Playa del Carmen: 24th June - 3rd July
24th June – Tuesday
Don’t you just love it when a surprise plan falls into place perfectly.
Justine and Appy’s flight from Gatwick was delayed by 1hr and 20min but the pilot put his foot down and they were only 20 minutes late landing in Cancun. This was actually perfect for me as, although my flight was on time, I had problems getting into the international arrivals area. At first they were not going to let me through and insisted that Justine and Appy would come through the gate where they made me wait, which was the family and friends’ gate. From where I was standing I could see people arriving and getting picked up by taxi drivers and not coming through to where I was waiting. Eventually the old security guy understood what I was trying to explain, that I had come in on a domestic flight, my friends are arriving on an international one and they have a private taxi booked so won’t come through the family and friends’ gate. He was very lovely, had a word with someone on his walkie talkie and eventually let me go through. By now I was quite concerned that I had missed them, however it wasn’t long before I noticed a guy with ‘Aspinall’ written on his sign and I jumped with joy. Shortly after that Appy messaged me, they were waiting to collect their bags 😊
I was so excited when I saw them immerge through the doors and Justine was supper shocked when she heard my voice and turned to see me standing there. It was perfect. I don’t think any of it sunk in for quite a while as she posted on FB that it all dawned on her in the taxi and then she got all emotional. She sent me a message calling me a liar – lol.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford the US$50 they wanted for me to jump in the taxi transfer with Justine and Appy, it was an astronomically ridiculous price anyway. So, much to the amusement of the old security guy, I went back through the family and friends’ gate and he explained to me not to accept a taxi from the guys hanging around as they will over change me, instead to head down to gate 8 and get an ADO bus ticket from the booth. While at the booth several guys kept approaching offering private bus shuttles; I finally got an offer which was only 10 pesos more than the ADO bus, which in the end was the same price as the ADO bus as he didn’t have the correct change for me.
I was watching the journey on G Maps when I noticed that we had passed my hotel, so I got the driver to let me out early. I started to walk towards what I thought was my hotel only to find that I was walking to the wrong hotel – ffs – I can be so dippy at times. Luckily, I was only 5 minutes off course and it wasn’t long before I found the correct hotel, and wow, what a lovely place it is. Although I did ask for a different room to the first they put me in as the window overlooked the atrium and everyone could see in. I’m now in an even bigger room, with a huge window that overlooks the street and a sports centre opposite, which is quite noisy but as long as they don’t start before 8am and finish by 10pm I’ll be more than happy.
25th June – Wednesday
Happy birthday Justine! So glad to have been able to celebrate it with you, as well as 36 years of friendship!
I got to the Blue Bay Esmerelda hotel, where Justine and Appy are staying, (it’s all inclusive), just in time for the breakfast buffet, although up early I did spend quite a lot of time fraffing around and de-hairing the essential areas to make myself bikini ready. The lady in reception got me taxi, it was expensive at 23 pesos, but later I found out that it was actually very cheap. To get back they wanted 450 pesos, which I naturally did not pay.
The guy at reception was so bloody moody, after dealing with a customer I went up to him thinking he would serve me but he was really rudely and told me to get in line, I had been in line! And no need for the rudeness. He then proceeded to look at pictures and a names list and blanked me totally, wanker. Anyway, the lady next to him become free and was very nice and I quickly got my one-day wrist band pass and off we went to the breakfast hall. I had a 3-course breakfast, 1st course: sweet potato fries, hot beetroot, a perfectly cooked pork chop and a slice of toast. 2nd course: French toast (eggy toast) with a huge scoop of bacon drizzled with maple syrup and a very small scoop of very pale looking baked beans. 3rd course: fruit, yogurt, muesli and dried apricots. I washed all of this down with a couple of cups of coffee, followed by a margarita before heading to the pool, where Justine had reserved us 3 sunbeds, in the shade, in true German fashion, with towels.
Well, what can I say, we spent the whole day drinking. To begin with we were just getting one cocktail each, but soon migrated to two each. I am not sure how many we drank, but it was defo more than a lot. I think we even squeezed in a beer. At some point we got chatting to a young, newlywed American couple who were so lovely. And at another point Justine and I had a little swim and then joined in with the water exercise class. Justine did far more than me, as I gave up quite quickly and went with Appy to get more drinks.
