Month: October 2019

We grabbed a flight on our new favourite airline, Volaris, to Cancun from Oaxana.  For the first time our flight was late, it left at 5.45 when it was meant to leave at 5.  What was hilarious is that the flight was ‘on time’ until 5 min before departure time at which point departure was changed to 5.39 and the flight remained ‘on time’.  Cancun airport was very modern and it was not long before we were at our Flexicar rental to pick up our 2 week rental for a mere US$170.  Car rentals in Mexico are ridiculously cheap.  It was past 9pm before we headed into town – the place certainly had more of a Surfers / Miami feel than anyplace we had been in Mexico so far.  Our hostel  – Nomads Hostel & Bar – was really cool.  We checked into our massive room and then joined the festivities on the rooftop bar to devour a chicken burger each and an ice cold Corona.  It started raining as we went to bed and did not stop for most of the night.  It was torrential.  

It was still raining the next morning when we started our journey to Playa Del Carmen.  On the way out we drove along the Zona Hotelera – a thin strip of land with water on both sides that basically ran from the centre of town out towards the airport.  It was hideous – back to back massive hotels full of overweight tourists.  The road from Cancun to Carmen was lined with these massive resorts, all trying to outdo each other with the most opulent entrance way. It was pretty tacky.  We stopped at the small seaside town of Puerto Morelos.  The weather was still average so it was a brief stop, might have been pleasant in nice weather but wasn’t the best in the rain.  It took us another 40 min to reach Playa Del Carmen. It was a smaller version of Cancun with a slightly more chilled vibe.  We had booked ourself into a nice hotel called Antera Hotel & Residences for a night. While very flash it was still only US$72 pn.  We couldn’t check in so had to kill some time wondering around the town.  It was packed with American tourist and the prices of everything reflected that fact.  We did manage to find a restaurant that had a special of tacos and Cervesa for a mere 120 pesos each ($A10).  

Deryn went to meander around town while I went to talk to a local salesmen about his tequila shop. I ended up buying a US$100 bottle, sort of as a favour to him.  I met Deryn back at the hotel, headed up to the roof for a swim and then walked the 6 blocks to the local Walmart store to buy some provisions.  The store was immense. I grabbed some nibbles,2 bottlers of Merlot for Dits and some Ron for me.  We had a couple of pre’s before heading down to the beach to take advantage of the 2 or 1 specials. A couple of mojitos  followed by some Pisco Sours for old times sake.  The place was certainly starting to come alive which made for an entertaining walk home.  The cops had set up a roadblock outside our hotel, with dogs, and were searching anyone walking past.  A lot of guns!

We played a few games of cards upstairs on the roof before escaping to our air-conditioned room. Breakfast the next morning was part of the package in a funky cafe called Yum Yum and it certainly was.  We headed to Walmart on our way out to do a ‘big’ shop for our AirBnb which we had booked down in Tulum.  It was quite enjoyable cruising around a well stocked supermarket shopping for goodies.  It was then an 1 hour drive south to Tulum and our beach home.  Once again the road was lined with huge, grandiose resorts.  God knows how they fill them.  We turned just before Tulum to head down to Tulum beach, the first 4 kms was fine but then it became a crawl along a tiny road crowed with cars.  The ocean side of the road was again back to back resorts, such that you could not see the ocean.  Our AirBnB Coyote at Loco Tulum was actually a hotel room with a massive window that opened onto the mangrove swamp.  Magic once you got used to the sulphur smell.  

We got access to the ocean through a resort – in peak season you pay to enter and pay (via ordering in the restaurant) to use the beachside loungers. This is pretty much the only way to access the beaches as the whole beach front is side by side resorts. And no public access.  The beach looked pretty average due to the murky, choppy and seaweed inundated water.  No calm, incredibly coloured water you see in the brochures. We ate our breakfast food for dinner as we found our package included breakfast at Loco Tulum, can’t turn down a free meal.   We watched a couple more episodes of Unbelievable before turning in for an early night post our rather boozy one the night before.  

