What follows is a very rough travel blog of our "backpacking" trip to the Yucatan and points south. This trip was originally planned for December and January of 2008, but due to a number of circumstances, was rescheduled for March. Just so there's no confusion (as a few friends have asked), we were not literally "backpacking" (and camping) our way through Mexico, but rather traveling with our backpacks from place to place. We had no specific itinerary and in fact, the only pre-planned event was our flights to Cancun (our starting point) and our flights out, 17 days later. What happened between those flights was up to us.
I've added links to photo albums for each day (that we took pictures) -- these albums are slightly whittled down as we returned with close to 900 pictures.
For friends that don't want to bother with all this, I also posted a smaller set of highlights on Flickr. This photo set has geo-tagging data as well -- check out the map below (or on flickr) to see exactly where our trip led us.
After a big false start to this adventure back in December, the big day had arrived. We were off to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala with our friend David. The plan was to haul our backpacks around for 17 days -- the only real scheduled activity, lodging or itinerary was the flight into Mexico and the flight out. Because our flight to Cancun was so early on Friday morning we stayed at Robert's place in LA the night before and he drove us over to LAX in the morning.
Like any travel day, it's long, boring and tiring. We flew from LAX to Mexico City. This is first time I'd ever flown through this city of 20 million. The expanse of cityscape is massive, the pollution is obvious (and according to a friend Hol met on a later flight, causes the approach flight to be turbulent). I tried to grab a few shots with my camera of the cityscape, but the smog hanging in the air was too much -- just like LA, right? The airport (at least the terminals we traveled through) were quite modern and had an interesting architectural element (a grid of circular holes) that let natural light in and kept the space cool and subdued.
After passing through customs (without our luggage), we caught our connecting flight to Cancun. Apparently, in Mexico, drinks on the plane are at no cost! In Cancun you exit the airplane directly onto the flight deck and the heat and moisture was immediate. We grabbed our bags and David arranged for a Collectivo to the Cancun ADO terminal. In Cancun, as you pass through a second round of customs (this time with your bags), the agent asks you about declarations, then instructs you to "push the button". The button is attached to the pole of a six foot tall "traffic light" device. If it flashes red you "win" a chance to have your bags and person personally searched... It flashed green -- we "lost". I wonder what yellow means.
After getting dropped off at the ADO terminal, we drug our bags around for a bit trying to find a place to change travelers checks... after a bit of walking, we decided to just change out some cash. Three tickets on an ADO line to Tulum and we were on our way again. The ride south was pretty uneventful and it was dark by now, so there wasn't much to see. When we reached Tulum (the city is named for the Mayan ruins on its northern edge), David figured out how to call down the hotel he had stayed at previously -- El Crucero was on the North end of town, within walking distance of the ruins and the beach. Unfortunately they only had a single room with two doubles or a dormitory for us and only for one night. We decided to just share the room and figure out where we would stay the next night in the morning. After dropping our bags off, we headed back to town get something to eat. The taxi driver recommended the El Mariachi as some simple and typical Mexican food. We were welcomed by a stray cat, and the food was decent.
David was up earlier than us, checking out a Hostel across the road and getting breakfast. He finally shamed us out of bed -- we hadn't slept that well and were really tired. El Cuccero had a little restaurant bar in the courtyard, so we grabbed some grub there (the chilaquila con lluevos were excellent). We walked our bags across the street to the Lobo Inn Hostel (the middle thumbnail is the room we rented) and then headed down the road to see the Tulum ruins.
On the way to the site, there was a small market area selling the typical stuff we would end up seeing in hundreds of little sidewalk stands and shops for the next two weeks. Shirts, hats, jewelery, knick-knacks, art work, etc. We'd decided to buy our travel hats in Mexico, so Hol and David picked out there's. I didn't see any I liked, so I stuck with my baseball cap. Hol picked out a canvas number with a Tulum logo on the front. When the salesman told me the price, all my memory of shopping in Mexico was gone. I completely forgot to haggle. I just said, "okay". $20 was probably too steep, but in the end the hat served Hol well. I was satisfied to hear that David haggled his hat down to $20 from $30, so we didn't pay too much.
In the center of the market square was a dancing pole, and a group of locals in Mayan dress were demonstrating the dance along with playing the traditional instruments. We took some photos and tipped the group before heading down the road to the ruins.
The Tulum site isn't incredibly large, but is very picturesque. The site sits directly on some small cliffs looking down onto picture perfect Caribbean waters. We walked amongst the ruins for an hour or so. Like all the ruins we visited, iguanas slithered and clung to various buildings -- I think they liked the attention. On the far side of the compound, there's stairs that take you down to the beach. We found a quiet section on the far end and went for dip. The water was gorgeous and it was hot out, so we stayed for an hour or so before heading back to highway. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for beers and snacks at El Cucerro, then at the eco-tour office to book a tour in the Sian Ka'an wilderness preserve. It turned out they didn't have slots available for the following morning, so we took the Monday morning slot. Siesta time!
We headed into town to walk around before dinner. David was looking for an estetica run by some gay guys that he had gotten a haircut from on his last visit to Tulum. In the process of hunting we walked a couple blocks off the main street and into a Saturday night street fair. There was local treats for sale, pirated music and movies, and lots of other goods -- none of it was targeted at touristas, so this stuff was different than what we had encountered on the main street. There was a large group of people watching a mock bull fight of some sort. Before we realized what was happening a string of really loud firecrackers was going off, making Hol and I jump about 10 feet. Some locals standing across the street laughed and laughed at us. We grinned back. David stopped to get a snack... Mexican Corn on the Cob (grilled or boiled corn cob, smeared with mayo, then lime juice and then sprinkled with cotija cheese and cayenne pepper, on a stick).
We stopped at restaurant for a late dinner -- I had some homemade empenadas and we shared margaritas. We stopped at an Italian run and owned gelatto store. David kindly acted as the proxy between Hol and the owner, asking questions about wheat content in the gelatto . They thought we were crazy -- who puts wheat in their ice cream?! Better safe than sorry though. We caught a collectivo back to the hostel and Hol made friends with a father and his infant daughter. We learned that the collectivo would cost us 10 pesos per person, where as a taxi would cost 30 pesos. In other words, if we were all together, the cost was the same.
We woke up early today with plans to take a bus out to Coba and hike around the ruins. Unfortunately the day of travel, bad night's sleep and then all day in the sun, had done Holly in... she said she was going to stay behind today and sleep to see if she could head off a cold she felt coming on. I left her with some money and headed into town w/ David to buy a bus ticket to Coba. We had about a 30 minute wait before our bus was going to leave, so we walked over to a fruit juice stand and bought some fruit and muffins for breakfast. The ride to Coba took about an hour or so and the bus dropped us into a town with one main street and few little stores positioned around the bus stop.
