Caching in Mexico Part 2: The Police checkpoint, tricksters & the hotel fire!

After blogging about our initial perceptions of Mexico and the start of our caching adventures last week, this week’s part two is rather more action packed, as we headed further afield in the trusty hire car to get the real Mexican experience.

We start with a trip to the Tulum Ruins, to the far south of the Yucatán Penninsula. It was a very long drive! The speed limits in this region of Mexico are lower than many UK roads and having been so ferociously warned by the car hire chap about the high police presence on the roads the other half didn’t dare go above it. 

Needless to say we were probably the slowest vehicle travelling on the dual carriageway - old bangers and even huge juggernauts overtook us.  It took nearly two hours to get from our hotel on the far North coast of Cancun to Tulum, but it was well worth it.

Before I go on to regail you with our visit, I want to forewarn others of a rather sophisticated con at the site. 

As we turned off the dual carriageway into the Tulum site, several people in smart tour guide type uniforms ran out in front of us and other cars and beckoned us to pull to the side of the road where there were a number of fairly official looking tourist stands. 

Not wanting to break any rules or get arrested, we duly obliged and got out of the car to talk to one of the ladies. She appeared to be American, but possibly even British, as her accent and English was very clear. 

She began talking us through the dos and dont’s at the site and the various options for entry, with or without a guide. She even went as far as to give advice on taking a hat with us and water, as the walk from the car park to the entrance of the ruins, was a good 15 minutes away without much shade.

As we politely declined the offer of a guided tour, she explained we just needed to pay the small entrance fee further down, so for now they just needed 3000 Pesos for parking. 

As the other half reached for his wallet, I started to think that was a bit steep, and had also noticed a number of other cars driving straight past the guides and ignoring them as they tried to step out in front of them. 

I quickly said, that’s seems an awful lot. She started to say, parking was very limited and therefore higher than other places, but that’s when I saw it....behind a van conveniently parked to block our view down the road from the stand...a car park with a big ‘Tulum free parking’ sign. 

I pointed it out to the other half and he said quite abruptly, thanks but no thanks, we’ll park there! She began to protest and one of the other guides tried to block our path to the car, but we pushed past, jumped in the car and drove off as quickly as possible. 

The free car park was rather busy, but after driving up and down once, we soon spotted some returning tourists and took their space. 

Entry to the ruins is also very cheap, so don’t buy tickets anywhere else. There were several information boards around the ruins, so we didn’t feel the need for a guide. But if you do want a guided tour, just make sure you don’t get ripped off by the elaborate tricksters at the roadside entrance. 

The Mayan ruins themselves weren’t as extensive or complete as those at Chichen Itza but being located on the pretty coastline it was a lovely location. However, it was rather hot, with very little shade to escape the burning sun. You have been warned!

Of course there was another virtual at the site, ‘The Ruins of Tulum’ which only required a quick selfie and a message to let the CO about how we travelled to Mexico and Tulum.

Back at the car, we drove to our next destination, another beautiful cenote, to do the earthcache there. It wasn’t a cheap visit, as you have to pay an entrance charge, but that’s because you can actually go swimming in the beautiful pool and spend the afternoon in the pretty gardens surrounding it. 

Our final stop of the day was in Playa del Carmen. After finding a parking spot at the equivalent of a local UK council office, we headed to the nearby Canada bar. Why a Canadian bar when in Mexico? Because it had a cache of course!

It was fairly quiet inside so I soon spotted the Mexican barman cleaning tables and began to enquire whether I was in the right place for the ‘Go Canada Go’ geocache. 

He seemed to recognise the word geocache saying ‘yes yes’ but then asked if we wanted a drink. I tried again, a drink did sound good, but I was keen to make sure we were in the right bar first.

A few moments later he went behind the bar and pulled out the big package, containing log book and a number of TBs! Thrilled to  finally find a decent sized cache, we ordered some drinks and sat down to sign the log and swap numerous TBs. 

Just down the road was another cache inside a local business, this time a Venezuela restaurant. Sadly we had arrived on the only day it was shut, but the kind CO allowed logs with selfies from outside the building, as proof of visits.

As we wandered through the town centre we were entertained on almost every corner by street artists and popped into a few shops to purchase holiday gifts. 

Down by the harbour we completed yet another virtual cache, appropriately called ‘Playa Del Carmen’. Again it was a simple one and required just a quick selfie in front of a beautiful metal arch sculpture, featuring mermaids and mermen. 