For late lunch/dinner (I had to leave by 6pm) I had an array of stuff from the buffet, all of which was very delicious and to washed it down with more alcohol. I had several pieces of cake, especially the cheese cake, the pieces were very small though so you needed a lot to make it a size worth having.
It was about 6:30 by the time I left and as mentioned before I refused to pay £17 for a 10-minute taxi ride. Justine and I walked down to the road and I, through my very bad hitch-hiking methods, eventually hailed the local bus. With only one seat left I ended up sitting next to very lovely lady who told me where to get off and which direction to go in. I still managed to walk the wrong way and it took me about half an hour to find my hotel. Good job my legs are now more than used to all this extra walking and getting lost – lol.
Angela informed me that my aunt Nessa has terminal cancer (liver and bowl) and with treatment will have no more than a year to live. Mum and Mike have offered to pay my return fare to visit, so kind of them, but I will wait for now. Such sad news and a very sad way to end what has been a very lovely day.
26th June -Thursday
I woke at 3am – too much sugar in my system – took me a couple of hours before I could sleep again. I had a lazy morning with an upset stomach, luckily it wasn’t too bad and only took a couple of hours to settle down. I put it down to all the alcohol yesterday.
This afternoon I met Justine and Appy in town. I now realise what I have been doing wrong and why I couldn’t find the tourist area, at the end of the main road I have been turning left, taking me away from town, I should have been turning right – lol – I swear I’m getting worse as I am getting older – god forbid what I will be like in 10-years’ time. Anyway, we had a lovely afternoon walking around, Justine went for a massage and I had much needed food. I can’t say I am very impressed with Playa del Carmen; it’s a very expensive tourist trap mainly set up to cater to the needs of the pretentious American tourist. And very sadly the beach is covered with sargassum, which is not only ugly but also very smelly 
But we will have fun!
Justine and Appy didn’t stay out for the evening as the bus back to their hotel left at 7 and to be honest, I am quite glad for an early and reasonably sober night. I need to set up my website and also decide on where I am going to go from here. I’ll do one or the other before I turn out the light tonight. –
27th June – Friday
It rained and rained and rained again today, not a light rain but several really heavy downpours. Luckily, I left my room, put my laundry in for cleaning and found a cheap place to eat before the first downpour. I even managed to get back to my room, between downpours, with a mango, a banana and a couple of beers.
I spent the morning sorting out Word Press, which is the platform I used for my SE Asia travel website, not that it’s finished or published. Anyway, it took quite a bit of research and adding three bits of code one of the setup files, but I now have a separate site for Latin America. In fact, I now have the capacity to create 5 sites, so that’s a fair bit more travelling I’ll need to do to fill them all up. It’s going to take a while to transfer my diaries to the website and add the photos but I am very excited at the fact that I can now do it 😊
I didn’t think Justine and Appy would be leaving their all-inclusive considering the weather conditions – silly me – I know them both far better than that 😊So off I went into town with my purple rain-mack on, and guess who saw me from their bus – lol. We met, we drank, we walked and we ate and then we walked back to mine. What a lovely afternoon/evening we had – we gossiped about everybody and everything, we even went and bought a bottle of Havana as we quickly drank the brandy that they brought with them. It has been absolutely lovely having them here for the week. I know it was for Justine’s birthday, but it has made my time in Mexico. I am so going to miss them when they leave, but leave they must.
I think I have changed my mind about going to Cuba next. It’s the rainy season this side of the continent and I am sick of rain – my body wants sunshine, unlimited sunshine. While we were having food Appy did a Gemini AI search for me – tomorrow I will investigate Ecuador.
28th June – Saturday
It took me ages to fall asleep last night and then I only managed about 4 hours – I’m beginning to feel sleep deprived and really moody because of it. Justine and Appy decided to spend the day at their hotel so I eventually ventured out for breakfast and had a cat nap when I returned – not that it did me much good. I’ve been using their vapes and felt irritable and nicotine deprived; the Nicorette lozenges Appy gave me don’t seem to work as well as the mouth spray that I had. I bought a vape!
