I had intended for this post to be all upbeat and cheery, but unfortunately, life isn't always all sunshine and kittens. So let me get "the bad" out of the way first. Yesterday at the end of our excellent bike ride, Barry went out to do a couple more miles after I finished riding. When he arrived back at our rental, I could tell immediately that something was wrong by the large dirty spot on the right shoulder of his t-shirt. Turns out he had crashed. He was making a right turn on a paved street, when his bike's wheels slid out from under him, and he slid across the concrete pavement, which was very slick from age. He was very lucky as oncoming cars saw him and stopped, even asking if he was okay. He was wobbly, of course, but able to get back on his bike and ride back to our rental. He's a little scraped and bruised up but fortunately doesn't appear to be seriously injured. He bled very little, mostly his elbow, and we cleaned and doctored up his wounds with the first-aid items we'd brought along. It was scary, though, and reminded us once again how quickly and unexpectedly accidents can happen -- that's why they're called accidents. Up until this crash, we'd really been enjoying our rides here in Playa. There is a fair bit of traffic in the downtown area, but once we get north or south of that, there are lovely places to ride where traffic is minimal to non-existent. So now onto the sunshine and kittens portion of this post! On the north end of Fifth Avenue, we discovered a paved multi-use path that has very few crossings. There's little traffic along the narrow road there, so if we need to exit off the path to pass a jogger or dog walker, it's easy to do. The best part of this path is that across the road there is colorful graffiti art/murals on nearly every building surface. We don't know the history of this area, but there are some really gifted artists whose talents are on display. Here are just a few examples of some of my favorites. On the south end of town, there's a bike path in a loop through the huge golf subdivision Playacar. This is little more than a glorified sidewalk and is pretty narrow. It has a bit more ped and bike traffic and is not in quite as good condition as the other paths, but it is a pretty area to ride in a residential area, with some nicely shaded parts. We didn't take any photos of this one. Just west and outside of Playacar is our very favorite path to ride on. This paved path goes either north towards shopping (busier and with more road crossings) or south to the huge Xcarat Park, often called the "Disneyland of Mexico". This path is smooth, has very few driveway crossings, and is lightly used, at least in November. There are more iguanas out sunning themselves than people on it most of the time! The path is lined with beautiful foliage including many small Flamboyant Trees (Delonx regia). The only negative of this path is that it does run alongside the highway for the most part, so it can be a little noisy at times. But that's a small price to pay for a path like this. Here are some of the exotic creatures seen along the bike path! And talk about exotic, we thought these trees growing in the concrete entranceway to Xcaret were unique! See the roots coming out the bottom? So, that's what we've discovered about cycling in Playa del Carmen so far. It seems to be one of the best places in Mexico for people who like to ride bikes. We hope that Barry will heal up quickly and we'll be back to it!
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If you read this blog even occasionally, you know that we are huge bike lovers, so of course one of of our first tasks here in Playa del Carmen (here's our first post from here if you missed it) was to purchase inexpensive beach cruisers to ride during our time here. Even long-term rentals, assuming we could even find decent rental bikes, would not make financial sense. For the length of time we're staying (six months), it's much more cost-effective to buy. There are quite a few local bike shops clustered within two blocks or so on Avenida 30 Norte, a busy commercial street a short walk from our rental. So on our third day in town, we headed up there, walked into one of the larger shops, BiciPlaya II, and hoped for the best. As expected, the guy who helped us spoke no English. But of course he was anxious to make a sale. Fortunately, another customer in the shop with a flat tire spoke both English and Spanish and was able to serve as an impromptu translator for a few minutes as we started looking and explaining what we wanted. That was incredibly helpful. All the beach cruisers were equipped with knobby mountain bike tires, and we wanted smoother tires as we'd be riding on pavement most, if not all of the time. In Belize even though we often rode on the beach path or unpaved dirt roads, we had smooth but wide tires, and they served us well. Our "translator" was able to explain this to the shop employee so he could swap out the tires for us. We started with my bike. I picked a color I liked in a ladies' beach cruiser, Crema (a pale yellow), and the shop guy got to work changing out the knobby tires. I also picked out a basket, a different saddle (narrower than what it came with), and later, different hand grips and a rear-view mirror, all of which were installed over time. The shop got busy, so this all took awhile, but that was okay -- hanging out in a bike shop is not the worst place to spend a morning! Barry's bike was next. By this time, the "translator" was long gone, but Barry was able to get his desires across pretty well with lots of pointing, nodding, and a few words of Spanish. He found a used red bike he liked that was actually made in the US. Although a single speed, it had hand brakes like we're used to (I am envious!), but he needed the tires, handlebars, and saddle changed out; and pedals, a water bottle cage, and a rear-view mirror installed. Here he is going on his test ride on the side street outside the shop, a smile on his face! When it came time to pay, I tried to bargain and ask for a descuento (discount) since we were buying two bikes plus accessories, but our little guy wouldn't budge much, especially once he discovered that we intended to pay with a credit card. Either our bargaining skills aren't very good, or this just wasn't the right shop to try them out in! Our total price for both bikes was $4429 MX, which sounds like a huge amount but is only about $325 US. Compared to what we pay in the states for bikes and bike parts, it was a deal. And considering how much we'll certainly ride these bikes, they will prove to be worth every penny and much more, I am sure. We've already had a blast on them and have found some excellent places to ride, but I'll save those for another post. In the meantime, here's a better look at my pretty new steed at our home base. And Barry's red racer, out enjoying a ride!
