Jonathan (00:00.162)
Hello everybody and welcome back to this amazing special episode of the blind chick. name is Jonathan price, the podcast producer that is Penn street and that is Moses street. And in honor of Moses, they are the blue.
Jonathan (00:20.46)
So, Penn and Moses are going to be sharing with you guys some of the sights and sounds of Playa del Carmen and some of their interesting experiences with other people. So, Penn, kind of tell me about what you guys are doing now.
Penn (00:36.236)
Yes, we're sitting here on Fifth Avenue and we wanted to share Fifth Avenue and Playa Del Carmen and we wanted to share some of the sounds of Fifth Avenue. This is one of our favorite restaurants. It's a vegan restaurant on Fifth Avenue. This is our second time being here. All of the food is absolutely amazing.
Moses (00:55.022)
And it's just a no. And it's not like neither of us are vegan. But we discovered that every time we go someplace out of way from home, you can find a true vegan restaurant. It is the best food you have ever tasted.
Penn (01:15.222)
It's always not fake.
Penn (01:19.694)
And the sounds on Fifth Avenue are amazing. Not just to blind people, but we'll share those sounds this evening. Thank you guys.
Moses (01:30.754)
Because it goes from real sweet like this to...
Penn (01:36.718)
Like across from us is this amazing singer singing Stand By Me. You might be able to hear her. There's people laughing. There's birds chirping. There's shoppers. It's pretty cool.
Moses (01:51.979)
Our waiter trying to get us to leave so other people can get in
Moses (01:59.0)
Now that's another nice thing is no waiter here. Our whole experience in all the different places in Mexico, no waiter ever tells you to leave.
Penn (02:12.374)
So we'll bring you more sounds of the evening.
Jonathan (02:15.234)
Well, it sounds like you guys are having a fantastic time. Yeah, let's do that. Let's listen to some of the sounds that you guys have recorded and you guys are experiencing because Fifth Avenue is a pretty happening place. But could you guys do a little bit of description as to what you guys are hearing? Some of the other sights and sounds that you guys are experiencing.
Penn (02:33.422)
The sounds of Fifth Avenue are so cool. Moses and I, every night we come down here and we just walk for miles and miles up and down Fifth Avenue.
Moses (02:51.182)
And with all the vendors, they hang out out front and then they try to entice you to come in. And once you get it, it is so fun. So we know practically every guy outside every shop on Fifth Avenue. And so it's neat then when you're walking down the avenue every night, everybody's saying hi to you. Yeah. And sometimes you stop for a chat.
Penn (03:21.314)
Yeah, but you can hear all the noises.
Penn (03:31.63)
So much live music.
Moses (03:36.59)
That's me singing. So I bet you everybody out there has been the senior frogs, which that's where that music's coming from.
Penn (03:41.512)
It's not.
you
Penn (03:58.474)
You can hear different accents.
Moses (04:03.35)
Yeah, yeah. And the other one I love is all the restaurants and most of the time we go off the main area because one, the restaurants are about half the price. The other though is they are really, really good. And then what's really neat is the
Penn (04:25.792)
I those people just yelled at us in Japanese because we were going too slow.
Moses (04:31.432)
and that come.
Penn (04:35.742)
smell that cinnamon chocolate. Cart.
Moses (04:39.918)
Yeah, but and all those people, all the small restaurants, mom and pop, you become friends with them. And so when you go there, it's like you're gone home for Thanksgiving dinner.
Penn (04:56.482)
Yeah, that's very sweet.
You guys can hear the birds. if you guys could smell. Not all the smells are good smells. I will have to say.
Moses (05:03.596)
lot of smells.
Moses (05:13.129)
we're coming up on a barbeque. No, no, no, no, no,
Penn (05:15.296)
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of meat, so the smell of cooking meat is not my favorite. But you get all kinds of smells, smells of chocolate, smells of cinnamon, fresh fruit, coffee. There was some burnt rubber smells. I don't know what that was from.
There's somebody who is painting, think with spray paint back there. So you smell spray paint. You can of course hear my cane, possibly.
