Our trip would be spent in Cancún and Cozumel. In hindsight we probably should have made some adjustments to our itinerary as soon as I broke the bone, but we figured in six weeks I would be in much better shape than I was.
Our flight was a red eye out of San Francisco, so we drove to Concord and took BART the rest of the way. Here Jenn is ready for bed at 10 p.m.
This is the "please stop taking pictures" face.
We landed in Cozumel sometime the next morning, hoisted our backpacks, and headed outside to find a taxi to the dock. From there we took the ferry to Playa del Carmen where we rented a car. From there we would drive to Cancún.
I took a number of pictures highlighting all the damage just to protect myself.
Jennifer wasn't keen on driving in Mexico, so I told her I would. Unfortunately, this was under the assumption the car would be an automatic. When I asked the rental guy he said, "No automatics, señor." So I had to utilize my left hand to drive, which I hadn't done since the accident.
I had driven extensively in Europe, which can be pretty crazy, but Mexico was a bit different. The Carretera Cancún-Tulum (Highway 307) was pretty straightforward except for the random speed bumps that came out of nowhere. One minute you're doing 110 km/h and the next there are bumps manned by heavily armed police. Why? No clue. Also, the speed limit changes seemed pretty random. I tried to stay around the speed limit, but most cars were flying by me going very fast. There were a LOT of nice cars, but also a lot of old beaters struggling to keep up.
Once we neared Cancún things became much more interesting. The roundabouts were a complete free-for-all with cars, scooters, bikes, motorcycles, pedestrians and even a donkey cart jockeying for position. It seemed crazy and chaotic to us, but I'm sure for the locals it's normal and routine.
We arrived at our hotel completely frazzled and exhausted from our very long and stressful journey from Sacramento. Here Jenn is very relieved to be there.
Me? Cool as always, baby.
The drive took its toll on my wrist, so I needed to ice it. I asked the girl at the front desk, "¿Dónde está la máquina de helado?" She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No sé." I asked two more people with similar results. When we got to the room I plopped down on the bed frustrated, my wrist throbbing. I laid back and played the scenes over in my head. Then I realized my mistake. "Shit," I said, "ice is hielo. I've been asking for the ice cream machine!" We got a good laugh out of that. Once I used the right word, I had a bag of ice in no time.
This is El Shrimp Bucket. We ended up eating here a couple times. Maybe this is referencing the Chum Bucket from SpongeBob?
Cheesy tourist picture from El Shrimp Bucket.
Big fella on the lagoon side in Cancún.
The view from our room.
Crazy blue colors.
A little bit of the hotel grounds and the beach.
Our hotel was OK, but they were very aggressive about timeshare presentations from the minute we walked in. Finally they broke us down and we agreed to go to one.
They took us down the highway to a resort somewhere south of Cancún where we were essentially held captive for six hours. We enjoyed a nice meal and were given a bottle of tequila. Then the hard sell came. We said no to everything for hours, but they were relentless. Finally, they gave up on us and we were allowed to leave. It was an awful experience and we will never stay at the Gran Melia again.
One thing we really enjoyed was our morning fruit. Pretty much every fruit tasted better in Mexico.
One day the wind really whipped up and the red flags came out. No beach access.
Empty.
Another iguana.
I had to keep an eye on these two. Dude's a total clown, but he does have that nice head of red hair going for him. And really big feet . . .
After not touching the rental car the entire time in Cancún, we drove it back to Playa. The rental guy was really nice when we rented the car, so I handed him the bottle of tequila when we walked in. It must have been good stuff, because he was very happy. He asked us where we were staying in Cozumel and I told him the Palace. He nodded and said, "You will enjoy your stay." I thought, OK.
It turned out he was kind of connected, so when we arrived at the Cozumel Palace we were very much taken care of for our entire stay. It's funny what one act of kindness can do.
One of the things we did in Cozumel was a submarine trip. When we first saw it I thought, damn, that looks small. And it was.
When they first took us down there wasn't much to see. I wasn't immediately impressed.
Then we approached a reef and the fish started to appear.
As we crept closer the colors became more evident.
Jenn peering out the window.
Run silent, run deep.
Look closely and there is a sea turtle center frame.
Happy to have survived our submarine adventure.
Yet another iguana.
The view of the clear waters of Cozumel from our balcony.
If Jenn looks unhappy, it's because this is the last day.
Goodbye, Cozumel.
Overall it was a good trip. My broken wrist forced us to really kick back and relax more than we would have normally, and in a way it was a good lesson. Sometimes we try to cram too much into a short vacation and it ends up being a little stressful. Except for the driving, this was a pretty relaxing week.
Later.
