Rest of Playacar

This will mainly focus on our last day, Friday, but with a little extra information, and actually starting on our first day. The hotel has a shuttle into downtown and to the beach club, but we had just missed one when we got down on our first day, so we decided to walk into town, which was not far. The Holiday Inn Express Playacar is on Carretera Federal 307 (I think--I find the street names confusing). It is just off the highway, and in front there is more thick growth that blocks a small airstrip. On the other side of the strip are all the shops and restaurants of the downtown, and then the beach. We walked on the Carretera until we got to Benito Juarez (probably), and turning left there got us into the main downtown. On the way, near the hotel, there was a convenience store that we used a lot for bottled water and snacks.

We came upon an area that said Paseo del Carmen Shopping Mall, so if it was a mall I thought it would probably have a food court. They kind of did, with a Subway and a Starbucks flanking a Mexican restaurant, but we noticed an Italian restaurant, Rinaldi's, that looked promising. There were a lot of Italian restaurants in town, as well as a lot of places selling gelato.

Rinaldi's had Italian style pizza, which has a very thin, flat crust, and where a single pizza is intended for one person. We got one Hawaiian and one Cancun pizza (ham and basil, I think), and one plate of prosciutto, and split them between us. It was pretty good, and the prices were not bad.

At one point, Julie was startled and asked "What was that?" We were eating by a large window, and she had seen something moving but was not sure what it was. It took a while to see, but finally another came into view. It turned out there were a lot of little wild pigs in the wooded area out back. We asked our waiter about it, but I did not recognize the name he said. Later we saw that they were peccaries, or javelinas. He threw out some food scraps so a bunch came running up. The older ones did look more piggish, but with the babies it was still hard to see. One of them actually sat on its haunches and used it's front legs to lift a pizza crust up to its mouth. That's a squirrel move, not a pig. I joked with Maria that maybe they were the prosciutto, and she asked the waiter and he actually told her yes at first, teasing her. You can eat them, but that's not what they were using.

On our second day we walked back into downtown, to the mall again, and had a late lunch at the Subway. The other thing I wanted to do was hit the chocolate café, Ah Cacao. There had been these really good chocolate bars I had bought last time at Xcaret, and when I looked them up it looked like the manufacturer had a café. It turned out to be much further away than I had realized. I mainly wanted to go there before going to Xcaret, because I had originally found them at Xcaret, and I wanted to compare prices and see where it would be better to buy. This was silly of me—obviously the park is going to be more expensive. I guess I was thinking that there might be gift packs or something, but then if that was something that Xcaret did, the café would probably have them too. I should have stocked up then, but we just got some ice cream and water and tried to cool off. They were air-conditioned, which was nice.

That day had ended up being about six miles walking, so it was a concern when we got to Friday, and we had to get everything done. Still, we were starting with Croco Cun. We just took a cab that was in front of the hotel. We were worried about getting another cab for our return trip, but he offered to come back for us. He recommended we allow an hour for the zoo, and was exactly right, and he was there right on schedule.

Obviously, it is valuable for a cab driver to have a guaranteed fair, but it is also valuable for tourists to have someone to rely on, and Ignacio had already showed himself willing and able. He got a chance to do this even more, and we really put him to the task.

I wanted to go back to Ah Cacao to stock up on chocolate. My sisters wanted to go back to the mall to eat and hang out. Both were reasonable desires, but these two points were far from each other, as we had learned, and through a hot sweaty gauntlet of aggressive vendors. 

Ignacio made it all happen. We explained what we wanted. First he took us to Ah Cacao, and actually not the one that we had been to, so there are at least two of them. He got us there with no fuss, and waited in the car while we made our purchase.

He did not know about Paseo del Carmen Mall. His English was pretty good, and my Spanish is okay, but neither of us were really good at directions. You would think that would be necessary for a cabbie, but usually they know where everything is. Still, with talking and pointing, he got us there. I cleverly asked how much it would be to go to the airport, he offered to pick us up the next morning. It worked out well for him, but Ignacio did really make our lives easier.

After lunch I walked down to the ferry terminal and back to get some more pictures, and then we headed back to the hotel. We had kept talking about getting in the pool, but then not doing it, and now it was finally time. Julie and Maria hesitated because there were other people there, so I went down, and just when I had given up on them they came out, and we all got to swim a bit. Burger King delivered us dinner, and we packed up. (Technically Burger King, Domino's, and KFC all deliver to the hotel, but KFC hung up on me. We had Domino's on a different night.)

We told Ignacio to come at 8, so it was really an early morning, but checkout went smoothly and he was right on time. I had worked it out so that I had exactly enough cash in US dollars for our fare and tip with Ignacio, and I left the rest of my pesos for the maids when they cleaned our room, but then as we exited the cab a sweet little old man grabbed our bags and carried them in. Julie and Maria had no cash either, so I ended up giving him all of my American coins, about 67 cents. I felt bad and he said it was okay, but I guess you always need to plan on keeping some cash.

We got our first internet time at the airport in Cancun while waiting for our flight to Minneapolis. Our layover there was not long, so after getting through customs we were kind of crunched for time to get dinner and be ready to board, but for all that hurrying we ended up sitting on the runway for an hour because a valve on the de-icer was not closing, and they needed to fix it. It was frustrating, but hey, you really do want everything fixed before you take off. They were able to make up a little bit in the air, so we were only 45 minutes late arriving.

I did one other stupid thing, so I might as well confess it, in the hopes that it will save some other poor soul the trouble. I like keeping all of the souvenirs in carry-on so I can keep an eye on them. This sounds reasonable, but my souvenirs included a jar of honey from Xcaret, which is famous for its sting-less bees; a bottle of vanilla, Mexican vanilla also being famous, and a three-pack of hot sauce bottles. What is the common denominator? All liquid, all confiscated at security.

I was able to find replicas of each item in the airport, and carry them on anyway, but ideally you don't buy your souvenirs twice. Oh well, mejor suerte otra vez.