We had decided to see "how low can we go" as it relates to Airbnb housing. We found one for $25 nightly, with all fees it was $30/night. The pictures were spot on, and I realized I had not paid attention to the kitchen area very well. It had two single, plug in burners, one small refrigerator, one 6" fry pan and one small single quart pot with no lid on it.
The shower had hot water and strong water pressure, unlike the kitchen sink, which had neither:) However, the foam mattresses, each on it's own twin frame, were comfortable to me, but did not provide enough support for the hubs, who weighs in at just over 300 pounds. Fortunately there was a third twin mattress propped behind the head of the bed and serving as a kind of headboard. We discovered it by accident after pulling the blankets off of it. We were congratulating ourselves about this find and moving it into place when a blur zipped past us on the white wall behind that mattress. The hubs screamed like a little girl.
It was a small lizard. "House lizards" we used to call them in Tucson. It eats the ants. The hubs claims it was not doing it's job well, because the little ants were everywhere. We were only 10 minutes from the Walmart, and our first visit there netted us some cinnamon for the ants, two potholders, and a twin air mattress that did not work out very well. We left it all in the apartment. We also found another lizard in the kitchen cabinet and again, the hubs did the honors and screamed like a little girl:)
There were no electronics. Not a wall clock, not an alarm clock, not a single piece of art, and no TV. There was, however, some decent WiFi. All we need. We were able to stream any TV we wanted and to work a diligent four hour work day for the 11 days we were there. The metro bus terminal was a 10 minute walk. The bus ride to the beach was 10 to 20 minutes. And the beaches were amazing. Beautiful white sandy beaches and turquoise, warm water. We swam four times and managed to come home without a sunburn.
Friends who had won an award trip were staying for four days at the Ritz Carlton. Going from our small studio apartment into the extravagant and outrageously decorated Ritz was startling. The wealth management folks who were there for a conference were 95% Trump fans. We had a lively conversation with the four of us about the election, the financial markets and Trump in general. It was interesting to review our friend's notes on why they (wealth management folks) all liked Trump even though there were many who professed concerns about him as well.
Our favorite day was when we found a patio on the beach with a big canopy overhead, so we could sit near the sand and listen to the waves and not worry about the on again, off again spritzes of rain that fell that day. It was close enough to the Hard Rock that we could hear the wonderful music playing without being blasted away by it. It actually was a nice background sound for working. I actually had my computer out, was using my hot spot for WiFi, and I did a full candidate interview with that gorgeous view. "Rent" for the day was to order food and drinks for the four hours we sat there, which was not a problem.
There was a small hotel frequented by Mexican vacationers near our apartment in downtown Cancun. We booked a Chichen Itza Mayan tour through them and went to see the Mayan pyramid and learn about their culture from a wonderful tour guide. They still speak the language down there in the Yucatan and the connection to the cosmos and spirituality are still practiced, at least in front of the paying tourists. On solstice days more than 25,000 people pack the square to view the "snake" that lowers and climbs the edge of the pyramid. The bus had horrible seats and it was a 3.5 hour drive each way. Next time, we will drive ourselves, or just do the temple. You can no longer climb the 92 steps up, and it can get to 120 degrees there in the summer. It was hot enough in late January for me at a balmy 84 degrees.
We loved the neighborhood we were in, and it was a very nice, quiet residential area. Once a day, though, some bleating animal would go off. The first few days I would question, is it a goat? A sheep, a bird of some kind? As it turned out, it was two legged. A water boy would come by daily to offer AAAAGGGGUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAHHHH. Agua. Water. In Mexico the house water is treated to a particular cleanliness. Drinking water served separately unless you have a house water filter. We made it a point to pick up liters of water each time we passed the small convenience store three minutes from our house. The ATM was across the street from that, and we were again, in a really great little neighborhood. Now that we had identified the animal noise, we felt like locals. Three days in.
One day we took an adventure, riding the bus that passed our street until we reached the heart of downtown. We were pros already at getting to the R1 to the Hotel Zone and beaches. This was a new route. Hubs referred to the area we landed in as "Cancun's Times Square". There were hundreds of walking folks, shops and food stalls and within a minute, I smelled Tamales! Tamales! I love them. So we found the woman selling them and bought four of them. Two were enough for dinner, we saved the others until the morning we left, then had them again for breakfast. So delicious. We were far enough south that they were using banana leaves to wrap them, not corn husks. The masa was wonderful and the tomato based sauce on the side had a searing yellow blast of habeñero.
Walking to the main highway that the R1 bus used, we discovered Parque Las Palapas. It was a permanent fixture, with cement stools and round tables with umbrellas, all brightly colored. Those were surrounded by food stalls, small shops and kiosks. There were also about 30 different Power Wheel cars for kids to ride on the cement of what could also be used for seating in front of the main outdoor stage. Each night had live music as well. One night there were ten or so small art easels set up and a bunch of children were painting their favorite cartoon characters. There was a jumping castle for the kids and a small playground. We wish we'd eaten there earlier, the food was marvelous and so, so cheap! Our first night at the Parque we got dinner for $3. For BOTH OF US! And it was tasty and delicious.
Next to that we found a small patio lounge that had beers 2/50 pesos. About the cheapest we saw for beer ever was 35 pesos, or about 1.75 apiece. So this was about $1 per beer. Having our laundry done for us was about $3.50 a load. Washed and folded. The internet went down on day three, and our host had a tech out the next day. It went down again on day 10 at the end of the day and we left the following morning. That's something that happens regularly there we hear, but other than that, all the comforts of home at 1/10th of the price.
We loved the local ambience, the beautiful beaches, the terrific Ceviche and seafood and the friendly locals. We will definitely visit again.
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