We got up early to try get to Cenote Dos Ojos before the crowds.  We arrived at the restaurant at 8am only to be told it did no it open until 830.  Just our luck.  We sat and read the paper (we had access to their internet) and chilled before enjoying a hearty brekkie of eggs, beans, bread, juice and coffee.  It took us about 30 min to reach the Cenote – the drive along Tulum beach took a fraction of what it took the day before.  We paid for access to Dos Ojos at the main access gate and then had a confusing 30 min drive past multiple canotes until we found Dos Ojos.  All the other Cenote required us to pay additional $, in some cases up to 400p each.   We finally found Dos Ojos, paid another 190p for snorkels and a locker and we were off.  Dos Ojos was packed with scuba divers but very few snorkels.  A cenote is a limestone cave or pit filled (mostly) with water.  The Yucatan Peninsular has over 6000.  We went to Ojo 1 and was amazed at the colours and depth of water which led to many submerged caves – snorkels were allowed to enter the caves while divers needed a guide.   We then headed to Ojo twos which was in a a sort of sunken area.  It was a lot longer and if you put your head under water on the east side you could watch the divers making their way down the tunnel from Ojo one.  It was beautiful and we basically had the place to ourselves.

We decided to check out Tulum for some lunch and to gauge whether it was worth spending Sun night there.  Once we found the Main Street – which was actually the highway through the town, we could feel and see the appeal of Tulum.  Still not enough to spend a day there, preferring to head to a Mexican magical town- Bacalar and its freshwater lake of seven colours. The drive back to Tulum beach was a nightmare because of some road works – but far worse for those driving into Tulum.  I headed up to the roof kitchen and pool to prepare our early dinner.  Turns out the roof area was only for people in the building, we ignored the rule and made ourselves at home.  The breeze was lovely (essential for keeping the mossies) at bay, plus the view was amazing for the sunset.  Dinner was tostadas with plenty of fresh produce.  Yum!  Karen, an Aussie from Bondi joined us.  She was travelling by herself while her apartment complex was being renovated. She was a freelance travel writer so was helpful in providing tips.  We also met a Canadian couple – Matt and Crystal – who helped me make a dent in my very nice bottle of tequila.  I got up at 3am to watch the. AB’s get smashed by England in the semifinal. 

The next morning we headed down to the beach via a club we had access to and lay on the lounges for 3 or so hours. It was lovely.  In the end we had to by two coffees which cost 160p ($A13).  The room still hadn’t been made up so we returned to the prohibited roof to lay by the pool and chill some more.  We then walked a km or so down the road to visit another cenote.  It felt more of a small lake than a cenote but it was still cool.  It was very dark because of how deep it was.  Very refreshing. On returning to our AirBnB we bumped into Matt and he invited us to join them for dinner on the roof to eat all the fish they had caught that day.  Snapper,Tiger fish and Yellow fish.  The chef from Loco Tulum was going to cook it.  Hell yes!  So we had this amazing meal of fresh fish and salad.  The Tiger fish was incredibly dense, but delicious.  We also polished off the rest of my tequila and a few bottles of wine.  It was a fun night.

The next day we headed off around 11 for our 3 hour drive to Bacalar.  We stopped in Tulum to grab some pharmaceuticals being offered in a lot of the shadier pharmacies.  The drive to Bacalar was a breeze – the roads were incredible and deserted.  Our hostel – Yak Lake House– was right on Lake Bacalar and had a very nice vibe to it.  Less posy than what we had experience so far but still a lot of very beautiful (and younger) people.  Dits and I fitted right in – except we were at least 20 years older than everyone. Ok and not as beautiful.  We went for a swim in the lake – it was waist shallow with a bed that your feet sunk into ankle deep.  Quite strange.  Stunning though.  We then went for a walk to find some $ (solo effectivo at Yak) which involved walking back to the motorway.  We got caught in a torrential downpour on the way back so dashed into a dodgy cafe for some pretty good ceviche and a beer.  When we got back to Yak we found the lakeside bar very cheap (45p for a red wine and 40p for double tequila) so couldn’t resist. We played backgammon and I did a lot more press ups than Deryn.

The next day was a very chilled day – enjoying the lake when the sun was out and then having kip and reading when the inevitable downpour happened. It will be sad to leave this place tomorrow but the ruins of Chichen Itza beckon.  