We walked the half mile or so the entrance of the Coba, this took us past a little dock that David had previously paid to walk to the end of and view a cocodrilo up close and personal. We could see the cocodrilo at the end of the dock, but the owner said we would have to come back later when the dock was "open". After purchasing our entrance tickets, we stopped to view the first ruins in the compound -- a medium sized temple complex with an adjacent "ball court". The ball court was pretty cool -- it is amazing to think these cities had enough wealth to devote time and resources to building sporting complexes with intricate rules.
Because Coba's compound is large and spread out (much of Coba has yet to excavated), we rented bikes and started off down the paths. There were a number of small and medium sized structures, from ball courts, to temples, to utility buildings. The center piece of Coba is the main temple structure, called Nohoch Mul. It's big -- 42 meters. This is one of the last big temples that visitors are still allowed to climb the face of (many of the other sites have closed down any climbing due to decaying structures or tourists who have fallen and died). Climbing up is not really that hard. The face is pretty steep, but I was nervous that if I went up, I'd have to come back down. One misstep and you'd be toast. At the top we sat down on one side to enjoy the view -- a french tourist pointed over the side (without steps leading down, just a shear drop off) and told us that was the "efficient" way down. I told David I'd probably scoot down on my rear having seen just how high up we were. Another tourist who overheard my comment added, "there's no shame in that!" After enjoying the view and snapping some shots, we headed down. I scooted for a bit, then used the method described in the tour book -- walk down on diagonal lines, switching back and forth. It makes it easier to deal with the tall rise and narrow run of each step. After the temple, we pointed our bikes down various paths and stopped in the areas that looked interesting. Coba was large and important enough that a 100km raised and paved road (called a Sacbe, meaning White Road) had been built through this city. There were still spots that you could see the road. Hard to imagine the labor involved in constructing such an extensive road system.
After returning our rented bicycles, we walked back up the road to the ADO bus stop. It was too early to by tickets (at least, in these tiny towns, the staff disappears until around the time the bus is coming), so we crossed over to the other side of the road and drank beers until the bus (and ticket salesperson) arrived.
When we reached Tulum, David wanted to bring some street carnitas back to the hostel for lunch, however the "take away" ended up being to fatty for Hol and I so we enjoyed "veggie" tacos, with some very spicy habanero sauce. There was still plenty of light and the day was still hot enough, that we took a taxi down to the beach. We walked a ways north, towards the Tulum ruins and found a near empty spot on the beach. Three teens on spring break working on their tan and an older lady doing yoga (without her top). We swam in the water and drank beers for a bit. The girls got up and started taking "suggestive" photos of each other posing in the sand and water. Within minutes a nearly deserted beach turned into groups of boys "casually" loitering about observing the photo shoot. Eventually they cleared out, but one of the last guys hanging out was asked if he could take a shot of all three of the girls together. He beamed and was rewarded with a quick shot of the girls with his camera phone.
Time to head back to clean-up for dinner -- we walked back through the ruins and up to the hostel. We headed into town, David intent on finding his "estetica", but alas still came up empty handed. We settled on the Pedrillo Argentina steak place -- one of the nicer places in town. Hol and David split a steak w/ grilled veggies and baked potatoes. We also shared a papa azul (baked potato with a melted blue cheese sauce on top). I had the linguini carbonara. Discussed splitting ways such that we could stay in Mexico and David could head south into Belize. Finished the evening off with a stop back at the gelatto place where the girl behind the counter remembered us and assured us there was no wheat in any of the treats.
We had to be up fairly early to meet up with the "eco-tour" we had booked two days previous. We met the van across the highway from the hostel. Most of the tour group will get picked up en route to the "eco lodge", but we do get to meet one of the group immediately -- Celine is a 21 year old French girl who is on break from her studies in Puebla, Mx. Both Hol and I are amazed this little girl is backpacking around on her own in Mexico. We stopped at various beach front hotels gathering the rest of the tour -- many cater to "westerners" with offers of yoga and pilates. There's a few touting their "eco friendliness". I tend to think these are ploys to attract tourists. We later learn that at least one (probably more) hotel, the Playa Papaya, offers individual beach cabanas with outdoor showers -- sounds like fun.
After gathering everyone together at the eco lodge, we take a short hike through the jungle to the boat launch in the lagoon. We ride across the first lagoon and into the mangrove and saw grass canals. We stop here and there to observe various plants, birds and sights. We spot a couple sting rays swimming in the brackish water. We end up in the second lagoon, which is fresh water before turning back into the canals and stopping at a small Mayan ruin (a guard tower). The guide gives us life jackets to sit on and we float down the canal for a bit, enjoying the cool waters and getting up close and personal with the flora and fauna. After a quick snack of fruit and water on the boats, they take use back through the canals and across the lagoons out to the boca riviera??? where the lagoon feeds into the ocean. The view is awesome.
After more boating through canals we end up back at the eco lodge for a late lunch with the group. We sit with Celine and a couple of women from the Seattle area (Molly and Sandra). After lunch we have some time to enjoy the lodge. The roof of the structure is an observation tower offering a 360 degree view -- the position of the lodge puts the turquoise caribe to the east and the olive green lagoon to the west with only a small strip of jungle between us and the lagoon. We walked down to the beach and took a dip in the ocean before taking the van to a cenote just on the edge of the reserve area. The water is a bit chilly to start with, but refreshing and worth the experience. This cenote is basically at ground level, surrounded by Yucatan jungle. We swim for a bit and another group of Mexican's on holiday join us and we talk with them for a bit before heading back.
After returning to the hostel we relaxed in the courtyard, reading and relaxing before heading into town for dinner. We decided on La Nave for dinner, an Italian place with very strong margaritas, but first we found a place foe David to get his hair done -- not *the* place, but it would have to do. Sandra and Molly are sharing a pizza at La Nave and we say hello before ordering an olive, cheese and meat plate. After sharing some other interesting dishes (and more margaritas), we headed down the street to a cantina playing old 50's movies on a big screen. After another margarita (not as good), we met David's alter ego, El Rapido Cocodrilo. We realized it was St. Patrick's Day -- better pick up some beer to take back to the hostel.
Back at the hostel a big group was sitting out in the courtyard drinking and talking. When Hol turned down a drink, they asked her why and she revealed that she was embarazada. Hernan (a true charmer) from Argentina suggested that everyone help pick a name for the baby... The girls immediately take to this idea and Tamara gets some paper to write them all down. Everyone goes around the circle and shares their choices. They were really sweet -- and we now have baby name suggestions from France, Australia, Switzerland, Argentina, Spain and Mexico. Many thanks to our new friends: Romain, Emilie, Owen, Suzanne, Tamara, Hernan, David, Anne, Marisol and Franke. The names, in no particular order were:
Nizara, Sofia, Zachary, Cielle, Sarah, Miguel, Fiorella ("little flower"), Julie (French), Ashley, Mana (for a girl), Marie (French), Gabriel (for a boy), America, Leonardo, Lou (for a girl), Esteban, Hannah, Connor, Alejandro, Alejandra, Zitlali (Aztec for "star"), Juan, Matco, Elina, Ka'ala, Santino.
