Day 361 – Playa del Carmen to Cancun
Today was our last day in Playa del Carmen. We checked out of Hostel 6/15 after breakfast, leaving our backpacks behind. We walked to the ADO bus station to buy tickets to our next destination. Our next destination, Cancun will be our last in Mexico 🙁
The attendant told us that we could just buy an open ticket and get on any bus. The tickets cost 90 MXN ($6.89 AUD) per person. We actually forgot to ask about a 2nd class bus, which might have been cheaper.
Since we were in no rush, we decided to walk around town, have lunch and then catch the next available bus.
Playa del Carmen Beach
We walked down to the Playa del Carmen beach. Since there was a massive problem with sea grass (just like in Akumal from Day 360) at the time we visited, a massive team of people were cleaning mountains of the stuff. There appeared to be some pockets you can still swim in, but it would be hard to avoid contact with the sea grass.
Without the sea grass, it would be a very nice place to swim and relax. After strolling down the beach, we headed back to our hostel. Even though we were technically checked out, they allowed us to use the kitchen for lunch.
Getting from Playa del Carmen to Cancun
Following lunch, we walked back to the ADO bus station with our backpacks. The next bus was only 15 minutes away at 1.30pm. However, there were heaps of buses going to Cancun. The following bus was scheduled for 1.45pm.
Our bus arrived on time, and we were leaving the station at 1.33pm. The bus was older than most of the other ADO buses we had been on, but it was still in really good condition. The bus was only half full.
Cancun
We arrived in Cancun at 2.50pm. From the ADO station, it took a while to orientate ourselves and work out how to get to our new accommodation, La casa del Arbol. We decided to walk. As we walked further away from the station, the roads got more residential and emptier. The town was hot and our backpacks, made it harder. However, the streets were flat, which is a win. We arrived 35 minutes later.
The check in process was a bit weird. There was someone on his phone in the gate’s doorway, so we could get into the lobby. However, he disappeared and we were not sure if he worked there or not. A few minutes later, he told us to follow him using hand gestures and Spanish. He took us to a room. The room was nice and large.
A few minutes later, he returned with a different set of keys. After a longer than necessary Spanish (him) and English (us) conversation, it appeared we were in the right room, but had the wrong set of keys.
Some time after that another older gentleman came and asked if we had keys. He spoke English fluently, and we found out than neither of them worked here. The owner, wasn’t around and had got the first guy to show us in, and this man to check if we were okay.
Once the owner arrived later that day, she was really friendly and full of information. She ended up even walking with us to an amazing food cart, Los Taquitos de la Yaxchilan, for some amazing street tacos. After stuffing our faces and then ordering more, we walked to Parque de las Palapas, which was another recommendation from the owner.
The park was mainly full of locals with their kids. There was so much activities, games and food stalls. The churros are amazing and cheap. There are also games and remote control cars for kids to get into. It was such a nice family atmosphere. We just chilled here for a few hours before heading back to our accommodation on foot. We were a little concerned about walking back after dark that I was on alert at every sound. However, we had no dramas.
