Viva Cancun!!

Cancun Vacation with FABULOUS Nicole!

Day 1-Wednesday

The day started out bright and early since we had to catch at early flight.  I picked Nicole up around 4:15am and we headed to the airport.  Even though the weather was cold with snow on the ground, I was sporting light capris and my chacos.  The looks I received at the airport were priceless!

We arrived in Cancun around 4:30pm and found our first adventure to be figuring out how to get from the airport to our hotel.  For whatever reason NO ONE had heard of our hotel and we were initially told it was in Playa Del Carmen.  Neither of us knew enough to know that Playa Del Carmen isn't just a name for a section of Cancun.  We both knew our hotel was in downtown Cancun.  We ended up buying tickets for Downtown Cancun and got on the bus but then second guessed ourselves so we got off to try and gain clarification.  No one spoke good enough English to make this a simple process but we finally decided to trust ourselves and caught the next bus to downtown Cancun.  Once we got to that main hub bus station we still didn't know where to go even though we knew we were close and yet again no one seemed to know where our hotel was...except one guy who kept saying "horrible place, horrible."  That made us feel great.  We caught a taxi just this first time so we would know where to go the rest of our stay.  It was quite close but the neighborhood felt a bit sketchy.  But later that night we were assured that the neighborhood was safe and the only thing we may get would be cat calls.  We were fine and never felt threatened even when walking back home late at night.  We actually grew to love our hotel and its location.  We feel that we were able to experience life and culture in Cancun and not just tourist zone.  Our room was clean and just what we needed.

For dinner that night we found a restaurant on the main strip of Downtown Cancun.  I ordered a mushroom and cheese burrito and Nicole ordered the taco sampler.  They brought out chips and salsa while we waited and we learned right then that true Mexican is MUCH SPICIER than American Mexican.  Wow!!  Welcome to Mexico!

Day 2-Thursday

We started the day early so we could take advantage of every moment on this vacation.  We got ready, packed our vagabond bags and caught the bus to Hotel Zone (this is the tourist/resort area of Cancun where any normal vacationer would stay).  We got off somewhere in the middle of the strip and started wandering.  We found a public beach entrance and continued our walking on the beach until we just had to change into our suits.  We turned to the nearest resort to see if there was a restroom or dressing room and discovered we were at the Ritz-Carlton.  So we changed and then decided to take a look around.  We even got one of the employees to take our picture.

Back on the beach we relaxed on the chairs outside the Ritz until we were told that you had to pay $25 dollars to rent them.  At least we got some great pics before we were kicked onto the sand.

After some good relaxation in the sun...and Nicole turning into a lobster (silly girl didn't put any sunscreen on) we continued our research of how to successfully navigate Cancun.  We asked A LOT of questions, did a lot of walking, and found it takes time to do Cancun on a budget.  But we have no regrets and are proud of our 5-day trip for less than $650 including flights!  We booked a day trip to Chichen Itza and learned that even your tours are done by bartering.  I still have some issues with everyone on the tour having paid differently for getting the exact same thing.

For dinner that night we found our way to Puerto Juarez (it took a ride in a sketchy bus/van to get there) where we caught the ferry to Isla Mujeras.  There is much to do on that island but we only experienced dinner (my favorite of the trip) and our first virgin margaritas (I was unimpressed).  We also were entertained by some locals trying to get tips.  Fun night!

Day 3-Friday

We were again up bright and early to catch our bus to Chichen Itza.  Since no one knew where our hotel was, we had to get ourselves to a different hotel to be picked up.  Then we had a 2.5 hour bus ride to these Mayan Ruins.  Through pretty much the entire bus ride Gaby, our tour guide, talked.  She told us more about Mayan civilization and culture and what we would be doing and such.  I tried my hardest to pick up everything but she would switch between English and Spanish mid-sentence and then back again.  There were even sometimes that I understood her Spanish better than her English (Thanks Senor Bagley, my high school Spanish teacher!).

Our first stop was at a cenote where we were able to swim in the sacred underground pool.  It was so beautiful and so relaxing...a bit cold...and one of my favorite experiences.  I was sad we only had 30 minutes there.

