Principle #1: travel light. In life, this means to try and not acquire too many things and to try and stay unfettered and unburdened. In travel, this usually means backpacks. The dawning of the backpack began for us in Taiwan. We quickly found out that flying down the road on a scooter, desperately clinging to a wheelie suitcase or being thrown this way and that from the giant duffle bag thrown over your shoulders was just not the way to go. So, it was backpacks in Taiwan and backpacks in Vietnam and backpacks in Europe, and backpacks I suspect it will be until the end of time for us.
While, compact and easily transportable, backpacks do tend to lack a certain, well, how shall we say – style factor. With backpacks there is no checking. What you bring, you carry, and you carry it everywhere which tends to give you a kind of rustic, hardened look. And while that makes us feel cool and independent and all that, it also garners some strange looks from other travelers -- especially when Luke rocks the backpack and the frontpack. And especially when those other travelers aren’t as savvy as us with our sore shoulders and bulging packs.
Like the time we showed up for our 7-day Mediterranean cruise, backpacks aloft, having hiked across the miles-long pier in the hot Roman sun (Shuttles? Who needs shuttles?), red-faced and sweaty, sandwiched in an elevator with fellow pristine cruisers. At that moment, we weren’t too sure we were the cruising type. That is until we put our packs down in our beautiful, comfortable room and had our first set of drinks on the deck-side pool. We soon forgot that we must have been in a very select and elite group of cruise-goers who also happened to be backpackers. Which brings me to Principle #2.
Being the cheap, I mean, budget-conscious people that we are, Luke and I are always looking for deals. Maybe it’s my German, midwestern roots, maybe it’s Luke’s hippie upbringing, but we’re always on the lookout for a bargain. Which is pretty much why we ended up on a 7-day Mediterranean cruise in the middle of a backpacking trip anyways. This was very much the case for our recent trip to Mexico. When planning our next trip, we always start by checking out the package deals on Expedia, Travelocity and other sites. After some time I happened upon a package deal with a hotel a bit north of Cancun called La Amada.
All I had to do was click on the pictures and I was hooked. This place had everything – beach front palapas and beach beds, infinity pools, open air restaurants, Jacuzzi tubs in every room, and a 4.5 star rating. 4.5?! Well, if you remember anything from your grade school math lessons, 0 – 4 round down and 5 – 9 round up so that’s pretty much a 5 star, baby! I wasted no time booking the flights, hotel, and car for the entire week. It was a steal. The deal of a lifetime. A 5 star hotel for a fraction of the cost. Blame it on hurricane season, drug wars in Mexico, or fear-based media…this deal was made possible by all of it and we were more than happy to partake!
So, that was March. Fastforward seven arduous months of toil and pain (otherwise known as work) and you find us in October. It’s two days before the long-awaited Mexican vacation and you know that great deal we got because of the hurricane season or drug lords or whatever? Well, turns out hurricanes still regularly hit the Yucatan in October (pfssshhhh…) and we spent an anxious 36 hours before our flight wondering and waiting to see if this trip was going to happen at all. The news made it sound like it was the hurricane of the century (it “smashed” and “flooded”) but lo-and-behold the thing blew over and we were good to go! Backpacks secured squarely on our shoulders, early one morning we were on our way to our 5 star vacation!
Keeping principles 1 and 2 in mind, when you add 1 + 2 that equals 3. But this was a 5 star hotel. We arrived, looking like “3’s” in a “5” star situation. Thankfully we have had experience being outclassed and acted like our sweaty faces (not to mention white with fear from the drive), bulging packs, and stooped shoulders were appropriate to our surroundings. Doesn’t everyone do it like this? Would I like help with my pack? No thanks. Would I like my “car” (we’ll get to that later) valet parked? No, what’s that? Would you like a tour of the grounds? Um…do I have to tip you? You get the idea.
But in all seriousness, the staff was extremely gracious and not at all put-off by our scraggly appearance. They took us on a tour of the grounds (no tip required), everything dripping wet and having that fresh-washed scent from the recent storm. Once they opened the door to our room (although I feel "room" is kind of an inadequate term here - the place was waay bigger than our 1 bedroom apartment in Seattle), we knew this place was going to live up to our high expectations. Below are a few pictures of the grounds, our room, and the hotel bar/lounge area.
The next day was basically spent laying around and doing absolutely nothing. And it was everything we dreamed it would be. We soon felt ourselves unwinding from the craziness and stress of work and school back home.
