So we get up at the ridiculous hour of 4 am and get our shuttle to the airport. Not much to say. Took off, landed in Atlanta, took off again, landed in Cancun. But as we're landing and I'm packing up I have the realization out of nowhere that I left the battery for my camera charging in the hotel in Greensboro. I might as well have forgot my left arm. So we muddle our way through immigration and customs and find our hotel shuttle. We met a nice couple on the shuttle and we talked the whole way. Once we got to the hotel and checked In and listened to their intoductory spiel we asked where we could find electronics. We were directed to Plaza de Americas.
We hop a taxi and head over. (Brief commentary on driving in Mexico: do not attempt it. There are no lines on the road, or traffic lanes. You just drive wherever in the road you want to, which sounds fine except that everyone around you is also just driving wherever they want to. Pandamonium.) The mall is huge. Huge huge. We check about four stores and have no luck. We stop for a surreal lunch at Johnny Rockets where we are serenaded by the golden oldies and treated like royalty by the staff (ketchup drawn smiley faces and all).
Once we get the bill we very quickly realize that we don't quite understand the currency exchange. They'll take US dollars but give you change in Pesos. We were hilariously lost. So after finally settling on what may be a questionable tip, we leave. At this point I've decided to just buy a new camera. One last quick trip to Radio Shack $1599 later (that's in pesos) we're back in a cab on our way back to the hotel.
We changed into our swim suits for some quality beach time and head out onto the sand only to find that you cannot swim at our hotels beach. The scene unfolded in a movie like fashion. We are all bouncy and bubbly, towels and books in hand walking to the beach...then we get there and stop dead in our tracks...the beach is empty, you can hear just the waves and the sound of chirping crickets...we look at one another...what the ***. There is too much sea weed and junk floating around. Ok, we'll try the pool. Epic fail. It's so hot you could cook a lobster in it. Uh, concierge...help please. So we get directions to a public beach. "Is it walking distance?" "What's walking distance?" "Five minutes." "How fast do you walk?" That should have tipped us off, but no. We walk. More like 15 minutes, in swealtering heat. Hard to breath heat. But the water once we get there...amazing. Three shades of blue Caribbean water. Bath temperature until you walk out about fifty feet. And that's how far you go before the water is over you knees. Then you drop off into oblivion.
So we spend a couple of wonderful hours floating around, and floating is not hard with the salt content of that sea. For once we have learned a valuable lesson and we take a bus back to our hotel. 15 pesos. Well worth not walking our "walking distance" back to the hotel. We take another shower and chill in the room for a little bit. Once we are rejuvinated, and hungry, we get a bus to downtown to hunt down the Hard Rock. Had a nice dinner there, had slightly more luck figuring how much we owed in pesos, and decided Coke Light is better than Diet Coke. As we were leaving we passed a man with a monkey. I mean this literally, of course. Photo op. And like the tourists we are we fell willingly into the photo op trap. So five monkey poses later, we leave with a disk of pictures of us and Ricky Martin, the monkey. We walked around town for just a bit. And despite the allure of flashing lights, booming back beats, and cheap drinks, we turned our backs and headed back to the hotel instead of partaking in the Friday night festivities. The sun and heat had worn us down, and we had to get up early early the next morning for Dolphin Discovery.
And so our first day in Cancun came to a close. And I was already in love with the city.
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