After changing our clothes we were off to a little Mayan flea market and our buffet lunch.  Fortunately for me, Nicole is not a shopper either so we wandered around then relaxed in the hammock chairs (wished we could have figured out how to bring one of those home).

After lunch we drove to Chichen Itza.  We both feel that in order to have gained the best experience there we needed to have done our research beforehand.  I definitely want to research more on Mayan culture and stuff.  There mathematics is fascinating!  The area of ruins was much larger than expected and even though our tour was in English it was hard to understand so after so long Nicole and I just left and wandered on our own.

Highlights for me--the main and most famous pyramid that we learned on March 21st and September 21st has the light hit is perfectly to make the stairs look like the back of the snake with the snake's head at the bottom.  The light hits in perfect isosceles triangles.  So cool!

The playing field where they played this crazy game by bumping a ball with your hips, shoulders, or head in attempts to make it through one of the hoops on the side of the wall (notice how high those hoops are).  And they believe that the winners were the ones who were decapitated because the afterlife was looked at so highly that it was a reward to be sent there.  Crazy!

We got back to Cancun around 7:30pm and wanted to book ourselves another day trip for the next day.  So we again wandered and researched and feel we got a decent deal.  We then tried our hand at the club scene but it was tough vagabond style (we both felt underdressed, grubby from swimming and not getting ready again after, and had our bags on our backs).  We started at Margarittaville where we had the most fun.  We ordered loaded nachos and enjoyed karaoke and dancing.  I had an older Mexican man tell me he liked my dancing and then kept coming around.  It was when he asked me to dance for him that we decided it was time to leave.  We then tried Senor Frogs but had no where to leave our stuff and just got frustrated not being able to really enjoy ourselves to we went home.

Day 4-Saturday

We spent our final day in Cancun at Xel-Ha, a natural aquatic park where we could snorkel, zip line, ropes course, cliff jump, and much more.  We also had all-you-can-eat and drink all day long.  So we started the day with breakfast...this is mine.

Nicole started off with her virgin strawberry daiquiri.

We then changed our clothes and got our snorkel gear.  And we lathered up with the natural biodegradable sunscreen that I was forced to pay an arm and a leg for because other sunscreens aren't allowed since the chemicals kill the fish.  By the end of the day I learned that it doesn't work as well as other sunscreen so I left with some slight lobster color but nothing terrible so I'm not complaining.

We started our adventures at the zip lines and ropes course (all these pictures are on the water-proof camera Nicole bought that isn't developed yet).  We then did some tubing and snorkeling.  I overcame my hesitancy of snorkeling that I gained at age 15 when I went to Mexico for the first time with my family and had a hard time breathing through that tube.  After Saturday, I am a pro and am ready to try my hand at scuba diving!!

Later in the day we read in the hammocks (I got eaten alive by the Mexican mosquitoes.  It doesn't matter where I go, mosquitoes LOVE me!).

Then wandered around the entire park.  We stopped to enjoy some of the inlets that were just breathtakingly gorgeous and found we could sit there all day and enjoy the beauty.

We had to take pictures of the manatee because we saw them at the beginning of the day and I started singing the VeggieTales song, Barbara Manatee, which then became our theme song of the whole trip because it gets quite stuck in your head.  Just listen.

We also became friends with the many Iguanas that just wandered around the jungles as well as the White-tailed Coati.

At the end of the day, we ate one more meal (got all three meals in...we owned that all-you-can-eat deal!) and met up with our bus.  It was another 2ish hour drive from which we went right home to shower and primp so we could do clubbin' right.

However, when we found the more popular clubs we weren't entirely comfortable and learned we are not okay with spending time in scenes like that.  So we went to Outback Steakhouse and got dessert and relived our fantastic vacation!

Day 5-Sunday

Sunday was our earliest morning because we had to catch a 5:30am bus to the airport.  Then we had to wait forever for the terminal shuttle to take us to the International terminal.  And somewhere in the mix of all that my camera batter charger and alarm clock went missing from the front pocket of my bag.  The one casualty of the trip.  The flights back were just fine except neither of us wanted to turn our phones back on and join the real world again.  What a great vacation!!!