Oh my god, I can not believe it! This is going to be our last destination and last blog on this trip. After 12 months and 1 week we have had our return tickets confirmed to fly from Cancun back to London. It feels weird writing this because travelling has become a way of life now and we did not even think about the daily stresses at home. Won't miss our bank balances being drained to nothing though but what's the point of money if you can't spend it or don't have enough time to spend it because you are working so hard. Life only happens once, as they say, and death is a certainty but I can honestly say we have definitely lived for the last year. It has not all been a bed of roses though as sometimes it does get hard and the constant moving on is exciting but also your senses become frazzled at the constantly changing scenarios and cultures. But it sure beats sitting at a desk 5 days a week though.
So we decided for a beach resort to finish the trip with a bit of sand and sea. Playa del Carmen or Cancun we thought? But those mass tourism places don't really appeal to us being the non-package type so we opted for the town in between called Puerto Morelos. We splashed out on a bit of luxury as well and rented a posh apartment with a swimming pool. The apartment was stunning and had everything we could possibly want or need but we could not find it, so had to phone the owner to come and collect us as her directions were poor on the website.
The trip from Valladolid took longer than we expected as there is no direct route so we had to go back to Tulum, up to Playa del Carmen to change for another bus to Cancun and jump off halfway. It ended up being a 5 hour journey when we thought it would be 2.5. A quick trip to the beer shop, (even though the owner had left us some dodgy looking wine and enough food to feed a family for a couple of days) and then back to cook some nosh in our own kitchen. You bet your bottom dollar there were no tacos or tortillas on the menu tonight.
Next day we bummed around and relished in luxuries such as fresh coffee and porridge oats for breakfast while watching VH-1 play 80's and 90's hits. It is funny what you get used to when travelling, and T.V. is one thing I have not missed but Kathy has. Got to admit though I have managed to read a lot of books which is nice as at home I never get the time. I went down to the pool and had a swim and done a bit of sleeping in the sun. I then went and got Kathy and we caught a collectivo into town which was 36p each. In town we were disappointed with the beach and the sea. The beach was swamped in Sargasso grass and it stunk to high heaven as vast piles of it were rotting on the beach in the heat. The sea was looking a murky brown colour and looked like it was contaminated with sewage by the smell of it. In fact the smell was stomach churning and after a 10 minute beach walk we had to dive inland to escape the smell as the constant rotting fish smell was making Kathy feel nauseous. As the 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world was just a 100 metres off the beach we decided to look for a snorkeling trip with a few diving schools. One was particularly attentive to us so we booked with them for the next day as the weather forecast was good. We then went souvenir shopping but the prices were astronomical as we soon found out as the resort is packed with rich Americans pushing all the prices up as they don't mind being fleeced. Not buying anything, well nearly bought a t-shirt but decided it was not what we wanted after we agreed a price,.we then went to the swamps behind town to go and spot crocodiles where we were told they hanged out but did not find them. As the day was getting late we decided it was beer o'clock so went into a supermarket to get a few beers to be refused service because it was a Sunday. But undeterred we spotted someone on the street with beers so backtracked and found a small OXXO shop who had no qualms about selling us some cold ones. Backpackers 1, Religion 0. Surely it's the rite of man to have a beer on the sabbath day?
So we caught another colectivo in the morning to the dive shop to fetch our equipment and then walked down to the pier to wait for the boat. The dive shop recommended I put Vaseline on my beard to form a waterproof seal as sometimes the mask lets in water where it does not sit flush to my face. Unfortunately they had run out so the guide went down the chemist to get some more. It was a bit weird when he came back and announced to me and the other passengers that he could not get any Vaseline so we should do it without. Not sure what they were thinking but I know how it looked. We went out for 2 dives , each 45 minutes each and saw some amazing fish and loads of soft coral which was huge. The coral was really different to what we had seen in Asia which was mainly hard coral but this was soft so flowed in the current like trees in the wind.
We also saw barracudas and seahorses and loads of fish which we have never seen before including a tiger fish. There was huge fan corals and most of the reef was less than 2 metres deep so we got some excellent views. Snorkeling can be really exhausting so when we got back to the pier we headed back for a rest in the apartment then ventured out later for beers and souvenirs. Later we decided to have a sort out of our rucksacks to chuck away all the stuff we would not need anymore to take back to Blighty hopefully reduce the weight of them as the luggage maximum requirement is only 18kg each. It's amazing all the stuff you accumulate thinking it may come in useful at some point. We had some bad news where the airline had rescheduled their flight from a early afternoon take off to an early morning take off so we decided to book a hotel next to the airport as we needed to be at Cancun airport by 5.30am. Such is the joy of travelling.
