Bill and Cathy McArthur on the Road 2004: 10

    Monday, February 23 was an "off" day with no activities planned for the group. After breakfast we asked Alex, our host at the campground, where we could find a marine supply store in Cancun. He gave us directions and a map to help us find a pair of stores close to each other. We drove into town and located the stores with a bit of difficulty. We were searching for holding tank chemical for our portable toilet. Since Mexicans are just beginning to get into RVing, such supplies are difficult to find in the country. We found a quart of the holding tank liquid and found that it was 250% of the price that we had paid in Texas for the same item. 
We paid the premium price and got enough chemical for the rest of our trip in Mexico. Then we drove to a Comercial Mexicano supermarket and parked in the lot. We located an Internet Café nearby and plugged in the laptop, uploaded report #9, and processed emails. Then we shopped in the supermarket to replenish our supplies. We had been looking for a small gift item and cake, on behalf of the group, for Gisela, our Wagon Master for her birthday which occurred on Sunday. We were able to find a couple of items related to Gisela's love for cappuccino, but we were not able to buy a suitable cake at the supermarket or at a French bakery nearby. We returned to the campground for lunch and then drove to Wal-Mart. We found a couple of cakes and found that we had to purchase them before they could be inscribed. So, we bought the cakes and then returned to the bakery section for the inscriptions: "Feliz Compleaño" and "Gisela." We dropped the cakes at Flamingo's Restaurant so they could serve them at the group dinner in the evening. Then we took a 5 mile walk up the road to the left of the campground. 
We found a mixture of beautiful villas on the beach mixed in with abandoned buildings and inhabited shacks. We saw a sign advertising a 2 acre lot for 800,000 dollars. There is a problem with the beach in that area because of a large quantity of rotting seaweed on the beach and its awful smell. The group car-pooled to Flamingo's for dinner at 6:00 PM. We enjoyed our meals accompanied by a gorgeous open view of the Caribbean and the lights of Isla de Mujeres across the water. Paul and Martha had supplied ice cream to go with the cake for dessert, so we all enjoyed Gisela's birthday celebration.

    Tuesday was a bad day for us. The group moved from our campground in Cancun to a campground in Paamul, 57 miles to the south, near Playa del Carman and the ferry to Cozemel. Unfortunately for two of us in the group, a thief managed to steal two purses in the Cancun campground before we left. We didn't discover our loss until we arrived at the new campground and it was several hours before we knew for sure where the theft occurred. The thief got Cathy's credit card, ATM card, checkbook, and cell phone. We had left the campground around 9:30 AM. By 10:30 AM, the thief had attempted to use Cathy's credit card for a $800 (US dollars) purchase in a San Francisco supermarket in Solidarib; the purchase did not go through because our problem at Sanborn's in Merida a few days earlier had put a freeze on the account. We spent a very frustrating afternoon trying to get public phones to work. When we found a phone that would work and the street noise wasn't too loud to hear, we were paying over 2 dollars a minute and couldn't stay on the call long enough to accomplish anything. We discovered that Bill's ATM card didn't work and surmised that the thief had tried too many PIN numbers and locked up that account. We were unable to contact our bank because of communications problems. We were able to find an Internet Café in the Chedrau supermarket in Playa del Carmen, but weren't able to accomplish much online. We ate dinner with Larry and Nancy at the campground restaurant amidst a howling wind off of the water. Several people in our group offered to lend us money to tide us over until we can rectify our financial situation. We went to bed anticipating a long day on Wednesday of trying to notify our bank and cell phone company and searching for solutions.

