Mexico
My parents own a condo in Playa Del Carmen, which is about 40 minutes south of Cancun. They've owned it a year now, but due to my other travels, I haven't been able to take advantage until now. So here I am.
I originally didn't plan on writing my blog while in Mexico (as I planned on doing a whole lot of nothing this week which does not make for interesting reading), but I've changed my mind. One of the best things about traveling (even if it's just to a touristy area of Mexico) is the interesting people you meet and things you see. So rather than give a day-by-day account, as I have done previously, I decided to just document some 10 of the more interesting observations from my trip.
1. Funny Americans - On my way down to Cancun, I had to connect in Dallas. The guy sitting next to me on the flight from Dallas to Cancun (and his girlfriend next to him) were likely from Dallas; both of them were decked head to toe in Dallas Cowboy's gear. In air, we were given Mexican customs forms to fill out. One of the questions was "Nationality". He wrote "white". I was going to ask where the nation of "White" is....but I refrained.
They then proceeded to complain (the entire flight) about the one hour delay and how they should be at their resort already and drunk. She was telling the flight attendants that she was going to complain to the airline and the treatment was unacceptable..... it was an hour.....
2. Mexican Towel Art - mexicans love making shapes with towels, tissues, toilet paper, etc. I know they do towel art in other places, but for some reason it seems to be the most prevalent in Mexico. For example, on both bathroom counters in the apartment, the maid had made a flower with numerous strips of toilet paper. All the towels were made into swans, and the tissues were fluffed into a flower shapes.
3. Touts - No matter where you are in the world, the touts are the same. They have the exact same lines whether you are in mexico, egypt, china, etc. "hey lady, come look in my store....nearly free!" or "hey lady, where you from?" Why do they always ask where I am from? I don't approach random tourists on the streets of Vancouver with "hey-where you from?"
4. Mexican Bugs - on day two we came across a mexican cockroach. The power was out in the apartment on the day we arrived, so we had the doors open to get the air circulating. I guess it wondered in then and we didn't notice. This particular one was the size of a kitten. We didn't know how to get rid of it; we figured that stepping on it would not work and would just create a giant mess. We managed to trap it under a cooking bowl and locked it in the bathroom for the night (we also stuffed towels under the door, even though there was NO way it would have fit under the door crack). The next morning I managed to slide the the dust pan under the bowl and ran outside with it. That's when we discovered that the thing could fucking fly. Thank god we were outside when it flew away. After that the doors stayed closed!
5. Conscientious thief: my family has a scooter in Playa for getting around. Its pink and has stickers on it that say "princess on board". My dad figures its great because it looks like a piece of shit and no one will steal it. In actuality, its had work done and goes like mad. We were told that it is fine to leave it on the street over night; as my dad said, "no one is going to steal it." Turns out he was right, no one wanted it; what they did want was the battery. We came out of the apartment on day 3 to find that someone had stolen the battery out of it in the middle of the night. This required tools; they had to unscrew a number of pieces. Now, you would think, that if you were morally alright with stealing a battery, you would not worry about the state of the scooter when you left it. This thief, however, left all of the parts (screws, nuts, washers, etc) neatly in place; the only thing missing was the battery. Quite considerate given that it would have been a much bigger hassle if we also had to replace the screws and parts.....
6. Canucks fans - we met a number of Mexican Canuck fans in Playa. I guess a lot of Vancouverites vacation there so the games are often on. We asked the waitress in the sports bar whether she was sick of always having to watch American and Canadian sports. She said she can't stand American football, but that she loves hockey. We told her we were from Vancouver and she said "the Canucks are my favorite - I love Luongo!" There were other similar encounters throughout our trip.
7. Mexican Food - easily my favourite ethnic food. The best part is that the general rule in Playa seems to be the cheaper the food the better. The best meals we had, the food was under $15 for two. On the flip side, the more expensive meals we had, were my least favourite of the trip. I also discovered my new favourite drink; a chalada. It's lime juice mixed in a glass with a bottle of beer and a salted rim. I'm not a beer drinker at all, but it was so refreshing!
8. Pilot - the pilot on my flight from Cancun to Dallas was named Johnny Cash. When they said it over the PA, I thought it was a joke....but then when we deplaned I was behind him on the escalator and all of his nice leather luggage was in-scripted with "Johnny Cash." He was older (in his late 50s I would say) so maybe he was born just before the other Johnny Cash became famous...either that or his parents were BIG fans.
9. Mamitas - there is a beach about 2 blocks from the apartment which we visited most days. It's a gorgeous strip of sand and for 7USD you can rent 2 beach chairs and an umbrella for the day. I had no problem with this. What did annoy me, is that if you are sitting in the chairs (which you paid for) you are not allowed to bring your own food or drinks....water included. Instead you have to buy your drinks for 8x more than at the Oxxo market across the street. Its the beach; I don't like paying for water. If you didn't hire the chairs, however, you could sit in the sand in front with your own cooler and drinks. Makes no sense.
On top of that, the service was shit and the waiters expected a large tip. On the first day, the $8 margarita I ordered never turned up, and we waited 40 minutes for two other cocktails. When the bill showed up and I just rounded up instead of tipping, the waiter got extremely angry..."service is not included!" I told him I realize that, and if I had gotten any service, I might have tipped. I really resent that attitude; that because we are tourists we are obliged to tip ever if the service is horrific. He was MAD.
We solved this problem in the future by bringing our own. We would order one of whatever we were drinking and top it up while they weren't looking.
10. American Airlines - worst airline in the world, hands down. I'm surprise they don't charge for juice and water. They have food for purchase but the flight attendant just came on the PA and announced that they were out of 4 of the 5 food choices. Outstanding.