Since we're only about 20 miles from the Mexican border while staying here in Patagonia, Arizona, it seemed imperative that we get down to the border town of Nogales, Mexico for a day. During our travels to Mexico from Belize, we developed quite an affinity for this much-maligned neighbor to our south (or to our north when we lived in Belize in Central America!) Yes, there are drug cartels, violence, and danger in parts of the country, but certainly not everywhere; and the places we'd carefully researched and traveled before (Tulum, Merida, Palenque, Campeche, and San Cristobal) felt as safe (or safer) than most of the US. So, we did our research and decided that the tourist area in the city of Nogales would be just fine. After all, this city relies heavily on tourist dollars and as such, the police are going to ensure that it stays safe and welcoming for those of us from the other side of the border. And it was! I am pleased to report that we had nary an issue, saw and heard no crime, and never felt worried in the least. There were tourist police riding bicycles and a few police cars patrolling around, but none of the intimidating looking officers standing around with automatic weapons, as we saw when entering the country from Belize. There were no drug-sniffing dogs nor bag searches. Nothing. We just walked right across the border and spent the day walking around, venturing even beyond what would be considered the tourist zone. There's no passport stamping or paperwork involved, and no scam Mexico exit fee (as we were charged when spending the day in Chetumal, Quintana Roo from Belize). You do need a passport to get back into the US as proof of US citizenship, but that's it. But let's back up a bit. When visiting Nogales, Mexico, you have the choice of parking on the US side in same-named Nogales, Arizona, or driving into Mexico. Driving into Mexico is obviously more complicated, with Mexican car insurance requirements, not to mention trying to drive and park in an unfamiliar, bustling city. Most people who want to go for some day shopping and eating simply park on the US side, and that's what we did. There are numerous parking lots where you can park all day for $4, a great deal. They're easy to find once you get close to the border. We actually parked at the farthest-away one, but we liked it because it was mostly empty, had excellent security, a friendly attendant, and if you know us, you'll know we don't mind a little extra walking! The parking lots right up at the border were very full, so we were glad we parked where we did. You can also park at the McDonald's or Burger King close to the border for the same $4, but I'm not sure if they have security, if that's important to you. After leaving the parking lot, we walked south a bit until we found the area to cross the border on foot. It wasn't as well marked as I thought it might be, but we saw others heading that way, through a parking lot, and it was in the right general direction, so we had no problem finding our way. When we saw this sign, we knew we were in the right place! The tourist zone is a mish-mash of hundreds of dental clinics, pharmacies, and small shops selling Mexican goods like blankets, glassware, and ceramics. As expected from everything we'd read, we were beckoned by vendor after vendor trying to get us to come look in their shop. There weren't a huge number of tourists in the city on a weekday, mostly just a few other retirees, so the vendor competition for our dollars was pretty fierce. But none were rude or overly aggressive, just enthusiastic and very friendly. We really weren't there to buy anything since we don't even have a house to put things in with our current traveling lifestyle, so we had to disappoint most of them with a "No gracias" or "no thanks". All of the vendors spoke English in this zone, but we tried to use our rudimentary Spanish as much as we could, since this is a great way to practice. We could always fall back on English when needed. We spent most of our time just walking around, enjoying the local color, and seeing the sights. One of the main streets was under total construction, but people were still walking up and down, and most shops were still open along the way. Occasionally we had to step over holes or walk across on planks -- this would never be allowed in the US! We didn't see too many gringos once we got down this far, but we still felt perfectly safe, so long as we watched where we stepped! We did go into a few shops and looked around but left empty-handed in most cases. Barry thought about a t-shirt, but there were very few sold, and he couldn't find anything he liked in his size. Most of the clothing for sale was actually Americanized (and probably made in China - ugh), as opposed