Three weeks vacation in Mexico
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The story is very detailed since I might use the information myself if I would like to return.
We used "ReseCentrum Gruppen" when we booked our flight tickets on Internet. We paid 50 SEK extra each since we wanted to sit next to each other. The travel agency did nothing. Luckily we found that we could specify seats on Air France website so we anyway got the seats we wanted on the flight from Paris to Cancun in Mexico. It was not possible to book seats on the connecting flight from Gothenburg to Paris. "ReseCentrum Gruppen" could at least have informed us that we could book the seats ourselves and given back the money we paid them for doing it.
We read on Apollos website that Mexico require your passport number in advance otherwise you may not be allowed to enter the country. "ReseCentrum Gruppen" had not informed us about it but we found ourselves that we could give the passport number on Air France website.
Sven was the name of a snow storm which hit Sweden Thursday evening. It was the first snow during the winter. Trains, and also a lot of flights, were stopped and there were a lot of traffic problems. We were lucky that it came on Thursday and not on Saturday.
The weather was nice on Saturday. We went up half past three in the night and it took 40 minutes to get ready without eating. My father drove us to the airport which took just a little more than 30 minutes. We had checked in on Internet Friday evening and made sure that we also got seats next to each other on the flight from Gothenburg to Paris.
The check-in, or baggage drop, started already 4:45. We didn't get any new boarding cards so we had to use the papers we printed out when we checked in on Internet Friday evening.
Small bottle of water or soft drinks cost 31 SEK at the airport. I look forward the day when you can bring it with you from home and don't have to buy it at the airport since it cost at least twice as much there compared to what it cost in an ordinary shop. An idea is to bring concentrated juice in a 50 ml bottle together with an empty 500 ml bottle so you can make the juice at the airport after the security check.
We took the newspapers GP and Dagens Industri when we boarded the plane. Onboard the Air France plane you got carbonated water, coffee or tea together with a cheese sandwich. You didn't get soft drinks and not even juice.
We arrived before the time schedule at terminal 2G. There was an automatic passport check but we didn't use it. We have new passports so I think we could have used it. You then just put your passport in a machine, look into a camera and put your finger so the fingerprint can be checked. We had to wait for a bus 30 minutes which could take us to terminal 2E. There were different busses so make sure that you enter the right bus since some busses went to terminal L and K.
You have to walk a long way when you arrive at terminal 2E. At the gate was a really big group of deaf people, maybe 100 persons, wearing Panama hats. They were going to Miami on the plane departing from our gate before our flight.
The food onboard the plane was excellent. We got both dinner and lunch and also snacks and ice-cream. You could also fetch snacks and something to drink yourself whenever you wanted to have something to eat or drink. The movies were good and even the earphones worked well. The movies had French language with English subtitles or just English language.
We had to fill in two papers, a tourist visa and a customs declaration, onboard the plane so make sure you have all information you need available together with a pen. You need for instance passport number and the address to the first hotel you will visit.
I saw three good movies onboard the plane before it was time to leave it. There was a 30 minutes long queue to the passport check where you got a stamp on your tourist visa. We had to wait a long time until our luggage arrived after the luggage of all other passengers on our plane. We passed the customs without problem but some people had their baggage screened.
We took the ADO bus from the bus stop just outside the terminal to the right. There were busses also to Playa del Carmen and Cozumel. The bus ticket cost 120 pesos and the bus stopped two more times at other terminals before it went directly to the big Cancun bus station.
It was dark outside and difficult to find the way to the hostel. Luckily we met an American guy who went with us almost all the way since he was staying at a hostel close by.
We left our things at the hostel and went out for a walk. There was a stage at a town square where there were a lot of Christmas performances.
Breakfast and dinner were included at the hostel so we headed back to the hostel for dinner 8 pm. We also got a tequila which they serve to the dinner. After dinner we went out and walked again in another direction before we went to bed. We were then very tired.
We woke up at sunrise around 6 am. We had slept well but there had been a lot of noise from people who had been drinking at the hostel bar during the night. I had also heard a gecko lizard in our room and there were plenty of small lizards in the hostel garden.
After breakfast we went out and took some photos since it was too dark for taking photos last evening. Back at the hostel we took a shower. It took a very long time before the water became hot but then it got very hot. We booked a tour to Chichen Itza and cancelled a booking at the hostel December 14 which had mistakenly been booked by the hostel.
We walked to the ADO bus station where we bought the tickets which cost 114 pesos each. A really funny memory was that Marica gate-crashed into a toilet at the ADO bus station since she didn't have any Mexican coins which were needed to open the door.
