SketchTravel in Mexico
Hotel? What hotel?
One of the first things that we know about travel is that things go wrong. On this trip to the Yucatan and Quintana Roo in Mexico, we discovered on our arrival that our hotel… wasn’t actually there. We drove back and forth trying to find it from the address. All we saw is workers pushing wheelbarrows of concrete and carrying buckets of rocks, with construction materials all over. We eventually realized that in that mess was our hotel. It was a shell of a concrete structure. The reception area was just a concrete floor with boxes of lighting to be installed. The beach advertised was rebar strapped together over the rocky land – waiting for sand to be delivered. It turned out well though, since we got our money back and found a cool old hotel just down the street – Hotel Club Akumal Caribe. The pool was still closed from a recent hurricane that blew away the pool bar and everything else it could. That’s why the palm trees were all at crazy angles!
The trick’s on me.
After visiting the awesome Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, we continued on west to Merida. It is a beautiful colonial city in the middle of agricultural country. We parked our car in the hotel lot, and declined requests to have it waxed. (it’s just a rental car!) When we checked out and got the car, they said it had been waxed and we had to pay the bill. I said no way, but as we drove off we felt a thump thump thump from the rear tire. It had a piece of wood on it with a screw into the tire. Nice trick! So I found a tire repair center a couple blocks down the street and had the tire patched. I figured the hotel parking lot workers had a good deal going with the tire company.
We drove west until we arrived at Celestun on the Gulf of Mexico. The brilliant white beach was littered with fishing boats. Though the town seemed empty, we did find a person idling here and there, and ended up having the best breaded fish I’ve ever had at a rundown structure with a few tables in it.
On to Isla Mujeres
From Cancun we took the ferry to Isla Mujeres. It feels pretty ideal, with enough of a town but lots of country. Our hotel was down the island next to Tortugranja, a turtle aquarium. On a boat trip to the bird sanctuary of Isla Contoy, I got my sketchbook wet walking in the surf, and had some awesome cooked fish from the boat’s engine on the way there. We also snorkeled in shark waters and swam in alligator waters (we learned later). But hey, we’re still here. On the flight home I drew some imaginary fish that I would have liked to see while snorkeling.
