It wasn’t planned, but when I arrived in Cancun I learned we were just weeks away from the spring equinox, a time when the ancient Mayan calendar (which is what the so-called pyramids are) would do a shadow effect of a snake crawling down the structure. (And traveling without a schedule enables you to hang around for things you discover along the way or for surprises.)
My first night in Cancun my CouchSurfing host and hostess took me to a park that I loved. As we drove there and I have yet to see a true street map of Cancun, I had no idea where it was. Last week my friend Susan and I walked there en route to her hotel and I was excited to be there again – but I still did not really know where it was as we’d doubled back there through side streets. Tonight, hours after I planned to be gone from Cancun, my local friend Juan suggested another hotel, a hostel, and it turned our to be right on Palapas Park and I found out this great park is just blocks from my hotel. I had walked past the street leading to it from the other side of the park many times So tonight I learned where I could have […]
As I remained in Cancun for a week searching for my stolen Mac, I did whatever I had to in order to get my work done and not let my clients done. Stopping into the Office Depot across from my hotel, I found it cool and comfortable so I stayed a while. My work tools of the day (March 19, 2012), and of many days to come: iPhone 3GS that once belonged to my cousin Elena, V-moda earphones, and a fabulous battery by Scosche. This battery almost didn’t make the packing cut as I favored their lighter battery and their solar battery, but it recharges my iPhone at least 2-3 and still shows 3 lights. I have come to rely on it greatly. What I am doing: using an iPhone app called Voxer to speak, walkie-talkie style with my friend, fellow web designer (and GoLive 5 Bible contributor) to update […]
When you are traveling alone the place you sleep makes all the difference. Unless you really want a solitary trip. After my first nights at the home couch surf hosts, I came to a hotel recommended by other folks living in Cancun. It is fairly convenient as I can walk to the places I wanted to be in Cancun. And it is clean. There are dorms so I thought I would meet travelers. However it is really a hotel. Travelers were far between. Most guests are from other parts of Mexico and while friendly, they are here for the beach, not to exchange travel info and go see a pyramid. Those 8 travelers I met were with one another already and I didn’t fit their agendas. You might look at a dorm room for 10 and say “No way. I am past that at my age.” I did. I am […]
Cell phones are big here. It seems as if every one has one. Walk into a woman’s room and you’ll here a woman speaking from her stall – just like I hear in Los Angeles. Yet pay phones are far from a thing of the past here. You can’t walk very far without seeing a phone and Internet cafe. Well, cafe would be a misnomer. It’s really a smallish shop with 2 rows of stalls. One row is of Windows towers for email. The other is of phone booths containing tabletop phones and a chair so you can enjoy your call. Payment is done through the shops proprietor. Hoping to find my stolen Mac, I visited a dozen or so pawn shops. The trip through Pawn Shops was shocking: the prices being asked for electronics was virtually the same as the prices in the local Office Depot or Sam’s Club. […]
Of course, I had to see Apple Resellers in Cancun. I plan to do so everywhere I go. The iShop, with 20 stores in Mexico, is the largest reseller, I believe. Coming to see them was more than a wish after my Mac was stolen. I was desperate to plug my SuperDuper! Clone into any Intel Mac so I could access my info, make sure data was safe and work out ways to get my work done. Anyway, here is the iShop. oh, the huge box in front is a promotion: bring in an old piece of technology and get 1,000 pesos off your new Mac. It was fun to check out the box each of the 4-5 days I came by.
(Posted to Facebook at 1:24pm on March 11.) I’m grinning ear to ear, internally shouting, yes! finally! I’m online! Internet is quite spotty in the real Cancun. (I hate to admit it but I went to Starbucks. In the hotel zone, of course. Starbucks is Starbucks. Nothing to report in that arena.) My roommate friends, 2 great women from other parts of Mexico, are at the playa (beach). I can’t take too much beach, and have the reality of work, so I’m wandering around the city. I’ll meet them later. (The update added later:) I did meet my roommates. I went across the street to look for a bathroom and they happened to see me cross the street. What a surprise to hear them call out to me. This place is crowded. We had a few tacos, then went to the beach.
I’m trying to use a little Nokia stick phone that was loaned to me and feel like an idiot. It is such a kludgy pain to use. I am sooooo spoiled by 5 years of iPhone! I am jealous of my new Mexican friend that sports an iPhone 4s that works here.
Tonight Mario and Osman took me to there other favorite place to eat. We were also joined by Peter, the Australian guy we met in the park the night before. Peter and Osman actually spent the day together. Marion had to work. In the morning I went down the coast a bit to see the resort areas. Later, before dinner, I went to a nearby Internet place to Jailbreak my iPhone 3GS. (My very first days without a phone were hard on people I tried to deal with. It was so hard to say no, I don’t have a phone and figure out what to do.)
I did NOT want to Jailbreak any iPhone. I believe in R&D and do not want software through any back door. But Apple and AT&T left me no choice. It is required in order to unlock an iPhone for use by another provider – even when that phone is out of contract and in fact, the owners of the phone continue to be clients of both companies via newer phones. By day two in Mexico I had had so many meeting complications due to lack of a phone that I headed over to an Internet place to Jailbreak my iPhone 3GS. (The process requires Internet access.) Jailbreaking was successful. However, my particular phone was not supported by the software available so i still had no option to make/receive calls. Frustration continued.
My host Marion and Osman picked me up at the bus station in Cancun. It wasn’t as straight forward as that because without a cell phone I was unable to communicate with them. But a few nice people and a calling card later, they found me. It was not an easy start for their hosting experience. I had expected to have all day to get to them but because Delta brought me in 5 or more hours late, that changed. Anyway, they brought me to a fabulous park for a dinner of Empanadas and Horchata. More later.
Delta’s 11:45pm flight out of LA on Sunday, March 4, 2012 with a flight to Detroit. Then, after a 2+ hour layover, I boarded their next plane to Cancun. ETA noon on Monday Mach 5, 2012. My arrival in Cancun was delayed by some airplane trouble, and their refusal to let us switch to other already-outgoing plans. (I’m sure happy that Delta didn’t fly a questionable plane but they could have done much better for us.) After several lost hours, they gave us a new plane. I arrived Monday night after dark, after 23 hours of airports/planes. I’d planned to have hours to find my way into Cancun, introduce myself to Cancun and find my way to the home of CouchSurfing hosts. However, that plan went out the window with Delta’s delay and darkness entering that window’s field of view. Instead, at the Airport I enlisted the help of one of […]