Day 32: Playa del Carmen to Cancun

January 31, 2023

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I have been of two minds on the subject of speed bumps. The Mexicans have an absolute devotion to placing them at the edges of towns, and then randomly through the town. There are different styles. There can be a short and steep ridge of concrete, or there can be a bigger lump of material, with more gradual slopes. The top of the slope can be smooth, or it can be made lumpy. Then there are the metal discs - they can be small, medium, or huge. The huge ones are generally yellow, and are arranged so that not only can a bike wheel not evade them, but they are set up in a way that can grab and twist a wheel and send the rider flying.

On a bike, when you approach these you have to play it right. Too fast and your fillings fall out or you go flying. Too slow, and you lack momentum to make it over, and you fall sideways.

Just what are the Mexican trying to achieve with this? Clearly they want to limit car speeds. But once a car has cleared the bump, the driver will step on the gas and return to the previous speed, unless they are wary of soon hitting the next bumps, I guess. It seems to me that the same effect can be achieved more cheaply simply by not repairing potholes, or in fact not paving the darn roads in the first place.

So why am I starting off today's blog with a rant about speed bumps? It is that .2 km in to our ride Dodie misjudged a speed bump helpfully planted in the middle of the bike path. She hit it too slow, and toppled over sideways. I found myself once again lifting the heavy bike off the sprawled form. Several passers-by tried to join in, offering to grab any available limb and hoist.

This time Dodie got away without any bruises, but she bent her glasses. These were the expensive new glasses she got after destroying her glasses here last year. Soon we will be home and at the optometrist. Perhaps they will be able to heat, bend, or weld the frames back into shape!

5 a.m. in Playa. Exciting way to start out.

After being set back on her bike, Dodie sallies forth to fight the traffic on 307.

These fellows pulled over with their adventure van just to say hi and to ask if we needed any water. was hoping they would offer us a lift to Cancun!

Thinking of safety and topes, in this shot you see some of the yellow ones, plus the workers jumping off the back of a truck. Polie have no problem with riding like that.

With all the noisy traffic on 307 we did not expect to see any birds. But there is one, sort of, on this billboard. The billboard is one of many in which Con X, the company behind all the "X" parks, makes on play on their very "x"ness.

There is a long "snake" wall in the centre of the road at one point. Might as well take note of it with a photo.

The "X" people somewhat dominate the road signs.

Somewhat despairing of seeing any other birds, we noted these vulture friends.

But then we spotted this nice Snowy Egret

And wow, here at last is the relatively rare (to us) red headed Turkey Vulture.

By the time we came abreast of Puerto Morelos, the noise of the road had become really wearing. So we took a dive toward the water and rode in the quiet town for a bit.

The road down to the beach was lined with mangroves, growing of course on swampy land.

Presumably these guys like the mangrove swamp as well.

Along 307, on the not water side is found the rather crumbly local village while on the water side is the upscale town of the same name. This house is on the water side of Puerto Morelos, of course.

We got some moments on this deserted road before having to return to 307. It was pleasantly jungly on either side.

This Tropical Kingbird was preparing to give us a flying demo

We have seen lots of this dramatic flower.

A little ways into the "jungle" we found another of these termite nests. This one was low enough to have a good look at. Strangely, not only were no residents to be seen, but there were no tubes or any evidence at all of how anyone came and went from this structure.

Back to the highway, the choices seem all the same.

Roadside billboards were a source of entertainment today. There were a lot from something called nuevoacuerdo.org This is maybe a socialist style political party, though there is nothing about voting on their web site. Mixed in was also an ad for the Virgin of Guadeloupe. She claims to be my mother!

In this paradise, one of two people live in poverty

6 of 10 youth do not go to school, but not by choice

We had a peek at at least one of the "X" type parks from the roadside. This was "Xavage", which from our view is a zip line/climbing type thing.

We developed the plan of getting off 307 early - out at the airport - approaching Cancun from sort of the back way. Our target was no longer Jorge's place. Recent rains had wrecked his roof, and things were under construction. So our new place is called the Airport Sleepy Inn. It's sort of a B&B, and utterly basic. For example the room has just one dim bulb. We have not been able to quite figure out who the family members exactly are, or who is in charge. But so far they have done the following things to make us nervous: Incredibly loud and lengthy talking over cell phone outside our door, with no response when asked to tone it down, and intense staring. Smile and wave at them and they just stare. Finally, as I write this, our one light bulb is periodically dimming and later brightening. There must be something with a heavy draw on the circuit somewhere. It's very disconcerting!

The back way into Cancun had this bike path.

Sleepy Inn is in a backwater section of Cancun, sort of near the airport. Streets often have no signs. But look, Sleepy Inn has (or had) this guidance! Thank goodness for GPS!

I turned these doves sideways, but they did not look right. Maybe this is how they were actually perched.

After dumping some of our stuff at Sleepy Inn, we cycled over to Jorge's place to pick up packing materials we had left with him. As you see in the photo, he has been much worried by the roof problem.

Jorge has a lot to arrange - cancelling bookings and organizing roof repairs.

We said farewell to Jorge and toddled down the street to our favourite juice pressing lady. The big container of orange juice ("vaso grande") is 45 pesos. It's great when you can watch it get pressed right there and then.

Heading back to what is turning out to be the not so Sleepy Inn, we have a great example of my rational approach to speed bumps - rotten or non existent road repairs. A surprising number of roads near Cancun are dirt or in poor condition. Sometimes residents prefer this, for the very reason of limiting speeds.

We are kind of in a desert here at Sleepy Inn, with no stores of any kind anywhere nearby. And we are in a compound where once you go out you have to ring to get let back in. People are none too swift about coming to open up. And it's just us and what I am beginning to think of as the voodoo family. They look more African or Jamaican than Mexican. Except for shouting and staring they haven't done anything weird, yet. But I am not exactly looking forward to the included breakfast...

Today's ride: 82 km (51 miles)
Total: 1,501 km (932 miles)

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