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Published: March 8th 2009
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Yesterday was our travel day and it was for the most part very uneventful. We left the house at 4:30 am to head to the airport and all went well. Due to weather, we were delayed getting into Atlanta for our connection and as Murphy (Muphy’s Law) would have it, our connecting gate was on the other side of the airport with only 7 minutes to connect. I sincerely have a new appreciation for the contestants on The Amazing Race. You seriously have to be in good shape to book it through airports like that. We make it to our connecting flight only to be delayed another 30-45 minutes waiting on other flights that were also delayed. This was no problem for us but the 100 or so young spring breakers in our cabin weren’t so happy. They were pretty rowdy while we waited and I thought that there might even be a scene with one of the young men, but once we got in the air (and they started drinking and fell asleep) all was quiet. We arrived at the Cancun airport only 15 minutes later than scheduled and waited through customs which took about 25 minutes. This is pretty
much the norm if you go during spring break and fly in on the weekend. Since we were an international flight we were in terminal 3 and were happy to see that we had access to the duty free store as Sean wanted to pick up some type of American Whiskey and in my research I was told you wouldn’t find any in the stores we were going to be going(or so we thought). So a few Cuban cigars and a bottle of Jack Daniels and we off to find our rental car pick up.
When we got through customs with no issues, we stepped out into what is normally complete chaos at the Cancun Airport. Also known as Timeshare Salesman Alley, this generally is a real pain in the backend but on this trip the timeshare sharks didn't even bother us. We found our rental company pretty quick and were on our way to pick up provisions in Playa Del Carmen an hour after we landed. We arrived in Playa Del Carmen, parked the car at the Mega grocery store and crossed the street for some lunch. I had read that Sabrito Del Fogon was a good, cheap
lunch so we gave it a try. All three of us had the Tacos Al Pastor (2 each), 2 Cokes, and a Sol for 101 pesos. It was as promised...a good, cheap lunch. Next we headed back across the street to the Mega for some grocery shopping. Wow, what a nice store, it had everyting. We especially impressed with the bakery area where you had 50+ different types of pastries to choose from. We each picked 2 for our breakfasts and the total was 25 pesos. Nicer than any bakery we've been to in the states and certainly more impressive than any inside a grocery store. They had both American brands everyone is familiar with and lesser expensive Mexican brands to choose from. Finalized our purchases at the store and hopped in the car for our final destination. By now it was about 5 pm and we were all ready to be settled in Akumal.
When we reached Akumal and passed through the arches, we laughed about how we would have NEVER found (let alone stayed) in this location if we hadn't done a ton of research. Definately is one of those gems that you can't judge by your
initial impression. We wound our way down the only road to Half Moon Bay, over a ton of very severe speed bumps (no way of speeding through this community), and found La Bahia. Javier was ready for us and mentioned that he had been awaiting our arrival. He helped us unload the car and settle into the condo. We booked a 2 bedroom condo on the first floor right on the beach. I found this rental on vrbo and so far we are pleased. The location and the size are perfect for us. It will be interesting to see how we fare without television for entire week, I think it will be a wonderful change of pace.
Headed down to La Buena Vida, a restaraunt and bar just down the beach from our condo, and had dinner. Sean and I shared the Botanos plate and Aidan had what every American tween does...a Hamburger and fries. I can't be too upset with him since he did so well at Del Fogon earlier in the day.
It was very windy so we decided to head back to the condo and play our travel trivial pursuit for a while and off
to bed for me. I had been up since 3 am and I needed to rest, so at 7:30pm local time I was out.
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