You can always count on the Sol in Mexico

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN - Mon 13/11 to Thu 16/11

We arrived in Cancun airport on Monday 13th November excited about the next leg of our journey. The weather was beautiful and we decided to head to the beach town of Playa del Carmen. We picked our bags up from the Carousel, went through customs and lucky enough it was green for go for both of us so no bag checks were necessary.

We went to the ATM and withdrew money - Pesos again - always difficult in the first few days trying to get used to a new currency. We then hopped on a bus to the centre of Cancun and pretty much straight away onto another bus to Playa del Carmen - that's efficiency for you. From the bus it seemed that part of Mexico was a lot more affluent than Cuba which was a pleasant change. We arrived in Playa del Carmen and based on the recommendations in the Lonely Planet checked out a few lodgings until we settled on Hostal Playa.

We settled into our hostel room and wanted to change into something cooler as it was a hot 35 degrees outside. I unlocked my bag and for the life of me couldn't find my underwear bag, naturally I thought Maurice had left it behind in Cuba, he insisted that he didn't leave anything in the room so I searched some more in my bag and then in his bag - there was no underwear bag. In fact it soon became clear that there was no sleeping bag liner, no lock, no mosquito net, no jeans, no trousers. Ahh the penny dropped - my bag had been unlocked at some stage from the time it was checked in to the time I picked it up. Scary thought, how could someone open the lock on my bag and relock it - God knows what could have been planted in my bag. It was only later after I checked out the internet that it became clear that in the past there was a problem with drug smuggling in Cancun airport. While sitting in the hostal later, I was just so thankful that I managed to get out of Cancun airport without being arrested for drug smuggling. 'Right' Maurice and I agreed from now on we are using locks and coloured twist ties on our bags for flights - that way if the twist tie is gone we know the bag has been opened before we leave the airport.

After all the fuss we got changed and went wandering, we didn´t get too far though because we soon discovered that there was a Walmart right across the road from our hostal. We went in to Walmart and after coming from 18 days in Cuba it was such a culture shock, it was a massive store and the shelfs were packed high with electronic goods, clothes, cosmetics, food, drink - you name it they had it - we felt like children in a toy shop for the first time - the excitement. We decided it was lunch time and both got huge ham salad rolls and energy drinks - yum, the tastiest food we'd had in a long time and all for $5 for both of us. We eventually left there and wandered down the town, it seemed like a really nice town - albeit very Americanised - we continued our stroll down to the beach - fantastic - some more white sand and turquoise sea, 'hmmm I'll be having a dip in there before I leave' Maurice informed me. We went into a bar and had some Sol beer with lime and nachos and soon discovered that the prices weren't conducive to backpackers and decided there and then that from then on we would buy our food and drink in Walmart and cook in the hostel. So that's what we did for the next 3 days, everyday involved at least 2 trips to Walmart - breakfast, lunch and dinner were purchased there, along with the obligatory 6 bottles of Sol each - or was that 9 bottles for Maurice and 3 for me - hmmm I'm not sure on that one!!

After our brief visit to Mexico - 3 days in total - it was time for the next leg of our journey - Guatemala but first we had a brief one night stay in Belize city.

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Comments

[Ena]

Greetings
Enjoyed following you'r travels throughout South America. what a great experience albeit somewhat scary at times. We here are enjoying the rain and the storms. but never mind that better weather is on the way.keep on with up to date journals.looking forward to them. It is taking me ages to do this with help from Anne. Good Luck/ Aunt Ena.