The hotel where we are staying the week is now called The Royal Cancun. It is a classy place in every sense of the word and is one of three Royal resorts on the Cancun strip. Our two-bedroom suite cost us $190 per night, which is a very good rate, probably due to the current exchange rate: 18 pesos to the dollar!
This resort was originally named the Club Internationale de Cancun, and, according to the literature, was the first resort built on the Cancun hotel row and was also the first timeshare in Mexico. It was built back in 1977 by Americans, with the cooperation of the Mexican government. The hotel strip was originally a 50′ wide sandbar roughly 15 miles long. It was widened to 250′, and now contains many huge resort hotels, restaurants, shopping areas, and a marina or two. In some parts, where there are a bunch of big nightclubs, it resembles “hip” portions of the Las Vegas strip, Mexican-style.
There is a rumor that Jeff and Carol got shitfaced one night in this district many years ago, but that is a story for another time…On this trip, all four of us opted to avoid the mayhem and get shitfaced back at the hotel room.
In the midst of the strip, there is a very tall flagpole with a HUGE Mexican flag. It’s got to be 50’x100′; the biggest flag that I’ve ever seen flying.
Our fine in-house taxi driver (my son) has taken us on some wild rides through town during our stay here. It’s a good thing that we have GPS navigation in our cell phones, because the street layouts are goofy, there are many one-way streets, and, let’s be honest, we don’t have the slightest idea where we’re going.
Warning to visitors: If you’re ever driving down here, be on the lookout for the “topes”. They are large speed bumps, and the fucking Mexicans put them in the most unexpected places…like on a highway with a 45 mph speed limit. If you don’t see one coming, the impact will catapult you into the car roof. Ay, Chihuahua!
We navigated our way through the topes, the one-ways, and the loco taxi drivers to the supermercado one day. It was like a Wal Mart, and we stocked up with essentials, munchies, booze, etc.
Yeah, it looks like a plain old American market, right? But, take a look at the bag “boys”…they’re old geezers like me. What gives?
We went to a highly-rated restaurant/bar one night because of a nice review on Trip Advisor. The place was called “Nomads”, and was pretty slick inside. Like all Mexican bars, this place starts hopping at about 11 p.m.
The table service was crappy (note: we were early, and I think the management was trying out some rookie help at our table), but the food was very good. I had a Rib Eye steak, and it was the best I’ve ever eaten; it tasted like Filet Mignon. We’ve traveled all over Mexico, and there’s an old saying, “Never order the beef.” Well, someone didn’t tell the cook at Nomads. Three cheers for Mexico!!!
The girls posed outside in front of the restaurant with Mr. Rubber Ducky.
Last night, a storm blew in from the ocean, and it poured for a couple of hours. The rain came down in sheets and filled the swimming pool to the brim. It rained again in the morning when I was taking this photo.
Today was Charlie’s “date day”. I took her to a large mall which is located several miles from our hotel on the strip. In many respects it looked like an American mall, with many familiar names. But, it also had a number of International company names unfamiliar to us, and an entire upscale wing for the jet-setting rich folks who frequent Cancun.
We stuck to the redneck area…
…where Fonzie’s shark got us.
After buying a few non-essential items, we decided to have lunch at the Tacogrill alongside the marina.
We ordered Margaritas, chips and guacamole, lobster tacos, and a flank steak burrito…way more food than we actually needed. But, what the Hell…we’re on vacation!
While we were there, Charlie showed me her dog print tattoo that she got at the beach.
There was a pizzeria next to our restaurant, right adjacent to the lagoon. Evidently, there are alligators in these lagoons, so the management placed a sign next to the tables to discourage feeding.
Our pre-vacation (i.e. the RV trip begins May 29) in Mexico ends tomorrow, when we fly back to Southern California. The trip down here on United was extremely cramped, so, at Charlie’s suggestion and urging, I upgraded the return seats to First Class. (It was actually no big deal, as the net cost to us was only about $150. I wish I had thought of it!)
Hopefully, our Uber driver Chris will be waiting for us when we hit LAX.
“Welcome Back to the Estados Unidos!”