We grabbed an early flight out of Mexico City to Puerto Escondido, down on the Mexican Pacific coast.  We flew Volaris and once again it was effortless.  Dits had told me that the temperature down in PE was similar to that of Mexico City – like hell it was.  A furnace.  It was 32 C and humid – felt like 38C!  Our hostel – Selina Puerto Escondido – was right on the main beach Zicatela and was massive.  It was a maze of rooms over multiple levels.  We had a room right at the top of the cliff that the hostel was built into – like a lot of the hostels along the beachfront.  It was a brutal climb but thankfully the views made it worthwhile although a balcony would have been perfect.  It had a pool at our level – as well as the main one on the ground floor.  However be both agreed it was overpriced for what it was – perhaps prices were elevated because of the world surf event happening in a few days time. 

We unpacked and then headed down to the beach for a swim.  The sand was scalding and swimming was a real challenge because of the very strong waves dumping onto the beach.  We lasted 5 minutes fighting the current before heading back to the hostel for a swim in the pool and to clean out the sand which had filled our togs.   We went for a walk along the beach – it was end to end party bars with beachside lounges and umbrellas – all basically set up for spring break type activities.  It was thankfully low season so it was very quite.  We met a local called “Hector the Protector”, who was there to cater to tourists every need.  He called himself the protector because he protected tourists from getting into trouble with the local police.  It was too hot to be out so we headed back to the hostel and chilled there for the afternoon eventually morfing into a card session.  

The next morning we decided to brave the 3km walk down the beach to a restaurant recommend by Taylor – Koko.  It was really hot waking along the road so we moved town to the water which made it a lot cooler.  The restaurant was very basic but the coconut encrusted prawn and fish tacos were amazing.  We managed 3 each – served by the owners young kids.  We tried to walk back to our hostel but had to bail out and grab a taxi because it was just too hot.   We grabbed dinner on the beach and enjoyed a few mescals watching the sun go down. 

The next morning we grabbed a taxi to the local bus station before jumping on a local bus for an hour ride to San Antonio.  From there it was a simple matter of grabbing a taxi to take us to our AirBnb on Mazunte beach.  We had been given a number to call when we go close, which we did but the lady on the call could not understand us so we handed the phone over to taxi driver who then drove us to a hostel at a nearby beach.  Problem was it wasn’t our Airbnb so we had to grab another taxi to take us to our correct location.  The Airbnb was literally 20m from the beach although we were a bit put off to find the room uncleaned when arrived.  Mazunte beach had a really hippy vibe and was certainly a lot older than Escondido – and a lot more basic.  Our Airbnb’s location was amazing but outback was a tip and the room lacked a few comforts – such a chairs to lounge on.  There was a hammock on the deck at least. 

We jumped into our togs and headed for a swim (again having to manage the huge swell) before walking down the beach to grab a late lunch.   We were planning on having a quite night but got roped into grabbing a beer by a Pom called Piers.  Piers and his French mate Boris had consumed some mushrooms earlier in the day so were in full flight – very entertaining.  They had been drinking with a German mathematician called Collier (Dr Collier).  We then pulled in an Hungarian called Psy into the foray.  Our quiet night turned into a 6 hour bender, going to a couple of bars and trying hard (not very successfully) to get our tripping companions not kicked out of them. It starting raining about 11pm and by the time we headed home we literally had to wade through a river to get home.

It was a slow start the next morning with still plenty of rain.  We grabbed some breakfast then tried unsuccessfully to buy some bus tickets – had to get them online.  We decided to check out Punta Cometa via the national park headland.  We spent a lovely couple of hours exploring the wind swept and wild headland with amazing views of the ocean.  Punta Cometa is famous for its sunsets but given the state of the weather, there was little point hanging around for it.  We headed back to our beach and grabbed a dinner at the closest restaurant to our room due to the torrential rain.  Piers and Psy joined us for dinner – Piers had very little recollection of the previous evening’s events so it was fun filling him in on the details!  

We had decided to bus all the way to Oaxaca the next day and flag an overnight stay in San Jose del Pacifico to sample the mushrooms, as our bender had made us a bit gun shy.  It was a 10 hour bus ride and required getting to Pochutla by 8am.  We booked a taxi the night before which didn’t turn up so I had to wonder through the village to find one.  Thankfully there was one around.  The bus trip was not too bad – the bus was large and air conditioned with a few spare seats so Deryn and I could stretch out.  There were a few stops to stretch our legs and grab some food before arriving in Oaxaca at 7pm.  Our hotel  – Casa del Sotano – was lovely and only a 10 min walk to the main square.  It was relatively upmarket and inhabited by older travellers rather than the younger backpackers we had been used to.  Lots of old(ish) ladies.  It was the first thing we noticed about Oaxaca, a notable number of older, reasonably affluent Americans.  A lovely, cultural and safe city serviced by direct flights from the US; bound to happen. 

