Yucatan, if you think Yucatan!
Hello from Southern Mexico!
The trip has been pretty brilliant so far, despite starting it out with a pretty bad cold. (Thanks a lot Portland). We flew into Cancun, got screwed on a cab to the ferry dock (eh, it happens to the best of us) and hopped the ferry to Isla Mujeres. This turned out to be a great choice. Isla Mujeres is this little island surrounded by white sand beaches and turquoise blue waters. Fucking gorgeous, and it´s far enough from Cancun that it seems most of the hordes of frat guys and fat golfers never make it. We had a little difficulty finding our hotel but once we did - holy cow it was AWESOME. It was called Cabanas La Meria Del Mar and was right smack at the top of playa norte, and endless white sand beach with water that very, very gradually got deeper so could just sit out there with a beer floating around. The weather was perfect. Mid-80´s during the day, beaming sun, a few clouds, 70´s at night. There were a couple of cool beach bars. There are kinda two main population centers, the turista place in the north and the locals area in the south.
The second day we rented one of those four-poster bed things that you see in the high-end travel mags with the yuppies sitting on them and they have the white sheets for walls. We sat on it all day - cost? Seven dollars for ten AM to six PM. Pina coladas $3.
The next day we went snorkelling, which was great. It was drift snorkelling, hop in and float down along the coral reef. Maybe not as insanely colorful as Thailand snorkeling but really cool fish anyway. M saw a barracuda! I followed a squid around for a while, I thought that was really cool! After snorkelling we got lunch - amazing ceviche of the tenderest octopus, shrimp and conch, followed by a whole grilled lobster tail that was like $10, local and awesome. We then rented bikes and rode all the way to the bottom of the island to check out the mayan ruins. It was a great bike ride, complete with oceanside rides all the way down and back. We rode through the locals area, got beers at drive-through ¨mini-super¨s (mini-super = convenience store) and stood at the farthest southern point on the rocks over the crashing surf that the Spaniards landed on. It was like 270 degree view of nothing but sea. Amazing!
Next day, (yesterday - Wednesday) we caught the ferry back to Cancun and hopped the most luxurious bus I have ever been on in my life to the city of Merida on the gulf side of the Yucatan. When you got on a lady gave you a soda, mints, sleeping eye mask, hand sanitizer and headphones. They had massive wide seats with blankets and pillows and entertainment consoles. The seats went practially flat and I snoozed away a good part of the four hour journey (this was good as I was pretty hungover :) M watched Michael Jackson concert footage. We pulled into Merida after dark. Merida is a city of around a million. The outskirts looked a little rough, but that´s often the case with outskirts of everywhere. The main city is freakin´ awesome. We checked out one of the historical tourist hotels and the musty windowless rooms were not super impressive although the building was stunning. We hiked it to another place a bit out of the center and found the most amazing hotel called Hotel Mexilia. I think it´s run by some gay Mexican guys and an American. The building is from the 1800s and has a central courtyard and all these areas connected with a labrynth of suspended catwalks! Then, the entire thing is FULL of huge tropical trees and palms and plants. It´s a 3-D maze of decks, balconies, etc. Amazing! I really can´t describe it. The room is awesome and the staff is great. The people here dress really nice and huge groups of families, students, etc seem to run around all night long! Today we´re going to art museums and maybe to the big market. I´m going to tray to track down some of the famous ¨cochinitas¨ or roasted pork that this area is famous for. Been taking a lot of pics but they´re all in RAW format so I will upload them when I get back.
Hope everyone there is well!
The trip has been pretty brilliant so far, despite starting it out with a pretty bad cold. (Thanks a lot Portland). We flew into Cancun, got screwed on a cab to the ferry dock (eh, it happens to the best of us) and hopped the ferry to Isla Mujeres. This turned out to be a great choice. Isla Mujeres is this little island surrounded by white sand beaches and turquoise blue waters. Fucking gorgeous, and it´s far enough from Cancun that it seems most of the hordes of frat guys and fat golfers never make it. We had a little difficulty finding our hotel but once we did - holy cow it was AWESOME. It was called Cabanas La Meria Del Mar and was right smack at the top of playa norte, and endless white sand beach with water that very, very gradually got deeper so could just sit out there with a beer floating around. The weather was perfect. Mid-80´s during the day, beaming sun, a few clouds, 70´s at night. There were a couple of cool beach bars. There are kinda two main population centers, the turista place in the north and the locals area in the south.
The second day we rented one of those four-poster bed things that you see in the high-end travel mags with the yuppies sitting on them and they have the white sheets for walls. We sat on it all day - cost? Seven dollars for ten AM to six PM. Pina coladas $3.
The next day we went snorkelling, which was great. It was drift snorkelling, hop in and float down along the coral reef. Maybe not as insanely colorful as Thailand snorkeling but really cool fish anyway. M saw a barracuda! I followed a squid around for a while, I thought that was really cool! After snorkelling we got lunch - amazing ceviche of the tenderest octopus, shrimp and conch, followed by a whole grilled lobster tail that was like $10, local and awesome. We then rented bikes and rode all the way to the bottom of the island to check out the mayan ruins. It was a great bike ride, complete with oceanside rides all the way down and back. We rode through the locals area, got beers at drive-through ¨mini-super¨s (mini-super = convenience store) and stood at the farthest southern point on the rocks over the crashing surf that the Spaniards landed on. It was like 270 degree view of nothing but sea. Amazing!
Next day, (yesterday - Wednesday) we caught the ferry back to Cancun and hopped the most luxurious bus I have ever been on in my life to the city of Merida on the gulf side of the Yucatan. When you got on a lady gave you a soda, mints, sleeping eye mask, hand sanitizer and headphones. They had massive wide seats with blankets and pillows and entertainment consoles. The seats went practially flat and I snoozed away a good part of the four hour journey (this was good as I was pretty hungover :) M watched Michael Jackson concert footage. We pulled into Merida after dark. Merida is a city of around a million. The outskirts looked a little rough, but that´s often the case with outskirts of everywhere. The main city is freakin´ awesome. We checked out one of the historical tourist hotels and the musty windowless rooms were not super impressive although the building was stunning. We hiked it to another place a bit out of the center and found the most amazing hotel called Hotel Mexilia. I think it´s run by some gay Mexican guys and an American. The building is from the 1800s and has a central courtyard and all these areas connected with a labrynth of suspended catwalks! Then, the entire thing is FULL of huge tropical trees and palms and plants. It´s a 3-D maze of decks, balconies, etc. Amazing! I really can´t describe it. The room is awesome and the staff is great. The people here dress really nice and huge groups of families, students, etc seem to run around all night long! Today we´re going to art museums and maybe to the big market. I´m going to tray to track down some of the famous ¨cochinitas¨ or roasted pork that this area is famous for. Been taking a lot of pics but they´re all in RAW format so I will upload them when I get back.
Hope everyone there is well!