Nov. 11, Tuesday. 2nd day in Cancun
Continuing from my Cuba blog (See below): Sunday, we had shrimp cocktails with Abel and his family prior to our cab to the airport. Lots of hugs and pictures and promises to come again. Departure from Havana was uneventful, but at Mexican Customs we learned that, while each person can take 2 boxes of cigars out of Cuban without problem, they can only bring ONE box in to Mexico. Beyond 25 cigars, there is a steep tax. The Mexican Customs guy was nice. He said the alternative was to put the cigars in storage in customs, to be released to me as I leave the country. So much for mailing from Cancun to not worry about US Customs. We will mail the boxes we did get through and look for other empty, non-Cuban cigar boxes here in Cancun. IF they can find my stored Cohiba Esplendidos in Mexican Customs, I'll remove the rings and transfer them.
Yesterday morning, Kathy caught an early taxi to the airport. Mary changed her cell phone service to be able to make calls from Mexico. She talked with Kathy last night--she got home fine. After Mary got some sun and I played a couple of beach volleyball games (winning a bunch of points on my serve!), we took the bus in to Cancun, to Costco, where we bought food to fill the fridge here. We took it easy last night, soaking in the big Jacuzzi tub, napping, watching TV, including some CNN. It's great--to see images of President-elect Obama.
This morning, we walked the beach at sunrise, down to the snorkeling site by Club Med. A guy on the beach showed us a baby turtle he was holding. Yesterday morning Mary was given a baby turtle to release to the ocean. Water choppy this morning. We are still in recovery mode and may not do too much today. I just came back from beach volleyball--half an hour is about as much sun as I need. Mary's at the pool, working on her tan. Nap time for me.
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1st set of Cancun pics -
Wednesday, mid-day
On her morning beach walk to welcome the day, Mary found a baby turtle, on it’s back, in a trough in the sand, unable to right itself and get to the sea. She gave assistance.
I should have known better. We were picked up for our Mayan Palace breakfast and timeshare tour on schedule this morning. But, as we were signing in, we were informed that our debit cards, with MasterCard and VISA logos, did not qualify as the required credit card. I pointed out that wise travelers carry only debit cards, the ones that work at cash machines and cannot be used without a PIN number, if misplaced or stolen. No matter. They were not going to give us our Friday taxi to Playa del Carmen, the reason I signed on. The salesman asked me to not yell at him, smugly commenting that he wasn’t yelling at me. My response: If I was wasting half his day, maybe he WOULD be yelling at me. If I'd had a more moneyed look, instead of swim trunks and a tanktop, I expect they would have treated us better. I should have told the stuck up guy that I already have over a million timeshare points to use each year. At least they drove us back here to the Westin/Club Regina. And, we ate breakfast here in time for me to join the daily 11 a.m. volleyball game. Level of play is surprisingly good--for resort ball.
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Thursday eve
We took the bus to downtown Cancun today, to check on mailing home (Cuban cigars the issue--we don't want them confiscated from our luggage at US customs). Both Fed-Ex and UPS want a small fortune--like $50 to mail 4-5 pounds. The Mexican correo (post office) had a line that wasn't moving, so I decided to forget about waiting to ask. Word is, it's cheaper but takes weeks if not months to get delivery to the US. Then on to Mercado #28. Not fun--obnoxious English-speaking salesmen. One, in a jewelry shop, as we were leaving without a purchase, called us "cheapskates". Okay, the truth hurts. On to Mercado #23. Lonely Planet (guidebook) came through--very few tourists, much more pleasant shopkeepers, though they weren't willing to come down very far on prices. We did get a deal on fish and shrimp tacos. And fruit.
Mid afternoon, back at Club Regina, we found the key cards to our room were still not working, despite hotel staff promising this morning that they'd take care of the problem. While spacious and fairly comfortable, we've had several issues for maintenance to deal with and have found responsiveness spotty. This is the oldest of the Mexican Raintree resorts and problems of age are evident. They are undergoing unit renovation, but we didn't get a rehabbed unit.
Chatted with Mike and Maureen on the beach as the full moon rose from the ocean. They are from Santa Barbara. We've seen them a couple of times around the resort. Pleasant.
Early departure in the morning for Cozumel. Primary goal for our 2 days there is snorkeling. Then, 2 more nights here at Club Regina Cancun, before flying home.
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Cozumel pics to follow...
