Mapping Adventures

  Raul's vacation is over, and he heads back to work. Another friend, Chris who is an American telephone technician living in Cancun has some business to take care of down south, so I decide to hitch a ride. I wake around 6am and start mapping the area around Walmart on the bike. At about 9am I ride to Chris' house, but it will be a couple of hours before we can depart. Waiting a while is NO BIG DEAL, right?
Then you don't know me very well : )

  While most people figure they have seven days in Cancun; I break my time down into hours. To be exact I will have a total of 153 hours in Cancun. Subtract the fact that I'll lose about 5 hours to sleep each night and I'm down to about 120 hours. I'll also need at least a couple of showers (just kidding) and a couple of meals...so every hour counts.

  I consider taking a bus south, but decide to drop off some film, eat breakfast and map another area of downtown. It's 11am before we actually hit the road. I leave my bike at Chris' house.

  First stop is Punta Bete. A narrow, bumpy, dirt road heads toward the ocean.Chris bounces his way along at speeds exceeding what we should be traveling. I think we both saw the giant boulder in the road at about the same time. Although, we were much too late to stop. The locals must have thought we were filming an episode of "Dukes of Hazard" after this little stunt. The exhaust is quite a bit louder now that we've smashed the undercarriage.

  We meet interesting people, map the small area of thatched roof huts, grab a couple of drinks, and head off for Playa del Carmen where Chris has a meeting.
I set out on foot to find a new mall in Playacar. Chris will pick me up at the mall in about a half-hour. As I walk off I yell to Chris "Not Plaza Antiqua. It's the new mall in Playacar!" After about 2 hours,I run back to Playa del Carmen, where I find Chris patiently waiting AT PLAZA ANTIGUA! We got our wires crossed!

  Frustrated, hot, tired, and WAY behind schedule, what I'd really like to do is just catch the next flight home--but it gets better as we make our way to Puerto Aventuras.
  Chris tears down the highway passing every car and bus on the road. At this speed our exhaust hollers as Chris proclaims "I wanted to be a Winston Cup driver"...as if I hadn't already figured that out!

  I map Puerto Aventuras, and finish in a rainstorm. Chris and I wait it out while enjoying dinner at Richard's Steak House in Puerto Aventuras, where you can watch the Dolphin Discovery show while you dine. Richard, the owner, joins us and proves to be quite a storyteller.
We finally depart long after dark. Chris is going a little fast, OK real fast, when we pass a police car. It's the federal police. They aren't looking for speeders, but they pull us over and quickly search the car for drugs or weapons. They are extremely courteous, with perfect English. Everything's OK, and we're on our way.

  Back at Chris', I load my stuff on the bike and depart for Xavier's house. Just as I depart the sky opens up in a torrential downpour. It's a miserable fifteen minute ride to Xavier's house, and ends with me tipping my bike and losing half of my gear in the street.
Seems like the perfect ending for this day!

I wake at Xavier's house to the sound of pounding rain; take a shower, dress, and slip into my shoes which are still wet from last nights rain. I will not wear dry shoes again until I get home Sunday morning. I mount the bike and take a wet ride over to Chris' house.

  We decide to have breakfast while waiting for the rain to stop and head for Savio's in Plaza Caracol. They have a great buffet featuring both Mexican dishes and the "safe stuff". I really get my money's worth at the juice bar. A mix of pineapple, papaya, and orange juice is my favorite. The rain stops.

  Our first stop south of Cancun is "Jardin Botanico". A botanical garden open to tourists. We pay to get in (mistake #1) and the guy offers us insect repellent. Chris starts rubbing it on, but I have some spray that I think will give me better coverage (mistake #2). We quickly grow tired of seeing palms with latin nametags. I also quickly grow tired of being eaten alive by mosquitoes. As I smack a tiny, black mosquito sipping from my veins, Chris says it looks like those litter critters that carry Dengue fever. "Dr Mike's been warnin' me 'bout those" he says, in his Texas drawl! Luckily he's just teasing! I forge ahead trying to find a tree house where you can see spider monkeys.  Alas we find it (mistake #3) perched precariously in the top of a dead tree. It's made of lashed together wood in traditional Mayan fashion, it even has an authentic Mayan aluminum extension ladder! Chris decides to wait on firm soil and about halfway up I realize he's much smarter than I am! The ladder bounces and sways with each step. As I reach the top, the Mayan rain gods must hear me cursing their ladder, because the sky opens up! Now I get to climb down a slippery authentic Mayan aluminum extension ladder. Never did see a spider monkey!

  We head for Playa del Carmen and swing by the airport to get information about chartering a plane. A Cessna 206 sounds like the best bet. The door comes off and you can hang right out the side of the plane to take pictures. After the Mayan ladder that doesn't sound all that scary! We make plans for Wednesday.

  We continue mapping, and get as far as Bahia Principe resort, south of Akumal, before Chris reminds me that we have to be back in Cancun by 6pm for a chatter's get-together. People who are regulars on the Cancun chat boards have plans to get together when they are in Cancun. We are about 1.5 hours away and we leave after 5pm. However, after riding with Chris for several days I have a feeling that we'll make it with time to spare!

  The chatters meeting was fantastic. I downed several beers rather quickly (remember Chris was driving) and started to relax for the first time this trip. The chatters were wonderful and we immediately feel as if we we're long-lost friends. Six of us decided to grab dinner after the meeting, so we all piled into Chris' car. Two people and a dog in the front seat, four people in the back. Problem is the back seat is only three butts wide. I got to know a chatter named Jackie REAL WELL!

  Dinner was at Trattoria de Arturo in the Plaza Nautilus mall (near LaBoom). We were being rather silly and we had a waiter who took his job a little too seriously. Service was great, but I just prefer someone a little sillier. The food here is excellent. I ordered a seafood pasta that came in a giant seashell. It was fantastic. Caesar salad was amazing also. We say goodnight and head for downtown. Chris drops me off at Xavier's house (I'll get the bike tomorrow) and I head out on foot to do some more updating of downtown. It starts to rain and cuts my workday short at about 11pm.
Go to Day #5