Back                                                                         April 2008 Mexico Trip

                                                                                                            by Greg Vandiver

Day 1 - The flight from Charlotte to Cancun on U.S. Airways was pretty good, as usual. It was only fifteen minutes late leaving Charlotte. Once I arrived there, I was looking for my good friend Ron Worley, who was to be arriving from Memphis, and fifty minutes ahead of me. Once I had passed through the Mexico Customs and Immigration, I found that his Northwest Airlines flight was delayed two hours, due to mechanical reasons. I waited for Ron to walk out of the Terminal 3 exit and was happy to see him once he walked out, considering I had not seen him in six months. By the way, Ron is a corporate engineer with Nestle Foods and has been a customer of mine for over five years now, as well as a great friend.  Ron had called me back in February and told me that he needed a break and wanted to go on a trip with me to Mexico. I asked him over the phone what all he wanted to do and see while there. After he told me what he was interested in seeing, I knew the perfect area to take him to. I would take Ron to some of the Maya ruin sites in the southern part of the state of Campeche and also in the state of Quintana Roo. This is Ron's first time to Mexico and I was more than happy to have the chance to show him the country.

Ron and I caught a first class Ado bus to the downtown terminal, and once there, we bought our one-way first class Ado bus tickets for $22.60 to Chetumal via Playa del Carmen. From Playa del Carmen, we would ride four hours south towards the Belize border on hwy. 307, to the state capitol city of Chetumal. The bus finally arrived there at 11:00 p.m., and once there, Ron and I caught a taxi to the Holiday Inn Hotel. After checking into the hotel, we walked to the street corner for some pork tacos, which a street vendor had for sale. The food was great, even though I feel we were charged double the normal price. We got some very much needed rest for the next day.

Day 2 - After a nice buffet-style breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we walked over to the market at the city square for buying a straw hat for Ron, and did so for $6. Afterwards, we hired a taxi driver to take us to the Maya Ruins of Dzibanche, Kinichna, and Lamay. Once at Dzibanche, we saw five black howler monkeys which were up in the trees eating at the site. We only had to pay $3.90 to visit all three sites, and after doing so, had the taxi driver (Fernando) take us to the small town of Nicholas Bravo. The total trip from Chetumal to Nicholas Bravo was $60 in all. Ron and I asked about the bus schedule for the remainder of the day, which would go to Xpujil. After finding out it would be another three hours for the next bus or collectivo to arrive, Ron and I decided to pay another taxi driver to take us onward to Xpujil for $20 total. Once there, I asked the taxi drivers there if they knew of my good friend Vicente. None of them knew where he was at the time. So, we hired one of them for the remainder of the day, to take us to see two wonderful ruin sites nearby. 

I asked the driver to stop at a small tienda near the entrance to buy two large bottles of water and then we entered the Maya Ruins of Becan. Ron enjoyed the site, as well as I did. Also, we saw a keel-billed toucan high up in a tree, while there. We left the site and went onward down the road nearby to another site. The site is thought to have been for the royal or elite families of Becan. The site was the Maya Ruins of Chicanna. In my opinion, this site is the most beautiful of all the Rio Bec sites, but everyone is entitled to their own. While at this site, Ron told me that the structures were awesome to see. He also told me that is was tranquil and relaxing there. As most sites in the area, we saw no other tourists while there. One day though, the tourists will learn about this area, and it will be similar to the ones such as Chichen-Itza, Tulum, Uxmal, etc., which are beaten down by people from far and abroad everyday.

The taxi driver then took us to the Chicanna Ecovillage Resort. Ron and I checked out the rooms there, and they were very nice, but did not have any air conditioners. Ron told me he really wanted to have one in his room and I decided to go where I knew they had some, even though I had a fairly bad experience in the past, while staying there. I had the driver take us back to the town of Xpujil for dropping us off at the Hotel Calakmul. We checked out two rooms with A/C and paid the $47/night each for staying there. Ron had room number 109, which had an A/C that worked very well in the room. Mine though, room number 110,  did not work very good at all. It was tolerable, but was not near as cool as his was. Considering both Ron and I are both in the industrial ammonia refrigeration field with our jobs, we decided the problem with the A/C in my room, was due to a simple installation issue. The A/C unit in my room could not dissipate the heat from the condenser as well as the one in his room could, from being enclosed, instead of the unit being mounted into the side of the wall. We both took showers and had a taxi take us to the Maya Restaurant, which seems to be frequently preferred by truck drivers, and is also just outside of town west on highway 186. The dinners we had were nice and the beer was cold, even though we had four or five baby chickens under our table as we ate. We walked back to the Hotel Calakmul and got some much needed rest for the next day.

Day 3 - Ron and I awoke early in the morning and walked to the Maya Ruins of Xpujil. Once there, we entered the site and walked to the main structure there for taking some pictures. While there, I did see some beautiful birds, which were called "mot-mot" birds. We walked back to the hotel and checked out of our rooms. We walked down to the bus station and noticed it would be another hour or so, before the next bus would arrive from Escarcega heading east to Chetumal. So, we decided to go across the road for eating a nice breakfast at a economical restaurant frequently used by the locals. The food was good, and while sitting there eating, I noticed a man across the road where the taxis were located, and he was waving to me. It was my good friend Vicente. He had remembered me and the other drivers had told him I was looking for him the previous day. We paid our bill and walked over to talk with him.