Moses (05:58.97)
and the other neat thing is we're, unlike in the States, we are meeting blind people here who are out and about with their white canes.
Penn (06:12.12)
There's that chocolate smell again. it smells so good.
Moses (06:16.974)
and people with their rolling chairs.
Penn (06:21.696)
Yes, there's actually quite a few people in wheelchairs.
Moses (06:24.81)
And everybody is thrilled because we go up and meet them and they all get really excited and we're making a whole bunch of new friends that way.
Penn (06:32.59)
There is a perfumery, I don't know if that's what it's called, but I can always tell where I am because the amount of perfume pouring out of it, you can't miss it. I think even Moses can smell it and Moses can't smell anything. And I know the perfumery is right next to a giant mall.
Moses (06:59.982)
That's now.
Penn (07:01.1)
Yeah, and you will go into, you can go into the mall and it's very echoey. There's a waterfall. All right, we're gonna take a little break from the sounds of 5th Avenue.
Jonathan (07:18.336)
Okay, so while you guys are getting away from the sounds of Fifth Avenue and you make your way to some some different places in Playa del Carmen, you guys have talked about having dinner at these wonderful places and you guys are having breakfast where or your mornings take a little bit different.
Moses (07:39.986)
We got way away from Fifth Avenue.
Penn (07:44.15)
Yeah, kind of hippie-dippie granola.
Moses (07:46.934)
And it gets more and more old Mexico as you get away from the ship. So that was really fun, really delicious. And then Penn got her dream for dinner.
Penn (07:57.558)
Yeah, but I did have to work most of the day, which was, that was okay. But yeah, and then we ate at a super yummy Thai restaurant, which was to die for.
Moses (08:07.662)
And now we're having gelatos sitting people watching on Fifth Avenue.
Penn (08:17.036)
He's people watching, I'm people listening, because I can't see. But we had a really cool thing. Yes, but I did cry, but it was really cool. Fifth Avenue is like, I don't know. We still haven't found the end of it. It's, I'm guessing it's three to five miles long. And it's a pedestrian mall that just goes on and on and on. And lots and lots of restaurants, shopping, ice creams, a lot of.
you name it. But we met this American woman, her name is Christine, and we made her a fan of the podcast. Hello, Christine, welcome to the blind chick. And Moses said, Penn, Penn, there's a standard poodle, there's a standard poodle coming up on your right, there's a standard poodle coming up on your right. And I was like, where, where? And she noticed me and my cane. And so we went over and we said hello, and we chatted with her.
She goes, would you like to meet Apollo? And I was like, yes. And I explained that we just last Beethoven on December 22nd. And she said, well, he's a leaner. And I said, I know, because he's a poodle. And he goes, he'll try to give you a hug. And I was like, that's OK. And so Apollo, which is a big white standard poodle, just leaned right into me. And I gave him a pat.
You know, petted his curly curly hair and just started bawling. And she goes, my God, I'm so sorry. I made you sad. And I said, yes, but it's a beautiful sadness. So she told me all about Apollo and she shared her story of how she ended up being an ex-patriot here in Playa del Carmen. So Christina, reach out to us. We did get a photo. We will share it on social media. And
Yeah, so we're going to keep this brief and short.
Moses (10:20.846)
and she's gotta get me to bed, because I get cranky after six.
Penn (10:25.102)
I know, and it's like, no, it's only 8.15 p.m.
Moses (10:30.971)
I thought it was like one in the morning.
Penn (10:32.918)
No, it's only 8.15.
Jonathan (10:34.51)
Well before I let you guys go to bed and thank you for spending some time and letting everybody hear kind of what you guys have been up to but you guys have talked to some amazing people out there so far and just tell me a little bit about the people and some of the things that you've realized kind of on this trip.
Penn (10:53.55)
It's been an amazing trip. We both definitely needed it.
Moses (11:00.352)
It was the perfect vacation because we managed to do six, excuse me, 14 whole days of absolutely nothing. We went to no tourist sites. We went to no tourist events. We just chilled and went to really nice restaurants and took long walks.
Penn (11:24.822)
long walks and we met really amazing people. We actually met three blind people and two of them hopefully will be doing episodes with them on the blind chick in the near future. One of them was Ash and I would call Ash a Buddhist. Yeah.