Sunday afternoon/evening, Club Regina, Cancun
Mary and I awoke this morning in Cozumel to a dark sky and lots of wind. We decided against either last activity on the island--catch a cab to another snorkeling spot from shore or catch a cab to the east side of the island. We met a friendly ex-pat and his visiting daughter at a cafe last night. She raved about the beauty and remoteness of the beaches on the other side of Cozumel. But gray sky and my camera out of battery (with my charger back in Cancun) were factors against that outing. As you will gather from the report below, we weren't optimistic about finding a rewarding last snorkeling experience.
On Friday we made great connections: hotel zone bus to downtown Cancun bus depot. Within 10 minutes, we were on a first-class bus for the trip of about an hour to Playa del Carmen. From the bus station it's about a 3-block walk down to the ferry terminal. Within 15 minutes we were launched, for the 40-minute crossing to Cozumel. While we left a lot of luggage at Club Regina, we still were carting a few bags, including our snorkeling gear. We would have caught a cab, but Mary read about an organic coffee shop about 5 blocks from the wharf, so we pulled and carried our bags there for breakfast. Then, it was only another 5-6 blocks to Amigo's B&B, se we walked, arriving just as Bob was about to leave to run errands. Our room was ready, as was the refreshing pool. Bob recommended snorkeling at nearby La Caletita Beach. Jumping off the rough coral edge in to the water, Mary wrenched both shoulders, especially her left one. Only to be rewarded with no coral on the ocean floor to see. A few fish. Before long we headed to the nearby cafe. There, I went in again and Mary elected to pass, given the smarting shoulders and another somewhat challenging entry in to the water. I snorkeled along the rocky shore for a while. It was fairly colorful, not much coral but other bright vegetation on the rocks and some variety of fish.
After more pool time and a rest, we walked down to the waterfront for sunset. Nice horizon, but a ship was right in the middle to it (not a cruise ship, although we saw a couple of them nearby). We picked an Asian restaurant for dinner, upstairs, looking out at the water. We were happy with our picks, though my Grubber fish can't compare to the Pargo that was so tasty in Cuba. On our way to an internet cafe, we passed a dive shop. Friendly shopkeeper, willing to give us pointers on other places to snorkel from shore, but also willing to give us a reduced rate to fill his boat in the morning ($25/person, instead of $35, providing we didn’t 't brag to the other snorkelers--who were Mexican--that we got a discount!). That sounded good to us, after our earlier bust at snorkeling off the shore.
On yesterday's boat outing, besides the two Mexican snorkelers, we were joined by a couple of Canadian divers. We snorkeled 3 different times. Once above a sunken ship. We were in a few meters of water to much deeper. Not much coral to look at. First stop, we were swarmed by fish, as the boat crew threw food in for them. The crew got a kick out of Mary's squeals at the fish brushing against her. 'Pleasant group of people, crew and tourists, but the snorkeling was disappointing. We've read and heard that Hurricane Wilma in 2005 did major damage to the shallow reefs around Cozumel. The divers were happy. And, on the ferry crossing this morning, we sat next to a couple of divers who were very satisfied with their dives here. But, for snorkeling, from our brief experiences (and, I expect a dive outfit to take us to the best snorkeling places in the vicinity), it looks to me like it's going to be years before this is again a destination for snorkeling.
Breakfast at Amigo's B&B wasn't something to write home about (So, you may be thinking, WHY am I writing about it?). To be fair, the coffee was good and there was plenty to fill up on, including a plate of fresh fruit and several choices of dry cereal; yogurt in the fridge, jam and peanut butter to put on toast made from plain bread. The first morning there was a young French couple staying there. "Hello" was the extent of our conversation. Even though I find all Europeans speak English, I hesitate to make that assumption. No sign of Kathy or Bob, the B&B owners, either morning. Maybe they don't want to impose on their guests. Their website and written information/instructions in the room are quite detailed. That led me to warn Mary that we might find they quite chatty, but such wasn't the case. As we were departing this morning, Kathy made a point of asking if we'd remembered to tip their staff, after also mentioning it in the in-room literature. We spared her our observations about all the bug bites and the smelly bathroom.
We again made connections like clockwork on our return to Club Regina: cab to wharf, ferry to Playa, bus to downtown Cancun, "Hoteles" bus back here. We arrived about noon and while waiting for our room to open up, we took in the Westin spa next door. Killer steam room. During our 5-night stay here last week we had numerous problems with our ground-level unit facing the back lawn. Perhaps as compensation, we got a view suite facing the ocean for our last 2 nights! Unlike the basement location last week, we have internet connection here and don't have to troop down to the lobby for a strong-enough signal. As I type, I hear and can make out the breakers on the sand below.