As the sunset we set off for the hotel, but got quite a shock as we passed through Cancun and headed toward the north coast road. Several cars in front of us had stopped and ever the inpatient driver, the other half decided to go around them pulling into the ‘fast’ lane...although 30mph isn’t really what I’d class as fast.

Suddenly a policewoman stepped out in front of the car with her hand up and it became obvious that the hold up was in fact a very large police road block on both sides of the road. 

Stopping abruptly he nervously wound down the window and she leant in and began sniffing him! She actually spoke brilliant English and asked “have you been drinking today sir?” He and I replied ‘no’. 

Straight away she asked again in a more accusing voice, “you’ve not had a drink today sir?” By this point she was leaning right inside the window, sniffing him again! 

Again we replied ‘no’ in our best Spanish accents. Clearly we’d past the rather technical sniff test and she let us drive on, to our great relief. It was a slightly scary situation, even though neither of us had, had a drop of alcohol all day.

The following day was our last with the hire car and we knew exactly where we wanted to go. I’d noticed there was an island, ‘Isla Mujeres’, just off the coast of our resort and there were frequent ferries running to it from Cancun. 

After a 20 minute drive we arrived at a convenient car park on the north side of Cancun.

There was a rope across the gate and a car park attendant, so I stuck my head out the window and asked, “cuanto cuesta por favor?” She hadn’t got a clue what I was saying and began shouting out things in Spanish...I had no idea what she was saying! But after a few minutes she gave up trying to communicate with a dum British tourist and undid the rope to let us drive in.

The ferry terminal was a 10 minute walk away so we just missed the ferry. However, it turned out to be a great excuse to sit on the beach at a nice beach bar, sipping a cold drink, and watching some dare devil tourists do some bungee jumping!  

The boat across to the Isla Mujeres was a bright yellow, oversized speed boat and therefore it sped across the clear turquoise water incredibly quickly. It was great fun sitting on the top deck, the sun beating down upon us, the sea spray keeping us cool, as we watched the huge Cancun hotels get smaller and smaller on the horizon. 

The island itself was pretty small, but the ferry hub was incredibly busy. We made our way through the melay and headed south to the sea front where the ‘Sand and rocks’ Earthcache was located.

After a bit of time analysing the coastal rocks, we had answered all the necessary questions to log it, and after sitting down for a bit, as it was rather hot again, we took a stroll along the very quiet coastline to take in more of the beautiful scenery.

After another speedy, but fun boat trip back, we arrived in Cancun and went for a wander to find two traditional caches and an Earthcache. 

The other half had his hands on the first one far quicker than me. Once again his eagle eye spotted it under some rocks. 

The second was located not far from a stunning needle like piece of art that towered several storeys above us. This time I dived into the bushes to grab it and the log was soon signed.

We also stopped off at a shoreline spot beside Nichupte Lagoon to do the Earthcache there. 

One of the questions asked whether the lagoon was fresh water or saline and I perhaps went a little too far in trying to establish the answer by tasting it! Perhaps not my best idea, but you have to be prepared to go to any lengths for a cache! 

As we arrived back at the hotel and pulled up at the gatehouse barrier, we were slightly alarmed to see three security men running, with fire extinguishers, into the porters lodge, which had thick grey smoke billowing out of it!

Seconds later the porter emerged with his clipboard and calmly approached us to ask for our room number, no mention of the chaos ensuing behind him!

The other half asked if everything was alright and he replied, “oh yes, everything’s fine”. It did make us laugh. You can’t say Mexican hotel staff aren’t professional, no matter what is going on, they just keep calm and carry on!

I would like to say that once we handed the car back, the holiday was less eventful, but that’s not quite true. 

That evening the other half somehow missed a flight of steps and went flying, much to my amusement. 

And whilst sitting in the Italian restaurant a huge thunder and lightning storm hit and with an almighty bang, all the lights went out! Alarms started going off across the resort, but fortunately the power was restored very quickly.

We also returned to our room a few nights later to find water pouring through the bathroom ceiling, but that turned out to be a good thing when they moved us to the top floor with a sea view. A rather nice way to finish what was a brilliant break away from it all in Mexico.

Sadly we only managed to bag a measly 14 caches during our trip, but given the fact they were few and far between, and some were at brilliant locations, it didn’t seem too dismal. 

Next week we’re back in the UK and making the most of the cooler weather by completing a new caching series near Stowmarket.