The really nice bus stopped at a dolphin park and at some type of adventure park, XCARET, before it stopped at Tulum. A very violent action movie was shown on the monitors inside the bus. It was not suitable for children. We first thought that it was the end station since all people went off the bus except one girl. Luckily I asked and was told that we were at the archaeological place and the next stop was Tulum town. It was difficult to find the way to the hostel but luckily we got a map at the station and a person told us that we had to go four blocks to the left and then cross the main road and go three blocks away from that road.
We stored our things at the hostel and went out for a "little" walk to the beach. It shouldn't be far away according to the map. The map was however not correct. It showed the village and the beach but in the map they had removed the forest in between.
We walked for ages. I thought that it would be closer if we turned to the right into another road but that road just went to an area in the forest were they built expensive houses for rich people. We must have walked 2 km extra due to this. On our way we saw a blue bird and a blue butterfly. Both of them dead. We saw also something which looked like a fox which crossed the road in front of us.
We finally came to the beach after we had walked many kilometres. Observe that most parts of the beach are private used by the different hotel guests. Luckily a guard, at the area with the expensive houses, had told us where we could find the public beach.
We took something to drink at a hotel restaurant before we walked along the beach. It was very windy so there were red flags at the beach. We thought that we maybe could walk to the archaeological area where the Maya ruins are and take a taxi from that place. We walk to the end of the beach and found a little path upwards. Unfortunately we just came to a lighthouse surrounded by forest so we had to walk back to the beach. My feet hurt due to blisters and it was not good to get it on our first day in Mexico. Luckily we found a taxi which we took back to our hostel for 70 pesos.
The hostel arranged a tour to a cenote ( dripstone cave ) the next day which we booked. It cost 350 pesos each. We were told that we also should see spider monkeys. We went out again for a walk in the little village. There was a show for children at 8 pm at the town square. We found a nice place where they served half a grilled chicken for 60 pesos. We took one each together with soft drinks which cost 20 pesos for a bottle. We looked for a place where we could dance salsa or disco but couldn't find such a place. The guy who managed the hostel told us that you could dance salsa at a hotel at the beach one evening each week but it was a too long taxi drive to that place.
There was something going on at a church so we went closer. First we thought that it was nice that people came forward and welcomed us before we saw that it was a funeral and some people were weeping. What a mistake to go there so we walked away as quickly as possible back to our hostel for a nights sleep.
It was a very cold night since the AC worked too well.
We woke up early and packed our things for the tour. First we had breakfast at 8 am. The breakfast was included at the hostel. The tour should start at 9 am but it was delayed since more people at the hostel wanted to go with us. We thought of course that we should be picked up by a bus but instead we had to walk the three blocks to the main road were we jumped into one of the minibusses they call "collectivo". The guy who worked at the hostel, and maybe was the owner, was our guide. We went off after maybe 15 minutes and crossed the main road leading towards Cancun. We came to a locked building were we waited for something. After some time we were told that we waited for drivers to 4-wheel motorbikes and we were also told that we could drive ourselves if we wanted to do that. I still don't know how this was planned. Later on we met some big vehicles which were more like a car and could carry a lot of passengers and I suppose the idea was that we should go by such a car. We were also informed that there were 4-wheel motorcycles locked inside the building which we could use. Anyway, no drivers with vehicles turned up so we had to travel with the old car you see in a photo. Luckily I and Marica cold sit with the driver in the front seat while the other persons had to jump up and sit or stay back on the car. We had one 4-wheel motorcycle which some people from America could use since they had been promised such a vehicle.
The cenote, or dripstone cave, was nice. You could snorkel and see some fishes. We also followed the guide, floating with life jackets, along a narrow path until we came to a little opening. There were a lot of bats flying near your head since there were just some decimetres free space up to the cave ceiling.
I expected that we should search for the spider-monkeys we had heard after we had visited the cenote. The guide made however no attempt to find them. We were told that we were too many people and therefore had scared them away. We were also told that the monkeys slept at some trees nearby but it was too early for them to get to sleep since the time was only one or two o'clock. I thought that we would get a tour in the jungle where we also could see other animals but obviously that was not what the guide had in mind. The guide had promised that we should at least get 4-wheel motorbikes which we could use to drive back to the main road but we ended up going with the same old car back. At the main road we had to take the public minibuses back to the village.
I and Marica decided to visit the Maya ruins on our way back so we didn't go all the way back to the village.
We had heard that it was free entrance to the ruins on Sundays and Mondays but it was not correct. We had also heard that you need you passport to enter but that was not true either. I think that you need you passport if you live in Mexico since then the entrance fee is cheaper. We had to pay 57 pesos each to enter the archaeological area with the Maya ruins. It was really nice and there were beside the ruins also a lot of iguanas. We bought ice-creams which cost 80 pesos for us both. That was more expensive than expected. We took a taxi for 70 pesos back to Tulum village.
Our room was cleaned and they had made our bed. We were hungry but the place where we had eaten chicken yesterday was closed. We found a cheap Chinese restaurant where you got four scoops of food for 64 pesos and a bottle of something to drink cost only 13 pesos.
