01-10-2008
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#1 (permalink) |
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añejo
 Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: The Gem State
Posts: 16,176
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Trip report of the Ruta Maya with pictures mostly of ruins
In August, Dave and I decided to do a driving tour of the Yucatan Penninsula. I had read Suzie's, Jesus', Babaloo's and others trip reports and became very attracted to visiting some of the places that they had mentioned. The dates for the trip that we picked were December 25 -January 7. Last night, I took a look at all of the pictures that we took during the trip and the majority of them are of ruins. There are no pictures of food or Playa.
 Sorry. Day One - Christmas Day. Our flight was for 7:00am. We arrived to the airport on time...it's only 15 minutes away from our house. Checked in...the plane took off on time. It was when we were going to depart from Phoenix when the annoying stuff begun. We left Phoenix 35 minutes late because people would not sit down. There were a couple of families that traded spots with people so that they could sit together and individuals lost track of where and with whom they were sitting. Some folks that this was funny...I didn't. But as a result, Dave and I got moved to an emergency seat aisle and because of our suffering we received two free drinks.   We arrived on time, went through Customs swiftly, found our luggage, and got the green light. We got to the Hertz counter and were off to find the shuttle. When we got through the paperwork, the agent informed us that the insurance that we purchased through Orbitz was not applicable to the car we rented. He was STRONGLY suggested that we pick either a $42.00 or a $55.00 a day liablity etc. coverage. This would cost us around $1000.00 for the rental. Hell, I winced...that was my new stove. Furthermore, the agent kept telling us that if we didn't like the price not to take the car. He didn't have to convince us...we didn't take the freaking car. It was no use in calling his manager because of his behavior because he was standing right there. We stomped out of there and headed for the ADO bus stop. This was mayhem...tickets had been oversold. We were at terminal two, so the folks at terminal three were filling up the bus. We had to wait about 45 minutes for a bus. Oh well, we made a couple of trips to the bar to get beers. We had a bit of drama because one of the guys that likes to act as if he is a porter for ADO brought two young women to the head of the line.When you exit the airport, sometimes there are some guys claiming that they are working for ADO and that they can take you to the bus stop. I always ask them why are they not wearing their red shirt with the logo. That makes them leave me alone. I was sick of waiting in line and I was not about to let someone cut ahead of the line so I yelled at him that they were taking cuts and that he needed to take them to the back of the line. The women just sat there because they were too high to move. They didn't tip him because they didn't have money. The bus came and they only had eighteen seats. The man who sells the the tickets had been keeping track of who was in line and he made the women go to the end of the line. They had to wait for the next bus. heh heh. We got to Playa. By then, we figured out that if we couldn't get a rental we would take a bus Mérida and just check out places nearby. There would be plenty to do there. We would try to enjoy the vacation as much as possible. Screw Hertz. We got the Holiday Inn. BTW this is a nice hotel with employees who go out of there way to give you the best service possible. Check-in was smooth and we were out the door in search of a taxi. This was tough...it was Xmas Day and all of the taxis were full. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes for a taxi. We shared it with a couple from Northern Mexico. Nice folks. We went in search for some food. Las Brisas was closed, so we went to La taberna. I love this place. Soon, both of us had cold beer and our dinner which was a delicious breaded filet of fish. Damn, it was good. We decided to go for a walk up Fifth and lo and behold the Executive car rental place was open. It didn't surprise us that they had few cars left but the price was right for a last minute rental. We ended up renting a Hyundai Atoz which was affectionately christened the Bean. (I will post a picture of one, later) Thrilled at the success of having transportation and that we could procede with our trip as planned, we went to the Tequila Barrel to celebrate.
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01-10-2008
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#2 (permalink) |
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añejo
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Posts: 3,342
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Hooray! A trip report from Sol!
