Rosie and The Operator flew directly from LA and 4.5 hours later, here we are in Cancun!
The heavy humidity greeted us as soon as we stepped out of the terminal as did the crash and bang of thunder and lightning, the sky was black and it was going to pour with rain at any moment.
Rosie was clutching her Spanish app and was all ready with her phrase of greetings and rental reservation request for our car which we were collecting from the airport. Rosie somewhat deflated when The Rental Car Lady greeted us straight away in English. As did all of her awesome colleagues, from the lad who packed our bags into the boot to the guy doing the paperwork.
The Rental Car Mans advice to us on motoring in Mexico. Never speed, everyone will be going faster than you, but you will be the only ones stopped by the police because they know you are tourists.
Never drive at night, it is not safe, not from bad people….but the road itself it is not safe, there are many potholes and animals on the road. Only drive in daylight.
Never park anywhere where you are not supposed to, if in doubt always park in a car park and pay the couple of peso fee…normally to what you may think is a random guy, he will be in charge of the carpark….your car is guaranteed to be looked after.
If you find your number plate removed/gone…a police officer has taken it, you need to go to the nearest police station and claim it back…it means you have done something wrong or not listened to me and parked in the wrong place. Never pay a policeman directly, you have to go to the police station. Okay….Rosie thought….if a policeman is ever asking for money….how does one refuse…..they wear hostile jumpsuits, helmets and carry assault rifles….Rosie hopes we will never know.
Straight across the road is a money changer with the best deal in town said the car rental guy. So over we trot…true enough it was a good rate and just like that we seemed super rich with our $20,000 Mexican pesos.
The heavens then opened for our drive into town and the rain was torrential, vertical heavy rain that didn’t want to stop. The flood gates were opened above and within five minutes the road was flooded and water was pooling everywhere. The Operator ploughed through it sure and steady straight to the door of the hotel.
Our flight arrived in Cancun late afternoon and we were spending the night in town before heading up the coast to Tulum. Our hotel was in the middle of old town Cancun, away from the glitz and glamour of the hotel zone on the beach. We were looking for our first bit of local flavor and certainly found it within the next couple of hours.
Our Hotel, Cancun International Suites was easy enough to find and Rosie had been chanting that Spanish greeting and reservation phrase all the way there….and was greeted in English….all the staff here spoke perfect English too.
Our room was lovely and old wordly with a balcony front and back with a view to nowhere. We were however staying right on the edge of Cancuns Parque de las Palapas which was a big town square with heaps of food vendors around the edge, live music started at 9.00pm and even though there were not a lot of people around it was quite festive….not a bad atmosphere for a Monday night said The Operator. This place would fair heave on the weekend.
Our first stop was the local Oxxo, the local convenience store, we wanted to buy SIM cards for our phones and some data packages…Rosie did away with her Spanish app as she was so impressed that everyone she had encountered so far had excellent English skills. Well, the two ladies at Oxxo didn’t speak a word of English, Rosie was unprepared. The Operator took over and held up his mobile and said TelCel Sim, the older lady looked terrified and the young one nodded. She flicked her computer till around and there were all the Telcel packages on the screen we could buy….The Operator rang up his own sale, the girl took off her name badge and gestured to the pin so we could use it to open our phones and we were away.
During The Operators business transaction Rosie had noted there was an armed guard dressed militia style carrying a large automatic gun hovering down the back of the store watching people….wow. Rosie was trying to stalk him and take a sneaky picture of him without him seeing me…He had my number me thinks and we were playing cat and mouse around the shelves. The Operator came over and told me off and said I would get into trouble if I got caught taking pics of him….Rosie would have hated to get arrested or her phone confiscated in the first couple hours of arriving in Mexico.
We walked to Las Quekas for dinner, they had quite a lot of good reviews online regarding their quesadillas which are the establishments specialty…to be honest, that is all they make. Rosie and The Operator are big Quesidilla fans and the foreign reviews raved about the authenticity and how cheap they were.
Las Quekas are a chain and have branches all over the country. Yes, they were cheap $15 pesos each, $1NZD, Yes it was fun watching the simple dish being made. Unfortunately it tasted terrible! The meat inside was of questionable origin and taste negligible…an authentic dish…me think not, just a terrible fast food version that tourists think is so amazing because it is so cheap…this was our first lesson of ‘you get what you pay for’ in Mexico.
We wandered around and found a bar where we had our first Margarita in Mexico. It was gooooood! It even blew the socks off The Operator who is quite picky when it comes to his Margaritas and the blending of said beverage.
The bar was nice, on the main drag and quiet for a weekday night, we chatted to a few other people then Rosie went in search of the loo. Well, Rosie walked past dining tables, then through an open dance area, past an old well, serious, inside,….and then there was another huge open venue area…..Rosie was busting and this place was never ending!
What was also amazing was the art works and décor of the place…incredible! Poking around every corner Rosie thought she would try upstairs, there was absolutely no one around to ask…mind blown again by another art installation….she finally found the loo.
What a find and what great pics, apparently according to an American at the bar this place rocks on the weekend with samba lines and shots of tequila poured directly into your mouth as the samba line passes under the said pourer standing on a platform above…..Okay.
After a few bar snacks we wandered back to the hotel through the darkened streets with minimal street lighting, this was the realm of stray dogs, a few locals and a huge moon overhead.
Before we left Cancun Rosie and The Operator wanted to take a peak at how the other half lived it up in the resorts of Cancun in the Hotel Zone which is on the white sanded beach fronts. We thought the best place to see this is from the top of the 80metre Cancun Observation Tower. The view from the top allows you to see the whole glorious, sandy beachfront spit and the resorts along it.
Excellent we are just in time! The spinning tower has just descended the needle and the peeps are getting off, which means we can get on. We walk ten steps to the ticket office and honestly, out of no where, torrential rain starts falling from the sky, the day is getting darker and darker and then there is a wicked thunder and lightening storm. Sorry, The tower will be closed till further notice….that is totally understandable.
We decide to wait it out, thirty mins later there is no sign of it abating, and the wind is now howling in, Rosie and The Operator are in the middle of a full on tropical storm!
We decide to move on to Tulum as planned. It will be a slow drive, but hopefully we will out drive the rain and Rosie can enjoy her beautiful sea side bungalow.
