Cancun trip report

[Robinhood4x4]

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.


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.



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.



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 )

View from our room patio.


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.


This was parked outside our condo.


The south side of the island was really beautiful.


Lot's of these guys on the south side.


Notice anything different about this jeep?


This is a view from our condo.


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.

[DHC6twinotter]

Awesome! I'm going to a small town south of Mexico City here in a couple of weeks. Did you all fly into the new terminal at MEX, or the old one? Last year we flew into the old terminal, and it was a bit confusing where to find the customs and immigration.

Those are some great pics too! I've never been to Cancun...looks nice! Hopefully we'll get to see the pyramids on this trip.

[elripster]

Holy cow, did you just come back yesterday? We finally made it back home at 1AM this morning. We were there from Sunday to Saturday.

What resort were you at. We were at the Royal Sunset with an All Inclusive package so drank ourselves silly and ate way too much food.

We went to Xel-Ha and Talum Friday, the Jungle tour Thursday, and the Isla Muheres tour Wednesday.



Frank

[Robinhood4x4]

DHC, I have no idea which terminal we flew into. The bathrooms were nice and clean though.

Frank, no we actually got back a week ago on Saturday. We were there from the 2nd to the 9th so you got there the day after we left. Our resort was Fiesta Americana Cancun. I guess there's about 6 fiesta americanas there, but the "cancun" one is right next to the Riu where the hotel zone curves. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you guys pay for your all inclusive?

How was the jungle tour? We were thinking of doing that, but never got around to it.

[DHC6twinotter]

If you flew Continental, Delta, or Aeromexico, you would have gone into terminal 2 (the new one that just opened). American Airlines still flies into the old terminal (Where I was last year and will be flying into again this year).

Did you all notice a lack of toilet seats down there? That was a big problem where we went.

[bamachem]

awesome trip & pics!




first thing i would have to ask is "where the heck is the rear axle?" also, the rear body panel almost looks like it was salvaged from the side of another old jeep tub or something. weird for sure.

[DNAhilux]

Looks like a nice place. Im tempted to go due to our cold weather, but Im Canadian, so I would probably get murdered there like all the other canucks that go to mexico!

[elripster]

You know, we met a ton of Canadians there. It's a tourist place and you'll be fine. Many people were there to escape colder climates. Tourism is the core of their economy and they really appreciate our business.

If you stay on Isla Mujeres it can save a lot of money. There is more to do on Cancun proper though. If you were to stay at the Royal resorts, the all inclusive at the Royal Lagoon is WAY less than the Royal Sunset and you can get to the Royal Sunset in minutes on a cool boat ride across the lagoon.

Frank

[Robinhood4x4]

We flew US airway so I guess we flew into the old terminal. The women noticed the lack of toilet seats but I don't think I ever used a public bathroom, at least not for #2.

Andy's the winner, the Jeep is one of the rare fully independent suspension jeeps that they experimented with during WWII. I think the rear body panel is original.

Yup, there were a lot of Canadians and English people there. In fact, our cool pilot on the flight back announced to the canadians that they really didn't want to go back to canada. The hotel zone is pretty safe, as is isla mujeres.

[elripster]

I think I saw that Jeep. I was also intrigued by the vehicles not available in the states but had to stop pointing them out after while because I was in risk of not paying adequate attention to the new wife. Well that might be an exaggeration but the cars and motorcycles were a trip.

Frank