We got up for breakfast at hostel (fruit on crepes) with David, Tamara & the Swiss girl. Nothing for Hol to eat (lucky in this case). As we packed up, both David and I had a touchy stomach (must have been the b'fast?)... We headed over to El Cucerro to get an egg for Hol. I had toast and coffee hoping my stomach would recover. We caught a cab into town to the ADO terminal. David headed south to Chetumal while we headed North to Playa Del Carmen. We promised to meet up again, 9 days from now, in Piste. The bus was playing the movie Cars, in Spanish.
We arrived in Playa and walked down to avenida 15 and calle 4. There were a couple of hotels that David had suggested from his guide book. The Tucan was booked, but we were able to find a room at the Posada Barrio Latino. A little higher then we wanted to pay at $85 US, but quiet, clean, and encantador with nice people (and dogs).
We headed out to find a libreria for a guide book (we'd been using David's up until this point) and phrase book. My Castellano (Spanish) hadn't been used in decades and wasn't that good to begin with. We wandered towards a shop that the hotel attendant thought might have something for us... Turned out to be a souvenir shop. Shot glasses and t-shirts. Foraging on, we got sucked into an upscale outdoor mall. The Newport Fashion Island of Playa (seriously). Starbucks, sushi, high end clothing, watches, sunglasses and jewelery stores set amongst stone fountains and art pieces. I was somewhat surprised there was no apple store, really.
There were several different street performers here... The old 'metallic' statue that taunts passers by and then stands still. Mayan warriors doing traditional (I hope) dances. There was a decent troupe of street/break dancers and an amazing spray paint artist -- almost more performance art than the finished product. I wish I had brought my camera out, but I'd left it locked in the hotel room. Finally, thanks to Hol asking a helpful and well spoken travel guide/booking agent (Miguel @ ave 5 and calle 1), we got a small map and directions to the Mundio bookshop where we bought our bibles for the next two weeks.
We headed over to the Tucan to get some early dinner (nachos, salad y cerveza), then walked down to the main street. Playa is now so commercialized and it being spring break, the place was jumping. Bars, shops, jewelery stores, clubs, real estate agencies (selling property and condominios) were all lit up and hawking their goods. Playa seemed very cosmopolitan compared to Tulum - it the majority of the accents appeared to be from Europe. The crowds were multi-cultural, from affluent Mexican, Spanish and French families to euro trash Italians and white trash Americans, oh, and don't forget the Spring Breakers and Frat boys. Unfortunately, it's also expensive and manufactured. In some ways like Disney... Although no doubt the mega resorts and water parks that dominate the riviera maya beachfront do a much "better" job at this. $5 margaritas and $2 beers are okay, but I saw plenty of menus with $20 to $40 entrees...
Back at the hotel we wrote up a quick cheatsheet for hotel searching in the morning... About 5 good possibilities thanks to recommendations from friends at Tulum, the guidebook and David.
We got up early to try and find another hotel before breakfast... We spent about 45 minutes going through the cheatsheet and come up empty handed. Guess what? Not only is spring break, it's also Holy week and all of Mexico is on vacation.
During breakfast on the patio back at the hotel, we outline a plan. Spend a few hours working back from the evening we plan to meet Dave in Piste to come up with our travel plans. We figure we'll stay in 'barrios' (since we can) one more night... After that they are fully booked. This will give us the afternoon to plan out the next 9 days and find another hotel.
After a couple more hours poring through the guide book trying to map a path through Quinto Roo and Yukatan in the days we have remaining. We have scribbled notes to represent places we plan to go and things to do while we're there, hotels to try, bus and ferry schedules, and dates we're traveling. (I'm certain there's a better way to do this -- I think a template could be devised. :-)
After noon (when the heat dies down), we head out on the town to find housing. We also drop our laundry off (they do laundry by the kilo here, we have 6.3 kilos) at a lavanderia. After nearly 4 hours and probably 25 hotels we are still empty handed. Sure we can find some pretty divey places for $230/night (ahem, the Sahara -- what the F$#k!!?), but even the 5 star places are filled up (500 US a night? Sheesh).
By this point, Hol is dying of hunger so we stop at the "100% Natural" place for guacamole, pitas and organic chicken enchiladas. (oh and freshly blended apple juice). At this point I'm totally stressing about where we'll stay tomorrow, so we head back to the hotel to re-group. We stop at several more hotels, even one's we visited before without any luck. Hol appears calm, where as I feel the stress start to physically affect me. I'm desperate at this point. Hol wants to ask at the Tucan again... Same answer: Full. We ask for recommendations and the nice girl gets out a map and starts writing in hotel locations. She lists 10 or so hotels - I recognize 90% of them and know they have nothing available. Hol notices one she cannot remember having been to. It's literally a block from our current hotel -- as we enter the little courtyard, we are greeted by several guests - "hola". Recepcion is at the back and there's a nice (German) girl at the desk. She speaks English too! She immediately reminds me of my "aunt" Heidi. We tell her what we're looking for and I blurt out "we're getting desperate now" ... (what the heck did I just say?!!). She has a room for the two days we need and it's only $500 pesos. We book it, not even bothering to look at it.
As we walked back down the street, I can feel the stress wash away. Hol interrupts my euphoria, asking why I had said "we were desperate" before we'd heard the price -- she's learning! :-) All I can figure is, she reminded me of family... with relief we wander down to Quinta Avenida to look at some shops and relax. We're both tired from walking for hours so we call it an early night and head back to the hotel to read our books.
We were joined for breakfast by the three hotel dogs (you're not supposed to feed them) who entertained us by chasing lizards as seriously as possible. We then packed up, relaxed, and used the hotel's VoIP phone to call Tedd and my parents. While Hol chatted with Tedd, the front desk clerk offered some tips on my Spanish (I was thankful). I told him our plans for the next few days and he offered some advice on where we were traveling and how busy it would be. Having recently felt the stress of trying to find a room for the night, I'm a little nervous about finding hotels later this week. He also drew a tiny map of where Yul Ku is located in Akumal. He showed me a picture of the lagoon and it looked awesome.
After checkout, we walked our bags up calle 4 to our new digs, Hotel Colorado and paid for the night. The room wasn't ready but they let us keep our bags in storage.
We walked up calle 20 and caught a collectivo ($25 pesos each) to Akumal. About 20 minutes later we were dropped on the highway across from the street that led to the beach. Akumal has a nice paved and shaded path down to the beach. Once we got there we asked directions to Yal Ku - about 2 kilometers north just beyond the point. We walked along the road for a bit, then along the beach in the water. Tons of worn, dead brain coral had washed up. Many people had used it to pave driveways, build speed bumps and decorated hardscaping. It didn't dawn on us until later just what that meant.
When we reached Yal ku, we looked around a bit... The park had a ton of statues, mostly female forms, intermingled in the jungle pathways. The lagoon looked nice and we could see some fish from the edge. We rented our gear (and a locker) and headed into the water. The lagoon did have a decent number and variety of fish... Unfortunately, it appeared hurricane Wilma had wiped out the corral near the front/ocean side of the lagoon. A ton of dead antler coral lay on the lagoon floor and you could see where coral had been pulled off the rocks. There were a lot of crevices and edges to explore and quite a few fish. No turtles, eels or rays.