So we decided for a beach resort to finish the trip with a bit of sand and sea. Playa del Carmen or Cancun we thought? But those mass tourism places don't really appeal to us being the non-package type so we opted for the town in between called Puerto Morelos. We splashed out on a bit of luxury as well and rented a posh apartment with a swimming pool. The apartment was stunning and had everything we could possibly want or need but we could not find it, so had to phone the owner to come and collect us as her directions were poor on the website.
 |
| Kathy searches for her favourite porn website to check the Internet is working at the apartment. |
The trip from Valladolid took longer than we expected as there is no direct route so we had to go back to Tulum, up to Playa del Carmen to change for another bus to Cancun and jump off halfway. It ended up being a 5 hour journey when we thought it would be 2.5. A quick trip to the beer shop, (even though the owner had left us some dodgy looking wine and enough food to feed a family for a couple of days) and then back to cook some nosh in our own kitchen. You bet your bottom dollar there were no tacos or tortillas on the menu tonight.
 |
| I will have a 'P' please Bob. |
Next day we bummed around and relished in luxuries such as fresh coffee and porridge oats for breakfast while watching VH-1 play 80's and 90's hits. It is funny what you get used to when travelling, and T.V. is one thing I have not missed but Kathy has. Got to admit though I have managed to read a lot of books which is nice as at home I never get the time. I went down to the pool and had a swim and done a bit of sleeping in the sun. I then went and got Kathy and we caught a collectivo into town which was 36p each. In town we were disappointed with the beach and the sea. The beach was swamped in Sargasso grass and it stunk to high heaven as vast piles of it were rotting on the beach in the heat. The sea was looking a murky brown colour and looked like it was contaminated with sewage by the smell of it. In fact the smell was stomach churning and after a 10 minute beach walk we had to dive inland to escape the smell as the constant rotting fish smell was making Kathy feel nauseous. As the 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world was just a 100 metres off the beach we decided to look for a snorkeling trip with a few diving schools. One was particularly attentive to us so we booked with them for the next day as the weather forecast was good. We then went souvenir shopping but the prices were astronomical as we soon found out as the resort is packed with rich Americans pushing all the prices up as they don't mind being fleeced. Not buying anything, well nearly bought a t-shirt but decided it was not what we wanted after we agreed a price,.we then went to the swamps behind town to go and spot crocodiles where we were told they hanged out but did not find them. As the day was getting late we decided it was beer o'clock so went into a supermarket to get a few beers to be refused service because it was a Sunday. But undeterred we spotted someone on the street with beers so backtracked and found a small OXXO shop who had no qualms about selling us some cold ones. Backpackers 1, Religion 0. Surely it's the rite of man to have a beer on the sabbath day?
 |
| Nice white sand but nasty fishy smell. |
So we caught another colectivo in the morning to the dive shop to fetch our equipment and then walked down to the pier to wait for the boat. The dive shop recommended I put Vaseline on my beard to form a waterproof seal as sometimes the mask lets in water where it does not sit flush to my face. Unfortunately they had run out so the guide went down the chemist to get some more. It was a bit weird when he came back and announced to me and the other passengers that he could not get any Vaseline so we should do it without. Not sure what they were thinking but I know how it looked. We went out for 2 dives , each 45 minutes each and saw some amazing fish and loads of soft coral which was huge. The coral was really different to what we had seen in Asia which was mainly hard coral but this was soft so flowed in the current like trees in the wind.
 |
| I love to impress Kathy with a show of my awesome super powers. |
We also saw barracudas and seahorses and loads of fish which we have never seen before including a tiger fish. There was huge fan corals and most of the reef was less than 2 metres deep so we got some excellent views. Snorkeling can be really exhausting so when we got back to the pier we headed back for a rest in the apartment then ventured out later for beers and souvenirs. Later we decided to have a sort out of our rucksacks to chuck away all the stuff we would not need anymore to take back to Blighty hopefully reduce the weight of them as the luggage maximum requirement is only 18kg each. It's amazing all the stuff you accumulate thinking it may come in useful at some point. We had some bad news where the airline had rescheduled their flight from a early afternoon take off to an early morning take off so we decided to book a hotel next to the airport as we needed to be at Cancun airport by 5.30am. Such is the joy of travelling.
 |
| Travelling can play hell with your weight. Next day with the rucksacks a lot lighter and a pile of used backpacker accessories in the spare bedroom we took the collectivo to the main road and waited only 2 minutes before the ADO bus came heading to Cancun. We jumped off just past the airport for our last stay of this marathon journey for hotel number 93 (or it could be 94 as we lost count) which turned out to be owned by a crazy German who liked a drink or 3. The room was ace though and had patio doors that opened onto the pool area and a beautiful garden. We booked our taxi for 5am then headed into town which was devoid of anything interesting or significant so bought some beers and headed back to poolside for a night cap and an early night. Tomorrow we would be on our way to England and back to normal boring everyday life. Game over! Travelling conclusions Except for Thailand ,India and Burma most of the world are grossly obese. Biggest culprits are U.S.A., Mexico and Philippines. The Internet makes the world very small and easy place to navigate. McDonald's and Starbucks are taking over the world apart from Belize. Plastic pollution is becoming a huge problem and in Asia it is so bad that the sea is blanketed so much that you can't swim in it. Mosquitoes don't ever give up and you won't ever avoid them. You need to speak decent Spanish to travel central and south America. Nepal was the cheapest country we visited. U.S.A was the dearest. Don't believe hotel booking website photos. Complaining can get results but not always. Legroom on Buses and planes in every country except Mexico does not exist. Don't travel after Brexit if you are on a budget. Tripadvisor recommendations push prices up. Take more money than you think as you will always need more at some point. Americans exaggerate a lot. Chinese are mostly rude and loud. Burmese people were humble and polite. Travelling is addictive. |
No comments:
Post a Comment