Puerto Morelos, just south of Cancun...what a nice little place. Looks like lots of people have made a day trip from Cancun resorts but there is also definitely a lot of local vibe here too. We drove right past Playa del Carmen on our way north this morning thinking it would be better to just go as far north as PM and then work our way back. The traffic becomes increasingly busier and crazier about the same time as we begin to near Playa and it doesn't lighten up all the way to PM. It is really good highway all the way but as the traffic increases so does the challenge of driving in it. At times three lanes looks like five wide when you look in the rearview mirror...vehicles don't really follow lanes here. They are actually very good drivers in that they are constantly observing what is going on around them...in the front....in the back....and on both sides. At the same time as they're good in some ways...they're bad in others. No one gives anyone else the right of way and everyone speeds like crazy! Once you get the hang of it though...it's okay.
Found a great little place for late breakfast/early lunch in Puerto Morelos and enjoyed walking along the beach where there were some giant sandcastles depicting the last supper and other images in keeping with Easter. Many many Mexican tourists here too! They are everywhere on the beach, flying kites, hauling their coolers filled with food and drink, and settling in for the day. This weekend is the start of the two week spring break here in Mexico that coincides with Easter (Semana Santa) so everyone is taking vacation and they're all heading to the beach to do it! Here the beaches are sugar fine pure white sand but again there is tons of that sea grass (seaweed). Here we find a sign that has been posted by the city that explains the sea grass is natural (not garbage) and that it in fact serves a purpose in protecting the beaches from erosion and as a habitat for sea and beach life. This is the first sign we've seen anywhere that even acknowledges that the sea grass is there! We also learn later in the day that for about two years now this sea grass is present pretty much everywhere on the Caribbean coast year round. Prior to two years ago...it came occasionally but not all the time. For the past two years the big hotels have staff that clean the beach daily and they bury the sea grass as they collect it. I have to wonder when they will run out of room to bury it!
Also in Puerto Morelos we saw something else that was very cool. You've heard of the leaning tower of Pisa...well PM has a leaning lighthouse tower. It was knocked into it's current leaning position in 1987 during a major hurricane and since that time has withstood two more hurricanes that were equally as devastating and it hasn't budged from it's new leaning angle.
This afternoon we made our way back to Playa del Carmen where lady luck shone on us yet again. What are the odds that our hotel would be within a block of where we had to return our rental car?! Well it was!! :-) Checked into the Sahara Hotel and were shown to our room which is large enough to host a party! We have 3 beds (1 queen, 1 double, and 1 twin) so we can even play musical beds in the night if either of us has any trouble sleeping. LOL! Our room also has a little table with chairs, a mini fridge, a microwave and a sink so we kind of still have a kitchen. We are kicking ourselves as we left a couple packages of microwaveable popcorn at our place in Tulum thinking we'd not have any more microwaves along the way. Oops! This is perfect though as we've got what we did bring with us all set up and we're settled in here for two nights. Our hotel is in a great location and in fact there is some kind of major bash going on right across the street in a big square tonight so...while I say it's a good location now...I might not be saying that if the party continues into the wee hours of the morning.
Once settled into our room we got the car returned and whew!!! we passed the inspection. I have to admit that I did have some apprehension as when we left Felipe Puerto Carrillo several days ago, and after that huge storm we had there overnight, we peeled the advertising sticker that covered the rear window off the car in an attempt to improve the visibility. In the process of it laying in the back seat it got a little tear and when we tried to reinstall it....I'm being generous when I say that it is highly unlikely that the advertising company will ever hire us to install those stick on signs! There were a few wrinkles and maybe it wasn't quite straight any more but heh....what a stupid thing to put on a rental car! Anyway....all is well that ends well and we made it past inspection and I got my open visa slips returned - whew!!!
