Borrowing trouble

This day started early. By 2 am, we were up and moving. We had stops to make on the way to the Eugene Airport. It was cold and I just couldn't leave my Patagonia jacket behind no matter how warm I assumed it would be in Mexico.

We had two seats on a small plane and I sat by the window. The pilot said we needed fuel and de-icer on the nose, so I was afraid we would miss our connection. But I later learned Alaska "pads" their flight times, so you always get where you're going.

The flight to Seattle was so fast, I thought we were flying over Salem but we were starting to descend already! We had only 35 minutes between arrival and departure so we ran to our gate. We even heard them calling our name as we were screeching in to the gate itself.

Our seats on the flight to Cancun were together but on the aisle and the middle, with a nice woman sitting at the window on our row. She looked familiar, and I liked her smile right off.

And boy did we talk up a storm for 6 hours! She was headed to Playa Del Carmen, south of Cancun, to stay with friends and attend an equinox ritual at the Temple of the Magician. She showed me photos of locations all over Mexico and the Yucatan from her previous trips. It was wonderful.

The best part of talking to Julie, my Playa Tigre, was that she eased my mind about the situation in Tulum. So, I'd started reading posts over the last two days on the pages of the online Yucatan Times. I was shocked to find a LOT of stories about murders, shootings, crimes, towed rental cars, extortion, police scams and gas station scams, issues with waste and dogs and creatures and bribes and so much more. I was starting to think we shouldn't do this trip.

Then along comes Julie. She made it clear that yes, those things are happening. She said it's like flying into Chicago: don't be stupid and everything will be fine. She told us how to avoid issues. I am so glad she convinced me to not borrow trouble, as my grandmother used to say.

We got into Cancun, and got off the plane. We got through Customs fine, but after changing our cash for pesos at a really good rate, we walked outside. And couldn't get back in to check for our Enterprise rent-a-car! They don't let you go in, once you're out.

So we asked a kind older cabbie and he guided us to National, an affiliate of Enterprise. National called us a shuttle at no charge. We got our car, and spent 10 minutes speaking Spanish to the guys in the shuttle. Turns out I can speak Spanish sort of well and Robert understands it really well when they speak fast. It worked out great!

We got our car and drove to Tulum. The drive was crazy! There's cops stopping people every few miles or so, and these speed bumps every 10 miles or so that are severe. You don't speed over them, that's for sure. There are thousands of people going about their lives while the traffic whizzes by at 100 km/hr. Then the speed limit changes every kilometer or two.

And my GAWD the humidity! The air is like gravy. But it's so warm and fantastic. I was ecstatic to get off that plane and take off my coat knowing I wouldn't need it for the next four days!

The hotels here, along highway 307, are eerie though. They have these huge edifices but when you look past them, all you see is white sand roads and dense jungle. It's insane.

I don't think I've ever been in the jungle. All you see is a wall of jungle beyond the thin highway. And there are tons of empty playgrounds for the wealthy, covered in Juarez-style tent cities. Those are crazy. And there are 7-11 stores every 5 km. We stopped at one and bought crazy drinks and snacks.

One house we passed on the highway was orange stucco with a stark white and dark blue foyer building attached to the house that had neon blue lights inside the foyer, flashing blue around a huge, life-sized color effigy of the Madonna. There were candles around it and lots of things I couldn't make out, but the effect was crazy. I saw a few of these in the Yucatan.

There are also a gazillion billboards for hotels, monkey reserves, a swim-with-the-dolphin reserve that I pine for but could never support, and a jaguar reserve. Half the billboards tell you to not speed on the highway but everyone does.

When we got to our hotel, we were exhausted. Our desk clerk, Paco, showed us our room. It is TO DIE FOR, with European lines and every amenity and our swim-up room deck. There are kayaks and snorkeling gear we can use, and a dock out to the ocean that has hammocks on each side of the hut at the end.

The moon is half full and ocean waves are singing.

We ate filet mignon with figs and shrimp with quinoa and octopus empanadas with handmade blue tortillas. We washed it down with margaritas. My gawd. That is hands down the best meal over ever had in any country.

Oh. Interesting note. You can't flush toilet paper here. The pipes on this peninsula can't handle it.

But hot damn. Its warm and we are snuggled in bed with Mexican music on the telly to lull us to sleep. It's a good day.