Cancun, Part 9, Leaving Mexico

Cancun, Mexico, January 2015

Leaving Mexico

So every holiday will come to an end. So did ours. We had booked one-way tickets from Cancun to Helsinki via Manchester through Condor. I had never heard of such an agency, but it's a good thing that we did, it turns out. Because there is an exit fee when you're leaving Mexico. Normally most airlines will automatically include this in the ticket fee, and there's no hassle at all. However, our flight to Manchester was operated by Thomas Cook Airlines, which mostly handles package holidays (you can imagine the sort of package holiday people from an industrial town in England that the plane was filled with!), and apparently Thomas Cook is one of the only two operators that do not include the exit tax in their prices, the other being Thomson, I believe. So you'd have to pay that at the airport when you depart. And for some reason this exit tax is 800 pesos ($54 or €47), which is massive high and in no way representative what the normal taxes included in an airline ticket amount for. So somebody somewhere is doing business, it seems.

Anyway, we were extremely lucky in that we had booked our flights through Condor, a German operator, that does include these taxes in their pricing. Therefore just by showing our Condor reservation confirmation at the Thomas Cook tax line we could get past them without paying.

But our return home wasn't to be that simple. Oh no no no. The airline officer behind the counter failed to acknowledge that we had bought tickets all the way to Helsinki. When we pointed this out, he said that we have to get our tickets to Helsinki from Manchester airport. Ok, fair enough, this is a common practice so I thought nothing of it, but when he gave us the tags for our luggage, they had only been checked in until Manchester. We asked about this, and he said that we'd have to pick them up there and check them in again. Now this would be a massive problem, because Len is a Russian citizen and doesn't have a visa for the UK. So it would be impossible for her to through the passport control to the baggage claim. We explained our issue to several airline workers and finally the boss of the boss of the boss or something understood the issue and checked in our baggage all the way to Helsinki.

In the middle of this hassle my printed booking confirmation was left behind in the possession of the airline worker and I only realised this once we had passed the security. Doesn't matter, I thought, you never need the printed confirmation anyway, your passport is always enough. Wrong again. When we reached Manchester airport we of course walked towards the transit area to have our boarding passes to Helsinki printed. But for some reason Manchester airport has a security check before the transit desk. And they ask for travel documents there. I'm not quite sure how that is supposed to make sense, but there we were, stuck in security without the printed confirmation that was left behind in Mexico. Luckily I remembered that I still have the confirmation somewhere hidden in my email account. After struggling to get the airport Wi-Fi to work on my phone, I finally managed to find it and we passed the security. Surely we'd be fine now. Nope.

There was a huge line for the transit desk and one person working behind it. The whole crew seemed to be at a loss and didn't appear to know what they were doing. It took at least 10-15 minutes to figure out the boarding passes for each passenger, and they were also allowing people with earlier flights to pass everyone else in the line (understandably so, but this also meant that our comfortable layoff of more than three hours started to seem short). Finally we got to the counter. "Sorry, you're flying with Finnair, I'm not trained for the system they use." So our only option was to leave our details with another airline worker and make our way to the gate to have our boarding passes printed. Only there was no information about the gate. We just had to wait. Less than 40 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave, and we're there with no boarding passes and no idea which end of the airport the flight will be leaving from.

But all's well that ends well. We made our flight and managed to reach Helsinki fine. Just an example of the frustration that travelling can sometimes bring along it. But hey, it makes decent stories later on and you can laugh about it later on! And there's never been any problem too big. That's why travelling is so rewarding.

P.S. Don't fly with Thomas Cook, they ask for money even for water and the majority of the movies they show on their flights. We managed to get free glass of water "from the back" by asking nicely, but otherwise they'd sell you a water bottle.

Cancun, Part 8, Safety

Cancun, Mexico, January 2015

Safety

So you've heard all the stories about Mexico, drugs, cartels and violence, haven't you? So had we. But Cancun is usually not included in the list of places that people warn about. And that is for a very good reason: Cancun is safe. And I'm not talking about "stay in the Hotel zone" -type of safety. I'm talking "walking home from bar through small alleys" -safe.

Our hotel, as mentioned before, was located on Lopez Portillo. In many places online this area is already listed as don't-go-neighbourhood for some reason. Maybe it was the molotov cocktail attack on a local bar some 1,5 kilometres from our hotel that happened like five or six years ago? Maybe. In the same time frame there have been some nightclub murders including firearms and what-not in my current hometown of Helsinki in Finland, and nobody would describe it as a no-go zone. It's all about the mental images.

That said... (Well, you always knew that there was going to be a "that-said", surely) The areas north from Lopez Portillo can be intimidating. It's true. Lopez Portillo is basically the line between the downtown (tourists, restaurants, bars, shopping malls) and the uptown (locals and poverty). In fact the local lifestyle can easily be spotted even a bit south from Lopez Portillo. Our shortcut took us through these rougher areas. And still we never ever felt unsafe for a second, even after dark. We did not wander off too much north of Lopez Portillo simply because there seemed to be nothing interesting there. Small alleys and shabby houses; seeing the de facto poverty yourself; if you're into that kind of thing, knock yourself out. It's unlikely you'd end up being dumped on a roadside somewhere outside Cancun with a "Colombian necktie".

Don't drink the tap water. That's just common sense. Lucky for you, the Mexican bottled water is actually delicious. No, seriously, it tastes awesome!

