travel zen on friday: cabo san lucas, mexico

Happy Friday, everyone! That's all nature. Enjoy.

travel zen on friday: cabo san lucas, mexico

Dramatic sunset colors in Cabo. That's all nature.

restaurant review: hacienda cocina y cantina in cabo san lucas, mexico

The Hacienda entrance.

On a recent trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, one of the pleasant surprises Mr. Sazy Rock, a couple of friends and I truly enjoyed was a meal at Hacienda Cocina y Cantina. See, Hacienda is located inside a time share resort and has a nice view. Usually, that means terrible food. But, not at Hacienda.

itinerary, costs and misadventures in yucatan: dentite's 24 hr roadtrip to chichen itza, valladolid and ek balam

Secrets Maroma

So with much preparation and only a 24-hour period to get into, spend in, and get out of Chichen Itza, how much sight-seeing and unexpected "adventure" can one get into? A lot.

This was the original 24-hour proposed itinerary:

5:30pm - Land at Cancun airport and pre-arranged pickup by rental service.

8:00pm - Arrive at Mayaland Hotel (210 km drive from airport) at entrance of Chichen Itza.

8:00am - Enter Chichen Itza for a guided tour.

12pm - Check-out at Mayaland Hotel and drive to nearby cenotes (fresh water sinkholes).

3pm - Drive back to Cancun airport for car drop off by 5pm.

5pm - Pickup by airport shuttle to final destination: Secrets Maroma in Playa del Carmen.

What actually happened:

5 pm - Our plane landed at Cancun airport and we deplaned with much excitement. Including going through immigration, money exchange and baggage claim, it took us only 15 minutes from the time the plane landed to exit the airport. Prior to our trip, friends warned us not to speak to or go with anyone who did not have a sign with our name (easyway car rental greeter) at the terminal because we could be waylaid with timeshares sales pitches. Sure enough, while trying to find our greeter, inside and outside the terminal, other greeters and drivers swamped us to try to gain our business and our attention. We politely refused people’s offer of assistance. After looking for our greeter at the airport exit for 30 minutes and trying hard to ignore that inevitable panic feeling, a rep for a competing company told us that someone on the other side of the terminal gate was holding a sign with our name. It turned out the easyway greeter was waiting at the terminal entrance, not the exit, and thus not visible from where we exited. We felt relieved to have been given genuine assistance and not led astray.

driving do's and don'ts in mexico

I like road trips but in a foreign country it can be a bit harrowing.  Other countries have different rules, signs and in some places they even drive on the wrong side of the road! I find preparation reduces the anxiety (as much as it can be reduced) and hope this post helps someone else in his/her preparation.

El Castillo @ Chichen Itza

I recently returned from Cancun, Mexico where my friend and I rented a car to drive to Chichen Itza and surroundings before plopping ourselves on a beach in Playa del Carmen.

General DO Tips:

1) Research your destination and local driving tips online (e.g., Tripadvisor) and offline (e.g., friends, guidebooks).

2) Book rental car from a reputable company. After reading reviews and doing a price comparison, we choose http://www.easywayrentacar.com/ (more on easyway in my next post).