Overall the lagoon was picturesque and a nice place to tool around... I can only imagine how nice was before the hurricane. The area was safe, wooden stairs made access fairly easy, and currents mild enough that it's an ideal place for kids to learn how to snorkel. After an hour or so we'd toured most of the lagoon and it was time to go. $7/ea admission, $5/ea gear rental, $1 for a locker (Paid in pesos, quoted costs are in US). There looked to be a number of private homes or rentals that also had direct access to the lagoon off of private docks, which regardless of snorkel quality, is a cool backyard.
We walked up the road to the restaurant at Hotel Que Onda for beers, tacos and guacamole, then continued walking into town. We stopped and walked along the main beach in Akumal before walking up the pathway to catch a collectivo back to Playa. It took a few minutes to find one that had a couple of seats available.
Back at the hotel we relaxed, read a bit and I watched the last few minutes of the Guatemala v Honduras match on the TV (first TV we've had). I would say that 25% or more of the programs and movies were imported from the US. No wonder why the world hates us. Most were dubbed, some were sub-titled and some had sub-titles with the English audio muted.
After cleaning up a bit we headed down to pick up our laundry (7$ US) and then on to find something to eat. Hol wasn't feeling well and just wanted arroz and veggies. The nice waitress asked if Hol was sick from food in Mexico... Hol told her she was embarazada, and the waitress replied "that's a happy kind of sick!". Her name was Elise and she was from Holland. She was going to recommend the local remedy for "bad stomach": flat coke with lime squeezed into it. We talked for a bit about living in Mexico. Hol asked about the water and Elise said no one drinks it, not even true locals. She said they wash the veggies and fruit in water that has some chemicals to kill anything. She said she now brushes her teeth with tap water, but will never grow immune.
Got up in the morning with plans to day trip to Cozumel. On our way out, we paid for another night in our room and headed out to the ferry pier. Nothing looked good to eat on the way so we headed straight to get tickets. On the way to the pier, we tried to change some money, but the lady in the little casa de cambio complained my signature didn't match close enough on the traveler checks. Well, of course not! I had to sign the checks standing up with no surface to write on. She even denied me after I signed again in front of her. Extremely annoying. We just barely made the 9am ferry, and unfortunately they don't let you stand outside so Hol felt crummy for the 30 minute ride and for a bit after we got to Cozumel. First order of business was to get Hol her Sprite!
After her stomach settled and we walked around for a bit, she was ready to eat. When one the guys trying to book tours (there must be one of these for every 2 meters of space in Cozumel) asked if we wanted a glass bottom boat ride/ snorkel tour / paragliding trip / scooter rental, we explained Hol was a little sick from the boat and we needed deseyuno. They tend to soften their sell when we explain she's not feeling well. He recommended "Casa Denis" at the next esquina (and asked us to come back if we needed a tour/scooter/whatever).
Hol had an egg and I had an egg sandwich w/ a jugo de watermelon. Yum. Given our in ability to change travelers checks earlier, we then hunted around for a casa de cambio which proved more difficult than we thought given it was Good Friday. We found one that would at least change US dollars for us.
Finally we were on our way down the coast to Playa Palancar (interesting movie trivia for David, a small (now ruined by hurricanes) house was used on this beach in the movie Against All Odds -- it was Rachel Ward's house where she meets with Jeff Bridges on Cozumel. More on David's obsession with Against All Odds later.). The taxi driver opened up as soon as we started asking questions. He was born and raised on Cozumel. We were nearing the off season, but today was particularly busy - although they sometimes get as many as 7 ships on weekends, today there were 5, but two of them were huge (they were docked side by side and were MASSIVE). Mondays and Tuesdays were usually 2-3, with 3-5 a day until the weekends. Because so much of the influx of tourists is from ships, logically, the majority are Americans - he judged about 70%. Where as he believed, Playa got a more continental flavor, suggesting 60% were "euros" and 40% were from the US. He pointed out buildings and areas damaged by the two recent hurricanes... Apparently the big one, Wilma, hovered for 60 hours. Cozumel was shut down (no tourists) for two months repairing buildings, roads, docks, etc. No tourists means no economy. There clearly was still plenty of work to be done... He told us his favorite spot to snorkel was in the Chankanaab National Park. He said residents have a permit that gets them in free. After 25 minutes or so we reached the beach via storm worn road. Fare was 200 pesos!
As we entered the dirt road to the beach there were some wetlands, with "pink flamingos" (or a close relative) fishing for lunch. Supposedly there was a cocodrilo in there as well, but after 15 minutes of hunting we gave up.
We took a quick stroll down the beach to get the lay of the land. There were not more than eight structures here, about 5 intact. The two main activities were laying around and eating, with scuba/snorkeling a close third. We quickly got booked onto a snorkel tour going to the reef area we'd come for: Columbia Shallows. Gear, the boat ride/guide, and a locker were $30/person. Ouch.
The tour took about 90 minutes, starting with a tour of Columbia Shallows, then crossing over a narrow channel to Palancar Reef. There were lots of fish, some curious enough to follow us around while we toured their home. Hol even spotted a couple sea turtles.
After the tour we settled in under a palapa in the sand - margaritas and limonada to drink and a fruit platter to share. After relaxing and enjoying the beach for a bit, we grabbed a taxi back to the ferry dock, acquired a "security Sprite" for Hol and boarded the ferry back to Playa. Hol fell asleep on the ferry and thus didn't get sick!
In Playa we needed to call ahead to some hotels in Puerto Morelos to reserve a room. After trying to get help dialing at two places the third did the trick. We called our four possibilities and got a room reserved (under Miguel from California). A quick victory helado for Hol while we sat and relaxed. With lodging off our minds, we wandered up and down Avenida Quinta, shopping and people watching. I'd read about a jazz club at calle 14, but it was gone... We finally settled on a bar/restaurant (called Kitxen, the "x" in Mayan is pronounced like "sh" -- get it?) because it had eclectic music playing. Hol had a delicious spinach salad with champinones and tocino. She is officially sick of Mexican food :-), even guacamole. I had a bacon burger with red onions -- it was surprisingly good. We headed back to the hotel to get some rest before moving on tomorrow.
Today we slept in until 8 or so as check out wasn't until noon. We walked down calle 4 to find some deseyuno. We stopped at the Makkoroni - directly across the street from the Barrios Latinos hotel. The nice Argentinian waitress took our order and helped us with our Spanish. Hol had dos lluevos frito and I had chilaquila with rojo sauce and fresh jugo de pina. Delicious, but next time I'd order with un lluevo as I had them at El Cuccero. After finishing our packing, we checked out and said our thanks to the two hotel owners.
