OK, so the start of the trip was a little rocky.
That 6:22 a.m. bus leaving for National Airport? It actually was 6:42 a.m. I guess I have to read the charts better next time. (My bad.)
Flying to Miami and then on to Cancun was relatively seamless. American Airlines did a great job there.
Then we got to Cancun. The world, it seemed, of lines.
We stood in line for passport stampage. Then it was the line for customs. Finally, it was the line for the rental car.
Two mental notes here: In lines, you spend a lot of time looking around. I, it turned out, looked down. And I found at least three different couples sporting his and her versions of the same shoe – color and brands included. Interesting. I missed that memo.
The second mental note is more our first lesson: Make sure the phrase “economy car” is what you expect it to be when you arrive to your destination. We learned our lesson at National Car Rental. We assumed it could come automatic; we got a stick shift. We stood in line again.
We finally drove off into Mexico more than two hours after landing in Cancun.
The highway scenery was fascinating – very flat vegetation, resorts and residences sprinkled along the drive, no “miles” (everything was in kilometers; another mental note – we should’ve prepared for that), and a small herd of chestnut horses grazing roadside? Yep. Just a few of them, minding their own business.
We were starving by the time we pulled into Playa del Carmen – roughly a 45-minute drive from Cancun. So Boyfriend and I picked a street and went hunting for local cuisine.
We chose a restaurant named Playa Azul and fell in love with the shrimp and beef tacos. Boyfriend loved them so much, he ordered an extra plate of shrimp tacos to go.
From food, we checked in to our first hotel: The Maya Villa luxury condo hotel in the heart of Playa del Carmen. It’s a block from the beach, a block from the 5th Avenue shopping district. (Delicious pina colada gelato was purchased at Aldo’s.)
Hotel check in was smooth, and the service was impeccable. We parked our car in the hotel garage, walked around the gecko-shaped pool and Jacuzzi in the center courtyard, and opened the door to our suite, No. 410.
That’s when we fell in love with Maya Villa.
(Stay tuned for tomorrow’s installment: We meet Maya Villa. And in case you missed the first installment of the Playa del Carmen series, click here.)
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