They served pancakes with banana and chocolate to breakfast. Afterwards we took the minibus to Akumal Playa which cost 35 pesos each.
We started to snorkel from the rocks at the left side of the beach. We hadn't been in the water many minutes before we saw a huge, green moray eel in a hole just a couple of meters down. There were also plenty of the usual reef fishes. Further out was the coral reef which is the second biggest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef outside Australia. We decided to swim out to it since it was maybe just 50 meters out. We were however stopped by a man in a kayak who told us that we were not allowed to swim outside an area surrounded by ropes and buoyancies. There were no corals inside that area, just sand and sea grass. I thought that this was really idiotic. Here we come to Mexico and we were not allowed to snorkel at the corals. We followed his command and swam to that area. All people inside that area snorkelled with life jackets on. It was really crazy but after just a minute or two we forgot all about it. We saw several sea turtles. Some of them was so used to people so they just continued to eat the sea grass at the bottom when you swam down close to them. We saw also a sting ray and an eagle ray. On our way in to the beach we also saw some squids. What an amazing day. The snorkelling had been so fantastic so you almost thought that you were dreaming.
You get cold after about an hour in the water so we went up and ate sandwiches which we had prepared at the hostel and brought with us. We went out for a walk after we had eaten before we snorkelled again. We saw an iguana at one place.
We snorkelled close to the rocks at the left side of the beach and tried to avoid the man in the kayak. We didn't dare to swim out to the coral reef. We saw however a stingray, a lionfish and a porcupinefish ( igelkottfisk in Swedish ).
It cost 35 pesos each to go back with the minibus. Back at the hostel we charged our camera batteries for a new snorkelling tour the next day at the same place.
We ate half a grilled chicken each to dinner again which cost 175 pesos in total including something to drink.
We went to Akumal beach again after breakfast at the hostel. This time it cost 30 pesos each. Unfortunately we started to talk with a guy who worked there. He and some other persons worked at the ecologic centre. They protected the coral reef, the sea turtles and I suppose also tried to make sure that nobody got hurt or drowned. He wanted to show us a five minutes long film about Akumal beach. We didn't want to see it but he seemed to insist on it so we went with him and saw it together with some other people. He told us that you had to wear life jackets if you snorkelled outside the eleventh buoy, or in other words, you had to wear lifejackets if you snorkelled where the water was waist deep or a little deeper. You were not allowed to swim out to the coral reef even if you had a life jacket. The other people got life jackets after they had seen the movie and went out and snorkelled in a group after the guide. We disappeared as quickly as possible and were not sure what we should do. The whole vacation seemed ruined by a lot of stupid rules. We decided to go far away from the guides to the right of the beach into hotel zones which didn't have a lot of rules. First we thought that the snorkelling wasn't good there since it looked as if there where just sand bottom. Luckily it was really good. There were a lot of spots with really nice corals, even better than in the restricted area. The first thing we saw was a huge barracuda on shallow water not far from the beach. It must have been a meter long and was thick as a loin.
I took a lot of photos of the beautiful corals but only a few of them were good. I had the flashlight on and it was not good since small particles in the water made white spots in the photos. We saw a stingray, a turtle and a langouste among other things. Marica saw an octopus but it disappeared before we could take any photos. We swam far out but nobody stopped us. It had been a really lovely day. We took the minibus home which cost 40 pesos each.
It started to rain in the evening. We went to the China restaurant again and ate dinner. Back at the hostel we watched the end of the Gladiator in the common room.
We took the 9 am ADO bus from Tulum to Playa del Carmen. It cost 68 pesos per person. We managed to catch the 11 am ferry out to Cozumel which cost 156 pesos each. A nice music group played all the way out.
We walked to the hotel where we put our things before we went out on a long walk. We passed a super market on our way back where we bought chicken for dinner which we ate at the hotel together with bread. We were really tired that evening.
The breakfast was included at the hotel which was a nice surprise.
After breakfast we took a taxi to Money Bar which cost 10 USD. Money Bar should according to the information we had got be the best snorkelling beach on Cozumel. At first it didn't look very good. It was not a beach which of course didn't matter but, more important, there wasn't any coral reef. There were just some spots of corals. The corals had actually been much better at Akumal beach. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a really lovely day with really good snorkelling. There were a lot of fishes you could take photos of.
We snorkelled two times, about an hour each time. We hade a lunch break in between when we shared a hamburger and pommes frites. The lunch including Coca Cola cost 240 pesos. A fishhawk landed on a roof and made some attempts to catch fishes but with no luck. The people who worked at the bar went out and looked at it so it was obviously not a bird they saw everyday. I threw some bread in the water and a lot of fishes ate it at the surface. I hoped that the fishhawk should try to catch one of them when I was ready with my camera but no such luck.
