beach there are several resorts.


On the beach


After our walk we head down the beach to Fusion, our favourite beach restaurant that does awesome fish. Quite possibly the best in the world. Maybe the universe.


Afternoon read of a book


Late afternoon we head out down 5th Avenue and brouse the shops and search for a bar to have a margarita


Surprisingly we find a flee market, selling flees


More surprisingly, we find a stall where they are making and selling cigars. Seemingly, the Mayans made very large cigars


Sean at work, late afternoon. Market is green! :) For now....
That's my boat in the background. LOL

Cozumel

Cozumel is the largest island of Mexico and situated off the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, and is part of the Caribbean. Beaches are white and fluffy, the water is warm and blue, the diving is world class due mainly to its extraordinary visibility, and unfortunately – too many Americans visit taking away its potential claim to be one of the best destinations in the world.

We’ve been here for three days and have spent most of the time talking about the meaning of life and what comes next. Do we move to Mexico, or what? At the moment, Mexico is winning, but I always seem to come back to a yearning for Melbourne, family, and friends: what I left the Army for five years ago. Damn it! Why isn’t Melbourne situated on the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula?

To fill in the time we have been eating Fajitas, hired scooters (USD$20) and drove around the island snorkeling at various beaches, and today we did a two tank dive with Eco Divers ($67). We had two great dives and saw lots of great fishies and critters: Hawksbill Turtles, Nurse Shark, Giant Crab, the largest Crayfish/Lobster I have EVER seen (could have been 1m long – not a fishing story, it was fucking enormous!), and the best fish in the sea –a Spotted Drum. It was a great day.

If quality dive equipment is important for you, go elsewhere. Our regulators leaked, my BCD self inflated regularly, and we both got blisters from the fins. A step up from me having to put rocks in my BCD for weights in Utila, but pretty average really. Divers used to Australian conditions would be shocked….

And so, we have done Cozumel again and time to move on. Tomorrow we head back to Playa del Carmen and Hotel Playa Palms, our favourite little getaway on the coast. We’re planning to stay for 5 nights, do another dive or two, walk on the beach, lie in the sun, read some books, eat fishies al a plancha, drink a little tequila, and prepare for our next move. That may be to Isla Holbox but, we have 13 days to go of this holiday, so who knows….

Some classic quotes from store owners on Cozumel (trying to survive the GEC and Pig Flu):

Please Sir, come into my store - everything almost free.
Spend some time in my shop – 30% of people say they like it in here.
Hey, want to see what I’ve got growing out the back?
Buenos dias friend, come into my store and let me rip you off. (my favourite)
Please, Honey Mooners, come into my store – sexy prices for you.
You want some real Cubans? I made them myself.
Hey, you want a moto? A jeep? Cheap accommodation? Snorkling? Diving? Taxi? Flight somewhere? A massage? Sex? (this guy was multi-talented)
Hello, what is your name? You from England? (no answer) No? From the US? (no answer - person continues to follow us down the street) No? You from France? (I have a bandana around my neck) No? How about Sweden? (my hair is going blonde due to the sun and salt water) Japan? (WTF?), Maybe New Zealand? (Close enough buddy, cheers…..)

Chichen Itza

Yesterday we travelled from Merida to visit one of the New Wonders of the World – Chichen Itza, on my list of the must-do’s of the world, and having been to Mexico trice previously and not seeing it, missing it a third time would have been a sin. Against something or other….

Chichen Itza is a ceremonial and religious site first developed by the Maya around 800AD and later by the Toltec Culture who conquered them. The current site is a mixture of Mayan and Toltec architecture and religious beliefs, with Chuc Mool – the Mayan Rain God, and the bird headed serpent (Toltec), dominating the reliefs.

The main feature of Chichen Itza is, of course, the main pyramid you are struck with as you enter the site. The Spanish called it El Castillo (The Castle), God knows why, because it’s definitely a pyramid.



My first shock of the day was to find out that people were no longer allowed to climb the pyramid. WTF? I’d travelled quite a distance to experience this event, but it was closed for climbing, as was the tunnel running up the interior. Apparently, some people had been having heart attacks and tripping over on the way down resulting in a few broken bones, so they’ve closed it.

The rest of the day could only be disappointing.

Chichen Itza is a classic example of human stupidness, along with the Taj Mahal in India, and Christ the Redeemer in Brazil – two other ‘Wonders’ of the world.

As a religious centre, there were very important ceremonies conducted here. Most of these involved some form of sacrifice, humans being on the shopping list for death. It seems that it was mostly defeated warriors that were used to appease the gods, but there were also many female bodies recovered around the site that seemed to have already had children, so the sacrificial virgin theory is doubtful. What we do know is that most people were laid across an alter, had their hearts cut out with an obsidian dagger, and the heart was placed on the belly of Chuc Mool while the priests and people prayed to the gods for rain, or whatever. Another form of sacrifice was to throw punters into the massive cenote (sink hole) nearby and be left to drown. There were thousands of bodies recovered from Chichen Itza, all seemingly to have been sacrificed to appease the gods.

While an impressive site, and an indication of human development in architecture, mathematics, and astronomy, it is clearer to me that this is another example of human underdevelopment in logic and common sense. A disconnect we still show to this present day.

Sacrifice humans to appease the gods? Fucking unbelievable!

Gods that quite obviously do not exist, nor ever will.