We walked over to Avenida 20 and Calle 2 to catch a collectivo to Puerto Morelos (20 pesos/ea) and then a taxi into town (20 pesos). We dropped off our bags at Hotel Posada Amor - we were a bit too early to check in. Since we had some time, we walked north on the beach and then back through the town. It was getting hot so we stopped in Pelicano's, a beach front restaurant, for cervezas and limonadas. A senorita was selling little pictures personalized with your name. She had lived in California both in San Francisco and La Hoya... We bought a little picture just for the heck of it. We then walked South down the beach... It ended abruptly with a small gated port - there was a half sunken ferry hull sitting in the turquoise blue waters.
Directly on the ocean was what appeared to be a grade school. As we walked through the buildings it looked as if about 50% of the classrooms had been repaired from the hurricane. I wonder if Puerto Morelos lost that much population from Wilma or was the school already over built before the hurricane hit.
We walked back to the Posada to check in and quickly grab beach gear... I wanted to walk down past the small shipping port to take a closer look at the sunken ferry. There were some small hotels on this side of town, but the beach wasn't as nice so we headed back over in front of the school. More families had gathered in and around the school to sit, eat and swim. Seemed kinda nice that the kids "went to school" on the weekends too. We settled into a quiet spot on the water to go for a swim and read our books. When the sun started to sink, we headed back to clean-up for dinner.
We checked out a few restaurants -- settling on Chinese/Italian called David Lau's. Yes. It's odd, but as you might have guessed, we've had a lot Mexican food recently. This odd combination of cuisines would allow Hol to get something that reminds her of home -- pesto on rice. I had General Tsaos pollo, which was okay, but not spicy enough for my taste. The portion was huge and I felt guilty for only being able to finish a half.
After dinner we walked and sat in the zocolo (town square) and watched the kids play on the basketball/soccer court for a bit. We noted that little kids everywhere use the same tactic when playing soccer against bigger boys -- they snatch the ball up with their hands and run for the goal, drop kicking it within a few feet of the goal. We walked around town a bit more, down to the beach then back to the hotel to read our books.
There must have been multiple parties going on around our room last night, the last of which hadn't quieted until after 2am. We slept in until 9 or so. We ordered breakfast at the hotel's restaurant - fruit, coffee and toast for me. The coffee was really good. Hol had lluevos w/ fruit and tea.
We collected our bags and checked out, asking advice about transportation to Isla Mujeres. The owner advised that we would have to get to Cancun and then take a taxi to Puerto Juarez. So we took a taxi to the highway ($2), caught a collectivo to the Cancun bus depot (or near it -- $2/ea), then a taxi to the ferry port ($3) and round trip ferry boletos ($7/ea). The ferries run every 30 ish minutes and the "waterjet" ones take about 15-20 minutes to cross. There's a slower one that takes cars ($20), vans & trucks ($25) and additional personas ($1.50).
Either the boat trip or breakfast made Hol a pretty sick (Seasick = Mareo). After getting off the boat we stopped at the closest restaurant (Sombrero de Gomar), that had a bathroom, to reset and cool off. Excellent guac with an onion, cilantro and tomato salsa. Hol sipped at her sprite and tried to feel better. :-(
While I waited for a second beer I ran down the street to the first hotel on our list - Hotel Caracol (which we later learned was for sale). The nice manager helped me with my Spanish (my pronunciation is still really bad). They had a few rooms open and I opted to pay extra for the A/C unit having sweltered the night before. The room was decently clean so I took it, grabbed the key and ran back to drink my beer.
After dropping or bags in our room, we decided to get the lay of city with a walking tour. Isla Mujeres is tiny... The island is 8km long and 150 - 800 meters wide for most of the length. The majority of the population is in a town to the north (where we were staying). There is a small, private island ("Punta Norte") at the very end (a hotel and some condos are the only structures there) and connected to the main island via a wooden bridge. (A nice guard at the far end wouldn't let us on.) The entire speck of land must have been 100 meters by 150 meters. Since we were walking, we decided to just hit the beach and see how far we could walk. We walked from the farthest point at the north (the wooden bridge) down the West side along the beach, then the wharf and finally down the sidewalk that's sandwiched between the road and the water. We then crossed over and walked up the East side until we hit the bridge again. After probably 4 hours we'd walked around the entire city and about 1/3 of the island.
The North-West side of the island is a gorgeous crushed white coral beach with translucent blue waters. The water is only waist high for a long, long way. Certain areas of the beach are somewhat held together by piles of plastic sandbags and wooden anti erosion fences. Areas of the beach are packed with palapas, tables, lounges, futons, raised beds and of course bars. There are also open areas and volleyball courts.
The East side is a rocky shore employing tons and tons of crushed rocks packed together into brick shapes using heavy gauged fencing. (where'd all this rock come from?) These "bricks" were maybe 4 feet long by 3 feet square. They were stacked as much as 5 or 6 high near the seawall and raked lower as they descended into the water. The hotels and houses had a postcard perfect view of the Caribbean sea, unfortunately the majority of them were either partial ruins, shuttered or in the process of being rebuilt.
There's no doubt Wilma devastated this tiny island and it seems the demand to rebuild has been much less here -- although it's clearly happening. In fact it's clear that something 'big' is being planned... When we crossed over to the East side we started walking up a dirt road, but it quickly turned to a decorative cement and then paver stone path which eventually opened into a large gathering area -- Foundations for light posts were evenly spaced. The cement sea walk continued on to where it touched the beaches on the north point. This will be a wonderful walking and market area once it is finished, and of course, the tourists and hotels return. I wonder what hurricane insurance costs?
We stopped back by the hotel to clean-up for dinner. Hol picked out an Italian joint ("Pizza Rolandi") because a chicken breast with pomodoro sounded good to her. We shared a mixed salad (eh.) and I had a pretty decent pizza (our room has a fridge so I don't have waste half of it). After dinner we walked the main street, Hidalgo. So much of the stuff for sale is the same from town to town. We've seen the same jewelry, clothing, nik-naks??? in all the towns. Even worse, what I can only guess are American-tourist-targeted T-shirt shops, with the standard 'city name' shirts with Mexican themed designs and the crude slogan shirts followed by the city name. The former is only guilty of being cliche, the latter is plain sad. You could pick up shirts with "really clever" sayings like "FBI: Female Body Inspector" or "I'm shy, but I have a big dick" or the even classier, "I'm here about the blowjobs.". Hol and were proud to have often been misidentified as Canadians -- this is a target market I don't want to be a part of. We did see an interesting shop with some metal sculptures. We promised the manager, Eli, we'd come back and look closer.
Before heading back to the hotel we strolled through the non-commercial town square. Kids played on the basketball court, it looked like a young lady was having her Quinciera, in her formal gown. On the other side of town a Latin rap artist (of sorts) was doing a song coordinated with the water and light show the town fountain was performing. Kids roller skated, big wheeled and biked all over. I think I like this little island.
