Cozumel * " : .

And as it turned out, splitting off early from the group was definitely the way to go. We took a cheap taxi to the ADO station and hopped right on a bus leaving to Cancun

(like…literally…we bought tickets and the bus was held until they could finalize our transaction that’s how important we were). Unfortunately we weren’t able to use the student discount, but that’s okay. We figured we’d just keep that possibility in mind for later.

So we toodled along until we got to Playa del Carmen (now you’re probably thinking…why did you title this Cozumel if you went to Playa?) Well, to get to Cozumel (since it’s an island) you have to take a ferry, and the ferry is located in *drum roll pleasssssssseeeee* Playa del Carmen. So we walked among all these vendors and stuff with eyes the size of plates and then got to the ferry which was going to be leaving in an hour. That worked out fine for us because we were then able to go look around a little bit (even though we were going to be coming back) and made a discovery!

We walked into a store (with the best exchange rate in town it boasted) and asked about getting those blasted tickets for the futbol game which were so elusive. Well, no one really knew, and then they asked another guy who said “yeah they sell ‘em over there by the extra” (err…he said that in Spanish) “You have to be there early though like three days before the game” So we’re thinking, Excellent! That’s just when we’re planning on getting back from Cozumel and such we’ll be here!

So with that bit of information we boarded our ferry boat to Cozumel where there was a college aged guy in a sombrero who was quite enthralled with his Corona auctioning off said beer to the passengers. Some people did play along, but the guy decided that his Corona was worth more than the 100 pesos or however much he was offered and drank it himself.

When we got to Cozumel, we were decently hungry. We began walking around to try to find a) our parasailing place b) a place to eat and c) a hotel, ideally near said parasailing place. We came across a good place to eat (that was cheap) first and had a feast of quesadillas, hamburger, enchiladas, and fries (well…I had the enchiladas, and Chelsea had the burger). It was quite excellent and, figuring we were pretty close to our parasailing place (or at least within walking distance) we also stumbled across a sign (and by sign I mean there was something painted on the back of a building) saying there was a Hotel Pepita “just around the corner”. So we were like “sounds like a good place to check out” and we did it was only going to be 350 pesos a night. Sweet! We say to ourselves especially after we saw the room where we had a little fridgerator and shower and all.

We settled in and called the parasailing place setting up a time..or...well…trying to set up a time and decided we’d actually just stay in Cozumel for two nights instead of the originally planned just one night (we had no idea how excellent of a decision this was until we got to Playa but more on that later). So we walked over to the Super [grocery store] and bought some bread (actually they were like little loaves like we ate in Tecate which probably that doesn’t make any difference to anyone reading this…) but yeah that bread was 1 peso a piece and some ham (that was actually turkey but tasted like ham…) and cheese and some coca light etc. So we got some food.

We went and looked for some beach I think…but there wasn’t very much beach to be found (odd, right?). But there was some shopping, I felt pretty familiar with the area since we’d been there over the summer and we took some photos. Basically that was the day.

The next morning we got up, I called the parasailing place and we got right to the parasailing business! We took a taxi down to Playa Mia (and the taxi driver accidently undercharged us he explained) and we got on the boat and watched some other people parasail and then it was our turn. I actually took my videocamera up with us so I have video of it it’ll just be some time before I can actually upload that.

Parasailing was quite a bit of fun. It didn’t really hold too much of an adrenaline rush like I’d hoped, but it was still really pretty to see everything from up in the air. =) Pictures are currently on facebook. Hopefully I’ll have that video to you all fairly shortly.

When we finished, we were taken off the boat by another boat with two other people. They got dropped off at another beach that was further up the way and Chelsea and I decided we’d just get off here too. As it turned out, we didn’t have to pay to stay, and while we were supposed to eat at least 10 dollars worth of food, we didn’t, and Chelsea also didn’t pay the 10 dollars that you were apparently supposed to pay to play on the big blow up toys. And by didn’t I mean of course we paid…0 =D

So we spent the day there and then took a taxi back to our hotel area which was now the same amount as the first taxi since we were further up towards where we wanted to go. =) So that was all good. =)

Most of the rest of the evening we spent relaxing. We ate our sandwiches for lunch and ate dinner out at a place they kept asking us to come to. =) I actually got myself a hoodie while I was there. Not because I was cold, but because I think I’ll wear it a lot when I get back to the States (well…for winter anyway haha).

The next morning we got up and went down to catch the ferry early to go to Playa del Carmen!

More pictures can be found here:

The Inframundo Trip

Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, y Cancun

***>One month from today I'll be on my way home<***