My Trip to Playa del Carmen (Part 4)

January 27^th, 2019 

Since last we spoke, torrential rains have poured over wherever I’ve been like an overwatered garden to the point of flooding everything attempting to grow. Two nights ago, it rained from the time the sun went down until morning. Hard. I even woke up in the middle of the night because of how much rain was pounding on the window. In a way, I was thankful. “This will mean there will be no more rain for our day in Cancun,” I thought. I was wrong.

It had stopped raining by yesterday morning and the pavement was wet with puddles. After a few hours of sunshine, there weren’t many signs of the previous storm.

My friend and I headed out to Cancun around noon. I was planning on going to the museum and exploring a bit while he planned to relax on the beach for much of the day with the intention of meeting up for dinner followed by lucha libre.

On our way into Cancun, the rain started back up and it didn’t let up. The streets were filling with water and we hydroplaned while changing lanes to keep the vehicle from being submerged. We arrived at the Museo Maya de Cancun around 1pm and contemplated what to do while we waited in the parking lot. Even in the parking lot, I couldn’t identify exactly where the entrance to the museum was and I didn’t want to leave the vehicle. A few seconds of searching would mean I would be drenched for the entirety of my time in Cancun. It was that bad.

Go Pack go! I found Green Bay in Cancun. I wonder if this is where the Packers practise in the offseason.

I saw a bus with a Bubba Gump Shrimp sign on it and searched for the location using my friend's phone. It was only 5 kilometres away. I got dropped off there while my friend headed for the beach despite the treacherous conditions. I ate a delicious meal of fish, chips, shrimp and hush puppies. I also had legit Internet access. I took the opportunity to message Becky, who was working at the time, otherwise I would’ve called her, as well as send her and my mom some photos and update them on what was going on. I also found out a little more about what was in the area. There was an interactive aquarium I’d passed on the way to Bubba Gump and I wanted to check that out. Since the museum closed before the aquarium, I opted to do that one first then check out the underwater animals—but not before buying my dad a John Deere green and yellow T-shirt with a “Jenny” boat from the Bubba Gump Shrimp store.

I just felt like running . . . to Bubba Gump Shrimp!

For the few seconds I was outside running from Bubba Gump to the bus and from the bus to the museum, I got dampened by the somewhat less volatile rain and had a flip flop slip off my foot in the street while sprinting. Fortunately, no vehicles were at my heels when I went to retrieve the footwear. Otherwise, you would not be reading this.

The sabre-toothed tiger's fangs are a little more impressive than mine.

The Museo Maya de Cancun wasn’t anything special. There were a few recovered artefacts like bowls and statues in an open room with notes about the Mayans in Spanish and some in English. Admittance only cost 70 pesos (about $5 Canadian) so I wasn’t that disappointed. It’s always better to see historical things in their natural setting. I made the most of it by posing my Lego luchador minifig in a variety of the displays.

Hands up!

Next was the aquarium. I got to pet some slimy stingrays and handle a few hard starfish. I sat on a bench for a half hour and watched the dolphins swim together from side to side of the pool with the occasional splash or leap into the air. There was a dolphin show but that cost more money to see and I wasn’t going to be there for long enough to catch it anyhow since I was going to be meeting up with my friends soon. The other displays of tropical fish were neat to see and I, like almost everyone since watching Finding Nemo, had to spot the clownfish Nemo and whatever Dory is, that blue and yellow fish.

The Interactive Aquarium provided some fishy fun.

After meeting up with my friend, we had dinner at Subway since all the other restaurants in the area had inflated prices. The area in Cancun I visited is aptly named something like Mini-America. It’s a hotspot for tourists and their wallets.

Smile for the camera, manta ray!

Finally, it was 8pm and time to head to lucha libre for the 8:30 show about 15 kilometres away. Shortly into our drive down the road, we were victimized by a pothole underneath one of the many roads covered in water. We got a flat. My friend installed the spare tire and said he’d drop me off at the lucha show while he got the original tire repaired. I was grateful for the lift and felt bad for the bad luck for my friend's car. The reason we were in Cancun to begin with was because of my enthusiasm for seeing the luchadores. We got a flat tire because of it.

Mmm, those fish look delicious.

We were nearing our destination around 9:15pm, 45 minutes late. All things considered, I felt fortunate that I’d still be able to catch at least some of the show. With any luck, there could be anywhere from an hour to two hours of wrestling to see. Well, our luck ran out. We got to the covered outdoor basketball court-turned-wrestling-ring only to discover what I feared. The show was cancelled. Bummer. I was disappointed but not terribly surprised. The storm had been hammering the city the entire day. It would’ve been difficult to set up a ring and entertain people in the open air location and maybe even dangerous for the performers. It was a letdown.

We found a tire repair shop that was open 24 hours and got the damaged tire fixed so we didn’t have to rely on the dinky replacement and headed home. Once we got to Playa del Carmen, the roads were bare and dry. The storm strictly hit and stayed in Cancun for the duration of the day. What luck.

Intermission

Today will be a bit more relaxed. It’s already 1pm. I did my laundry this morning and went out for breakfast with my friend. He's gone now so I’m on my own. I think I’ll head to town and see if there’s a Corona factory tour or something at this Corona building I found on the map of the downtown area. Otherwise, I might haggle a little for a trinket or two and then eat a late lunch. When I get back, I’ll swim in the pool here in the apartment complex assuming it doesn’t rain again like it seems to do. I think my Abbotsford blood lured the rain out here or something. It’s actually hot as balls this morning but now I hear the wind howling outside. Who knows what the weather will do?

Tomorrow we’re gonna go to a beach with a cenote and lagoon where a bunch of sea turtles like to swim and do some snorkelling. That sounds like fun. Anywho, the day’s half over so I better get to it. Byeeeeee!

Intermission

Marquesitas are delicious and messy. It's best if you don't eat them while running from a storm.

Okay, so remember how I said the rain followed me wherever I went? Yeah, it came back again with a vengeance. I got stranded in Wal-Mart with chocolate all over my hands and face as I raced there after clumsily eating a Mexican chocolate crepe snack (marquesita) that turns out to become quite a mess if you eat it and run at the same time. These friggin storms don’t always give a lot of warning. When they hit, they hit hard and they last a while. I saw some branches and stuff torn down and in the street and my friend said he saw lampposts and other debris blown over. We lost power for a bit there too. Crazy.

My Trip to Playa del Carmen (Part 1)

My Trip to Playa del Carmen (Part 2)

My Trip to Playa del Carmen (Part 3)