Seemed that there was a massive (at least by our standards) tropical storm last night... It poured and poured. Even knocked out power for a bit. Hol was a little freaked out as it was pitch dark. I fired up the travel candle her mom gave to me years ago. We walked over to Manana (a little coffee shop and used bookstore) to get Hol something else to read - she had already finished the Amber trilogy she had brought. We needed to change some money and pay for our room, so we headed down to the HSBC branch across from the ferry pier.
After paying for another night, we rented a golf cart (carts are the main transportation on the Isla) for the day. We drove South past the airstrip and into the other "town" on Isla. On the West side of the island is a tiny aquarium and sea turtle conservatory. We stopped to see the turtles and read about how this group was helping the tiny hatchlings survive. We then drove around the bottom tip of the island stopping to checkout the beaches at Punta Sur and the water park "Parque Natural" at Playa Garrafon. We walked around the point for a bit and then headed north on the East side (there's a road on each side of the island). There are some spectacular views of the Caribbean ocean from some very interesting homes. Likewise, there's an shanty town built on the beach front property.
After driving around the main town ("Centro") a bit more, we returned the cart and headed back to the hotel to clean up a bit. with an hour before dinner time we walked over to Playa Norte and read on the beach while we waited for the sunset. It looked like a beach soccer game was forming, but only three guys showed up to practice shooting. We walked back through the town and picked our dining spot... A decent mexican joint with "2x1" drinks. Due to an "accounting error" I ended up with four margaritas. Four margaritas, three tacos, a platter of guacamole, two limonadas, and two enchiladas later we were back on Hidalgo trying to walk off the dinner and drinks. We went back to the metal sculpture shop we visited the night before. Eli was out tonight, but Javier (from Merida) was helpful and we picked out an Aztec influenced sun sculpture and tried to figure out how we would get it home. We walked down to the super market to grab some bananas and water, then across the town square to watch a choir (from Colorado) performance and league basketball game. We headed back up Hidalgo stopping to watch the Spanish guitarist, drum circle, jugglers and fire dancer before heading back to our room. There was a decent live band on the corner playing a number of classics and getting the crowd going -- they played us to sleep.
We woke up early in hopes of catching the sunrise -- the island is so tiny that you can easily walk from the east side to the west side in 15 minutes or less. Strangely (or perhaps not), the owner was sleeping on a couch by the door. We'd have had to wake him to get outside... We decided to skip it. We went back to bed for a few hours and then got up and headed over to Playa Norte for a few hours. It was early for the beach crowd and Hol picked a practically deserted spot right on the water. It was still a little cool, with some light wind but the sun was out and quickly warmed everything up. Hol did some yoga and I read my book. Since we were leaving today, I wanted one last dip in the "caribe". The beach here is so shallow that I could walk out at least 150 meters before the water was at my waist... No rocks or reef for hundreds of meters, just the white sand.
After cleaning up and saying adios to the posada owner, we walked up the street to the coffee shop/bookstore we had visited the day before. While Hol ordered a fruit shake (the only thing that sounded good on her tummy), I walked down to the post office to mail the postcards. Cerrado. Weird, it was open earlier when we walked to the playa. Back at the cafe, I ordered a bagel "especial" (bagel with cream cheese, tomatoes, avocados, salt and pepper), iced cafe and a lluevo duro (hard boiled egg) for Hol. The nice owner (i think from Argentina), said the post office was probably just taking a siesta -- completely normal he said. They'd be back... when they were done.
Unfortunately, we couldn't wait and headed to the ferry pier. Our travel day had begun. A short 20 minute ride to Puerto Juarez, a short (and too expensive) taxi ride to the Ado station, and two 306 peso boletos to Merida on an ADO GL bus linea. The bus to Merida was considered a step above Primera class, and was called Luxury class. Seats were comfortable, and they showed movies (oddly a dubbed version of "Bratz", then "7 years in Tibet"). Overall it was pretty nice for the 5-6 hour trip west.
On our very first bus ride down to Tulum, we had witnessed the bus driver stop the bus on the side of the road. A woman had stepped on, kissed him and got off. We continued on. We surmised the bus was a long haul and he was kissing his wife goodnight. On the bus to Merida, the same thing happened -- we stopped maybe 10 minutes from the terminal, a women got on with a cola and a coffee, gave the driver a kiss and was gone. Very cute. Hard to imagine that sort of thing happening in the US.
We arrived in Merida after dinner time. Hol suggested that since the bus terminal was so far from the Central Plaza, we take a hotel two blocks away from the terminal -- made sense to me. We checked into the Hotel D' Champs -- picture an airport Motel 6 (in Mexico). Yuck.
We checked the hotel restaurant -- deserted except for three employees. Rather than sit in our depressing hotel room, we decided to walk the 10 or so blocks into the center of town around the Plaza Grande. We passed the Merida LDS temple on the way. We walked around the Plaza Grande and looked at a few restaurants. We settled on the Pane e Vino, an Italian restaurant that makes their own pasta fresh. We ended up sitting next to a couple visiting the Yucatan from Holland (before heading to Guatemala to visit their son). Ria and Hank were very nice and we enjoyed talking with them over dinner. They had (for obvious reasons) done quite a bit of traveling in Europe. Their favorite cities were London, Rome and Paris (not Amsterdam?). After dinner we walked back to the hotel -- I was definitely a little nervous. The streets were empty once we got away from the square and we didn't know the neighborhood at all. We later learned we were walking through the flower district. :-)
After one night (and morning) at D' Champ, we knew we wanted something else. We got up early to run errands... dropping off our laundry and researching hotels closer to the center of town. We stopped in at a nice looking hostel (Sta Lucia) and spoke with the manager. He had a room available without a private bath. While not our first choice, he suggested we look around the corner. He also gave us some details on how transportation to and from Uxmal worked, especially if we wanted to see the light show.
We walked around the corner and stopped in at the Hotel Trinidad. It was actually on our list to look at. The main section of the hotel is situated in an old mansion, with some newer additions. There's two atrium areas full of plants and trees. The owners are art collectors and have packed the common areas and funky rooms with various pieces. The manager, Juan was incredibly nice. He showed us a room that was available and offered to arrange the Uxmal transportation while we checked out of the other hotel and got some lunch. Canceling our second night at the D'Champ involved taking a small hit because they can't reverse a credit card charges. They give you cash in pesos, but charge a small transaction fee. Not a big deal.
After hiking cross town with our bags and checking in at Trinidad, we had a chance to mail our postcards and get something quick to eat. We stopped at what must have been the Mexican equivalent of Denny's. The service was horrible -- in fact the table next to us was getting pretty agitated. The food was decent enough.
The ride out to Uxmal was uneventful -- close to an hour and a half. Our tour guide Javier talked for quite a while. He had an odd technique. Where most guides will switch back and forth, Javier would talk for fifteen minutes or so (literally) in Spanish, then again in English. I could hear certain things in Spanish and sure enough, he'd repeat them in English. Unfortunately, when we got to the site he was not as consistent and consequently Hol and I missed some of the explanations.