To be continued...

Cancun, Part 7, Tours

Cancun, Mexico, January 2015

Tours

You can not walk around the Hotel zone without seeing all the tourist agencies offering tours to various locations in and around Cancun. You have your trips to Isla Mujeres, Tulum and several other places. We decided that we would like to experience some history while we were there, so a trip to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza would be our tour of choice. We took a look at a few agencies which were all basically offering the same tour, which would visit the town of Valladolid, a Mayan "village", Chichen Itza and stop for a swim in a cenote called Ik Kil.

The prices varied greatly. There were agencies that would offer the tour for quite cheap, but would also require us to participate in a timeshare presentation. I've seen the South Park episode about this, so I was less than keen on doing that! So we opted for a more expensive option and paid $50 for the tour. We did see people who had paid $40 and as little as $25 for the same tour (don't know if these prices come with the timeshare presentation though), so a little price comparison would probably be in order.

We had to wake up at six in the morning and make our way to the travel agency in downtown before seven. We were picked up by a bus, taken to the Hotel Zone, where all the people going on different tours were taken to stand in line and get their tickets before being showed to their respective busses. Reminded me of a school field trip. Where was the buddy system?

On the road towards Valladolid there is nothing to see. Absolutely nothing. So sleeping would be a good option. Sleeping through Valladolid as well wouldn't be too much of a shame either. The town, whereas it does possess some historical value in terms of the Spanish building it as soon as they arrived, for a European tourist it's basically just another town with just another church. Just in a different continent. Of course compared to the new buildings of Cancun it is a different world, granted.

Inside a Valladolid church

Commemorative plates

The next stop would be at the Mayan "village", as our guide would call it. Having tried to sell us personalised Mayan calendars for $20 in the bus we were to find out that the village was in fact a souvenir shop run by the Mayans. Fair enough, they get money from tourists this way and that is all good and well. We were also offered lunch at this location, some tacos and chicken legs. Drinks not included in the price. The stingier people among our group just swallowed their meals without having even a sip of water to go along it. And do remember to bring your own water bottles with you, it is hot in Yucatan, even in the middle of winter!

We finally arrived at Chichen Itza in early afternoon. We were told to skip the long line at the entrance and meet our guides inside the gates. At least that's what they told us. I'm pretty sure that's what we were supposed to do. Maybe. So we skipped the line and were the first ones to reach our guides. But the other were so much slower than us, that I'm not sure whether they misheard the instructions or if we did. Nah, I'm pretty sure it must have been all of the others!

Chichen Itza is probably the most well-known Mayan archaeological site and for a good reason. It was the focal point of Mayan civilisation throughout the pre-Colombian era from circa 600 to 1200, before its eventual decline, and it was subsequently left derelict until the turn of the 20th century. Today it has been restored quite nicely (the main pyramid is fully restored on two sides and left untouched on the other two. According to our guide this was because they couldn't find enough stones to restore everything due to looting by the locals).

Speaking of the guide, he was actually quite good with a lot of knowledge and some interesting stories about the site, including the most interesting stuff about the Mesoamerican ballgame. You know, the one where the losers will be killed, I'm sure you've heard of it. The ritualistic sacrifices both on top of the pyramid and in the depths of the sacrificial cenote also made an interesting tale to hear. I can definitely recommend Chichen Itza for everyone interested in Mayan history.

Chitzen Itza

The large pyramid from its better side

Some wall

 

So if you were naughty, you'd be thrown in here

However, it was not all just great fun. There were a couple of things that were not perfect about the pace. Firstly, we felt like we didn't have enough time to explore the entire area. After the guided part was over, we only had some 45 minutes to go and search the different parts by ourselves. In a perfect world this should have been at least double that time. Also, the massive crowds of tourists have given birth to a souvenir shack phenomenon. "One dollar, very cheap, honeymoon price!" can be heard everywhere, up to the point when it actually gets a bit annoying. And did I mention it is hot out there? We had no hats and only a small amount of water, so we definitely should have planned this out better.

So off we went to the last destination of our tour. The Ik Kil cenote. So those of you that don't speak Spanish might have been wondering what a cenote is. Well, it's basically an underground river that has collapsed and formed a sort of water-filled hole on the ground. And this one was made into a swimming pool of sorts. Of course we had to dip in to have a small swim around.

Now, a couple of things you should probably know. The water beneath you is deep. It's very deep. Not only are you some 20-30 metres underground already, but there will be further 50 metres of deep blue river water underneath your feet while you splash around. So don't drop your locker key in the water. This is also a river, so there are fish. The tickling feeling on your feet? That's a fish. Small one, granted, but a living animal nonetheless. These are the same kind of fish you might have encountered in one beauty parlours eating the dead skin off your feet. And thirdly, and this is the most important one, there are a lot of people around you. If you arrive on a tour bus, all of the people in your bus and several others will try and get a taste of the whole cenote experience at the same time, so it is very crowded. And people can panic, if they are not the strongest swimmers, given all of the abovementioned factors. They do rent out life vests, so they can be a smart idea if you have a tendency to panic in the water. That said, mere 15 minutes after the biggest bus tour rush hour, the cenote was already practically empty. So time your swim well. And do go for a swim, it is stunningly beautiful down there!

Swim, my pretties, swim

Roots, roots everywhere

Like a kindergarten trip to the local swimming pool

Midway down the cenote

 To be continued...