During the day we had seen three stingrays, a big barracuda and an awful lot of other fishes.
We took a taxi back for another 10 USD.
In the evening we went to the town plaza where a music group played salsa music. We danced some dances salsa and bachata before we went to a club called TikiTok where we danced salsa until after midnight. It was a nice club and the entrance was free.
We went to Money Bar again and snorkelled three times, about an hour each time. You got cold if stayed in the water too long. We gave pommes frites and banana to the fishes which was nice.
After we had snorkelled we went back to our hotel. This day the taxi cost just 100 pesos each way. We bought food at another supermarket closer to the hotel and bought also two plates with chicken salad for dinner. The salad cost 56 pesos each. Back at the hotel we ate our dinner and uploaded some new photos to Facebook.
We rested and went to the town square around 10 pm. A children orchestra played Christmas songs while a very famous salsa band from Cuba made preparations at the main stage. It took a lot of time so a DJ started to play salsa music when the orchestra had stopped playing the Christmas songs. We started to dance salsa during several of the salsa songs and a lot of people looked at us. A woman came and talked with Marica while we sat down and waited for the band to start playing. Marica had found on Internet that a club called Salsa Fusion had salsa after the group from Cuba had played. The woman organized a Salsa Fusion Reunion that evening and people had come from Cancun, Playa del Carmen and other places to watch the famous group and join the big salsa party afterwards. The last meeting they had had was in October. She had seen us dancing and wondered if we would like to follow her and the other people to the party afterwards. That was really nice of her so we said of course yes.
At midnight a man on the stage informed everybody that the group could not play due to some technical problem. A lot of people were very disappointed since they had been waiting such a long time and travelled from different parts of Mexico just to listen to that group. A guy told us that he had seen them both in Mexico City and in Cancun.
The woman told us that we could follow them to a salsa club called Rumba nearby and afterwards we should go to the party. I bought a Cuba Libre at Rumba and then we went to the party. The woman arranged so that a girl drove us and another guy to the party. We had met the girl the previous night where she had had a salsa lesson at the TikiTok club. She was a really good salsa dancer and probably worked as a salsa teacher.
Everybody paid 50 pesos for the entrance to the club. We paid another 50 pesos for hamburger and something to drink which we shared.
We danced a lot. Mostly salsa but also bachata. A couple wondered where we came from. They thought that we danced really good and also wondered if we were salsa teachers like a lot of other people on the party according to them.
There were around 65 persons at the Mexican salsa party at a house with a big swimming pool. We walked home around two o'clock in the night after we had thanked the woman who had invited us to the party.
We had ordered breakfast 7:15. I had to go up and open the door so they could get in and place the brick in the room. I then went to bed again and we slept until 9 am. After breakfast we took a taxi for 70 pesos to Stingray Beach. At Stingray Beach you could touch big Stingrays which had their tags removed. You got photos of yourself with the stingrays and the entrance cost 59 USD. We looked at some people who were in the water with one of the stingrays and both of us thought that it wasn't worth the money. You can see a lot of big stingrays at Akumal beach and we thought that it was not worth the money to touch them and have photos taken. We instead walked to a nearby beach where we snorkelled.
The place looked almost the same as Money Bar but the snorkelling wasn't that good. We were however really lucky and saw a langouste, a seashell and a starfish. I swam down to take a closer photo of the starfish and to my surprise saw a seahorse. I had never seen a wild seahorse before so I was incredible lucky. I took several photos of it but it was difficult to get a good one. It was quite deep and it turned its head away when you came closer to it.
It started to rain so we went under a nearby roof after we had snorkelled. A German guy was about to open some kind of activity there that day at 2 pm. A DJ should come and play music at their opening party he told us. He informed us that he was the only one on Cozumel who had a license for the activity. You connect a 15 meter long pipe from a jetski and to boots you put on. You could then fly up in the air or dive down in the water and jump up in the air like dolphins. It would have been nice to see it but we went home due to the bad weather. It seemed a little dangerous. He told us that a guy in France had invented the sport some years ago.
It was our last day on Cozumel so we wanted to find a cosy restaurant where we could eat dinner. We searched quite a lot until we found a really nice one called Kondesa on a street just behind our hotel. The persons who worked there were really nice and the food tasted really good. The dinner for both of us cost 750 pesos.
After breakfast we went out and took some photos before we took the 10 am ferry back to Playa del Carmen. It was very windy and the crew gave out plastic bags to people which they could use if the threw up. Nobody got sick and the trip to Playa del Carmen went without any problems.
We walked to the hostel and had to wait a little while before the room was cleaned.
We went out for a walk along the main shopping street, avenue 5. There were plenty of shops and expensive restaurants. It started to rain in the afternoon and evening.
We ate dinner at a cheap China restaurant. The dinner cost 50 pesos each and a little more for a bottle of Coca Cola.