Justine wants a day trip tomorrow to Xcaret, which is an extremely expensive theme park – $170 for the day, so I ventured to the strip this afternoon and bought my ticket, Appy bought theirs at their hotel. He could have got mine too but the pick-up time was so late I would have lost a good 3 hours of park time, something I am not willing to do considering the cost.
This section of Mexico is costing a me fortune, I’ve almost hit my spending limit. ☹Once they go home on Tuesday I will have to cut my spending right back – no more extras, only food and drink, and even that I will have to try to limit. It’s not such a bad thing really as I have put on so much weight. I think part of the weight gain was from not vaping for two weeks, alongside all the stodgy food here in Mexico. A diet and more exercise are what is needed.
I have decided that I will go to Ecuador next. I have found a flight for just over £100 but it lands at 1am in the morning – it will mean spending the rest of the night at the airport, it’s that or spend another £70 on a flight that lands at a decent hour of the day. Travelling here is much harder than in SE Asia due to the drug cartels making the land boarders unsafe to cross, plus Ecuador is miles from Mexico, it’s a 5-hour flight! I’d have to travel through central America and several other countries if I went by land and that would probably take weeks, although I do have the time – lol. This continent is vast, far bigger than I realised; I really didn’t appreciate the full scale of everything from looking at maps, looking at flight times has put it into perspective far more. I’m going to extend my stay here for a couple more nights so I’ll book Ecuador and my first accommodation there on Tuesday, which gives me plenty of time to change my mind!
I’ve just eaten three slices of pizza for dinner and have a couple of beers to wash them down with. I’m now going to snuggle down and watch a film. I may take a nitol later in the hope that I can get a decent nights’ sleep. I wish I hadn’t left the sleepez in Oxford, they work far better. I did notice that I can buy Zanax in town, they work really well but they make me so grotty the next day, I prefer to give them a miss.
29th June – Sunday
Last night I realised that I have been ripped off by the tour company that I bought a ticket from. They didn’t give me my debit card receipt and when I checked my bank account £150 had been deducted when it should have been £123. I was so angry, and I woke this morning just as angry. Let’s face it £123 for a theme park is bloody expensive, let alone being overcharged for it.
On the way to get the coach for the park I stopped by the tour company and tried to argue my point, they were not having it and even gave me a receipt that was not mine in order to prove that they had taken the right money and the problem lay with the bank and not them. I tried to tell them it was not my receipt as there was a 15-minute difference between when the payment came of my bank and the time on the receipt, they informed me there is always a time difference. Pressed for time I had to leave it, but on the coach I checked the receipt again and noticed the debit card 4-digit number was not mine. After Xcaret I went back to the tour company, Carlos, who sold me the ticket was not there and I managed to get another guy to give me my real receipt, this time the credit card number and time were correct, and yes, I had been overcharged by US$10. But this still did not cover the full amount that had been taken from my account – so now I am going to raise a payment dispute with the bank. I just hope I have enough evidence to show that I tried to resolve the issue with the tour company and have been overcharged by £27.
I did not let this mar my day, although I am sure Justine and Appy could see how pissed off I was when I arrived, and tried to put it to the back of my mind. The first thing we did was to swim down a water tunnel, which was well over 1km in length. Poor Appy has a fear of water and getting it on his face and up is nose, but he faced his fears and came with me and Justine. I must admit, even with a life jacket on and my newly improved swimming skills, it was bloody exhausting, but it was lots of fun. After that we had a good roam around the park and to be honest it felt like a glorified zoo with lots of actives, such as jet skis and swimming with dolphins, that you had to pay extra for! No way hosay, and I’m not up for swimming with dolphins anyway as I think it is cruel to keep them in captivity for our amusement. It was awesome to see the turtles (the oldest one being 40 years old!), sting-rays and sharks and there were rather a lot of large lizards and other small furry animals (I can’t remember what they are called) roaming around freely.
Before lunch we went snorkelling and I got to try out my disposable contact lenses. Wow, it was fantastic, I could see extremely clearly with them even though they are not my correct prescription. It was awesome to see the fish properly, all the times I have been scuba diving and only seen the fish that come up me. The best of all was the humongous sting-ray that came into the snorkelling area. Unfortunately, someone trod on it so it made a quick departure, which is such a shame. I wish people were more careful. Anyway, after that experience I am so hyper excited to go scuba diving again.