    On Wednesday, we borrowed a cell phone from our Wagon Master and called our bank. We spent about $30 discussing the situation to the assistant manager of our local bank branch. She disabled Cathy's ATM card, but left Bill's enabled. She also put a stop payment on checks in the range that we lost. She suggested that we monitor our account to make sure that nobody gets into it. She also indicated that there were no cash withdrawals on Tuesday. Next, we called our son-in-law Phil and asked him to report our stolen cell phone to Nextel. We also asked that he check to see why we can't use our remaining cell phone in Mexico. We drove Phyllis to the Chedraui supermarket in Playa del Carmen so that we could check to see that we can make ATM withdrawals. The first time we tried, our transaction didn't work. We tried later and successfully did a withdrawal. At this point, we felt as though we had come our from under the cloud of despair resulting from our stolen items. We dropped Phyllis back at the campground and we decided to spend the rest of the day on Cozumel Island. We drove to Playa del Carmen and parked in a crowded lot. We bought ferry tickets for $32 and boarded the 11:00 AM ferry. The ride took 45 minutes. There were hordes of people in the streets when we landed. We saw several cruise ships docked nearby and realized that we were in an area similar to upper Duval Street in Key West; in fact, the similarities were striking. The main difference is that more Spanish is spoken in Key West. All of the signs and all of the vendor's come-ons are in English in Cozumel City. We walked around a bit and then went to a noisy Carlos and Charlie's Restaurant for lunch. It reminded us of Sloppy Joe's in Key West. There were several groups of Spring Breakers and other groups from the cruise ships in the restaurant. We enjoyed fish tacos and vegetable frajitas, accompanied by free cheese nachos thanks to a coupon giving to us in the street earlier. Our diet cokes arrived in the standard souvenir "Spring Break 2004" half-yard plastic glasses. As we ate, waitresses came around trying to sell tequila shooters. Also, one of the waiters went around stamping the chests of the college girls with a huge rubber stamp. He seemed to enjoy his work. Other waitstaff blew whistles and yelled. After lunch, we rented a Jeep and drove around the island. We were surprised at how large the island is and also how undeveloped it is outside of the city. We stopped at some beaches and at a couple of shops as we toured. Most of the time we were alone on the road and would only see other rental vehicles as the several bar/shop oases scattered around the island. Although we had the vehicle until 7 PM, we had seen everything by 5:00 PM and returned the Jeep. We walked around the city for a half hour and then took the 6:00 PM ferry back to Playa del Carmen which was very busy with tourist traffic when we arrived. There are several streets of outdoor shopping malls with some of the same restaurants and shops as can be found on Cozumel. Bill bargained for a shirt and a doll for our granddaughter Bridget. We still have to locate a doll for Erin. We ate dinner at Don Emilione Restaurant and had a great meal of Chile Relleno and fish filet. We arrived back at the campground at 9:00 PM. 

    Thursday's schedule called for the group to car-pool to an eco-park, Xcaret, between the campground and Playa del Carmen. We headed to the park slightly before 9:00 AM and entered together. In this part of Mexico, there is always the concern about the tour buses from Cancun and the rapid increase in tourists that they bring to an area. We experienced that in Chichen Itza, Cozumel, and now at Xcaret. We had been advised to do the "Underground River" activity before the buses arrived, so many of us did that first. The "Underground River" is a channel of water that flows for about a half mile through the park, meandering through manufactured canyons, caves, and buildings, and finally though a mangrove forest to the beach. We wore swim fins and life jackets in addition to swimwear for the journey. The water temperature was in the high 60s and felt comfortable. Seven of us went through together and had a good time laughing our way down the river. After that activity, we ate lunch and then spent time exploring other parts of the park. We returned to the campground for a couple of hours before returning for the evening dinner and show at Xcaret. The dinner ranged from ordinary to terrible, but the show was spectacular. The building was configured as a gigantic palapa (mayan grass hut) and was covered, but very open to the outside air. Everyone enjoyed the show. We returned to the campground around 9:00 PM. 

    On Friday, most of the group car-pooled to the ruins at Tulum, about 30 minutes south of the campground. Even though we arrived around 8:30 AM, there were already some tour buses from Cancun on hand. These ruins are not as well preserved and reconstructed as the others that we have seen on the trip. The main feature of Tulum is that many of the ruins are on a cliff over a beautiful Caribbean beach. We walked around the ruins for a while and returned to the campground by 11:00 AM. We drove to Playa del Carmen to use the Internet and then returned to the campground for a quick lunch. We drove one of the other group members to a doctor in Playa del Carmen to treat a foot infection. The doctor's treatment was prompt, but the bill was $120, similar to what one might pay back home in the U.S. We found a kiosk across the street where we could duplicate our car key and the keys to the camper for a backup set. We spent the late afternoon on the beach at the campground. For dinner, we drove to Puerto Adventura and ate at a sidewalk restaurant called Café Olé. The food was good, but this resort was more like Stone Harbor, NJ than Mexico. We saw a map of the resort and were amazed at how big it is. It is similar in size to a small city and has hotels, shops, condominiums, villas, and marinas. We had seen many similar resorts along this part of the coast, known as Riviera Maya. This region provides the opportunity for American tourists to fly into paradise and stay for a while with no chance of culture shock. After dinner, we looked at the sarongs in a couple of shops. We have been seeing these sarongs in Cancun, Cozumel, and Playa del Carmen. By checking labels, Bill found that the sarongs come from India, Bali, or Thailand; seemingly, none come from Mexico. Bill asked a clerk in one of the shops if any of the sarongs are made in Mexico. The clerk was surprised by the question, but checked labels and agreed that all were imported. 

    Saturday was our last full day on the Caribbean coast. It was a day for fishing, snorkeling, shopping, beachcombing, and relaxing. We move into the jungle and mountains next. On Saturday night, we had a group dinner at the campground restaurant.

        Bill and Cathy