We went home, rested and made ourselves ready for a night out at a salsa club. We were there when it opened at around 10 pm and danced salsa until around midnight. A really good music group played good salsa music.
It had stopped raining when we went home. We were quite tired and fell asleep although there were a lot of noise coming from the hostel bar.
There were a lot of clouds in the sky but it looked as if it would become better. We took the public minibus to Akumal beach which were 37 km from Playa del Carmen. The trip took more than half an hour.
We first snorkeled to the right of the beach outside the hotels since I wanted to take some photos of the corals. I hoped that the photos would be much better now since I intended to take them with the flashlight turned off. There wasn't any sunshine and the water wasn't so clear so the photos could unfortunately have been much better.
The sky became darker and darker and we had to run to a restaurant for shelter after we had snorkeled since it rained cats and dogs. We ate our sandwiches under the roof outside the restaurant while we waited for the rain to stop.
We snorkeled again after we had become a little warmer. This time we snorkeled in the restricted zone were the ecologic team kept an eye on you. We snorkeled without lifejacket and luckily nobody said anything. We even snorkeled out in deeper water where you were supposed to wear a life jacket according to the person we had talked with when we were at Akumal beach last time. There were no corals, as I wrote previously in this story, only sand bottom with a lot of seagrass. The snorkeling was anyway incredible in that area. We saw a lot of sea turtles which were not afraid of people. At one place we saw three of them at the same time. We saw several quite big stingrays and two eaglerays which swam together.
It had stopped raining when we walked to the minibus which waited close to the main road to Playa del Carmen.
We had now had three days with rain. All our clothes felt a little wet due to the humidity. Caribbean is lovely when it is nice weather but it can also be depressing when it rains a lot and you don't have any dry clothes to put on. You are freezing when your clothes are not dry and there are no heat to put on, just air-condition.
Last day we handed over all our dirty clothes to the person at the hostel reception. Now we got them back cleaned and dry. It cost 45 pesos up to 3 kg.
We fell asleep and woke up late that evening. We had to hurry to fix some photos and underwater movies for Facebook before we went out and searched for a place we had seen before where you could eat half a chicken. One place was closed and luckily we found a much better place where they served good Mexican food in the street. There were no tourists, just a lot of Mexican people which is a good sign that the food is well worth the money. We bought food from two different places which cost 90 pesos in total. The food tasted really good and it was quite a lot to a good price. At luxury restaurants you get tiny pieces of food put on a big plate in a fashionable way. It looks nice but I prefer places where you can eat a lot to an affordable price.
We arrived at the salsa place at ten o'clock when, according to information, the music group should start to play salsa music. Unfortunately a person told us that the group played all nights except on Tuesdays. The DJ played luckily good salsa music so we danced until midnight. We bought four drinks, Cuba Libre and Tequila Sunrise, which cost 360 pesos including the 15% service charge.
After breakfast we went down to the beach just to relax. We rented chairs which cost 100 pesos each for a day. We are both very active persons so this was the first time we just relaxed at the beach reading books without any snorkeling. I wrote my diary and read a documentary book about a person who worked in Africa at a place where people could watch mountain gorillas. His main job was to visit a gorilla group so the gorillas got used to people. They could then be visited by tourists. I hadn't put on sun protection and was red like a tomato that evening.
We went out shopping after some hours at the beach. We walked along the shopping street all the way in one direction without finding any special clothes. On our way back we bought milkshake at Burger King close to our hostel. It started to rain so we couldn't walk along the shopping street, Avenue 5, in the other direction.
Luckily it stopped raining around 8 pm which made it easier to walk to a nice restaurant where we ate dinner before the salsa started at 9 pm. The dinner cost 450 pesos for both of us. We danced a couple of hours before we visited a disco at the beach on our way home. The entrance was free and we danced salsa and disco before we continued our walk home. We stopped at Aldo where we bought expensive ice-creams which cost 138 pesos for both of us. It would have been better to buy ordinary ice-creams at a shop not far from our hostel which had opened. We ate the ice-creams outside a restaurant where a guy danced with a wild, blond girl. We went in and danced some dances before we went to bed at the hostel.
We packed the rest of our things, ate breakfast and uploaded some photos on Facebook before we walked to the ADO bus station. We got a bus which departed already in 6 minutes. It cost 52 pesos each. The seats are numbered and a lady was sitting on our seats. She informed us that the seat numbers wasn't used so you could sit wherever you wanted to sit.
We walked to the hostel and paid for the room and for the tour to Chichen Itza which we had booked on our first stay at the hostel. The Chichen Itza tour cost 45 USD.
We spent some time on Internet where we checked the location of a suitable place to dance salsa that evening and then we went out shopping without finding anything special to buy. We had a glass door to our room and Marica didn't see that it was closed and went right into it. Luckily she didn't get seriously hurt and the door was not broken.