Thats all.
- Siobhan
I originally didn't plan on writing my blog while in Mexico (as I planned on doing a whole lot of nothing this week which does not make for interesting reading), but I've changed my mind. One of the best things about traveling (even if it's just to a touristy area of Mexico) is the interesting people you meet and things you see. So rather than give a day-by-day account, as I have done previously, I decided to just document some 10 of the more interesting observations from my trip.
1. Funny Americans - On my way down to Cancun, I had to connect in Dallas. The guy sitting next to me on the flight from Dallas to Cancun (and his girlfriend next to him) were likely from Dallas; both of them were decked head to toe in Dallas Cowboy's gear. In air, we were given Mexican customs forms to fill out. One of the questions was "Nationality". He wrote "white". I was going to ask where the nation of "White" is....but I refrained.
They then proceeded to complain (the entire flight) about the one hour delay and how they should be at their resort already and drunk. She was telling the flight attendants that she was going to complain to the airline and the treatment was unacceptable..... it was an hour.....
2. Mexican Towel Art - mexicans love making shapes with towels, tissues, toilet paper, etc. I know they do towel art in other places, but for some reason it seems to be the most prevalent in Mexico. For example, on both bathroom counters in the apartment, the maid had made a flower with numerous strips of toilet paper. All the towels were made into swans, and the tissues were fluffed into a flower shapes.
3. Touts - No matter where you are in the world, the touts are the same. They have the exact same lines whether you are in mexico, egypt, china, etc. "hey lady, come look in my store....nearly free!" or "hey lady, where you from?" Why do they always ask where I am from? I don't approach random tourists on the streets of Vancouver with "hey-where you from?"
4. Mexican Bugs - on day two we came across a mexican cockroach. The power was out in the apartment on the day we arrived, so we had the doors open to get the air circulating. I guess it wondered in then and we didn't notice. This particular one was the size of a kitten. We didn't know how to get rid of it; we figured that stepping on it would not work and would just create a giant mess. We managed to trap it under a cooking bowl and locked it in the bathroom for the night (we also stuffed towels under the door, even though there was NO way it would have fit under the door crack). The next morning I managed to slide the the dust pan under the bowl and ran outside with it. That's when we discovered that the thing could fucking fly. Thank god we were outside when it flew away. After that the doors stayed closed!
5. Conscientious thief: my family has a scooter in Playa for getting around. Its pink and has stickers on it that say "princess on board". My dad figures its great because it looks like a piece of shit and no one will steal it. In actuality, its had work done and goes like mad. We were told that it is fine to leave it on the street over night; as my dad said, "no one is going to steal it." Turns out he was right, no one wanted it; what they did want was the battery. We came out of the apartment on day 3 to find that someone had stolen the battery out of it in the middle of the night. This required tools; they had to unscrew a number of pieces. Now, you would think, that if you were morally alright with stealing a battery, you would not worry about the state of the scooter when you left it. This thief, however, left all of the parts (screws, nuts, washers, etc) neatly in place; the only thing missing was the battery. Quite considerate given that it would have been a much bigger hassle if we also had to replace the screws and parts.....
6. Canucks fans - we met a number of Mexican Canuck fans in Playa. I guess a lot of Vancouverites vacation there so the games are often on. We asked the waitress in the sports bar whether she was sick of always having to watch American and Canadian sports. She said she can't stand American football, but that she loves hockey. We told her we were from Vancouver and she said "the Canucks are my favorite - I love Luongo!" There were other similar encounters throughout our trip.
7. Mexican Food - easily my favourite ethnic food. The best part is that the general rule in Playa seems to be the cheaper the food the better. The best meals we had, the food was under $15 for two. On the flip side, the more expensive meals we had, were my least favourite of the trip. I also discovered my new favourite drink; a chalada. It's lime juice mixed in a glass with a bottle of beer and a salted rim. I'm not a beer drinker at all, but it was so refreshing!
8. Pilot - the pilot on my flight from Cancun to Dallas was named Johnny Cash. When they said it over the PA, I thought it was a joke....but then when we deplaned I was behind him on the escalator and all of his nice leather luggage was in-scripted with "Johnny Cash." He was older (in his late 50s I would say) so maybe he was born just before the other Johnny Cash became famous...either that or his parents were BIG fans.
9. Mamitas - there is a beach about 2 blocks from the apartment which we visited most days. It's a gorgeous strip of sand and for 7USD you can rent 2 beach chairs and an umbrella for the day. I had no problem with this. What did annoy me, is that if you are sitting in the chairs (which you paid for) you are not allowed to bring your own food or drinks....water included. Instead you have to buy your drinks for 8x more than at the Oxxo market across the street. Its the beach; I don't like paying for water. If you didn't hire the chairs, however, you could sit in the sand in front with your own cooler and drinks. Makes no sense.
On top of that, the service was shit and the waiters expected a large tip. On the first day, the $8 margarita I ordered never turned up, and we waited 40 minutes for two other cocktails. When the bill showed up and I just rounded up instead of tipping, the waiter got extremely angry..."service is not included!" I told him I realize that, and if I had gotten any service, I might have tipped. I really resent that attitude; that because we are tourists we are obliged to tip ever if the service is horrific. He was MAD.
We solved this problem in the future by bringing our own. We would order one of whatever we were drinking and top it up while they weren't looking.
10. American Airlines - worst airline in the world, hands down. I'm surprise they don't charge for juice and water. They have food for purchase but the flight attendant just came on the PA and announced that they were out of 4 of the 5 food choices. Outstanding.
Thats all.
- Siobhan
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