My trip to Playa del Carmen got off to a rough start. I had packed my telephone, but I received a
text message just before I left and somehow managed to leave my phone at
home. Unfortunately, my phone is also my
GPS. I drove to Los Angeles and planned
to have dinner with a friend and stay overnight so that I could make an early
morning flight. However, I did not have
a map of the area where she lives and couldn’t call without a phone. I drove around La Mirada for half an hour
before I found a payphone and was able to get directions.
My flight was at 7:15am.
I got up at 3:45 and managed to leave the house by 4:30, but it took me
an hour to find the freeway (How is that possible in LA?) and so I missed my
flight. The next flight didn’t leave
until 10:00 and would have arrived at 6:00pm instead of 3:00. I had to pay an extra $200 to change
flights. (So much for saving $300 by
flying from LA.) Unfortunately, that flight was late and I missed my connection
in Mexico City. I met another woman in
the line at the ticket counter who had the same problem. She was beside herself because no one seemed
to speak English and she didn’t speak Spanish, although her last name was Los
Reyes and everyone seemed to think she should.
She latched onto me when she noticed me having an animated conversation
in Spanish with the ticket agent.
We finally got rebooked on the 10:15 pm flight to
Cancun. Despite the best efforts of my
new friend at the ticket counter, I had to pay yet another $85. Neither of us was very impressed with Aero
México. I have always enjoyed flying on
Mexicana Airlines, but Aero México was very disorganized and half the
passengers seemed to be having some form of difficulty. We spent five hours in the Mexico City
airport using the internet at Starbucks.
I had time to get some pesos from the ATM and obtain a phone card so
that I could (I thought) call my landlady and tell her what had happened. Although I tried several times, I was never
able to reach her. I had two phone
numbers, but one was disconnected and the other went straight to voicemail.
We arrived in Cancun just after midnight. After seeing that my traveling companion had
a way to get to her hotel, I grabbed a collectivo heading to Playa del
Carmen. A collectivo is a minibus that
operates without a set schedule. They
leave whenever they are full. With an
entire plane full of folks having just arrived, I did not have to wait long. The fare to Playa del Carmen was 300 pesos
(about $27.) It took about 45 minutes to
drive there from Cancun. The highway is
very good and there are resorts and tourist attractions everywhere along the
way. I suspect that one could spend a
lot of money here very easily, although my food, lodging and Spanish lessons
are costing me less than $400 for the week.
I had a very strange address for the house where I was
supposed to stay. The email said that it
was the green gate across from the Oasis apartments on 40th Avenue
between 2nd Street and Benito Juarez Ave. Of course it was pitch dark at 2:00 in the
morning, but the driver was very accommodating and, with the help of a
policeman, we found the place. There was
no bell. I banged and banged on the
gate, but succeeded in waking only the dog.
Once again, I sought out a payphone and tried, without success, to
call. So, I found myself standing in the
street at 2:00 am with my suitcase and no clear idea what I was going to
do. I started dragging my bag towards
the beach, figuring I would eventually find a motel. Fortunately, I only had to walk about two
blocks before I found a motel. By the
grace of God, they had a vacancy. The
gentleman behind the counter was very welcoming and I was extremely grateful to
finally fall into bed.
The motel wasn’t fancy, but I rented a room for 550 pesos
(about $44.) The room was quite large
and had its own kitchen, but everything was rather shabby, there was very
little water pressure and the mattress was hard as a rock. Even though I had hardly slept the night
before, it took me about an hour to get to sleep. This might have been because of all the coffee
and Diet Coke I had consumed on the plane and in the airport, trying to stay
awake enough to drive to Playa del Carmen if it had been necessary.
Playa del Carmen is a noisy place. Local construction methods do not contain
much, if any, soundproofing and barking dogs, squawking birds, shrieking
children and noisy trucks abound. I had
no trouble waking early enough to get to school on time. I tried, once again without success, to raise
someone at the house so that I could drop off my suitcase. I ended up dragging it a mile or so to the
school. I found the address (if you can
call it that) easily enough. Playa del
Carmen does not have street numbers.
Addresses consist of a description or name of the building and an
approximate location, such as the Hacienda del Carmen Condos on 14th
Street between 15th and 20th Avenues. Unfortunately, all the gates were locked up
tight and there was no indication of a language school being located
there.
They had told me to arrive at 8:45 the first day, but by
9:00 I still had been unable to locate anyone.
I started to despair. I was
beginning to believe that I had been ripped off. No one answered at the house, the phone
numbers didn’t work and now the school didn’t seem to exist. Finally, a teenaged boy approached the gate
and I asked him if he knew anything about the school. He let me in, showed me to the entrance where
there was a tiny (3” square) sign and told me that they didn’t open until 10:00
am. I was extremely relieved. I settled down on the steps and prepared to
read for an hour. After only a few
minutes, a young woman arrived and let me in.
We conversed for half an hour or so before my teacher arrived. Her name is Monse and she is from
Barcelona. Surprisingly, I have no
trouble understanding her. She told me
many things about the area and I was pleased to learn that it is quite safe
here. Even I had noticed that there is a
large police presence. She told me that
there are even more police than usual, right now, because of spring break.
My teacher is named Maria Elisa. She is from Argentina. Of course, the Argentinian accent is the
hardest to understand, but I am managing, although it sometimes takes me awhile
to unravel what she is saying. At least
she doesn’t speak as rapidly as other Argentines I have known. I am the only student at my level so, instead
of having four hours of class in a group and two hours of private lessons, I
will have four hours of private lessons per day. This is actually great because I can steer my
studies in the directions that interest me and still have more time to explore
Playa del Carmen. Unfortunately, they
are building a new apartment complex next door to the school and the jackhammers
were so loud that we could not hear each other.
Finally, we gave up and went to the park. If this keeps up, I will get tan without ever
going to the beach. We studied for a
couple of hours, went out for lunch, and then studied for another couple of
hours in the shade at the restaurant.
When we got back to the school, my landlady arrived with her
car to collect me. This was a pleasant
surprise and a good thing because it turned out that she does not live at the
address I was given. Her name is Rosa
and she has a teenaged son named Allen.
They are very friendly. The house
is new and attractive. I have a large
room and a spacious bathroom of my own.
All I wanted, however, was a nap.
I slept for the rest of the afternoon.
Rosa and Allen arrived just in time for dinner and we had tasty chicken
tamales. There is internet here in the
house, although it is not working at the moment. Hopefully, I will be able to get that
straightened out tomorrow. Rosa has
provided me with a bicycle and there is a bike path down the center of Avenida
Juarez that I can take most of the way to the school, so I will only have to
risk my life for half a mile or so in each direction. I plan to run down to the beach in the
morning, before breakfast.
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