Robinhood4x4
02-16-2008, 10:53 PM
The wife and I just got back from a great week of vacation at cancun with some friends. I have to say, it started out a little rough though. First off, we had to make a connection at Mexico City and that was a bad omen right there. My 3 years of spanish more than 10 years ago didn't help much. We asked 4-5 people where we needed to go for immigration, customs, and the gate and each person gave us a different answer. So after an hour of running back in forth across the airport we finally made it to the correct gate just in time.
We finally made it to cancun and found a shuttle to take us to the hotel. As we drove up the main street through the hotel zone I was really disappointed to see so much Americanization. It was like I was driving down the strip in Las Vegas. Stores like Gucci, Versace, Harley Davidson, starbucks, lined the street. I could do that at home.
After arriving at the hotel we decided to find a place to eat. We passed a couple restaurants and walked a few more blocks and who do we run into but the other couple we're staying with. They just sat down for dinner too and promptly informed us that Mexico was a DRY COUNTRY! What?!?! It turns out that during the Mexican elections nobody can sell alcohol! So that's strike 3 (not that I drink much, but I do on vacation). Luckily it was only for a few days.
Strike 4 was the construction they were doing on the hotel next to us. It was just like the travel commercial where the jackhammer interrupts the guy when he's talking. We woke up to jackhammers every morning.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/STA_3003%20(Medium).JPG
Anyway, the first day we relaxed on the beach. Cancun has beautiful beaches. The weather was perfect the whole time. Temps in the mid 80's but really humid. Water was in the 80's also. Here's a 180 deg panoramic of our beach.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/116%20Fiesta%20Americana%20Beach%20(Medium).jpg
The second day we went downtown where the locals live and work. It's probably not a place you'd want to be at night, but it's good to see the real mexico.
The third day we went to the chichen itza, one of the mayan pyramids. That was cool to see the history of the people. Of course now-a-days as soon as you walk onto the grounds you're inundated with hundreds of people trying to sell you little trinkets. It's funny they yell out, "Wal-mart prices!", "Almost free!". Unfortunately, they closed off the pyramids back in 2006 so you can't walk up to the top anymore. I guess idiots were carving things into the walls at the top and also an 81 year old lady fell from one of the steps.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/035%20Chichen%20Itza%20Tour03%20(Medium).JPG
The forth day was spent at xcaret, kind of a cross between a waterpark and sea world. They have these cool man made underground caves fed by the ocean that you can swim around in.
The next few days were the highlights of the trip. We took the ferry over to Isla Mujeres and stayed at a condo over there. The nice thing about the island is that it still retains the small village charm. No fast food, no chains stores (except for the senor frogs gift shop), and no malls. For some reason the beaches and the weather were actually better than cancun despite being only 20 minutes away by ferry. The water by our condo was shallow for a long way we walked an easy 100 yards out to sea. Did I mention the beaches were nude beaches? (sorry, no pics :flipoff: )
View from our room patio.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/108%20Isla%20Mujeres%20Room%20View09%20(Medium).JP G
You have 4 choices for getting around the island. You can take a taxi, you can rent a bicycle, you can rent a moped, or you can rent a golf cart. We opted to rent a golf cart for the 4 of us. That was fun. You share the roads with cars which wasn't a problem because the island is so small. It takes about 45 minutes to go completely around the island.
This is their version of white trash.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/073%20Isla%20Mujeres%20Walk13%20(Medium).JPG
This was parked outside our condo.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/104%20IMG_3245%20(Medium).JPG
The south side of the island was really beautiful.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/125%20Isla%20Mujeres%20South%20(Medium).jpg
Lot's of these guys on the south side.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/126%20Isla%20Mujeres%20South06%20(Medium).JPG
Notice anything different about this jeep?
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/062%20Isla%20Mujeres%20Walk02%20(Medium).JPG
This is a view from our condo.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/127%20Ixchel%20view%20(Medium).jpg
The trip started out a little disappointing, but ended fantastically. We all really enjoying the island, especially the people and the food. The college kids out there might think it's a little boring, but for those of us looking for a little culture, it was perfect.
We finally made it to cancun and found a shuttle to take us to the hotel. As we drove up the main street through the hotel zone I was really disappointed to see so much Americanization. It was like I was driving down the strip in Las Vegas. Stores like Gucci, Versace, Harley Davidson, starbucks, lined the street. I could do that at home.
After arriving at the hotel we decided to find a place to eat. We passed a couple restaurants and walked a few more blocks and who do we run into but the other couple we're staying with. They just sat down for dinner too and promptly informed us that Mexico was a DRY COUNTRY! What?!?! It turns out that during the Mexican elections nobody can sell alcohol! So that's strike 3 (not that I drink much, but I do on vacation). Luckily it was only for a few days.
Strike 4 was the construction they were doing on the hotel next to us. It was just like the travel commercial where the jackhammer interrupts the guy when he's talking. We woke up to jackhammers every morning.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/STA_3003%20(Medium).JPG
Anyway, the first day we relaxed on the beach. Cancun has beautiful beaches. The weather was perfect the whole time. Temps in the mid 80's but really humid. Water was in the 80's also. Here's a 180 deg panoramic of our beach.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/116%20Fiesta%20Americana%20Beach%20(Medium).jpg
The second day we went downtown where the locals live and work. It's probably not a place you'd want to be at night, but it's good to see the real mexico.
The third day we went to the chichen itza, one of the mayan pyramids. That was cool to see the history of the people. Of course now-a-days as soon as you walk onto the grounds you're inundated with hundreds of people trying to sell you little trinkets. It's funny they yell out, "Wal-mart prices!", "Almost free!". Unfortunately, they closed off the pyramids back in 2006 so you can't walk up to the top anymore. I guess idiots were carving things into the walls at the top and also an 81 year old lady fell from one of the steps.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/035%20Chichen%20Itza%20Tour03%20(Medium).JPG
The forth day was spent at xcaret, kind of a cross between a waterpark and sea world. They have these cool man made underground caves fed by the ocean that you can swim around in.
The next few days were the highlights of the trip. We took the ferry over to Isla Mujeres and stayed at a condo over there. The nice thing about the island is that it still retains the small village charm. No fast food, no chains stores (except for the senor frogs gift shop), and no malls. For some reason the beaches and the weather were actually better than cancun despite being only 20 minutes away by ferry. The water by our condo was shallow for a long way we walked an easy 100 yards out to sea. Did I mention the beaches were nude beaches? (sorry, no pics :flipoff: )
View from our room patio.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/108%20Isla%20Mujeres%20Room%20View09%20(Medium).JP G
You have 4 choices for getting around the island. You can take a taxi, you can rent a bicycle, you can rent a moped, or you can rent a golf cart. We opted to rent a golf cart for the 4 of us. That was fun. You share the roads with cars which wasn't a problem because the island is so small. It takes about 45 minutes to go completely around the island.
This is their version of white trash.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/073%20Isla%20Mujeres%20Walk13%20(Medium).JPG
This was parked outside our condo.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/104%20IMG_3245%20(Medium).JPG
The south side of the island was really beautiful.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/125%20Isla%20Mujeres%20South%20(Medium).jpg
Lot's of these guys on the south side.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/126%20Isla%20Mujeres%20South06%20(Medium).JPG
Notice anything different about this jeep?
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/062%20Isla%20Mujeres%20Walk02%20(Medium).JPG
This is a view from our condo.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/cancun/127%20Ixchel%20view%20(Medium).jpg
The trip started out a little disappointing, but ended fantastically. We all really enjoying the island, especially the people and the food. The college kids out there might think it's a little boring, but for those of us looking for a little culture, it was perfect.