we walked to the bus stop (at noon, dripping sweat) and caught a bus to puerto vallarta about an hour-ish south. the driver was blaring mariachi music and the front doors and all the windows were open for some air (which didn't help much). we got off at the end of the line and found a cab to get to our hotel. all in all it was a pretty pleasant trip.
pam's birthday dinner was at a very americanized mexican restaurant (which mostly means that it cost more than the places i've been eating at for the past several weeks), but there were cute mexican guys bringing her margaritas so it was worth it. afterwards we had mojitos at a rooftop bar since all the poolhalls were 'muy peligroso' for us gringo chicas, according to everyone we asked.
the next morning we got a cab to the airport and headed to cancun. this is the first airport that i've been to where they search all of the checked bags before they give you your boarding pass. i call my backpack my turtle shell because its basically my traveling house, and i have to sit on it to zip it, so you can imagine how awful it was to have a woman pulling out all of my belongings for the entire airport to see. her main concern seemed to be a bottle of tequila that i have wrapped up in paper, and she wasn't satisfied until she pulled it all apart to verify its contents. and then she takes my dresses that she's mauled and wraps the bottle in those. really.
aside from the pilot obviously doing his first solo flight it was a good trip (i still can't believe i didn't crack a tooth on landing). back to mexico city (aaaagh), then run through the airport for the next flight. regardless of what they say on planes, having your electronics turned on cannot affect much, no one payed any attention to the announcements and no one tried to enforce them. people were running to the bathroom during takeoff, rummaging through the overhead bins during landing, just sorta doing whatever they felt like whenever they wanted. but there was free booze for everyone for some reason (i had just told pam that i needed a day off of drinking, don't think i've taken a day off for a few weeks, but free booze is not the day to quit drinking).
total travel time was about 6 hours, including taxi and layover, not too bad. but when we got to cancun and the next bus with seats wasn't for another hour we decided to take a taxi to our hotel, way too hot to sit outside the airport, then in a bus for another hour or so, and then a taxi.
our driver tried to take us to an obviously abandoned building with a giant sun on the door, he was sure this was hotel del sol. eventually we found it. when we were planning for cancun we decided to stay out of the hotel district, mostly because the only hotels with availability were way out of our budget. so we picked one that was on the beach, just further north. lonely planet didn't mention that it was cheap and on the beach because it was in front of the docks and you can't get in the water. or even walk along the beach. so our first nite was spent wandering a short distance, realizing that there are no bars or restaurants anywhere nearby, and being too tired to get a taxi back to town we bought chips and salsa and beer at the oxxo (7-11ish) and ate while watching awesomely bad mexican tv.
a disappointing first day in cancun when we figured out exactly where we were, as opposed to where we wanted to be. so today we took a taxi to playa linda in the hotel district. we walked through a resort to the beach and found that all the resorts have large private areas and no bars or chairs for us regular people. we walked until we found a hotel bar close to the water and that's where we spent our day, drinking on the beach.
i can't say that i'm impressed with cancun, i'll probably never come back here. the water was pretty but not for swimming any distance, full of floaty sea gunk, and not many fish to look at. there are so many boats and jet skis that all the swimming areas are roped off and they're pretty small. a good place to sit on the beach and drink for a day and that's about it.
feeling pretty pleased with ourselves we decided to take a city bus to cancun city. as we walk on the driver asks if we're lost (maybe we are the first gringos to take a city bus here?). an airconditioned bus with a giant screen playing music videos, packed with working class mexicans and 2 white chicks. good stuff.
i imagined that central cancun would be a tourist area (i'm possibly the worst travel researcher ever) and i was far from correct. but it was way closer to the mexico that i've come to know than the tourist crap we've had for the past 2 days. we went to the mall for air conditioning and water, then wandered the streets looking for food. it was a mix of mexico city and san miguel, traffic, garbage, every type of store imaginable, and also tiny family run restaurants.
we stopped at a taco stand and failed at conversation with a super hot mexican guy at our table. and being who i am, i made pam come with me to find more food, but we found a part of cancun where we didn't want to be. it worked out, and we found a great place with a full meal and a drink for 30 pesos each. after we had been paying 45 pesos per beer all day. stupid hotels.
so today was a good day. we saw the beaches, we saw the city, we ate at 2 great local places, we drank (and are currently drinking) lots of beer. we spoke lots of spanish.
tomorrow we get on the ferry for isla mujeres (island of women) about a half hour east of cancun in the caribbean sea. we have no plans after that, but booked a hotel with a pool table, so no plans necessary for the moment. we're going to swim with whale sharks! and visit a turtle farm. and continue to not take days off drinking.
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| in case of ditching. nice. |
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