I should back track a little here and tell a tale on Lynda. Part way between Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos this morning we had to go through a police check on the highway. As we approached the road block Lynda shared her usual reminder to "don't look them in the eye" and I replied..."I won't" ....BUT....this time they waived us over to the side of the road so I had to look the guy in the eye when he came to my window. He was a lovely young man and after a little back and forth in Spanish it became apparent that he was concerned that our safety was in jeopardy. He pointed to my seatbelt and said "it is important". I replied..."Yes, it is." He looked a little uncomfortable and then he said, "it is an infraction" and he pointed to Lynda at which time she realized that she had completely forgotten to put her seatbelt on this morning! Honestly, that is a first and wouldn't you know...today would be the day that the police were on the lookout for just such a memory lapse. In the end...we were given the choice to either pay at roadside or follow him back to Playa del Carmen where we could pay at the police station. If we followed him back to Playa the fine would be double what it is at roadside and so...we paid the $700 pesos and he returned my licence and gave us permission to proceed. Yikes! what a way to finish off our trip! Honestly, we were talking about it tonight and we're pretty sure that this final week is going to cost more than the last six weeks combined! Oh well....this is where the comment, "I'm old and I have plastic" comes into play. LOL! :)
Back to this afternoon...we decided we'd spend a little time getting ourselves organized for the next couple of days so we don't find ourselves missing out on anything because of how busy it is here. We visited the ADO station and purchased our bus ticket for the 31st to the Cancun airport (where we should be able to get a shuttle to our hotel in Cancun) That ticket cost just over $300 pesos for the two of us. Once we had those tickets in hand we headed over to the ferry terminal to buy tickets to Cozumel (for tomorrow morning) and at the same time we got ourselves signed up for some activities for our day on the island. We'll be met at the ferry terminal on Cozumel by Martha who will deliver us to the boat that will take us on a two hour snorkel/glass bottom boat trip out over the reefs off the shore of Cozumel. Depending on weather we will visit at least two reefs. Lynda is looking forward to the snorkelling and I am looking forward to the glass bottom boat! LOL!! I will be sitting back enjoying my complimentary cervesa while Lynda and others get up close and personal with the creatures of the sea. I may have a change of mind once I'm out there but to tell the truth...it is doubtful and I'm happy to enjoy the glass bottom experience again. I had one of those on Lady Elliot Island (Great Barrier Reef in Australia) before and it was great! In fact, if you've ever heard my story about snorkelling on Lady Elliot....you'll appreciate just why the glass bottom boat is my preference over communing with nature in that snorkelling kind of way!
Once we're finished with our boat/snorkel experience we'll be delivered back to the terminal at mid-day at which time we will pick up our VW convertible (how fun does that sound-wahoo!) which we will use to explore the rest of the island. According to Alexandra (the agent who set up our tours on Cozumel for us) this is where we're going to find those deserted white sand beaches and azure waters we've been looking for so we have fingers and toes crossed...we're ready to find them! Time is running out! We only have a couple of days left.
Once all our 'business' was complete we spent the next couple of hours wandering the pedestrian street (10th Ave I think it is) that has soooo many people on it! At one point Lynda commented...."look ahead of us...doesn't this look like we're in the Vancouver Sun Run or something?!" She was right...as far as we could see in front and behind there was a sea of people people people! We located a restaurant that had 4 margaritas and a plate of nachos for $150 pesos as their special - that was bait enough for me. I'd been ready for a drink ever since trying to find where to return the car in this city where street signs are poor at best. We polished off those 4 margs and the nachos and were lubricated enough to order 4 more. Yummy! :-)
When it was time to pay our restaurant bill it became apparent that we were going to have to hit another ATM so....we set off to find a bank. Lucky again, there is one right across the street from our hotel! Once we were flush with cash again we set out to find the place where we could get our "included breakfast" with a mind to pick it up tonight so we could take it for on the boat to Cozumel in the morning. Our breakfast consists of a sandwich, a piece of cake, a juice, and a coffee. They had run out of cake so we got two sandwiches instead and since the juice comes in a cup we were able to switch that out to water or pop. Lynda is going to warm up her coffee in the microwave in the morning and I put baileys in mine and drank it tonight. :-)
So far we've had no luck in getting wi fi connected in this hotel so I don't know when I'll be able to post this blog but....at least it is done and I will get it up when I can.
Till next time,
L & L
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