Aye Aye Aye, Welcome to Mexico

Up at 7:00, back to the airport on the 7:30 shuttle, we had time to grab a Starbucks and a delicious bagel for breakfast to enjoy while waiting for our 9:00 flight, which actually didn´t leave until around 10:00. But it did leave, and it was a short flight to Cancun. We hadn´t really thought about staying in Cancún, but decided we´d stay for at least a night to ¨see what all the fuss is about.¨ After being lied to by a shuttle bus/taxi driver about no public buses being available, we paid only US$3 for the public bus into town where we were given a full Cancún Mexican greeting. It came in the form of an attendant at the bus station. After trying to get the bus driver to let us out at or near an intersection close to our first hotel of choice and being denied (he said we were only allowed off at the bus terminal, despite the fact that a woman had just gotten off in the middle of the street), we got off the bus at the terminal, grabbed our bags and started to exit the bus station. One of the attendants held up a little stop sign and tried to explain that we couldn´t get out that way (we were heading towards the back of the bus into the driving area). We asked why, and he said ¨You just can´t. It is not allowed.¨ So we went to the front of the bus and walked along the sidewalk in the same direction we had been heading in. Just towards the exit, the same guy tried to stop us again, and said we had to use the exit. The exit happened to be way at the other end of the terminal, in the opposite direction we were heading, and leads out to the wrong street (the terminal sits on a little island of concrete between 3 roads). But we weren´t having any of this sorry attempt at his pathetic authority...besides, what the heck was he going to do to stop us? Call the police? Whatever. So we just kept walking. Nigel managed to get past him, but he tried to stop me by physically sticking his chest out at me, shoving me right in the chest like 2 blokes pretending to have a go at each other. Well, that was just the last straw for me from this piece of crap kid. I put both of my hands on his chest, shoved him as hard as I could (he stumbled backwards a few feet) and yelled ¨Don´t touch me. Get out of my way, and don´t f***ing touch me.¨ What a little shit. Of course what could he say to that? I walked right past him and we left the bus station. The other attendant was totally laughing at the guy. Welcome to Mexico!

We walked around in the humidity and heat for about 40 minutes before finding an affordable hotel. We went straight the bank to get some pesos, had a cold drink and sat down for a bit in 7-Eleven, then had lunch at one of the many little fondas (like a food stall). We then headed back to the hotel, changed into our bathing suits and caught the bus from downtown to the Hotel Zone. Cancun is actually divided into 2 parts: downtown and the city of Cancún, which is on the mainland, and the Zona Hotelera, or Isla Cancún, a sandy island just off the coast and separated by a huge natural lagoon. The town of Cancún really exists to service the resort industry occupying the entire Isla Cancún. And once we arrived at the beaches of the hotel zone, we realized why so many companies were quick to put up their huge hotels and resorts when the area became popular in the 1970s: the beaches are absolutely gorgeous. The sand is incredibly fine, soft and pure white, the water is clear, warm, and turquoise. And it´s pretty much like this along the northern and eastern sides of the island. The Caribbean here really looks like all of the picture-perfect postcards. We spent the entire afternoon walking along the beach from the middle of the northern bit at Playa Caracol to the middle of the eastern bit.We stopped to swim at a few spots, and to buy our first 6 pack of cheap, cold Mexican beer. We chose Pacifico, one of our favourites, and drank it on the perfect beach.

As it got late (but not dark, as the sun seems to set pretty late here), we headed to catch the bus back to downtown, trying to find Nigel a new pair of flip flops along the way since his just broke while walking on the sand. As we walked away from the beach, I started to feel these sudden stings all over. During the bus ride, they only became more severe and more frequent. But we couldn´t see anything on me. By the time we were walking back to the hotel, I was literally crying from the pain of the stings and freaking out since we couldn´t see anything on me. They felt like jellyfish stings, but we didn´t see any red spots. I jumped straight in the shower to soap up, but it didn´t help. I took some antihistimines and after having a beer at a nearby restaurant (XX Especial this time), we searched on the internet for what the hell could all these stings be. After reading a few things, we´re pretty sure I must have swum through a bunch of tiny baby jellyfish (we had seen one thing on my leg that looked like a little bit of glue, but Nigel just thought it was a booger). The stings can keep ´firing´ for hours, days, sometimes weeks after exposure.

We had an awesome dinner at a local taco place, where we had tacos made with cochinita pibil, which is pork marinated in a regional spice rub. Usually it´s cooked in banana leaves, but here it was roasted on a skewer, like a vertical spit. It rocked, and we were loving all of the chiles, guacamole and limes. We feasted and stuffed ourselves for about US$6. We were exhausted by the time we finished dinner, and I was pretty miserable with my jelly stings, so we headed for a cold shower and bed.