Vicente shook my hand and told me it was good to see me once again. We kidded around with one another for about ten minutes, then I told him I would see him again, maybe next year. Ron and I caught the Ado bus back to Chetumal, and once there, immediately caught a second class Mayab bus to Bacalar. I noticed that the bus driver never went into the town of Bacalar, once we arrived to the road for doing so. The driver stayed out on the main highway and made a few stops before heading northward. I kept waiting for him to enter one of the roads into town, but he never did, due to the road construction which was being done on the streets there. As the driver headed towards Limones, I told Ron we had made a mistake by not getting off the bus back at Bacalar somewhere. We got off of the bus at a shelter on the side of the road, at a town called Buena Vista and waited fifteen minutes for a southbound Mayab bus to pick us up. I told the driver we wanted off at Bacalar. Once we arrived there, three different taxi drivers wanted to take us into town. I chose one of them and he took us to the main square for visiting the Spanish Fort of San Felipe. Ron really enjoyed the museum there, as well as I did. The view of the lagoon there and the blue water is really nice. We stayed until closing time and caught another taxi back to Chetumal for fifteen dollars. 

I had the driver take us to the Holiday Inn Hotel there, where we once again checked into our rooms. Once we showered and got ready, I paid a taxi to take Ron and I to a very good restaurant nearby, which was "Foras Eros Restaurant". I told Ron I wanted to order for the both of us, for the meal we were to eat was absolutely delicious, and I had eaten the dish before. I ordered Parrillada Grill and it is advertised to be for two people. Ron told me the food was delicious and that there was a lot there. I told him I had eaten the dish before all by myself on a previous trip. Ron and I left there and paid a taxi to take us back to the hotel.

Day 4 - After checking out of the hotel, Ron and I paid a taxi driver to take us to the main bus station in Chetumal. We bought our first class Ado tickets one way to Playa del Carmen and only had to wait for about ten minutes to depart. Four hours later, we arrived to the north bus station in Playa and walked to Burger King for some lunch. After eating, Ron and I exchanged some U.S. dollars into Mexican pesos across the street from the restaurant. We walked the mile or so to the Holiday Inn Express Hotel for checking in. I told the lady at the front desk that I had made a reservation online, but she tried to charge me again for the two rooms at a much higher rate of $110/night. After telling her in my own kind of way that was not going to happen and that I was very displeased, she found my reservation for two rooms and for two nights at the rate of $59/night. We checked into our rooms and I took a short nap after showering. 

On this night I was taking Ron to a pretty good seafood restaurant in town, which I had eaten at before. We walked to Blue Lobster Steak and Seafood Restaurant for dinner. The food was good and I called a few friends back home on my cell phone while there, to see how they were doing. After dinner, I showed Ron where Mambo Cafe was located in the city. To my astonishment, the club was closed. I asked a policeman nearby why it was closed and he told me the entire company no longer existed. It made me sad to find out the news, for I considered it to be an amazing place to watch a live Latin band play, and also a fun place to go to from time to time. We checked out a few souvenir shops and Ron bought his wife some coral earrings. We then walked back to the hotel for the night.

Day 5 - Ron and I ate a good breakfast at the hotel and walked to the part of town where the colectivos or combivans are located. We loaded up into a colectivo which was going to Tulum. After the short ride there, we hired a taxi to take us to the Maya Ruins of Coba. Once we arrived there, I was shocked to see seven large tour buses already there. I can remember when you might only see a few other tourists there, but those days are long past now. There were hundreds of people there. It seemed like we were at Chichen-Itza, considering the crowd of people which was visiting the site there. I had the taxi driver wait for us as we entered the site and visited for over an hour. We rented two bicycles to ride down the trails while there and Ron told me it had been a long time since he had been on one. Ron climbed to the top of the Nohoch Mul pyramid there, which is the tallest in the entire Yucatan Peninsula at 136 feet. This was the fifth time I had visited the site and as usual, it was very hot there. We left there and I told the taxi driver to take us to the Maya Ruins of Xel-Ha. I wanted Ron to see the very nice murals there, on two of the structures. After visiting the small site there, we went out the entrance gate to walk up the side of highway 307, and entered the aquatic adventure park of Xel-Ha. After seeing the price for snuba and an all-inclusive ticket there, Ron and I decided it was too late in the afternoon to pay $120 U.S. to stay just a short while. So, we went out to the main road once again, and caught a colectivo for taking us back to Playa del Carmen.

Once there, Ron and I walked back to the hotel for getting some rest and taking a shower. We had decided to walk back to town for eating dinner at 8:00 p.m. and I told Ron I wanted for him to try a wonderful place I found previously while there a few months before. We would be eating Yucatec Maya food on this night at Ajua Maya Restaurant on calle 4 between avenida 5 y 10. I told Ron I wanted to order for him once more, because he did not know the dishes and I had eaten them all one time or another, while traveling throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. I ordered for him a bowl of lime soup and a sampler platter which consisted of many different foods such as pollo pibil, tikin xic, poc chuc, etc.. The food was fantastic as usual and Ron really liked it very much, as I thought he would. After dinner and numerous cerveza frias, I decided to treat Ron to one more thing before calling it a night. I took him to see the fire show on the beach in front of the Blue Parrot Club. It was nice to have seen it again, due to the fact they cancelled the nightly show two years ago, for insurance reasons. Two years previously, one of the flaming baton twirlers lost their grip on a baton and it caught the thatch-roofed palapa over the bar and dance floor there on fire. It even caught part of the club next to it on fire as well. We walked back to the hotel and called it a night. 

Day 6 - After a nice breakfast and checking out of the hotel, Ron and I walked to the south bus terminal for buying our Ado tickets to the Cancun airport. Along the way, I told Ron I had enjoyed the trip with him and that we could go on another one someday if he wanted. Ron told me he would like to go on a trip again in 2009 and visit another country as well, while seeing similar things. I told Ron we would go to Guatemala for the next trip. Also, his wife will be joining us as well, which I look forward to. Once at the airport, I told Ron bye and we both caught our flights back to the U.S..