Landing in Mexico

Location: Cancún and Playa Del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Playa Del Carmen

Although the road between Valladolid and Merida more or less draws a straight line between the two towns on a map, the dips and swells in the road are making this mini-coach journey rather bumpy. We are also battling with the Spanish dubbed Muppets Movie, which is on a screen at the front of the coach, and is as loud as if we were to see it at Cineworld. But let's not get ahead of ourselves - this is day 5. Our trip infact started in Cancún.

Billed as Mexico’s number one ‘Party destination’, with a reputation for American spring-breakers doing their thang at all hours of the day and night, Cancún wasn’t particularly our prime choice for a first stop. However, we couldn’t argue with the price of the plane tickets as a way into Mexico, so, 11 hours and 2 aeroplane meals later, Cancún it was.

Tacos from Tacos Rigos - Our first meal in Mexico. This taco bar is famous for beef head tacos.

Dowtown Cancún

Though our Airbnb was in downtown, away from the party area ‘Zona Hoteleria’, it was only a few hours later that we somehow mistakenly found ourselves squinting in the garish, neon glow of this strip, surrounded by vested American school leavers. We wanted to give the place a chance so we stuck around for a good 3 and half minutes, before hightailing it back to downtown.

We only spent 2 nights in this city, but it was long enough - and never doubt us - to find something good to eat. After wading through the Tex-Mex and European menus, we also saw signs of authentic Maya and regional Yucatan cuisine. After all, this place is trying to please almost everyone of the 1 million tourists rumoured to visit the area every year. This isn’t a new revelation, but it’s worth saying that Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor need a kick in the right direction when it comes to seeking out authentic food in these more touristy areas.

Desayuno (breakfast) stands at Mercado 28. We had a tostada and a pupusa from Alfonzo the chef

Good catch - a huge Wahoo fish, the fastest fish in the sea

Fruit ladies of Playa Del Carmen, selling fresh mango, coconut and papaya. We went for coconut.

We spent our second day recouping from jet lag in the marginally less plastic beach town of Playa Del Carmen. We were drawn to a small restaurant right on the sand, Fah by The Sea, after seeing fishermen filleting huge Wahoo and Mahi Mahi outside on a plank of wood. They were all friendly and mentioned when they come across a good catch, they often sell it directly to the chef. An instant green light went on aboves Dave's head.

We sampled shrimp aguachile - fresh shrimps cured in lime juice and Habanero chillies, served with homemade crisp nachos. We also had fresh octopus which had been deep fried and served with fresh guacamole. Both were ultra refreshing, and perfect on a roasting hot day. Accompanied by a slightly too cool band playing acoustic versions of Nirvana and Oasis, we thought this place was a good little find.

Try the coconut one. Go on.

By the next morning, we were en-route to our next town 2 hours inland of Cancún. It was such a short stay as we hadn't had great expectations for this city, but perhaps with a little more time we would have discovered more. We came away unscathed and well fed, which isn’t a bad start to our trip.