Viva Mexico, part 4

relax

The day opens with a somewhat uncertain sky, so we decide not to risk it and stay all day sunbathing at our hotel Casa Maya. At lunch, of course, we go up to the hotel and guess what Selene cooks for me?…pasta, of course!!! Finally some "normal" food. We are Italian, and so wherever we go outside our country we will always have a bit of difficulty from a culinary point of view. In the evening we dress a bit chic; in fact, we have decided to go and visit the Luxury Avenue, at Plaza Kukulkan, nothing other than a shopping centre similar to La Isla but with a central area entirely dedicated to everything luxurious…Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Valentino etc…

Playa del Carmen

As often happens on our holidays, after the day of relaxation comes a somewhat more hectic one. The following day, in fact, we decide to rent from our hotel a windowless safari-style jeep and drive the whole "carrettera" 180 from Cancun to Tulum. Navigating city traffic is simpler than I thought. The first stop is PUERTO MORELOS, a quiet little town from whose port some ships leave for Isla Cozumel. We decide to spend the morning here, sitting on the beach sunbathing. Along the coastline you notice a reinforced-concrete lighthouse partially raised from the ground and positioned at an angle.

In many parts of the town, in fact, you can see the consequences of the passage of the last hurricane that struck the island last xxxxxx, Hurricane Wilma, which first struck the coasts of the Riviera Maya, causing considerable damage especially to Cozumel and minor damage also to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum; then it moved to the American coasts, lashing New Orleans with unheard-of force. Back in the car, we push further down towards Tulum, where we stop at one of the many cenotes found along this road. The Cristallino cenote, to be honest, is not among the best; just enough time to take a dip in the water, take 2 photos and get back on our way. Returning towards Playa, as in the finest moments of the legendary ragionier Fantozzi, a huge black cloud settles over us.

Terrible moments; practically you couldn't see the road anymore because of the heavy downpour that had broken out, and furthermore don't forget that our jeep was practically semi-open, with no windows!!! Once the clear weather returned, we arrived at PLAYA del CARMEN. Practically a sort of Riccione on the Riviera Maya; beach establishments with umbrellas, deckchairs, happy hour and beach restaurants, lots of movement, lots of parties, but above all lots and lots of Italians. In fact, for the first time since we have been in Mexico, at times we heard only Italian being spoken. After a romantic stroll along the seashore at sunset, we walk along Playa's only important street, the V° Avenida, about 2 km of road, all straight, with only and exclusively shops, restaurants, bars, breweries, souvenirs to your right and left and a river of people walking back and forth.

After eating a nice plate of pasta with shrimp, we decide to head back towards Cancun. Before returning to the hotel, however, we decide to take a tour of all 24 km of the hotel zone to admire up close the entire luxury of this area which at night, thanks also to the thousand lights of the hotels, venues and clubs, takes on an even more majestic quality.

swimming.. with the dolphins..

The holiday is about to end; there are still 2 days left and then we return to Italy. Today we decide to fulfil one of our dreams, that of swimming together with dolphins. In fact, after booking for the modest sum of 120$, we go to the Isla shopping centre, where inside is the Cancun Aquarium. After a short route among tanks with a thousand types of fish, we head towards the aquarium's outdoor pools. Here we immediately meet a shark, with which, from the edge of the pool, we immortalise ourselves in photographs while we are busy stroking it and nothing more, obviously all guided by a staff member. Not a very pleasant sensation, also given the animal's rough skin. A little further on we find 2 large pools with dolphins inside, which obviously draw all the attention of the visitors present in the stands. Here we are, it's our turn.

We are called together with other people, we are equipped with our life jackets and we jump into the water. We are guided by a staff member who first informs us about some characteristics of dolphins in general, their eyes, how they breathe, how and what they feed on, etc…suddenly the animal begins to swim among us. You cannot imagine how beautiful it is to stroke a dolphin, an incredibly soft skin, almost as if it were plastic.

Soon it had become a "friend" of ours; there was the classic kiss, we danced in the water with it, and it even took us by the heel with its beak and carried us across the whole pool, an experience, in short, that made us extremely happy, although on the other hand it must be said that unfortunately, more than animals, they seem like real robots; to every command, every whistle, every gesture from the guide corresponds a number of the animal; still, they are so endearing that you can never forget a day like that. The afternoon passes quietly under the sun of Casa Maya. In the evening we dress up nicely and decide to go on board Captain Hook's ship, a ship entirely made of wood that every evening, along with its twin, sets sail from the tourist port not far from our hotel and sails for a few hours in the Caribbean Sea not far from the coast.

Inside we find all the crew members, all strictly dressed in theme, Captain Hook, pirates, etc., who improvise entertainment games to liven up the crossing; dinner is lobster-based with sides, and after dinner there's a disco on the boat. All this while the boat is in full sail and never stops. This day too is drawing to a close; in the evening, back at the hotel, we begin the painful preparation of the suitcases, the worst task to carry out on any holiday.

missing the plane... it can happen

06 January 2007 unfortunately we arrive at the last day of the holiday. In the morning we wake up very early and close the suitcases. We still had the whole morning available to get some sun and we didn't want to waste even a minute we had. Unfortunately the surprises were still to come. In fact, shortly before leaving for the airport, we realise that due to a telephone mix-up for the reconfirmation of the intercontinental flight, unfortunately we have missed the flight that would have taken us back to Italy from Cancun. They were moments of true and pure panic, also because we really didn't know what to do or how to behave: keep calm or have the AeroMexico operator who had given us a completely wrong departure time in our hands? After a full 7 hours of waiting, fortunately with the overbooking they manage to find us a seat on an AirEuropa flight to Madrid.

Same route as the missed flight…at least in this we were lucky!!!