We ate dinner a cheap place not far from our home and back at the hostel we rested longer than we had planned. We almost missed the free dinner at the hostel which was served until 9 pm.
We prepared the things for the tour to the Maya pyramid at Chichen Itza the next day and made us ready for the evening.
We walked to a place called Grand Mambo Café. The entrance was 80 pesos for women and 160 pesos for men. Drinks were included so you could drink as much as you wanted. The place was huge and we were lucky to get a table close to the dancing floor which wasn't especially big. The place had three floors and some VIP rooms. It was built like a theatre. A band, which had 11 members, started to play. We danced salsa in the beginning but later on they almost only played meringue which seemed to be very popular in Mexico, or at least in Cancun. There were some other couples who also could dance salsa but they could only dance some basic steps which you learn during the first lessons.
We went up early since a van should pick us up at the hostel 7 am. The van should drive us all the way to Chichen Itza according to the girl at the hostel reception. We got a little sandwich for breakfast from the hostel just because Marica had asked for it. The van drove us luckily to the hotel zone where we entered a big shop and queued up for a boarding card to the Chichen Itza tour. Some guys from Australia, who also travelled with us from our hostel, got problems. They checked their voucher and said to them that each of them had to pay 18 USD more. They never informed them what the reason was. The travel company had to call the hostel and wait for the hostel to call back until it was confirmed that everything was okay. Maybe it is a god idea to take a photo of your voucher before you hand it over to the travel company so you have it if you have to discuss any problems with them. We then had to queue up in different queues depending on what tourist place you planned to visit. Two big busses went to Chichen Itza. The busses were god and had a toilet onboard, only for number one, the guide informed us. After some problems we finally headed for the Maya ruins and pyramid at Chichen Itza. There were signs, along the way at the hotel zone, with information that you were not allowed to feed the crocodiles. The guide informed us that there were both crocodiles and sharks in the water which separated the hotel zone from the mainland.
The guide was good and talked a lot during the three hours long trip to Chichen Itza. He explained the Maya calendar, their digits and much more. We had a short stop during 10 minutes at a place where they had toilets.
The next time we stopped at a cenote during 45 minutes. Marica bathed and took some photos. The visit to the cenote and to all other places were included in the tour price. You could however book a tour without entrance to the cenote and then you would save 7 USD.
The third stop was at a typical May village where each house were specialized on making different handicrafts. The guide told us that it was cheaper to buy souvenirs at the Maya village compared to other places since there were no middle hands.
Here you see the Maya village. I must confess that it looked more like a very big souvenir shop. When I buy something I want to compare prices between different shops, so if you want to buy something you should check prices before you take the tour. The good thing was that the souvenirs was marked with prices so you could see what they cost. In most shops you have to ask for the price and bargain.
The following stop was for a nice buffet lunch during 45 minutes. There was a little dance show you could watch while you ate.
The last stop was at Chichen Itza. We had a guided tour during over an hour and after that I think we had 50 minutes on our own until the bus went back at 17:10. The problem was that a lot of areas at Chichen Itza closed already at 16:30. Nobody had informed us about that so there wasn't time to visit all places. The time on our own was too short.
A lot of people were selling souvenirs along the paths and were packing the things before we left. They held up nice things and shouted "only one dollar" but when you started to discuss the price with them you were informed that it was some tiny thing that cost one dollar and not the nice thing they held up.
The bus drove us back to our hostel but before that it stopped at a lot of hotels in the hotel zone so we arrived at the hostel quite late. We had to eat directly before the dinner closed 9 pm. They served chicken and rise which probably was quite okay. The problem was that a bat shit on Marica and our table. It was difficult to see if it also hit our brown sauce served with the rice and chicken. It was dark outside so it was difficult to see so we had to take photos of our plates and investigate the photos to see if there were any darker spots of bat chit. We didn't find any such spots but I must confess that I lost my appetite.
We checked Internet again and found that the original salsa place we planned to visit that evening had closed down but we found another one we could walk to. On our way we passed some police cars and some police men had caught two young guys. They had a pickup with a cage where they locked them in while they transported them to the police station I suppose. I thought they only did that in for instance Western movies but obviously cages were used to transport criminals in Mexico nowadays so everybody could see them.
The salsa place, Azukarr, was good and the group which played there was really good. We danced a lot of salsa and bachata before we walked back late that night. A guy who worked there wondered if he could help us catch a taxi. We said no since we are used to walk long distances. It is also nice to get some fresh air and cold down after all dancing when you get really sweaty.
