Aquamarina Beach Hotel

Night 1 Supper: El Pescador

To get a taste of what we would be eating for the next four days we found a nice restaurant, El Pescador. El Pescador, or the fisherman specializes in seafood. However, some regular Mexican dishes are served. We recommend El Pescador for seafood and other Mexican dishes.

Oliver’s Food:

Freshly squeezed orange juice, (YUM!) and delicious beef tacos. I don’t like seafood, so I ate a regular Mexican dish. The tacos were not like tacos in America, instead they were hard, rolled tortilla with beef inside. Salsa is hot! Don’t order anything else because this is a whole meal with very good rice and refried beans. Before this meal and many others we were served nacho chips, they are good, so don’t fill up.

Elizabeth’s Food:

Veracruz style red snapper with cerveza of course. The red snapper was prepared in a zesty tomato sauce and served up with  rice and refried beans with a side of guacamole. Excellent. Followed by some very mellow but delicious Mexican cafe con leche.

Karl

Pan fried red snapper with a crispy crust, served up with the usual. There was a 2 for 1 cerveza special giving him the opportunity to try a variety of beers. Karl enjoys Superior, Elizabeth gives 3 thumbs up for the old standard Corona.

Well, that’s El Pescador. For more information: http://cancun.diningguide.com/data/d100249.htm

Oliver @ yucatantips

Day 1: Getting into the Groove of things. (Cancun)

We were greeted in Cancun by lots of security. So long for low standards. After baggage checks, How long will you be in the country? And travelers visas , we got to the main stretch of the airport.

TIMESHARES. You will be greeted by young Mexican men who will give you tourist information. The information itself can be quite helpful, however they will mention that you will be offered a chance to see the new hotel in wherever. (Playa del Carmen in our case.) As a price for your time you will receive (insert amount of money here). At the end, it isn’t worth it, because at the hotel, you will see a timeshares seminar. The money is real, but not worth the day that you will waste if you accept the offer. You will most definitely see that in hotel zone, or any other tourismo place.

Now, to get to your hotel, (if it’s on the strip) I recommend a shuttle over a private taxi.   The taxi… it is…a… just for you. However, it is expensive because the taxis from the airport are government regulated, for safety. The shuttle… it for other… you know… as a well. It is cheaper and as efficient.

The people at GREEN LINE shuttles, were pleasant and funny. (The shuttle will be back in cinco minutos Mexicanos. Five Mexican minutes, is quite longer than five American or Canadian minutes. They take things slow in Mexico. Don’t complain.)

Once getting to our hotel, (See “AquamarinaBeach Hotel”) we were bombardied by a man named Roberto giving us perfume and trying to pedal…

TIMESHARES. And to be clear, the exact same offer, to Playa del Carmen with a $100 reward. Except for some reason he also pedaled Xel-Ha waterpark, and the Mayan ruins at Tulum. Both sound pretty cool, but we already knew somewhat our plans. Sorry, Roberto. Maybe next time.

Checked into the hotel, went in the pool, went to the beach, (the beaches of Cancun and Cozumel have a flag system, look at those before you swim.) and seeing that we did not buy the all inclusive package, the food at AquamarinaBeach required money and was not extremely appealing.

We therefore caught our self a bus, with Squirt in hands, (very good drink) and it only cost us 65 cents to go to Ciudad Cancun. The bus was crowded but on-board entertainment was fun and the bus trip was worth the price.

Once we got downtown, it was hard to get around but that was because the maps we had were not extremely helpful. Most things are within walking distance once you get to the main stretch of town.

Aah… americanized pestilence has taken over Cancun, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, eww. We received a very nice meal at ‘El Pescador’ downtown. (see “El Pescador”) While walking around we purchased souvenirs and went back to our hotel. For some reason, the bus trip was more expensive on the way back, maybe the price differs from driver to driver.

We had a long day after that and packed it in. Meals in Mexico are at 8-11, 2-5, 7-10 therefore most restaurants are not open until 7 at night. Plan accordingly.

Oliver @ yucatantips

Beachcombing

Aquamarina Beach

Plants

You don’t need passports for Mexico. (Expired ones work okay.)

We were going to Tampa in one more day. Everything was perfect. Beaches, baseball, Cuban culture, nice hotels, meeting our uncle… one problem. While packing, passports needed to be found. Don’t those passport pictures look nice… EXPIRED: DECEMBER 07.  Alrighty then. Where to go now without a passport? Mexico will have us with just a birth certificate & photo id. Hooray for low standards!

We couldn’t have pulled off a trip like this without our neighbours from Mexico. (Thanks, Olivia & Rick.)  (And to Unky Al for his Aeroplan miles. You’ll catch up in a couple of years.)  Therefore, the Yucatan appeared to be our top option. Flights to Mexico City were cheap, but beaches were not an option. Cancun was the way to go.

Therefore, before we left, we were up at midnight booking flights and hotels. (See “Planning your Trip.”)  Not a great idea, but it had to be done. (The booking late, not the trip to the Yucatan.)

You don’t need passports for Mexico. (but it’s easier to have one) It’s a good thing too.

yucatantips.wordpress.com

This blog is simple. It is my medium of sharing my trip, along with tips on how to sculpt your trip to the Yucatan. Therefore, I have two target audiences: people who know me, who want to know about my trip, and people who are thinking about travelling to the Yucatan, or any place in Mexico really.

If you are in neither of those audiences, you are welcome to read, however the blog may not be of your interest.

I figure that I’m going to lay this out by writing what I did, uploading pictures and whatnot, and then analyzing what I did, if it was worth doing, what I recommend, et cetera. Also, I’ll point out now that most of the hotels and restaurants are on the cheaper end of the spectrum, and therefore, can be visited by almost anyone. If you want more information about these hotels, restaurants or others, I  recommend Frommer’s Guide to Mexico for 2008. However, I hope to give more detailed information.

I may also do whatever I want to, while staying within the topic guidelines.

Oliver @ yucatantips.wordpress.com