The first day we spent getting to know the city, doing laundry and planning ahead.  We booked a rental for the next day to see some of the further sights – Hierve el Agua, the world’s widest tree and maybe a Mescal tour.  We were planning on a quiet night but bumped into a couple of Aussie’s (they own a luxury surf resort in Fiji called Matanivusi – sounds amazing).  Anyway we got a bit carried away with the mescal for me, wine for Dits and beer for the Aussies. A great night but not helpful with a roadie planned the next day. 

We picked the car up at 9 from Eurocar – US$39 for the day.  Once we had sorted the fact that we had booked for the next day, we were off.  The roads were pretty bad with load of speedhumps – Reductos – so it was slow going. Our route was thrown into a wee bit of confusion when we came across a roadblock only to be told the motorway is closed.  A small challenge for navigator Dits and it wasn’t long before we were winding our way through mountain passes and remote villages on your way to Hierve el Agua.  We saw the odd sign pointing to Hierve so kept going.  At one staged we were stopped by the military who wanted to know how we had got there.  Luckily we had paid 10 pesos each to drive through a gate a few kms back so we showed them that and we were back on our way.  

What was meant to be an 80 minute journey turned into 120 but we made it.  The rock formations were pretty cool, with a few live springs bubbling away including a very hot one that had been curtained off to stop tourists burning themselves.  It was a pretty long walk down to the bottom of the ‘waterfall’ formations but certainly worth it.  I cooled off in the rock pools up top afterwards but Dits’ couldn’t be arsed getting changed.  We followed the traditional route back to Oaxaca and both agreed, Deryn’s route was preferable as for one, you didn’t have to navigate a mountain road that was very similar to the worst of NZ ski field roads.  It was however quicker.  We stopped for a feed at a roadside cafe – chicken soup and tapas.  I thought it was expensive at a total of 120 pesos ($A9). It was then another odd, rural route to Arbol del Tule, in the centre of Santa Maria del Tule. The incredible tree is the approx 1600 year old and has a circumference of 42m.   It was very cool!!  

The guys checking the car back at Eurocar spent more time trying to find a chip in the windscreen, than I have seen anyone spend on an entire car.  We passed thankfully. The next day was another chill which got Dits and I enthused to hire some bikes and bike the 10kms to Monte Alban.  We headed out for a ‘nice’ meal although I hadn’t pre-warned Deryn so she ordered chicken salad whereas I ordered encrusted shrimp!  The food was amazing We watched the first episode of Unbelievable.  It most certainly was – hard viewing. But needs to be told.  We picked up our bikes, paid the 80pp ($6) for a 5 hour hire and set off.  It was fun cycling through a different part of the city, after about 30 mins we reached the outskirts of town and started climbing. And climb and climb.  350m of it – from 1550m to 1900m.  It didn’t feel too brutal, just went on and on.  The ruins once we got there were impressive.  Monte Alban flourished from 200BC to about 600AD, after which it was abandoned. No one knows why – a very common theme amongst a lot of these advanced, ancient civilisations that we have visited on our travels.  The scale of the main plaza was impressive. It was also really well maintained.  We spent over an hour just strolling around the place enjoying the open spaces and relatively few tourists.  The cycle home literally took a third of the time it took us to get there.  We found a really cool cafe on the ride back for one of the best meals we’ve had  in Oaxaca – La Biznaga. It was then back home and start to prepare for our 2 week roadie in the Yucatan peninsula. 2 week car rental for A$190.  Go figure.  

We arrived in Mexico City early evening, customs was a nightmare with a huge and slow moving queue.  However once we were through things moved quickly – we prepaid for our taxi at the ‘Official Taxi” stand (320 pesos – A$24) for the ride to Casa Pepe, our hostel for 3 nights.  The taxi was a new car and worked like a charm.  We very quickly came to realise that Mexico (City) is a modern, sophisticated country submerged in a developing country. Casa Pepe was lovely.  We had a huge suite on the 3rd floor, with a balcony overlooking a bustling intersection in Centro Historico.  It was magic. The hostel had a trendy bar on the roof with a very enthusiastic DJ which / whom we enjoyed for a couple of hours before going to bed and trying to sleep through the bar noise.

