Of El Manglar and Canadian Serial Killers

The sign outside of El Manglar has a crocodile drawn on it . . . and advertises breakfast for US$2.99. No, it's not Jeffrey Dahmer's home in the afterlife, but rather a small minimarket with a restaurant and a little unusual name located on Kukulkan in Cancun.

 Back in January, I had taken a Carnival cruise in the Caribbean (previously featured in Tales from the Caribbean). I was taking a nap on the deck when I noticed a shadow come across me. I opened my eyes to see a video camera pointed at me and heard "Yah, looks like him, eh?" This couple from Canada then explained that I resembled some serial killer who had recently been profiled on the Canadian equivalent of America's Most Wanted. Then they wandered off, not offering any detail on who this guy was, what were the nature of his crimes, or why he'd pick a Carnival cruise.

 One evening in Cancun I'd met three ladies from Canada. I don't know how the topic of murderers came up in conversation -- usually conversations are more mundane among recent acquaintances -- but they spoke briefly of some fellow in Canada who'd committed a number of murders and other heinous crimes with his wife as an accomplice. Then they remarked of this criminal's striking resemblance to me. I've been wondering about this similarity ever since the cruise, and now was my chance to get to the bottom of this.

 So these three filled me in on all the gory details: the fella's name is Paul Bernardo, his wife was in on the action, and the crimes are about as heinous as you could imagine. He's in custody now, so I guess it's safe for me to travel to Canada without the threat of arrest . . . just harassment, eh?

 (I still don't know what this guy really looks like. If anybody has a picture, please send it...)
 

Tales of Brazil (with more to come!)

 It was a typical evening at La Boom (though not to be confused with the Boom Boom Room of Laguna Beach), except that if I recall correctly, it wasn't all-you-can-drink that evening and one had to pay 15 pesos -- that's almost an ungodly US$2.00! -- for a Corona.

  I was hanging out with a couple people: a gentleman from New Jersey and this nice young lady from Rio de Janeiro. I don't speak Portuguese, but with a little Spanish and a lot of English, I was able to get by with her.  And, with little difficulty, I was able to understand the guy from Jersey as well.

It was through this evening I got to know Renata, a wonderful Brazilian woman, her kind friends and family.  It was also from this evening that I'd get to know the Brazilian people and the grand city of Rio de Janeiro.   As it turned out, Renata worked for a major airline that serves California as well as Brazil.  She'd never been to California before and I'd never been to Brazil, but over the course of the next couple years, that was to change.
 

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