The site is incredibly well preserved and not that busy. The carvings and structures are incredible. You can clearly see the architecture and construction skills improve over the centuries as newer structures were built as additions (that is, on top of) to the older structures, creating stark contrasts in styles. There's several major structures at Uxmal, besides the imposing main temple, there's a large "governor's palace" featuring a symmetrical front facing containing 20,000 carved stones. We were told that by the time the Mayans had built this structure they had mastered "plumb" construction (straight vertical walls) and had smoothly added width at the tops of their structures. This was because they wanted the buildings to appear straight up and down when viewed from a distance. Unlike modern buildings that appear to get smaller as the top gets further away, this structure appeared parallel all the way to the top. There was also a four sided pyramid on the site with only one side exposed (the other three sides were still covered in dirt, rocks and jungle), a bridge (which due to our limited time on the site we only saw from a distance) and large "nunnery" or monastery compound. Everywhere you looked there was the now familiar representation of Chak Mool on the walls and towers.
After touring the site, we drove off site and had dinner as a group. We got a chance to meet the other guests (they should have everyone share a meal at the beginning of these tours so you meet everyone). We talked with Miguel (7 year old with excellent English) and Juan from Venezuela and a couple of nice gentlemen from Mexico City. With a smirk, they urged me to try some salsa which was typical to the Merida area. Thankfully California prepared me for the habanero packed mix.
After dinner we returned to the site for a "sound and light" show (something many of the sites do). The show uses lighting on the structures to tell the story of the site, people, and gods. So as certain structures light up, the voices explain the purpose via a conversation between Mayans and gods. Unfortunately in our rush to get seats, we forgot to purchase headsets with the English translation. Regardless, it was neat to by on the site at night -- Uxmal has no nearby cities and thus no light pollution. The sky alone, was worth the trip. After the ride back to Merida we said adios to our new friends, especially little Miguel.
In the morning we got up early enough to join a walking tour of the city center. After signing in for the (free!) tour, we walked to the Ado window to buy our tickets to Piste. We joined the tour and walked around city center with the group. The tour took us through the building that housed the original (Spaniard) founders of the city -- much like the US, the cities and land was taken from the natives by Europeans. The front of the building (now a bank was charged with maintaining the historic structure) depicted large Spaniard soldiers and tiny Mayan "savages". The armored Spanish stood on the heads of Mayans. We walked through the modern art museum, the cathedral and the capital building (Merida the capital of the Yucatan.). In the capital building there's dozens of large canvases, each depicting period or incident in the history of the Yucatan. After the tour we headed back to the hotel to pack-up and check out. Juan was nice enough to arrange a taxi to the bus terminal, which gave us time to grab a snack at the Cafe Habana just down the street.
After the two hour bus ride to Piste we relaxed in a restaurant near the center of town, snacking and drinking for an hour or so... We then walked to a "Ciber" cafe to check emails and send a few. I downloaded putty, hopped on server at work, and then IRC to see if I could get some status on MMH's upgrade which was supposed to have finished in the early hours this morning. Pete said he thought all was well and I was relieved. (I later learned that the upgrade had actually been postponed by two days, so it hadn't yet happened... it went fine in any case.). While I was cleaning up my email, Hol went and checked on a couple hotels. Based on some higher rates for the generic hotels, we picked a very small posada called Flamboyens. They had three rooms total and a small Mayan ruin in the backyard. It was painted bright pink. The gentleman on duty was sweeping the tile floors. The rooms were simple, and you could tell were in a state of being fixed up little by little. I'm hoping that if we ever happen through Piste again the little pink posada will have gained rooms and the same inn keeper would be there fixing them up and sweeping.
After dropping off our bags and walked the town. It's a marvel to see the economy (or lack there of) of towns like this... Lots of tiny "tiendas" selling bebes and snacks, tiny restaurants and bars. The houses are mostly the same, one and two room cinder block structures with tin or thatched roofs. In many cases various "bonus" room structures attached to the side of the cement walls. Many with the black plastic water cisterns on the roof, but plenty with out -- no running water?. Some brightly painted, a few with little gardens or chickens clucking about, many unpainted and unfinished, with families living there all the same. It appeared that Piste was the original town to stay in when visiting the Chichen site, but now large hotels had sprouted up around the actual site -- adding insult to injury, the town had been bypassed by a modern highway that was more a more direct route to Chichen.
We stopped at the papeleria to buy a small pad (6 pesos) for Hol, after wards we stopped by David's hotel (where we were to meet up after parting ways more than a week ago), they said he had gone to dinner so we walked by the likely suspects. After another walk, we still couldn't find him so we left him a note at his hotel and headed back to our "favorite" restaurant (the one we had lounged at in the afternoon. After about 25 minutes he walked in (from the Sound and Light show at Chichen. We had dinner and drinks for a couple hours and headed to bed with a plan to meet back up at 8am.
David met us at our hotel and we grabbed a quick breakfast before catching a collectivo (5 pesos each) to the Ik-Kil cenote. We were the first ones there. Although the signs at the highway were modest and run down, the park was anything but. We could see why -- parking for the monster sized touring buses that would arrive within a few hours, stores and vendors, a nice looking restaurant and bar. They had no need to advertise, the tour buses brought them business all day long.
As the first guests to arrive, we had the grounds to ourselves. We walked in past a handful of well maintained cottages. Hol spotted a little racer snake on the path. The grounds were beautiful with well manicured lawns and planters. We found our way to the stairs leading into the cenote... There were several openings providing previews of the water below. Just like the grounds above, the entrance to the cenote was well built out, with a paved stone deck with ladders leading into the water... The deck extended up maybe 2 to 4 meters so you could "high dive" into the water. The water was a dark blue and you could see hundreds of small black cat fish swimming slowly around the only home they'd ever known. Swallows flew in and out, sometimes dipping into the water. The crew of life guards were finishing up the morning cleaning of the deck before taking a quick dip and leaving. We had the entire cenote to ourselves for about an hour. After swimming, jumping from the high jump and some photos, we decided to get moving before the buses started lining up.
Just as we reached the highway, the first tour bus was arriving. We saw 6 more go in before we caught a collectivo back to Piste. We were lucky to have gotten all that time by ourselves -- these new visitors would be paddling around with 200 other people. If you go through Piste or Chichen Itza, definitely hit this cenote early -- they opened at 8am.
Back in Piste we bought tickets on the 4:15pm from Piste to Cancun. That gave us 3+ hours to walk throughout the city of Chichen Itza. (We later learned that you can actually board this run directly in Chichen Itza.) We took a taxi into Chichen. It was a total zoo. There must have been 25 massive tour buses in the estacionamento. Since we had checked out, we dropped our bags in a large auditorium they use for checking bags. Once inside we passed through the rows of vendors that setup shop all over the complex. For the most part they sell the same crap, side-by-side -- I do not understand how they make any money this way. If I never see another "authentic" resin poured Mayan "carving" again, I'd be happy.
