Dec 2006

Oh, it’s New Years’ Eve! Yay! This year has been SO long, but so incredibly awesome that it will be sad to see it go. Luckily I am spending the last day with Ange in Mexico, so that makes it far easier!

Today we had a bit of admin stuff to do – pick up laundry, checking out of one hotel and into another and the like. Luckily all of that was fairly easy – I think we’re getting to know downtown Cancun quite well now!

We had decided that today we’d try and visit the Hotel Zone, as it was close by and relatively easy to get home from for the 5pm Geckos meeting. Ange had told me about a Museum located there that sounded awesome – it was all about the Mayans and their history, and was meant to be near the start of the Hotel Zone. We took the public bus out there (MX$7 each way), however without much luck. I’m sure it’s still there somewhere, but we couldn’t find it. It was also blisteringly hot, so we opted for the easy option and plonked ourselves on a beach by one of the hotels there.

Unfortunately, the Hotel Zone is not Playa. The beaches are definitely not public, and it wasn’t long before we were discovered as non-guests and moved along. Bugger! So we moved next door to the more public beach, which was nowhere near as nice. Soon afterwards we headed back to downtown and checked into our new hotel. This one, Maria de Lourdes, was just down the road from our old one (both on Ave Yaxchilian), and looked nicer from the outside.

Indoors, however it was slightly different. We didn’t have a balcony anymore – actually now we didn’t have a window! The pool was nicer, but just as cold. Ah well, at least we were only here two nights.

At 5pm we met with the other Geckos people and decided on our plans for that evening. It turns out that Coral, our leader, had nothing particular planned for New Years (which sucked), and that we were all going to have dinner together at our old hotel at 5:30pm! Being NYE, all the places had set meals from 7pm that cost upwards of MX$500. I admit that’s hugely expensive, but c’mon, it’s NYE and I would have expected Geckos to have organised something!

On the plus side, we did meet loads of people – Dan, Juliana, Frankie, Lorali, Rachael, Lisa, Mila, Justin etc… which was great. I think we’ll all get along really well, although it is clear that tours encourage a certain type of traveller – namely young solo females. We also all paid towards a drinks kitty and subsequently had loads of alcohol and snacks. At midnight a group of us went in the pool and had sparklers, which was really nice.

All in all a really nice NYE, but not one as spectacularly memorable as I would have expected from an organised tour!

After our horrendously touristy day yesterday at Playa, we decided to go all backpacker today and hit Isla Mujeres (Island of Women). It was AWESOME! The ferry from Puerto Juarez costs MX$70 return, and takes about 30 mins. Once there, the whole island is highly walkable, and most streets are lined with ultra-cheap restaurants and awesome little shops. This place really struck a chord with me, and reminded me so much of Ko Phi Phi. We spent so much of the day just lounging around on North Beach which was fantastic and so relaxing.

It’s a hard life!

We continued our exploration through Mexican food tonight with some delicious grilled fish and sangria. Yes, yes, I know you can get these in Sydney or pretty much anywhere else, but I’m determined to believe they were more authentic here because we are in Mexico! So pfft!

I should explain a few things. Firstly, Ange and I are in Mexico to celebrate New Years. On Dec 31 we are joining a Gecko’s tour through Yucatan Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. I’ve never done a tour like this before, so I must admit I’m a bit unsure about how it will work. Part of the fun for me is booking the hostels and looking at what there is to do in each place. But it hasn’t started yet, so I shouldn’t be so negative. It could and should be awesome fun, and a great way to meet new people!

So, we decided to arrive a few days early to see the various sites of Cancun and surrounds. These include Playa del Carmen, the Hotel Zone and Isla Mujeres. Our hotel isn’t located in the “Hotel Zone” of Cancun, so we are far removed from all the stereotypical spring break images that appear in everyone’s minds when talking about this place. Hotel Margaritas is downtown, which is far more ‘Mexican’ and local. It’s still very touristy, and you can’t help but feel that this whole place would’ve done much better if it wasn’t so tied to the US. There are Wal-Marts, Home Depots, Starbucks and McDonalds here by the bucket. Bit of a shame, really.

Anyways, so it was that we went to Playa del Carmen (by bus, every 10mins, MX$34 each way). Essentially it’s a large beach resort. Awesome public beach, but really expensive shops and the like. Go here if you like your developing countries safe and familiar. Go here if you like Starbucks, more English than Espanol and tourist shops. All the cruise ships dock just beyond here, and because of that you have to negotiate huge crowds during the day. On the plus side, it’s really relaxed and so easy to tan. Yay!

Playa was also home to my first bargaining experience in Central America (rather unsuccessful actually – they’re just not into it!). We also learned the typical Spanglish selling phrases: “check it out”, “looking, looking” and the like. And some new ones: “Honeymoon or just practicing”! Gotta love their forwardness!!

Again, went home and watched more Universal Channel – Clueless and Bring It On. Clearly this channel has a chick-flick focus!

Woah … today was a crazily long day of travelling, travelling and more travelling. We woke at 4am, took a taxi to Newark Airport in New Jersey and boarded our plane for Charlotte and Cancun, Mexico.

Both flights were fairly uneventful, although we had plenty of time in Charlotte to explore the airport. Which we didn’t really do, as there really wasn’t a lot to do there, aside from eat and watch the flights leave. After 2hrs that gets old!

Arrived in Cancun to a lovely warm day – 28 degrees and sunny! Oh, how I could get used to this! We made it to our hotel relatively OK [thanks to Ange's research] (bus from airport to downtown Cancun and walked from there) and decided to go exploring. It was 4pm by this time, so we went to the supermarket and bought some water and other supplies. We went exploring around the block and saw the hotel we will be checking into for our Gecko’s tour in a few days. To be honest, it looks nicer than our current one.

We’re staying at Hotel Magaritas and it’s quite nice. The room is large, airy and has a balcony. The balcony does look out onto the pool, but also the backyards of all of the other places on the block – so it’s not the nicest view in the world! The big plus is the TV and Universal Channel. This channel is awesome – 24hr English language movies. And so it was that we watched the Whole Nine Yards eating ice cream! How Mexican is that?! Haha.

Had my first ‘real’ Mexican dinner tonight too – chicken fajitas and beer Blanca. Mmm… so good!