to the areas we'd visited before in Mexico, where there was beautiful Mexican/Maya clothing for sale. The Mexican glassware and ceramics were beautiful but not something we're in the market for right now. There was much sterling silver jewelry for sale, so my one "extravagant" purchase was this pair of silver earrings with mother-of-pearl inlays. The vendor wanted $20 for them (gringo pricing, naturally), I offered $10, and we settled at $15. I probably could have gotten them for less, but bargaining isn't something I'm used to. It's expected in these small shops in Mexico, though. The first price you're given is never "the" price! I also bought a pack of fresh whole wheat tortillas at this tiny "Super Mercado" for just $13 MX (about $1) This was about half the price we paid in San Pedro, Belize. And we bought a liter of El Jimador tequila at a huge, American-size supermarket. It was supposed to be on sale, but when we double-checked the receipt after paying in pesos and leaving the store, we realized we'd been charged the original price. This was not a tourist market so hopefully it was a computer mistake, since Barry thinks they scanned the item. It's no biggie, though -- instead of costing us the sale price of $10 something, it cost $12 something -- less than half the price it would have been in the US! There was some nice public art along the main Avenida. And we saw several of these colorful "flowers" but were never sure what they were really for. We'd read restaurant reviews on Tripadvisor ahead of time and decided to try Olivia Restaurant, which was a completely Mexican experience: menus in Spanish, a fast-speaking Spanish waitress (fortunately she understood us, even if we didn't understand much of what she said!), and authentic food. The homemade salsa was excellent, and the food was very good. The Tacos Dorados caught my eye... Barry ordered one of his favorite Mexican specialties, chicken mole, and I ordered what I thought was going to be fish tacos, but ended up being chicken tacos. Now I know that dorado is more than dolphin fish: when referring to tacos in Spanish, it means "golden" (i.e., fried)! They were very good, just not what I expected. Expecting to drink a Mexican cervasa, we ended up ordering sodas because beer was not on the menu, but we later saw a couple order cervasas, which the waitress went and got next door at the bar. Who knew? Another lesson learned -- always ask! Lunch for two cost us $12.50 US plus tip -- quite reasonable. After lunch we stopped in at a bakery we had seen while walking around earlier. We were too full to eat anything for dessert, but we did buy a couple of goodies to take back with us! And I can report after the fact that they were absolutely delicious. Wish we'd brought more back! There wasn't too much to do in the part of Nogales we could walk to other than shop, so after lunch and a bit more walking around, we headed back to the border crossing to return to the US. We'd read a tip online that the crossing on the east side of the train tracks through town was less crowded than the one we came in through on the western side, so we crossed over and got in line at the one on the east side. There was a line -- mostly Mexicans -- waiting to get over to the US (to do their own shopping, no doubt -- there are lots of stores in Nogales, AZ, including Walmart, Safeway, clothing stores, etc.) We waited in line for about 30 minutes. Barry tried to take a photo of the "Nogales" sign at the border, but the officer there told him no. We'd read that they don't allow photos there, but it was worth a try since we thought they wouldn't mind a photo of the sign so long as no officers were in it. But they must. He was able to take a photo of the fence once we got back to the US side, though. We showed our passport cards to the officer when leaving (first time we've used them!), and he asked what we were bringing back. I told him of our small purchases, and he waved us on. No problema! We walked back to the parking lot, paid our $4, and that was that. We had exchanged $60 US for pesos at one of the many money-changing stations in the tourist zone, and we didn't spend it all, so we still have pesos for our next trip to Mexico! Many places in Nogales do take US dollars, so we used them for my earrings and for lunch, since they quoted the prices in US dollars. We used pesos when shopping in the mercados and bakery. All in all, it was a very good experience, and we had a great time with no real snafus. The trip, though short, reinforced how much we enjoy spending time in the colorful country to our south. Mexico, you haven't seen the last of the Traveling Twosome!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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