I ate far too much for lunch, my stomach hurt for ages, it was a buffet , included in the ticket price, so I had 4 courses and totally regretted it afterwards. But the food was good and we all needed to have a sit down and 40 winks to help it digest. It was lovely that Anthea face timed me while we were resting, and showed me her peeling shoulders. She has not long been back from her holiday in Grease, her first holiday in 25 years, she’s already planning her next. Love you up big time Anthea.
The last activity we did before the evening show was a very serene boat ride. It was actually very beautiful and relaxing but I am sure it was far shorter than the 15 minutes we had been promised.
The evening show was spectacular, in fact, bar the snorkelling, it was the highlight of the day. They took us though the history of Mexico, from before the Spanish invasion to after it and showed us the music and dances from the different regions of Mexico. It was colourful, musical and educational. I think everyone was quite ‘wowed’ by it. Overall, it was a great day out, but I am sure it was worth the cost.
30th June – Monday
Today was Justine’s and Appy’s last day, so sad I downloaded the inDrive app, which is like Uber and 250 pesos cheaper than hailing a taxi from the street and went to their inclusive hotel again. I made sure I got my money’s worth of food and booze, but this time I didn’t over-do it as my ‘Mexican’ belly is now extremely large, my thighs are rubbing together and I cannot do up the button on my knee length black jeans.
We spent the day on the beach and even traversed the sargassum to have a swim in the murky sea. We took a walk to the mangrove where we came across an icy-cold lagoon type pool with fresh water. It was beautiful and there was no sargassum. Justine wanted me to swim with her into the mangrove tunnel but it looked dark and scary and my swimming skills are not as good as hers, so I declined the invite. She did make me laugh as she really was not happy with the photos Appy took of her/us in the lagoon, all water and no sky, and she moaned about them all the way back to the hotel.
After I handed in my towel ticket and had my one-day wristband cut off we sneaked to the black and white bar and had another hour together and a couple more drinks, they were so much stronger than the ones at the pool and I left feeling very tipsy and chatted to my driver, the same one that drove me there, all the way back. I tried out a fair bit of my Spanish on him and he was very impressed. I’ve now been learning on Duolingo for 160 days so have a fair few words up my sleeve, I just need the confidence to us them, but I am using more each day so I am sure I will get there in the end.
I am going to miss Justine and Appy so much, their company has been awesome. However, I am looking forward to spending a lot less each day and loosing some weight. Safe flight home my dearest friends.
I messaged with Sheila yesterday morning and she informed me that there’s a lot of political unrest in Ecuador at the moment. She has some friends who live there and had to leave rather urgently, so my plans have to change again; I think I will go to Guatemala. I’m going to extend my stay at this hotel until Friday and plan the logistics of the next part of my adventure tomorrow. Guatemala here I come, I think!
1st July – Tuesday
Just been ripped off again at a restaurant but only for £1.17, but it’s the principle of it all. I’ve been ripped twice now and both times I have been on my own. No Justine or Appy for back-up so I’m beginning to wonder if it is because I’m a solo female and they see me as an easy target. It’s also Playa del Carmen, a proper tourist trap, I haven’t been ripped off anywhere else. Anyway, the menu stated that my dinner was 159 pesos with the soup of the day included. The meal was actually very delicious and the service was good; he let me bring my own beers. When finished I gave him 200 pesos, as he took the money, he said service not included, so I got some change out (10% of the meal) ready to give him but he didn’t bring me the change from my 200, so I asked him for it and he told me that it cost 200 because I had the soup. He even brought the menu over and I pointed out that it said ‘soup included’ but he insisted that he told me at the start that it wasn’t, which is a total lie. He’d actually originally told me that soup, salad and rice were all included; I didn’t complain when I didn’t get any rice as I didn’t want any anyway. In the end I walked away
calling him a fucking liar and stated that it wasn’t surprising his place was empty and that I hoped he goes to hell. A bit rude of me but that was how i was feeling.
Before my meal I went to a 7-Eleven to use the ATM. There were two police officers with rather large riffles standing in front of it and as I approached they prepared themselves for action, one taking a step back away from me. I was quite shocked, I mean, do I really look like and armed robber. Anyway, it turns out the ATM was being refilled and I had to wait outside for 5 minutes.
