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Published: March 30th 2012
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Cancun
First posh hotel we snaked through This morning, we had a lie in. Breakfast – toast – was a little disappointing. We caught the bus to the hotel zone and decided to stay on it a little longer to see if we could find a different beach to the one we’d been to before – variety is the spice of life after all! We got off by a load of very exclusive looking hotels and a shopping development. We spent some time looking for a bikini top for me as it disappeared in the mess that was the girls’ dorm room but everything was really expensive - £40-50 just for a bikini! We gave up and walked to where we thought the beach was. The only way to get to it would be through the lobby one of the huge hotels, so we just went for it. We strolled straight into the hotel - both feeling a little nervous that we’d get caught. We walked through a huge beautiful pool complex – we could have just dived right in if we’d wanted to – and onto the beach, where we snagged ourselves some sun loungers. No-one even raised an eyebrow. We stayed there for an hour or
Cancun beach
Yeah I'm so swimming in the Caribbean so. The hotel menu was expensive so we walked down the strip to where there were more restaurants. We must have come further on the bus than we thought because it took us around an hour to get there, but it was a nice walk along the shore and the sun was out.
We had a look around some restaurants but they were so expensive. Eventually we settled on a noisy sports bar with a friendly looking waitress. I was thirsty from our long walk and asked for a huge coke. It arrived in an enormous lurid plastic glass with ‘CANCUN!’ down its middle. We were charged 100 pesos (£5) for that tat, but got to keep the glass. After lunch, we headed for a different strip of beach, again via the lobby of an exclusive looking hotel. I went for a swim in the sea and we settled ourselves on sunbeds. After a few hours and feeling bolstered by the days experiences, we checked out the hotels pool complex. It was practically deserted but there were lots of staff around. We went for a quick swim and took a few cheeky photos before leaving. We couldn’t believe
we had got away with it twice in one day, but I felt a little disappointed when we got home and read in the guidebook that the best way to see Cancuns beaches is to do exactly what we had done – it made me feel slightly less rebellious! Once home, I discovered that I had pretty bad sunburn on my chest and back and applied about 3 layers of after sun before we headed out to the square we had stumbled across the previous night for some food. It was full of little booths selling Mexican fast food – Sopas, Tostadas, Tacos, Enchiladas. All varieties of corn patties, fried or baked with a bean sauce, some sort of meat and a load of accompaniments like guac and chilli sauce.
Thursday
Today has been one of my highlights since I have arrived. After breakfast we caught the bus to the ferry port for a day trip to Isla Mujeres, a tiny island just a few miles out to sea. The ferry port lies mid way along the stretch of road that links the strip (where the hotel zone can be found) with downtown Cancun.
On one side of the road there is a large lagoon and the other, a few hotels between the road and the Caribbean sea. We ummed and aahed about whether to go on an organised day trip on a ‘party boat’ that included drinks, food, daytrips and a slide on the back of the boat. But I decided it looked too much like expensive regimented fun for my liking. Instead we went on the regular ferry, which only took half an hour. On arrival we were approached by a friendly looking Mexican, who turned out to be a member of the local fishermans cooperative. He convinced us that a boat ride which included snorkelling at two sites and another snorkel at sea where there were sculptures underwater. Unfortunately they had become covered in Algae and were a little too deep to see clearly. The fish we saw on our snorkelling trips were incredible though – bright blue fish, yellow striped fish, and even a stingray, and the coral was beautiful. Some looked like brains, and others looked like fingers, and one looked like paper.
Our lunch was at a tiny bay in a large open restaurant, that appeared to
cater only for such boat trippers. We at the most delicious sweet spiced fish, flavoured rice, spaghetti and an onion sort of salsa. One of the best meals I have had in Mexico! Hannah and I spoke to the Chinese students who were on our tiny boat for a bit and told them all about our trips. Then we set off back to the main town. We had a quick stop at the dolphin experience centre and watched some rich americans swim with dolphins. In fairness, the dolphins seemed happy and had plenty of sea water to swim in, unlike the sharks we had seen by the restaurant. I passed up the opportunity to swim with the shark as I didn’t think it belonged in the tiny shallow netted area it had been put it.
We wandered through the town looking through some souvenir shops – lots of nice stuff, but a little over priced, and the pushy shop owners really began to wind me up. We caught the ferry home, almost missing it due to waiting in the wrong queue for 20 minutes, and spent the return journey on the top deck. Unfortunately, it was full
of drunk Americans and was a bit of a hairy ride and we thought some of them were going to go overboard. But luckily (?) they didn’t. After a quick shower we went for dinner at the same place as yesterday. I was craving Pizza, but settled for a cheeseburger, whereas Hannah went for something a little more authentic. We wondered around some shops before returning to the Hotel. After a busy day, we just wanted to have a chilled evening in front of the TV. I am looking forward to heading to Playa del Carmen tomorrow and my first experience of a mixed dorm.
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