So Ash, if you're listening to this and that's misrepresenting you, I apologize. But I think Ash has many layers, but I really, really enjoyed talking to you about thinking and the way we look at the world and the way we should be looking at the world, I guess. Yes. And we had a lovely, lovely long breakfast and drink afterwards.
and then we met Eric, who is a professional musician and, from Canada. And we did actually, looked him up on social media and, really awesome piano player. Yeah.
Moses (12:23.352)
from Ken.
Moses (12:34.058)
and quite well known in Canada.
Penn (12:36.322)
Yes. Eric Lambert, I'm probably saying your name wrong. then, then Sweet Maria, who's a grandmother from Mexico City. And I think I mentioned her earlier. Yes, because she, she, she wanted to feel my cane and, and she was amazed at how tall it was because I think it was as tall as her.
Moses (12:41.336)
So them up and listen now.
Moses (12:54.082)
That was the most emotional.
Penn (13:06.158)
and she held my hand and she did not want to let go. Cause I think I was the only other blind person she had ever met and she didn't speak English and I didn't speak Spanish, but just holding each other's hands. We, we learned a lot. It's quite emotional.
Moses (13:23.758)
And it brings up the big point that we keep pushing is get outside with your cane. they had not had their cane, we wouldn't have known they were blind.
Penn (13:43.158)
Moses never would have known they were blind and had the opportunity to chase them down. Yeah, you know
Moses (13:48.994)
Yeah. And it's a great way to meet people.
Penn (13:57.888)
And it was a symbol when Moses would say, Ben, Ben, there's somebody with a white cane. My heart just leapt with joy and I was so proud. I was like, go, go, go, jump, run, run, go meet them.
Moses (14:14.06)
And it's always a really amazing person that you're meeting. You know, it's not like you're going up to somebody and they're incredibly boring or you just it's awkward and that every time we do this, not just here, but everywhere we go, if we see a white cane, we're getting to know them. Yeah. And it's always been a fascinating conversation.
Penn (14:37.848)
When we do meet other blind people on our travels, I think they really enjoy getting to meet us too. I don't think it's one-sided. So get those canes out, wave them around proudly.
Moses (14:52.366)
Yeah.
Be prepared, because when I walk up and I say, Hi, we wanted to say hello because my wife's right here and she's blind. And when you first do that, they're kind of in shock for two, three seconds. And then it generally turns into anywhere from a five minute to half hour conversation.
Penn (15:16.082)
And we usually end up, not always, but we end up meeting later for lunch or drinks or something. it's really, really cool. Yeah. so yeah. And it was really fun meeting Scott Garrison's parents here. It was awesome having breakfast with our friend, Megan Huffnagle. It's just been an amazing trip. But the one thing that Moses and I really learned the hard way of how important it is,
to take care of ourselves and not get so, so depleted to realize when our cups are getting empty and how we can stop and pause and fill them up before they get empty.
Moses (16:01.908)
We basically without exaggerating, we both almost slept the whole first week. Yeah. So.
Penn (16:09.036)
Yeah. Well, and even the last few days, the last two days, was very ill. We discovered that I'm allergic to tamarind tea, which that will, we'll go into that later. That's not a pretty subject. yeah, I did not know, had no clue how depleted I was until I had the opportunity and the time to just catch up and
Rejuvenate.
Moses (16:40.3)
For the couples out there, it was really neat for me because two whole weeks I had Penn all to myself. Which is rare, you know? And there was none of her coming home from work grumpy. Get out there with your kids.
Penn (17:01.336)
So get out there, travel, be good to yourselves, keep those cups filled, however, whatever you need to do. And give us your feedback. What do you do on your travel? How do you keep your cups filled? And remember, my birthday's coming up. Send in those birthday cards. They don't have to be in Braille. I do have ways of being able to read them and access them.
but would love, love to get a birthday card from you. So Jonathan will put the address in the notes and please, please be kind to yourself this week and find a way to be kind to somebody else. It's good for your soul.
Moses (17:47.438)
Goodbye!