We walked throughout the complex for several hours, besides the main temple (it forms a Mayan calendar and lights up a slithering snake on and around the equinox) which towers over the entire site, the highlights (for me) were the observatory, ball court and nunnery. These (and other Mayan) ruins are built with incredible precision -- they must have had means to measure and plan, but didn't even have metal tools. It is truly a wonder. The Chichen site is well preserved, but very commercial. I felt the buildings at Uxmal were in better shape in some cases and certainly is was a quieter site. By mid afternoon it was really hot and we got lucky when a small tropical storm dumped warm rain on us for 10 minutes -- at least we got the dust washed off.
After regrouping at the entrance we got an ice cream for Hol and a Yucatan Cook book for David, including a recipe for grasshopper tacos. We headed back to Piste to catch the bus to Cancun. The bus ride took us through Villiadad???, which appeared to be a bit larger than Playa (but it's hard to gauge these things while riding along in a bus). We reached Cancun that evening and found un casa de telephono to dial the property David had read about in the "36 hours in Cancun" NYTs??? article. They'd moved. It turned out that they were in the process of selling that property and had expanded to a larger house north of Puerto Juarez. They only had a large room available for the first night, and said they could put an extra bed in it, then we could get another room in the morning. Our only other option was a condo unit directly in the "heart of darkness" (zona hotelera). We opted for the quieter bed and breakfast. We grabbed a taxi and rode out of Cancun, north about 5 minutes above the jetboat ferry port. Many cabbies put their nickname or handle on the back of their cab -- this one's was La Princessita, the first female driver we'd seen in our two weeks here. Hol and I had even discussed the fact that we had yet to encounter a female taxi driver earlier in the trip. David and her chatted on the longish ride out to the hotel. Cabs charge based on the "zone" they are in -- apparently the hotel was still in a relatively close/cheap zone, even though it was in the boonies. Before we figured this out and upped the tip, she was gone.
The property was a converted 6 bedroom, four story (with elevator) private residence. It was directly on the beach, with the lights of Isla Mujeres visible straight ahead and the hotels at Punta Cancun twinkling just to the right. We spent a couple minutes enjoying the view and ocean breeze before dropping our things and heading back to Cancun to get some dinner. Alejandro the cosmopolitan hotel manager and principle business partner (he studied for 6 years in Colorado for the Olympic gymnast team, but decided he wanted something more stable) was kind enough to run us into town. Margaritas (with far less tequila than we wanted) were dos por uno (2x1) and Hol got the rice, beans and salad she wanted.
Before heading back to the hotel we needed to change some money -- we still had about 300 USD on hand, but wanted to keep it in reserve, so we stopped at an HSBC ATM to withdraw funds. I was amazed to see a roughly $0.75 surcharge was the only transaction fee (OCTFCU does not charge fees for ATM use) for using the ATM. We walked back to the bus terminal to see if we could catch La Princessita to give her additional tip, but she must have been off duty.
We slept in Saturday morning, reading and waiting for breakfast to arrive. The view from the room was postcard material -- a view of Isla Mujeres straight across the blue water and Punta Cancun just to the right, all without leaving the bed. The hotel staff brings breakfast to your room -- toast, fruit, cereal, yogurt, juice and coffee. Made even more delicious since you don't have to leave bed. We spent the morning lounging on the beach, swimming in the ocean and fresh water pool. After a few hours we "worked" up an appetite for lunch. David had read about an authentic posole (a stew/soup dish) restaurant that he wanted to try, so we stopped for lunch on our way to Cancun. David had his stew (comes with a side of fried pig skin, pass!) and I got handmade tamales wrapped in steaming banana leaves. Coronas con limon. When they found out that Hol wasn't feeling well, they offered to make her some fresh chicken soup. What luck, a Juve vs. Inter game was on the TV. I'm not a huge Serie A fan, but the quality of the game in comparison to some of the Copa Libreteria games I'd been watching was much higher.
With renewed energy, we headed into the "corazon de negra"... The "evil" spring break charged center of the Cancun "zona hotelera". Karmacally when we hailed a cab, it was La Princessita again. She recognized us and started laughing. David immediately gave her the 20 pesos he had meant to tip the night before. She drove us into the commercial/shopping area and we walked around for a bit. Boring shops filled with more of the same crap, at higher prices -- the vendors are way more aggressive as well.
We walked around the various hotels, venturing into the interesting looking ones. At the point of the zone, we walked through the lobby and into the hotel's pool and beach area. We happened to have picked a hotel that had a largish (but, not really large enough) pool with four dolphins. Hol was very excited to see them up close. We spent some time taking photos and watching them play. The area they had really didn't look large enough for them. Eventually we walked past the hotel and out onto the Punta Cancun -- a rocky area right at the tip of the zona hotelera. This is the tip of the land that faces Isla, a small light house stands as the marker. The view to Isla was perfect.
On our way back through the hotels, we saw a tiny octopus stranded just above the water line. We carefully deposited him back into the shallows hoping he wasn't in shock. We walked back through the shops and stopped for afternoon Sprite and cervezas. We then continued our walking tour, eventually getting bored and hungry enough to desert the hotel zone and head back to the main town for dinner and drinks.
Collectivos, Ferries, Taxis, Planes and Automobiles
3/30 (Sunday)
Our last day on vacation. No one was looking forward to heading home. I got up before sunrise to get some photos of the sunrise across the water. We lounged in the room, reading and eating breakfast before heading down to the beach for a swim and some sun.
I contacted the art dealer in Isla to arrange picking up our piece. It turned out they had thought we'd be coming the night before... rather than try to arrange meeting them in Puerto Juarez, I told them I'd take the ferry across myself. There was not much of a window before we needed to get to the airport, so I quickly finished packing up, gave Hol cash to pay for the room and told David to meet me at the ferry port in Puerto Juarez. I grabbed a collectivo to the port and took the 18 minute ride to Isla. I walked the two blocks to the shop, grabbed the art and said my goodbyes to Javier and Eli. I got back to the Isla port just missing the same ferry I'd come across on, but within a few minutes the next ferry arrived and I was on my way back to the mainland, art in hand.
Hol and David were waiting for me when I reached the port and we took at taxi, after negotiating the price down a bit, directly to the airport. Aeromexico had screwed up my ticket so it took some time to sort out the problem. In the meantime, Hol's connecting flight from Cancun to Mexico City was on Mexicana (due to our change in plans from December our flights were a little messed up) which appeared to have a four hour wait in line to check-in. Since she was on our flight (Aeromexico) from Mexico City to LAX, I spoke with the helpful Aeromexico staff about getting her pre-checked in for that flight and verifying the luggage change. They were able to do it with her passport while she waited in the other line -- they even pointed out that her ticket from Cancun to Mexico City was actually first class (I vaguely remember having to pay a bit more, but had thought it was because of our other flight changes). We got her into the first class line and through the security check before our flight left -- all we had to do was meet her in Mexico City.
After the last flight and drive home to "the OC", we finally got to bed around 2am. An exhausting end to our Yucatan adventure.
Posted by ben at 12:00 PM