Great start, sorry "our" Las Brisas was closed, maybe the bartender had to grow up! I'll be keeping an eye out for more.  by the way, thanks for the thumbs up on the Holiday Inn, Jenn and I are staying there in March. Hey, it's free and I'll get a lot of excersise in. Last edited by queencityfan; 01-10-2008 at 11:33 AM.. |
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01-10-2008
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#4 (permalink) |
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añejo
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: The Gem State
Posts: 16,176
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The Bean
 We rented a vehicle similar to this one. I will confess that I was a bit concerned because the tires are so thin. I just knew that I would hit a pothole and have a blow-out. Lucky for us, that did not happen. The air conditioning was very nice. No complaints except for the lack of space, no power steering, and .no air bags. The gas mileage was fine. We ended up spending around $1010 pesos on gas. The car got around 30 miles to the gallon.
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01-10-2008
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#6 (permalink) | |
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añejo
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: The Gem State
Posts: 16,176
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Quote:
We did get to Las Brisas when we were in Playa. The mini-bartender wasen't there but his sister who looks like she is around thirteen was the cashier.
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01-10-2008
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#12 (permalink) | |
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character encapsulator
  Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Texas
Posts: 32,808
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Quote:
a lot of them are in people's signature lines... like mine  ... and there was a thread called "personal blogs" that had some links...mine is kinda boring, hausfrau-ish stuff... but I can only work with the material I'm given 
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01-11-2008
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#15 (permalink) |
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añejo
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: The Gem State
Posts: 16,176
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Installment two
Thank you, everyone.
Drive to Xpujil and the Calakmul Hotel and Restaurant Our plan was to leave Playa around noon or so because we wanted to get to Xpujil before dark. We decided that I would drive on this trip since Dave does not read Spanish nor does he have the patience to drive in Mexico. I think he would do just fine...maybe next time. We got on the road at about noon which was our plan because I didn't want to drive after dark. When we arrived the day before, I noticed it got dark around five in the evening. The traffic was fine and not bad at all. Same for the road conditions. I thought about Heather, Cheri, Tony, and Claudia and how they had driving on a weekly basis to Majahual to help folks who had been affected by the hurricane. It is a long haul. They rock! We got gas in Chetumal because I figured that we wouldn't find a gas station until Escárcega. Dave and I had a little picnic lunch at the gas station. We enjoyed this leg of the trip as well as other because of the scenery. It was cool to see different types of trees, flowers, etc. When we were cruising through the little town of Nicholas Bravo, a turkey about ran into our car. There was a young boy trying to catch it and the bird decided to head for our car. The little guy stopped traffic so they wouldn't get run over. So, we sat there for a few minutes watching this boy run after the dang bird. As we resumed driving, a policeman on a motorcylce pulled out in front of us and drove very very slowly. I don't know the reason why but perhaps he wanted drivers to not start passing each other right in the middle of town. We arrived to Xpujil around 5:30pm. Outside of the village there were policemen inspecting cars. When it came to our turn, we were asked for our passports and the rental car receipt. The policeman was very friendly and could not believe that we came all the way from Boise, Idaho to vacation in the area. Well, at first he didn't have a clue where Idaho is located until I told him that it is ten hours north of Las Vegas. This gave him a good idea where we are from and then he began to ask us how cold does it get here. Nice kid. Xpujil is a little bustling village that is a nice stop between Escárcega and Chetumal. There are a couple of hotels and some restaurants. No ATM and the gas station was out of gas when we were there. We had to purchase some fuel from two men on the road. I was given a choice between the $130 peso container or the $230 peso container. I chose the former and this only provided a quarter of a tank. We stayed at the Hotel Calakmul. This place is very very basic. The rooms are very clean and travelers get the choice between a 470 pesos room or a cabaña for 250 pesos. A month before, I called up and reserved a room. The cook showed us to our room. There is a very pretty courtyard with a loud parrot in a cage. Also, there are tables outside of each room where guests can sit in the evening. This was very nice becaue the evenings are very warm. On the premises, there is a restaurant which is the largest restaurant in the village. The prices for dinner ranged from 40 and 90 pesos. The food is OK but I what I liked the best was that the tortillas were so fresh and beer was ice cold. Service is very very slow because there is usually only one waitress attending to several diners. This hotel gets tour groups so it can get loud at night when they arrive. Also, in the morning roosters start crowing at around five in the morning. Here is a picture of our room.  The decor was interesting...very orange. The little sitting area where Dave and I would have coctails in the evening. 
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