After feeling sufficiently refreshed, we decided to venture out in our rental "car" the next day. I say "car" because, well, check out the pictures.
This thing was running on maybe 3 cylinders, had no power steering, no glove box, no acceleration, and no style. The only thing it did have (and arguably, the most important) was air conditioning. It was called an "Atos by Dodge" but had Hyundai emblems. As Luke so famously commented, "It's what happens when a Dodge and a Hyundai love each other very much."
Since it was our first adventure driving the wild highways and byways of Mexico, we decided to take it slow. We drove a few miles to a ferry dock where there was to be a boat to take us to the tiny island of Isla Mujeres, a few miles off the coast.
After the quick 20 minute ferry ride, we landed on a tiny island, surrounded on all sides by a wide swath of perfectly soft, white sand, a little town on one end, and one road running the length of it. We walked to the north end past a busier stretch of beach, rounded the end of the island and came across a protected lagoon full of the clearest water you've ever seen.
After spending a couple of hours swimming and basking in the warmth of the sun here, we made our way back towards the town in search of a place to sip on some beverages and perhaps some nachos.
We finished the day walking down the quaint and charming pedestrian-only street before taking some final pictures and jumping back on the ferry.
Feeling more comfortable driving around in the Atos, we decided to hit the road early the next day and head south to check out some of the Mayan ruins that seem to be just about everywhere on the Yucatan peninsula.
After a long 2 1/2 hour drive we made it to Coba, the largest area of ruins in on the Yucatan. We spent about half the day, wandering among the trees in the jungle setting with the highlight being climbing the 2nd tallest Mayan pyramid on the peninsula.
We had a couple of hours before we had to start heading back so we decided to check out Tulum, some ruins that were on the way, and the only ones that are actually perched on a bluff overlooking the Caribbean.
The next day, feeling pretty tired from all the driving of the previous day, we decided to check out a small fishing village called Puerto Morelos that we had read about. Not being sure exactly what to expect, except that there was a reef off shore which provided some great water for snorkeling and swimming, we parked, walked out to the beach and were not disappointed. Again, perfect wide, white sandy beach, turquoise water as far as the eye could see, and barely a soul in sight. Paradise. We spent the day, lazing about in the sand and water, feeling perfectly calm and at ease. This climate and surroundings feels like our natural state and we dreamed about buying a vacation place somewhere warm and tropical at some time in the future.
When we needed a break from the sun, we checked out an open-air market nearby and then feeling hungry, decided to search out some food. Now, Luke could eat Mexican food every day of his life. He has a true love for it and one of the things he really wanted to do on this trip was find some good stuff. We settled on a little cafe off the main square and again, were not disappointed (are you seeing a pattern here?). Best guacamole of my life and Luke fell in love with a little thing called "Sopes."
On our second-to-last day we drove down to the other major destination on the coast, Playa del Carmen. We spent a couple hours laying around on the perfect beach (are you seeing another pattern here?) and then walking down their long, pedestrian-only street. Playa del Carmen was a little more built-up and on-the-beaten track than we prefer but it was none-the-less gorgeous and charming and did I mention the perfect beach? Yeah, thought so.
On the way back, knowing we were risking not being back to the hotel by dark (driving is gnarly enough there in the day-time), we decided to stop at the place we ate at the day before for more sopes and guacamole. Might as well, right? Who knows when we would be back.
The drive back to the hotel turned out to be hairier than we were expecting as apparently a large storm dumped a ton of rain (we never felt a drop, even though we weren't that far south!), essentially flooding much of the road back. And when I say flooding, I mean flooding. As we were gingerly guiding our little Atos through rivers that were all but covering the tires, we wondered if we might actually float away or stall or not make it back. Add to this the fact that it was dark, our windows were fogging up, and the defroster wasn't working and it made for a bit of a tense drive home. Feeling very relieved, we pulled up to the hotel and settled in for the night.
The last day before we were set to return home was spent much like the first. Lounging around at the hotel beach, the pool, and just enjoying our relaxing surroundings.
The next day, we sadly said goodbye and made our way to the airport successfully dropping off our faithful little Atos and getting on our flight. This vacation was exactly what we had been needing - plenty of time for relaxing and lazing about with a little bit of adventure and sightseeing thrown in. All-in-all, it was a wonderful time and we're already planning our next trip.
