Once at Cancun, we had the usual routine of going through Immigration and Customs, and then the next step was to (hopefully) tap one of the ATM machines to get out some pesos. I was prepared this time (because on our last trip, you may recall we had ATM issues for a couple days) and brought about $40USD worth in pesos (as well as a bunch of US money) in case we had any problems. Unfortunately, the ATM machine was not giving money, and did not say why, so this did nothing to reassure me that it wasn't a problem with our bank.
Next we searched for the ticket booth to purchase bus tickets for the ADO bus to Playa. It took a few minutes and it turned out there was a booth right outside where we would get the bus. Tickets were $114 pesos each, which came out to about $18 USD for both of us, one way (not bad). The bus ride was uneventful and took about an hour. Once there, since we had packed light (carry-on luggage only), we decided to walk to our hotel rather than get a taxi. I wasn't in the mood to haggle with them. Taxi rates ARE set in Playa del Carmen based on zones, but the taxi drivers in Playa are notorious for trying to trick gringos into paying more and arguing with them, and we didn't feel like dealing with the hassle.
The walk from the bus station to the hotel was pretty long and took about 20 minutes. It was pretty hot and humid. Not unbearable, but hot enough that we were sweating pretty badly by the time we arrived at our hotel, Mahekal Beach Resort. On the way, we stopped at a liquor store named La Europea and picked up some tequila for the room. We arrived at the hotel by around 1:00 p.m. local time. Check-in was quick and painless and a friendly bell man escorted us to our room. He brought in a small refrigerator for us (extra $5/day) and set up our 2 hammocks on the patio. Our room number was 50B and was identical to the room we had on our last visit, in the Gardenview Pueblito section. I didn't take any pics or videos this time because I already took a bunch last time. You can see a tour of the Gardenview room here.
We were very hungry at this point so we headed to the restaurant for lunch. We immediately spotted our favorite waiter from last time, Rogelio (who reminds us a lot of my brother, Steven), and we greeted him with a big hello. He didn't seem to recognize us at first, but I think within a few minutes he remembered us. You may recall that we made quite a fuss over him last visit with a letter to management singing his praises. Here's a pic of some of the wait staff at Mahekal. Rogelio is second from the left.
For lunch, Mr. Sassy had the fish taco platter and I had the fish sandwich platter, which came with curly fries, and we shared so we both got to eat each. We also got some drinks...I got a non-alcoholic pina colada and a regular strawberry daquiri and Mr. Sassy got a couple of Coronas.
It was a beautiful day and a beautiful view! We had dipped our toes in the pools on the way to lunch and both were PERFECT...just slightly cool enough to be refreshing but not jarring. We had come to lunch prepared for the beach, dressed in our bathing suits, and after we ate, we headed to the beach and found a nice palapa to deposit ourselves under. We went into the ocean and it was SOOOOO perfect - just slightly cool where it only took 2 seconds to get used to it. The ocean had a greenish hue today instead of turquoise. We didn't swim much because we were both tired and very short on energy, so we chilled on the beach chairs and we both fell asleep on the beach. We also went into the pool by the bar, which was really warm...almost like bath water - only a tad cool. The tropical birds were all carrying on like crazy in the trees near the pool and we finally figured out that they were upset because Gato Boy (formerly known as Gato Girl) was in the pool area and the birds all had nests which they were obviously protecting. The birds went nuts at the sight of Gato Boy and kept dive-bombing him, trying to scare him away. This video is really funny because it shows how determined the birds were to get him. Thankfully, they didn't succeed (and Gato Boy didn't seem to fazed by them either) but it was a funny scene nonetheless.
After about 15-20 minutes at the pool, a noisy family with kids entered the area so that was our cue to leave. We were both tired anyway. We went back to our room and Mr. Sassy lied down to take a nap while I unpacked and put our stuff away. At around 5:30 I joined Mr. Sassy for a nap and surprise surprise - we woke up the next day. We didn't even eat dinner. The same thing happened our on our last trip. You KNOW I am tired if I miss a meal! _____________________________
What We Spent Today (in USD)
Tip - Airport Parking $5
ADO Bus CUN to Playa: $18
Liquor Store: $7
Lunch: Drinks and Tip: $17
OXXO Store - Bottled Water: $2
ATM Fee: $2
TOTAL: $51
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