Under Construction
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was about ready to give up on Cancun and see if I could find another January destination.
You will remember I exchanged phone numbers with Dan after the Elite ride Thursday. He is with a family so I was going to let him make the first move if his wife was agreeable. Later Thursday it occurred to me that since Dan is leaving Sunday, there really is not a lot of time. I texted him suggesting Parque de la papas for children or El Estradio for beer. He replied “yes but we need a few hours”. They were just back from Tulum. Later he texted that they were too tired and suggested I come to them tomorrow, Friday. I tried to keep texting things like “remember vacation” so as not to be too pushy. I wished I had daughter Elizabeth present to give me advise.
At 9:30am Friday, Dan texted, asking if I could come to them at 6:30PM. Turns out they are south of the airport, almost to Puerta Morelos. Great challenge to keep me busy and I am very interested to meet the wife and hear more about their lives. In 4 years, Dan is the only other tourist I have ever seen riding. Certainly there have been plenty of people who spoke English or even were from the US, but the others were all in Cancun for a longer time, working.
I had lunch at the best Cancun Sushi place, Hanaichi. Checked out and bought a couple beers at the Hotel Zone grocery. Took them home and made a trip to Walmart for beer, ice, etc. I was not finding what I was looking for, Pescadores Brewery. I have seen it’s beer somewhere but maybe at El Estradio as I could not find it at either supermarkets. I had an idea of taking the colectivo to the actual Pescadores brewery, which I have done before, buying beer and bringing it to Azul. But the plan was just too complicated. Too much of a chance of not being able to get a ride from Rt 307 over the 30 minute walk into Azul. I also struggled with timing. When should I leave Cancun to get to Azul as close to 6:30 as possible. People with children need to stick to schedules. Would rush hour traffic be a factor?
Google maps said no problem with a 32 minute tip. I went out a little before 5:30 and after a short wait had a taxi. But no English so no real idea of the price. And of course, even though I had the name of the hotel and other items like how far north of Porto Moralos, he could make no sense of that. He considered asking the taxi driver next to us in traffic but did not execute. He was a fast driver. Moves into the breakdown lane to avoid rough pavement. No seat belt for me in the back. I had google maps going so I could tell him where to turn but it was still unclear. He had to cross lanes of tragic to make a left and then we saw the Azul sign that directed us through security with no check.
I how had to come up with a plan to avoid being so early. I had asked google earlier about walking in from 307 so I knew the general times and convinced the driver to let me out about 10 minutes walk from Azul. I’m caring a waist basket with ice and 4 beers. I went as slowly as I could down the road. Saw what I assumed were the staff cars parked along the road. Finally got to security and as Dan had predicted, all they wanted was to write down the room number and then I started down this last 100 meter road. Luckily there was a side wall out of sight of the entrance so I sat down there and did phone games and read until 6:30. I then texted Dan that I had arrived and was on a quest for the actual room. I asked at the front desk and they got me started. I had to ask one more time to figure out that the first number of the room was not a floor but a building. As I came around the corner, I found Dan was on his way to get me.
Dan and wife Camille are in a large motel room. It has a balcony, a hot tub, two beds and a bathroom. Just one room. The 4 year old daughter is wonderfully talkative. She will give us a few minutes to talk but then wants to show us the tower she has built with the 12 containers of lotions and count them! 2 year old son is just hanging out with mom. Camille is a nurse. Maybe working in ER? She has completed her Practitioner license? but is not doing that as a job yet. Dan operates MRI machines. Pretty much in one hospital but some flexibility to work elsewhere?
Dan is really hooked on travel. It will be wonderful to watch how that plays out. It is a real challenge. As I said to him, one has to be careful to not turn a loved hobby into a hated job. They had a couple bottles of tequila and I poured myself a little of the most normal looking kind. Dan had asked me to bring mexican beer and I had 4: Belgium triple, white, german, and ?. The idea always is that you can open and try any of them and I like all of them so I can finish it off! Camille liked the Belgium but not the white? Dan had asked if I had plans for dinner and I had said not. Still very unclear to me how to make this work. As wife kim would say, men are terrible at such communication.
I had brought some nuts and cactus! But it was obvious that we needed to move out. Got the kids dressed and hit the road. They were surprised to find a LARGE grouping of local sellers set up in a courtyard. The same had happened another night but the stalls were not selling wares, doing something else? Dan focused on a man doing some kind of painting on glass. I did not watch closely enough but it seemed the artist took a completed picture, wiped it away and started over before our eyes. He had 12? others laid out and a male assistant to hold them up for us. Dan said he felt somewhat obligated to buy what was being created and I suggested I would just walk away. Camille was off exploring. We had the kids or rather the stall next to where we were had the kids and were giving them one toy after another to play with. Things went well with the young boy using a pull toy and the girl a ukulele until the boy decided he needed the ukulele. the stall produced two but while the girl played hers, our young man could not and was working on the strings. As Dan said, this will be in the trash in no time.
During this operation, Camille returned with an interesting bracelet. It had blue pieces? that were varied, maybe worked metal? It was over 100$, maybe way over and she had said she would have to check with her husband as a way to show it to us and blame someone else for her not buying it. Without any purchases, Camille took the kids and entered the dining are. Clearly I was meant to join them but I decided to pull the rip cord. Dan refereed to this in later text as my abrupt departure as it indeed was. I guess it is just part of my personality. I can be laid back, let life take me where it will but there are limits. I have a lot of need for control. I now had no idea what kind of food operation I was entering. I had no alcohol under my control. I had a waste basket and a book in a locked room that I could barely find.
Anyway, Dan and I headed back to the room to get my belonging. I was still unclear about how I was going to get back to Cancun! One last drama. Dan’s card key did not work in the room door but luckily there was a maid in the area who let us in. I collected my items and we walked to the front lobby. Dan admitted to being a closet smoker so having this separation was a real benefit for him. Turns out the exit strategy was a non-worry. The “taxi captain” called a taxi. I was able to negotiate whether the taxi took me out to 307 where I flagged down a collectivo or the taxi took me home. I elected for the 700 pico ride to Plaza del Toro and had an interesting talk. One other strangeness. The “taxi captain” asked if I had a passport or licence at the front desk. Dan and I were both struck by this. I think what happened was that I looked so much like a guest that I never got caught in the guest process that involved the holding of a passport etc.
I still have to tell the story of the Saturday ride. I think I showed up at Elite but no one showed! so I caught the 6:15 Hotel Road train. Ruben was there and later told me he should have said something to me, shown me what he was doing. To me he appeared to leave before 6:15 and I never saw him again. I got dropped at the Farris wheel. Probably road back the 307 way.