Day 27: Akumal to Cozumel

January 30, 2018

We had managed to find some sweet rolls (pan dulce) at a grocery last night, so this morning we rolled down into the beach area and picked up coffee and hot chocolate to go with them. Soon we were off, rolling north (approximately) on 307.

In our progress along 307 three weeks ago we had noticed the tall green fences protecting the condo developments and hotels. At first we pondered them: "That would be good as deer fencing. But oh, since the mesh panels are a fixed size, the vertical posts would have to be absolutely accurate in terms of spacing and verticality, and look, those verticals are set in a continuous concrete wall. That would be hard to do at home." But today, noticing that some of the fencing also featured coiled razor wire and periodic watch towers with armed guards, our thoughts took a little different direction:

The purpose of fencing like that is to help maintain the extreme economic difference between those inside and those outside. There are societies with homegrown discrepancies like that, like maybe India, but here those inside (or depending how you look at it, outside) are most likely foreigners, which puts a bit more of an edge on it. You don't have to be a fan of fence design to pick up on this either. I mean, the gates of some of these places are as grand as the Arc de Triomphe.

We did have one amusing fence and wall thought. The Mexicans are clearly good at building and defending these. They declare they are not going to pay for the one proposed for the US border, but they probably could put one up for a good price. Assuming that NAFTA is not cancelled first, the US could bring it in quite cheaply. And then also for a bargain rate, the Mexicans could guard it. After all, they do it here!

If you have 500-800 US Dollars per night you can stay here and not have to climb the fence.

All kinds of wall and guard services are available here.

The tourist industry here, which has its ugly side, also undoubtedly brings huge economic benefits. A crude estimate of the direct tourism revenue in this region is 3 billion dollars annually. Americans are the largest category of visitors, but Canada is #2 and UK #3. A shocking 8 million (approx) Americans came to Mexico overall in 2016. Fortunately they are not all in Playa, though as you will read, it felt like it.

Workers pouring in to the Puerto Aventuras resort.

Highway 307 is good for lots of other observations and entertainments. How about the cyclists shown below! That ambulance is not just random traffic, it is following them. Now that's the kind of support that could be good for Grampies too! Actually, we are just assuming the ambulance is support. Maybe it is a private business waiting for one of them to collapse. We've heard of ambulance chasing - this could be the reverse!

In the area of the big resorts, the fight against roadside garbage is most intense, and there are stretches where it has been won. But the crew below pulled out tons of garbage as they cleared and controlled the brush.

The Yucatan main roads are crawling with tour buses, large and small. The large ones are commonly huge extra long sleek things, and the small are commonly white Toyota mini-vans. But there is one group, associated with the X-Caret resort, that are meant to look like safari buses with colourful painting and the luggage stowed on the roof. We see them a lot and that's why we noticed when we passed one of their home bases. The bus design is immortalized in a tower. The company actually has eight locations or activities, each with a name beginning in X (Xel-Ha, Xenses, etc.). Transportation from the airport is free - hence the buses. But to stay at X-Caret hotel you need 500 US dollars per night.

One of the iconic buses. But you need hundreds of US dollars to be an adventurer on these.

Our destination is again Cozumel, which we only scratched on Day 5. Apparently in 1961 Jacques Cousteau declared Cozumel to be the best diving site in the world, but we are only interested in cycling around its shoreline.

As we neared Playa del Carmen traffic intensified, as we already knew it would. But this time because we were on the east side of the road we discovered a perfect bike path. It ran about 10 km, straight to Playa, and really saved the day because also on our side the shoulder was often absent. The closer we got to Playa, bike path or not, the more we could sense the frantic pace of the place and the extent of development around it. But we were scarcely prepared (despite Day 5) for the absolute zoo that was Juarez Blvd. and then 5th Avenue. Even on Juarez, people and shops were everywhere, and typical loud music blared from many doors.

This bike path south of Playa joins some major resorts to the town.

This super common bird looks really keen eyed. What is it?

Our main chore on 5th Avenue (the main pedestrian mall) was to locate a street vendor of ferry tickets for the Caribe line. We knew that street vendors legitimately sell return tickets for exactly half price (in our case, 280 pesos return for two, including bikes). We are not sure how this really works, because you bring the chit sold to you in the street to the Caribe ticket office and bingo - four tickets are handed to you.

We found the needed vendor quickly and easily, so that was done. But we had tons of time and so we wandered down the street, pushing our bikes. We attracted all kinds of attention. Firstly, of course, were the invitations to look into tourist shops, or buy tour tickets. But then there were people genuinely interested in our trip. The Bike Friday, DaBrim visors, Ortlieb bags seemed to set us apart, and few noticed that Dodie's Schwinn is more or less a piece of junk (sorry Schwinn - it has actually performed flawlessly). And unlike some of our recent critics on another touring site, they seemed to think 1200 kms to Merida and back was pretty special. Even we would concede, though, that only in a place where no locals and precious few others do such a stunt could such a little ride seem like anything.