We packed our things after breakfast and checked out around 11 pm. A taxi driver wanted 250 pesos for driving us to the Isla Mujeres ferry terminal. We of course didn't accept that price since the girl at the hostel reception had told us that it would cost around 35 pesos if we caught one on the street and 60 pesos if she called for one. We stopped another taxi which took 50 pesos which we accepted. A lot of roads were closed due to reparations so the driver had some difficulties to find a way to the ferry terminal. We therefore gave him 20 pesos extra.
The ferry took only 30 minutes if I remember correct and cost 140 pesos each.
We left our things at the hotel and went out for a walk. We searched for some salsa clubs Marica had found on Internet and met the guys from Australia who also had gone to Isla Mujeres. One salsa place at the beach had only salsa 2 pm every Saturday. Another place seemed to be closed. We bought some food and something to drink at a shop for our stay on Isla Mujeres before we went back to our hostel.
In the evening we ate at two places on the street where they served food. It cost 15 plus 45 pesos each. A man cleaned the grill grids with an onion which maybe can be a good advice. We watched a Christmas show the children had at the town square while we ate.
Later on we found a place were you could dance salsa to live music. The entrance was free. We danced for some time but a waiter was very annoying and asked us several times on the dance floor if we wanted to have something to drink. It is difficult to drink while you dance so we said no. A man told us that we danced very, very,very good. After some time it became so crowded that you couldn't dance so we went out and searched for another place. We found another place with live salsa music but it also became so crowded that you could just dance very basic figures. We started to dance on the street outside the restaurant instead and some other couples followed our example. It was actually nice since you had a lot of space and it wasn't so hot. A lot of people watched us dance.
After breakfast we took a taxi for 78 pesos to Garaffon de Castilla where we snorkeled. The entrance fee was 5 USD or 50 pesos each which included nice toilets, chairs at the beach etc.
There were a lot of iguanas you cold feed.
It was quite windy so you couldn't see so much while you snorkeled.
Before we went home we passed Garaffon Park. It looked more like an entertainment park with a lot of activities and the entrance fee was high. Garaffon de Castilla seemed to be much better if you just wanted to snorkel.
We continued our walk to the end of the island. There was an entrance fee of 30 pesos each. There were some statues you could see but not much more. We walked back to Garaffon Park where we took a taxi back for 78 pesos.
The place on the street where you could buy good food for 45 pesos was closed so we ate at a cheap restaurant at the beach instead. The food was okay and cost 212 pesos for both of us including something to drink.
We went to the first salsa place we visited last evening and bought two Margaritas for just 60 pesos during Happy Hour. You could get two Margaritas for the price of one before 9 pm. The band played some salsa songs we danced to but otherwise they played Reggie so we went to bed quite early.
We took a taxi to the turtle farm which was quite nice but I don't think the turtles agree with me.
After the visit to the turtle farm we planned to go to Paradise Beach which we had heard should be a good snorkeling beach. We walked but must have passed it since we came to Garaffon de Castilla again.
The snorkeling was better since it was not so windy as yesterday but it could be better. We saw anyway a big barracuda, a porcupinefish ( igelkottfisk in Swedish ), a starfish and a really nice fish which we previously saw in one of the aquariums at the turtle farm. It had very special fins which it used as fingers to turn things on the bottom while it searched for food. More spectacular was that it could spread out the fins as wings displaying blue colors. A lot of fishes did that which must be a signal to other fishes that it is poisonous or at least pretend to be poisonous. We took a taxi back for 78 pesos. I gave the driver an extra 10 pesos before I counted the money he gave back on 200. He had only given me 90 pesos back so the total drive back cost us 120 pesos. It is not much money but I don't like when people isn't honest. Make sure you get the correct amount back since I think it happened several times that people didn't give us enough money back.
We bought dinner again for 45 pesos each from the girl who prepared it at a street next to the town square. They also made ice-creams of fruit juice which cost just a little more than 10 pesos and was nice.
It was Christmas Eve the next day so we took some photos of ourselves in front of Christmas trees so we could send home some nice Christmas photos.
We were both very tired and rested before we planned to go out and dance that night. We forgot to set an alarm clock so we slept until 1 o'clock in the night. Everything was almost closed when we went out so we went back to our hotel room.
We had a safe deposit box in our room which you opened with a code. It stopped working so we couldn't open it. My mini-PC was in the safe so we couldn't take it out and send the Christmas photos.
We got a key to our safe deposit box. We could then open it without using a code since that didn't work. A man came and fixed the problem with it a little later so we could use a code again.
We snorkeled for the last time on our vacation at the lagoon not far from our hotel. It was better than expected. We snorkeled out to what was left of a long pier. There were a lot of fishes close to the wood poles. We saw squids, a starfish, a hermit crab, a barracuda and many other fishes. I also saw a quit big barracuda under the bridge out to the hotel in the lagoon. There were also a lot of crabs at the rocks.
We ate lunch before it started to rain. We bought food for the next day so we didn't have to buy anything at the airport. It is always expensive to buy things at the airport.
