My past few posts have been about snowshoeing. So let’s change it up a few dozen degrees in latitude.
For a end-of-winter break, Andrea and I headed far south to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. An easy three-hour flight from Detroit to Cancun filled with people on spring break was much more welcome than a plane full of children going to Disneyworld, let me tell you.
I like the speed at which Mexican customs officials move. The people at the resorts may move on “Mexican time”, but those customs guys sure don’t. We were about two-thirds of the way back, and though it took us about 20 minutes to get to the front, I was very happy with our speed through the line.
And as we were neared the front, we realized just how close to disaster we had come. Because from the gates came hundreds of people, several planeloads worth, filling up every queue in the building. It was with relieved pity that I looked back at those just arriving. But the term “better you than me” came to mind, and we were off.
As an aside, Cancun is in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Does anyone else think of kangaroos when they hear that name?
Mexico has an interesting way of randomly checking bags: The Button. There used to be a big traffic light that would illuminate when you pressed The Button, green means “go, enjoy your vacation”, red means “open that bag, jeffe.” They’ve refined the process, though. Pressing The Button lights up a fancy glass sign with red or green lights. Very modern the way they do it now.
Andrea had chosen USA Transfer as the method to get from the airport to Gran Puerto, the docks from which we would catch the ferry to Isla Mujeres. We stopped at the ATM, located just outside the customs area, to get mucho dinero before the maelstrom.
For those of you who have never been to Mexico, just outside the doors leaving the airport is The Horde. It’s better than it was, but there are a half-circle of people waving signs and trying to get you into their vehicles. The first time I arrived in Mexico, which was ten years ago, it was at a different terminal, and it was chaos. Now, it’s exuberant businessman trying to get your attention. And a little chaos.
We only had to wait a few minutes for our transportation to arrive, and we made the drive to the docks in darkness. I got to see a part of Cancun I had never seen before. The four previous trips I had gone south to Barceló Maya, near Playa del Carmen, but this one would be different, amigos.
The docks were relatively empty when we arrived around 8:00 PM. Andrea bought the $140 pesos round-trip tickets and I bought fries – that’s a fair deal, right? Knock one more McDonald’s off my list. 50 down, 50,000 to go.
We sat near the water, eating French fries (papas frites), waiting for the ferry to take us to our island B&B for a few days of relaxation. And the ferry made quite an introduction. Check out the cool under lights? It’s like a hoopty ferry!
The journey to the island was semi-peaceful. The constantly flashing TVs s
Ferry to Isla Mujeres
creens were annoying, but the water was calm and the trip took about fifteen minutes.
It was well past dinnertime when we arrived on Isla Mujeres, and Andrea had researched possible quick dinner spots. She found a great one – Bimbo dogs! There was a little hot dog stand only a hundred feet away from the dock entrance. Our dogs were wrapped in bacon and covered with grilled onions – oh, that’s the stuff right there.
A taxi stand was between the docks and the Bimbo dog cart, and we returned for a ride to our B&B. The trip cost just under $5 USD, which is slightly higher than the average cost, but it’s because there was luggage and, we found out later, because that taxi stand charges a passenger fee, something that is not normally applied on the island. Still, it was only $1 or $2 more than normal – not terrible.
Our taxi ride to the Villa La Bella was just a few minutes, and thus officially began our vacation.
Which is the next post. And many more pictures, too.