Considering I haven’t really done anything today, overall, it has been quite a dramatic one. Perhaps tomorrow I should plan to do a ton and half of things so that I don’t have any monumental moments.
I have extended my stay until Friday; now I wish I hadn’t, but it does give me time to sort my life out. I did a lot of research while drinking Bacardi this afternoon, I even had a little swim in the hotel pool, and have decided to get the bus to Chetumal, which is a small Mexican town on the border with Belize. I’ll stay there for a couple of days before getting the ferry to Caye Caulker, which is a Belizeans island, it looks very chilled and set up for travellers, and I read that you can cycle from one end of the island to the other in about 15 minutes. It’s supposed to be excellent for snorkelling and is supposed to be drier than the mainland, we will have to see about that. After the Island I will go to Belize City and then, hopefully in the same day, get the bus to Flores, which is in Guatemala. I was about to say that I hope the Guatemalan people are more honest than the Mexican, but that would be unfair. Everyone that I’ve come across, except for in Playa del Carmen, have been absolutely lovely, helpful, happy and honest.
2nd July – Wednesday
It’s been an uneventful day. I went to the strip to buy a vape (this will be my last one), mine ran out last night and as much as I tried to resist, I was clucking. I should have given up, everything that happened was telling me to; the first one stopped working almost immediately, so I went back to the shop, the second lasted about an hour, so I went back to the shop and the third one failed in the shop; I should have taken it as a sign, but no, I tried another brand and both failed in the shop. I asked for my money back and the lady, who was extremely lovely, sent me to their other shop where her boss was working. The boss gave me another vape and I am happy to say, it is still working. At least all of this walking has meant I covered my target steps today.
I spent the afternoon by the pool sorting out the next leg of my trip. Last night I reserved a bed in a mixed dorm hostel on the island of Caye Caulker, but I cancelled it today. More research proved it to be very much a gap-year backpacker place and extremely expensive, not only to get to, but also to stay on. Researching Flores (Guatemala) more carefully, I realised it is on a very beautiful lake called Lago Peten Itza and there is a national park called Tikal, which has some amazing ruins and both the sunset and sunrise there are supposed to be more than worth going to. I booked and paid for my transport, via Belize, but without stopping over, to a town called El Remate, which is on Lake Tikal and looks very serine. I booked 6 nights’ accommodation so there is no changing my mind and I can relax for the next 10 days. I also paid for my tourist exit ticket from Mexico. It has meant I have spent a lot of money today but it was mainly on transport and accommodation, the only real extra was the vape, and that was bloody expensive. I really do hope I can reign in my budget in Guatemala as I’ve already spent over £2000. That does include my flight from the UK and an expensive week with Justine, which I’d do all over again as it was awesome and I do miss her and Appy.
3rd July -Thursday
OMG, it is so hot out there, 39 degrees, just like in Cambodia! No wonder I came back from my late morning walk soaking wet. I took my bra off, put it on the bad and now there is wet patch on the bed! Whoever invented air-conditioning should get a Nobel prize award. I really don’t ever remember sweating this much when I was a few years younger, I’m really beginning to think I am not cut out for such high temperatures ☹
I was quite disappointed with my walk as I wanted to go along Coco Beach but the hotels seem to own most of the beach and either do not allow you through their property to access it or else want to charge for the privilege. I did manage to find one very smelly area where they were piling up the sargassum, but it was mainly a small docking area and to be honest the stench from the rather large pile of sargassum made me want to vomit, so I took a couple of pics and left. I walked the opposite way to the strip, still 5th avenue, in the hope of finding an entrance, but I was not in luck, the whole length is fenced off and the green area between the road and beach is so overgrown. So instead, I had a stroll around some of the back roads, which was quite an eye opener as they are not as kept as the tourist areas and you could see the real state of Playa del Carmen. On my back to the hotel I found a ‘local’ place that sold BBQ chicken, so I bought half a chicken and rice for just over £3, that and a couple of beers will keep me going for the rest of the day 😊 I’m leaving tomorrow morning, so I’ll probably do one last short walk when the temperature eases of a little, just so I can reach my step count in for the day. Other than that, I am going to spend the afternoon sitting in the shade by the pool area and hope to get my website populated with the first week of my Latin American adventure.