Years ago, I used to take a couple day trips down to Playa de Carma and Porto Morelos. 2022 and 2023 I only took one day trip to Porto Morelos. It really is a wonderful town and I highly recommend it.
I use the local van system, called the Collectivo, to get down and back. The vans wait at specific locations until they are full and then drop the passengers off where they want and pick up new passengers who stand by the side of the road and stick out their hands. In Cancun, the longer distance Collectivos leave from a parking lot across from the main ABO bus station. It is a little hard to find but it is East of the terminal, right there, just across the street.
I have a particular destination so, with no Spanish, I have to do a little more back and forth with the man who sits in the booth and the man who loads the vans. Neither seems to recognize what I have written on the slip of paper, Casa Cervecera Pescadores. The Pescadores brewery is just a few Ks beyond Porto. I want to be left off there. Finally the loader shows the slip of paper to the driver and he says of course, get in.
I am one of the last passengers and off we go. Traffic is beyond terrible! They have torn up Av. Tulum which is the main road from Porto to Cancun and in 2022 I used it every day to return from the Hotel Road. Not this year! The Av. Tulume traffic is squished down to one lane. Then forced over into 1 lane that has been stolen from the North bound side. I would guess that the trip should take 30 minutes and instead we are on the road for 1 hour 30 minutes. We finally pass the airport and then comes the stop at Porto Morelos. Now I am on high alert for the Pescadores sign. I see one and know from experience that it is fairly early. Before long, we are shooting by the brewery. I yell Pescadores and luckily the driver hears enough of what I am trying to say and quickly gets in the right lane and pulls over to let me off. Now comes the fun of paying. I need to have enough in my hand to give him so that it covers the cost but does not look like the rich gringo handing out $25. But I also have to be sure to be giving him enough so that I do not have to go back into my pockets or wallet after more! I think I give him 50 Pecos, $2,50 and he returns lots of change. Perfect.
Turns out I am in perfect time. It is just after 11:30 when they open. I of course never know how long it will take me to walk from my Airbnb to the Collectivo or how long it will take the van to fill up and make the run. I am the first customer. The young woman cleaning up is unsure of her English so she gets her co-worker and I am able to order my normal sampler.
After three trays, I have been able to sample everything and had seconds on a couple. Other customers have come in but very few and I am not able to engage them. I pay up and negotiate the median strip to get to the other side of the road and put up my hand, It takes a little while but soon enough a Collectivo pulls over. I have had to shake my head at a couple of cabs who tried their luck at helping me spend my money.
You will never hear anyone talk about Joaquin Zetina Gasca. It is a town on Av Tulum between Cancun and playa del carmen. Playa is the resort area south of Cancun. My wife and most other tourists prefer it to Cancun, which is considered too party oriented, too low class. Joaguin is the “entry point” for Porto Morelos. I never heard of it until I decided to see what the map called the town on Av. Tulum where we all change for Porto. Collectivos, busses, all dump their passengers in Joaguin and you have to make your way the 2Ks to Porto. Going out is easy. You just stand at the bus stop and collectivos arrive. The charge is less than $1. The return is another matter! My memory is that years ago it was equally easy. You went to one corner in town and the busses and collectivos came regularly. The last two years, such has not been the case! Hopefully in my write up of last year I boast about standing around with a group of people waiting to get back to Joaquin. More and more people arrived. I got talking to a young couple and decided to show off and throw money at the problem. I walked the 100 yards to the taxi stand, negotiated with a driver to take me out as well as stop and pick up the couple.
Getting out of town was just as bad in 2023. The number of people grew at the stop and the collectivos stopped and said they where not going out or they were already full. I walked further into the square and by luck a bus came by and picked up myself and a German couple. We had to stand but at least we got out quickly! I was able to explain to them how to accomplish the next step of moving onto Cancun. The young lady was great. She had run numerous marathons. I was able to give her shit about having way too much luggage. A large back pack, a front pack and a rolly! Her companion was similarly burdened. She admitted the mistake. Said she had traveled before and had warned her companion not to over pack but then somehow allowed both of them to fall into this morass. Unfortunately, they where loaded into a different collectivo going North so I could not continue the conversation. My wife Kim would add here: They really dodged that ballet!. But back to Porto!
I have a favorite restaurant in Porto. It is called Punta Corcho. It is on the main square, in the right hand corner closest to the water. There is another one, Pelicanos, that is more on the beach in this same corner but I have never eaten there. Punta opens a little later but it was open when I arrived.
A couple sat down behind me. They were just back from the big music festival at ????. I am terrible at such things. I like the party of the festival but have very little interest in the music. They were on their way back to Colorado or Washington? Their flight was REALLY delayed, 5-10 hours and maybe canceled. They were just trying to hang out in a reasonable place and not be stuck at the airport. Their real crisis was the 13? year old daughters birthday party. They might not make it back for such and when should they cancel it! They left before the last chapter rin the story but did provide me with my usual much loved conversation at a meal. Since Porto is really only an hour? south of the Cancun airport, it is a very reasonable place to hang out in such a situation.
Things started to pick up in the restaurant. In trickle and drabs a large party arrived. Looked like lot of men but there were a few wives scattered in.
Next excitement, a bike group pulls up.
They also have snorkeling, fishing, all kinds of excursions along with biking.
After lunch, with desert! I go down to the pier and have to take this Princeton picture.
If you ever chance to pass through Porto, do go down and take a look at the dock.
I have many times enjoyed watching the boars coming in and out and the Pelicans
There is a wall that I do not show you. It provides shade and in previous years I have sat there and read, watching the action. Today there was a plastic table with two chairs on the beach. I took one and a your German tourist, down for a few days with his wife, asked if he could borrow the other. I had some way to tell him he was welcome to but that I , just like him, was just squating.