The brekkie at Pepe was on the roof and not too bad.  We decided to do a walking tour but within 5 minutes Deryn suddenly ‘lost’ her phone and so unfortunately we had to head home to find it.  The pitch of our tour guide’s voice and the over use of ‘like’ forced us to bale.  We did our own tour and enjoyed the  delights of Centro Historico: the Zocoalo – the square made famous by James Bond’s Spectre; The Cathedral just off the square and also the Templo Mayor ruins (we didn’t pay to get the closer look).

We then went to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, (free on Sundays).  Outside it abides by Neoclassical/ Art Nouveau architectural stylings, whereas the interior is pure Art Deco. Now home to some famous murals – including some by Diego Rivera, husband of Frida. You may have noticed that the first couple of sentences were a cut and paste.  Walking around we came across some cool street art, fantastic street side tacos – $3 for 3 tacos and plenty of people selling things.  Everyone is selling – we hadn’t seen anything like it since Quito. Around 5 we headed back to the Pepe roof bar expecting our hour of free margaritas – not so, it was on from 7 to 8 and quite possibly in another bar.  Anyway to console ourselves we ordered a 1.5l jug of margarita with a saucy sounding local tequila.  It was ambitious but we conquered it easily. 

Next day was shopping day at a mall that required conquering the underground and then a 30min walk through a very affluent part of Mexico City.  Some of the houses were spectacular – but with loads of security.  The mall had every top end brand  imaginable, not really what we were after but I managed to get some jeans, sneakers, undies and some sunnies but unfortunately Dits left empty handed.  We Uber’d home – again very cheap and efficient.  We spent another couple of hours wandering around the town, enjoying the sights, smells and sounds. We had dinner at a dodgy local place but where bombarded by a some hard techno coming from nearby.  After dinner we tracked the source – my goodness, there are some hard core people in Mexico City.  They would scare the bejesus out of 90% of Aussies and Kiwis.  It was basically an outdoor bar in an alley way. A bit to hardcore for us so we snuck away to watch a nice movie in bed.  

We got up early to head to a local market to buy some spicy sauce and tequila to take back to Aus with us. On the way we passed through the chicken market – millions of chickens must pass through the area every week. It was then off to Aus for an action packed 2 weeks but so We are glad that we are coming back to this exciting, spicy place.  

Well it’s now 2 weeks later.   Deryn had booked us in for 2 nights at the Guest House Aldama in the Coyoacán part of town.  Aldama was a family home (5 generations) in which we had an en-suite room. Like so many if the house in the area – you walked through a small door which opened into a massive courtyard and a substantial house(s) around it.  The first night we headed out for an early dinner and then crashed.  Jetlag flying from west to east is so much worse than the other way – all to do with flying against the spin off the earth apparently.  

It was a tough night sleep but we forced ourselves to get up early so we could get to the Frida Kayla’s home – The Blue House – before it opened.  We got there at 9.50 and had about 12 people ahead of us in the queue. We were then told that there was potentially a 40 min wait as the pre-booked tickets and groups had priority.  Thankfully we did not leave and we were inside by 10.20.  It was magic.  What an incredible woman.  They had one of her quotes painted in each room – my favourite was 

“Perhaps they expect me to wail and moan about ‘how much I suffer’ living with a man like Diego.  I don’t think the banks of a river suffer by letting it flow”.

We spent the rest of day (split by a 2 hour kip) exploring the area.  Initially I thought I preferred Centro Historico but by the end of the day I had switched.  Coyoacán was a lot more residential and consequently had far more street stalls and more village type feel.  More like Manly than Darling Harbour. We grabbed a couple of mescals with lime and worm salt – a smokier version of good tequila – before heading home for another early night.  

The next day we tried to do the free bike tour but the bikes were no longer located at the two spots we found the day before. Very odd. The main square, Parque Centenario was being prepared for some bicentenary celebrations so it was getting filled with tarpaulins, seats and heaps of cops.  We had some more mescal and then grabbed another delicious meal in a local bar.  We head to Puerto Escondido tomorrow, a bit sad to be leaving Mexico City, but who knows, we may be back as we spend 6 weeks travelling around this massive country.