It was Christmas Eve so we ate dinner at a nice restaurant and ordered the most expensive dishes they had. Lobster, or more exactly languster, which cost 215 pesos and a meat dish for 200 pesos. We didn't say anything while we ate but afterwards Marica said that the 45 pesos dinner we had bought from the girl making it on the street close to the town square was better and I was just about to say the same thing. It tasted better and you got a lot more food. The dinner at the restaurant cost 600 pesos for both of us including half a liter wine and the 15% service charge.
After dinner we went out and danced a little salsa. We went to the dance place with live music we had visited before close to our hotel. A girl collected tip for the group which played salsa music. She talked with Marica and said that our salsa dancing was amazing. Another girl also talked with Marica and wondered how long we had been dancing salsa.
We packed the rest of our things and had a late breakfast. We had to check out before 12.
We walked to the ferry terminal. There are two ferry companies which have different terminals so it is important that you walk to the right terminal.
A ferry arrived but we thought that we had to wait for the departure. Luckily a man told us that it departed so we had to go onboard almost immediately.
There were quite a lot of taxi cars waiting at the terminal and we asked how much it cost to the airport. We were told that it cost 600 pesos. I asked how much it cost to Cancun downtown and was told that it cost 60 pesos. They told us that it was much longer to the airport. Luckily I had a map and showed them that it was about three times longer to the airport compared to Cancun and said that we could give them 250 pesos. They didn't accept it so we told them to drive us to the ADO bus station. Now it would cost 80 pesos but I think the bus station is in Cancun downtown. We said ADO bus station since it was the only address we could come up with. We planned to change to another taxi there but later we thought that we of course also could have taken the bus. There were some discussions between the taxi drivers and after some time they agreed to drive us to the airport for 250 pesos. You are often in a hurry when you travel to the airport with all your luggage and then you usually have to accept whatever price the taxi drivers give you. Luckily we had a lot of time since the time was only 12 and our plane departed 7 pm.
We arrived at the airport without problem. The taxi driver didn't get any tip since 250 pesos was probably more than it normally cost.
I had received an e-mail from Air France last evening. They informed us that we could check-in on Internet. Our bookings had been connected to each other so I could check-in both of us. We previously had used Air France website to book seats next to each other on the flights between Paris and Cancun. Last evening we could also specify the seats from Paris to Gothenburg. We didn't have a printer but that was no problem since there was an option to print the boarding cards at the airport. At the airport there were a lot of machines were you could printout the boarding cards. Marica just put her passport in one of the machines and could printout two boarding cards for each of us, one for the flight from Cancun to Paris and another from Paris to Gothenburg. She didn't have to give our flight reference numbers.
There were some counters were you could drop your bags. Air France, KLM and some other air companies were shown at the TV monitors above the counters so we thought that we could leave our bags there. There was a long queue but when we arrived at one of the counters they informed us that Air France had its own counters where you could leave your bags but they opened first 4 pm. We therefore had to wait until it opened and the check-in went without problem.
There were three queues when you boarded the plane. Row 1-9, row 10 – 29 and row 30 until the last row. We had seats on row 18 so we had to wait until the people in the other queues had boarded the plane.
The departure was, if I remember correct, one our late since some people who had arrived at the airport were refused to enter Mexico and therefore had to travel back to France.
The food onboard the plane was excellent again and the service was very good.
I was really tired when they put on the light in the plane and served the breakfast.
The plane started late but we nevertheless arrived in Paris a little bit after 11 am and had enough time to catch the next plane to Gothenburg in Sweden without stress. The plane to Sweden departed 12:50.
First you had to walk a lot and then you had to take a bus from terminal 2E to terminal 2G. This time everything went very smoothly without any long queues. The only thing worth mention was that we saved small wine bottles we got onboard the plane which they took at the airport in France. The bottles were larger than 100 ml. Luckily we hadn't bought any bottles at the airport in Mexico since then they would probably have confiscated them too.
We waited in a waiting room for our plane to Sweden since they only displayed the gate numbers for the planes 20 minutes before departure or in other words when it was time for boarding.
The flight home went quickly. We visited the toilet and spent a few minutes to check some perfume prices. When we went down to the place where you fetch you luggage it had already arrived. All people had fetched their luggage and our bags were more or less the only bags left.
The vacation cost totally around 13.000 SEK/person with shared accommodation.
Flights:6.232 SEK
Accommation in double room:2.918 SEK
Food and :1.937 SEK
Transfer:816 SEK
Nightlife and activities:720 SEK
Miscellaneous:377 SEK
You had heard a lot about all the people getting killed in Mexico close to the American border and at other places so at least I was a bit worried about the criminality. The trip was however really nice without any problems and all people were really nice and friendly. I really recommend Mexico, or at least the Yucatan Peninsula, since it is a very lovely country.