This is almost as ludicrous as, ‘praying for forgiveness’ or ‘giving thanks’, or blowing yourself up in a crowded market.

Chichen Itza, tick.

Of the Seven New Wonders, it comes in at six or seven. Competing with Christ the Redeemer for silliness.

Another ridiculous structure built out of ignorance, at a time when we should have known better.

On the other hand, a nice bunch of old rocks..

Merida

Merida is the inland hub of the Yucatan Peninsula, an ancient Mayan town and one of the first major inland developments of the Spanish.

We travelled here from Puerto Morelos today (bus to Cancun $USD2/30min, and a luxury bus to Merida with Uno USD$40/4hr – 15 degrees on the AC is crazy!) for a couple of business meetings, and will perhaps do a Chichen Itza day trip from here depending on how the business meetings go.

We’re staying at Hotel Trinidad, which is owned by a friend of ours, Mark, who is our contact here and is introducing us to his lawyer and accountant to establish the process for setting up a travel company in Mexico. Mark’s kindly put us in what I would call the ‘honeymoon suite’ at a handy discount, and it’s very comfy. Funnily enough, Rach and I checked this hotel out the last time we visited Merida about 3 years ago, but we didn’t stay for some reason. Not sure why, it’s a really cool place and seems good value.

Tomorrow we meet with the lawyer at 10am and then the accountant. It’s all in Spanish which will be interesting. As long as they stick to ‘uno mas tequila?’ I will be fine.

Merida Club Sandwich scored a 6 this afternoon, at a surprisingly local restaurant on the Plaza.

Too much lettuce (-1)
No bacon (-1)
Cut in half, not quarters (-1)
No salt on chips (-1/2)
Cheese not melted enough (-1/2)

Not bad.

The Puerto Morales Club scored a 3! Blaaah!

Puerto Morelos

We very sadly bid adios to Playa Palms and donned our packs for Puerto Morelos at midday on day 7 of our quest for hedonism and Mexican business enlightenment.

Jumping on bus 19 from the ADO terminal on 5th Avenue for Puerto Morelos (30 mins - 19 Pesos/USD$2) we were dropped at the drop off point on the Federal Highway and took a taxi to downtown PM ($USD2).

This was a big change in scenery. Where were the gringos? Nada. If you want to get away from the gringo trail along the Mexican Caribbean then Puerto Morelos should be on the agenda.

I guarded the bags (probably no requirement here) while Rach wandered around the 2 or 3 streets of PM to find a good deal. There are limited options to stay in PM, and you’re looking at 30-60 USD in the current climate for a nice room with a beach view. We took USD$50 at Carmen’s which seemed to be the best deal, but not necessarily the best room.


from the balcony

Puerto Morelos is basically a local getaway by the look. Hadn’t seen a gringo until day 3 when a batch of really annoying Americans turned up at the best restaurant and started talking much louder than anyone else, as usual. Why do they do that? Embarrassing really.

On day two we went diving with Willie from Aquanaut Dive Adventures and I can highly recommend him. It was basically a private dive since the market is so low, and we asked for a couple of simple dives in 10-20m with lots of fishies. It must be extremely tough for an Instructor when two Dive Masters turn up wanting to ‘see some fish’. LOL

Anyway, we did see some fish. In the first 30 seconds of hitting the bottom we had seen a Moray, a big Stingray and a huge Hawksbill Turtle. A few minutes later Willie had found us a juvenile Spotted Drum (Rachy’s favourite) so we were very happy and could have headed back for rum right then! Interestingly (for us) on the second dive Willie found a couple of Scorpion Fish (very poisonous) and he managed to pick them up off the coral and hold them in his hands while they played dead. Nice.

The beach in PM is a big surprise. I expected a Port, and no beach, but the beach is sensational!


on the beach

Last afternoon here, and I’m now sitting in the only wifi place in town to see how much money is dripping off the screen. Life is tough.

Tomorrow, we head back to Cancun, and then to Merida for a couple of business meetings.

Then, not sure….

Maybe some more sun on a beach somewhere….

Playa del Carmen

On the road again and we travelled from Isla Mujeres to Playa del Carmen today.

Ferry to Puerto Juares (20 min), chicken bus to Cancun bus terminal (20 min), comfy bus to Playa ($3, 1hr 10 min), and on foot in search of a hotel down 5th Ave - the hub of Playa.

After wandering about and finding that the hostel I had researched was $40 a night we decided to head to our favourite hotel in Playa and see if there was a good deal on. Unfortunately, not really, but 15% off was OK for us ($110), and we're booked in for two nights at Playa Palmas, which was called The Blue Parrot when we where here five years ago.


Playa Palmas Hotel

This afternoon we chilled around town, I bought some new shorts (as my previous ones were falling off me) and met a friend of a friend to talk about setting up a business in Mexico. Great help, and inspiring. Although, I must note the combination of the GEC and the pig thing is putting tremendous strain on the Mexican tourist industry. If Playa is an example, they are in real trouble short term and many businessess will go under. Even now, landlords are waving rent to keep tennents in business. The main street of Playa is normally PACKED but this afternoon it was like a ghost town. Many restaurants are bare. If things don't turn around quick here, many people will be on their knees.

Anyway, I write this to you from the balcony (in the dark), on some good strength wifi, watching the stock market go red. Looks like a down leg to me.


From the balcony - in the day time