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2nd group of Cancun pics -
Tuesday morning, 11/18, last day!
Tranquilo. I let out enough of our bubble bath Jacuzzi from last night to add straight hot for a morning soak, while looking out at the sunrise over the Caribbean.
Sorpresa. Abel (Havana casa owner) loved his surprises for us, including Kathy's birthday flowers and cake. Mary's sorpresa for me this morning--before she caught her 5 a.m. taxi to the airport, she made me fresh-squeezed orange juice and left 3 pastries, including a custard one implanted with peach slices--our favorite from Oaxaca stays.
Yesterday we bussed in to town with a box to mail. DHL said no cigars. We trooped on to FedEx, only to find it closed. Holiday. Is it NAFTA fallout? Apparently, Mexico is celebrating holidays on the nearest Monday, as Dia de la Revolucion is November 20. We stopped at a market, found a smaller box, took out the cigars, leaving other things bought in Cuba, and trekked back to DHL. Early afternoon. They too were closed for the rest of the holiday. Forget it. We've read Customs regulations--we can each bring 100 cigars in to the US duty-free. We have our receipts for Mexican cigars that we "bought" in Cozumel--we entered a jewelry shop asking about humidors, thinking that might be a way to bring back the cubanos. The shopkeeper's brother when looking, but came back empty-handed. They did have some simple wood boxes, some holding 5 cigars, others holding 3. Mary bought a ring and a pin and we bought 5 wood boxes for $30 US, 3 receipts for 50 Veracruz cigars (each) thrown in. The shopkeeper first told me to forget getting my impounded cigars back from Mexican Customs at the airport. He suddenly changed his tune, as it was dawning on him he could make some $ off us with the phony receipts.
Time to pack. My plane leaves at 4:40 p.m., but I want to allow plenty of time at the airport. I may check my bags here at the desk and snorkel off the Club Med beach. Mary and I didn't make the time to do that. In 2003 we were ecstatic on finding a big turtle swimming along through the reef there.
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Cancun airport, 3 hours before departure time
3 hours early? That's not my style. I came early in hopes of getting cigars out of impound, removing rings, ditching boxes and all evidence of their Cuban origin. But, I'm told I will be given the cigars as I am boarding. I hope I won't be sitting next to a narc!
I went snorkeling after checking out this morning. Weather was looking nicer, some sun breaks. But still windy and mostly overcast. And unusually cool. As soon as I entered the water, I noticed how murky it was. Wind was blustery. I headed out toward the reef, remembering that 5 years ago there was some wind and the current moved south. I noticed I was getting out from shore quickly and I decided to not push it by approaching the reef. No one with me, in the event I got in trouble. Besides, with the water so stirred up, I wasn't likely to see much in any case.
I must have put Mary's care package in my checked luggage, as I can't find it with my carrry-ons. Too bad. A burger and milk shake sounded inviting, until I saw they would cost $17.
So, I'm passing some of the time with this note. I'll have to see if wireless connection is available.
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Airborne, flying over West Texas.
All is good. Bush International (named after George H) Customs staff gave me the nod. In Cancun, I did get my boxes with time to pull rings and ditch the Cohiba boxes. I called Mary during layover in Dallas. She got through customs without incident too.
Summing up Mexico: Mary and I took it easy (for us), after our usual brisk pace in Cuba. Mary wanted to see Chichen Itza (I was there years ago), but we didn't find the time. While Club Regina is showing it's age and we had to cope with several problems (key cards not working, the stove top and coffee maker needed replacing, etc.). The ocean-view the last 2 nights was a big improvement. We were in a 1-bedroom suite, which combines both types of studios--one side having the kitchenette, the other has the king bed and jacuzzi. The couch that converts to a bed in the kitchenette side is less comfortable than the trundle they had in 2003. And the kitchen area is tight. Even so, the two studios combined make for a nice living space. While the kitchen area is limited, it works and after the half-day trip to Costco in downtown Cancun for supplies, eating out at expensive places can be the exception rather than the only alternative.
As I've already written about, the 2-day visit to Cozumel was disappointing. But, I've now been there. Next Yucatan trip we can take a break from Cancun by heading inland to Mayan ruins and historic towns, maybe get a feel for Mayan Indian life today. And/or to Isla Holbox, at the northern end of the peninsula.
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