With time to burn (due to our amazing speed out on the highway!) we were also more open to talking to the shop and restaurant owners. At least one of the people that approached us was from France. Maybe his natural French language skill qualified him well for talking to tourists from Quebec. But we enjoyed speaking to him because we are gearing up to be in France in a month.

The most fun was when a restaurant and two shop owners ganged up on us with come ons and conversation. But the tables turned when Dodie got them to accept some of her spare Canada stickers. We had clearly not found enough kids to give these to. But the shop owners were really tickled. One put his temporarily on his forehead, and when we strolled back presently in the other direction, we got a big greeting.

The 5th Avenue walking zone in Playa - looks packed like this every day.

These big babies really liked their stickers.

If your attitude is right, this is loads of fun.

Break dancers put on a good display in the street. They have more energy than we ever did!

The time came to turn toward the ferry dock. We nipped down a side street for a peek at the water, which was predictably Caribbean blue, and the beach suitably tropical looking. Closer to the dock, we could see the swimmers enjoying big rollers, which actually was not a good sign.

When we got to the boat, which is big, it was pitching and jumping even more than we remembered from last time. We now knew the drill well, and brought the bikes to be loaded onto the back of the boat. We chose seats toward the back too, since we seemed to remember that the boat feels more stable there.

The first few minutes of the ride were interesting, as the boat descended into troughs in the waves and then rose and wallowed to the top. These were not real waves one can read about, or no doubt experience on the open ocean, but they were big enough to partially fill the view out the window beside us.

At first I happily watched the waves, and then the big screen TV, but soon had to close my eyes and pretend I was not there. That only worked for a while too. After that I was eyes scrunched and white knuckles on the armrests. Sweat poured down my face and my tee shirt was drenched. After a while, a long while I thought, a man came giving out cotton swabs with alcohol - intended for sniffing - plus seasick bags. Dodie had to arrange the bag for me, since I would not open my eyes. In fact I did have a shot at throwing up but we really had not eaten anything much today.

After another long while (the whole trip is just 30 minutes - they say!) the boat heaved into port and I lurched off. Dodie, who is supposed to hate boats, was fine. The wind on the pier was strong enough to make walking an effort, making us despair of cycling around the island.

At the hotel they assured us that wind like that seldom lasts more than two days. Yes two days - the amount of time we have to be here!

Near the ferry dock, these wind driven fun waves would soon make me feel really sea sick.

Our hotel in any event is good. We are paying about twice our usual rate, but it is right in the middle of downtown and has a pool on the roof and a buffet breakfast. Soon we will go out for a look at the downtown, but we are not too desperate to eat. One reason is that my stomach got a good shaking and will need time to recover, and the other is that a main claim to fame of this hotel is that it is attached to a bakery, which we have already tested!

Hey, don't truck away all that stuff! Even bicycle vendors were loading up here with giant trays of pan dulce.

From the roof of our hotel it was possible to look down on the ferry dock, and the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Just as in Mary Poppins we saw the rooftops of London with their many chimney pots, here rooftops feature air conditioner units.

The waterfront of San Miguel - the main town on Cozumel - extends around the curve of a bay and for about 2 km, all lined with shops. Some of these are the classical upscale ones - selling Cartier, Chanel, Givenchy - about a dozen famous French names. Other ones may be clothing stores in the front, but in the back they are selling what would be prescription drugs back home.

The restaurant by the ferries featured approximately double prices, which we hadn't remembered. Since we already took our seats, we stuck with it. quality and quantity partially made up the difference with a cheaper place, so it was ok, except that I had to eat most of Dodie's large portion.

The wind had really kept up and the forecast is for more of the same tomorrow. If it truly is windy rather than fight it on the bikes we are going to just hang out in town.

The sun went down, and we took a test spin around the shops - a warm up for what could be all day tomorrow. In one quite large shop the lady who greeted us near the door took up that trick of following you around. But Dodie had an idea - we split up. Now she could only tail one of us. Just to be a jerk, I guess, I then envisioned this as an airplane dogfight. I circled around behind the lady, and followed her! I guess that means it's time for bed, and we'll try to find something a little more entertaining tomorrow!

Ferries from the roof of the Hotel Plaza Cozumel

There are many sculptures like this along the waterfront

Dodged the lady long enough to record more colorful pottery.

Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,231 km (764 miles)

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