PaoloCast2

First, thanks to all you Fodorites who have helped make this and many other trips so much easier with your generous advice and recommendations. As with my previous trip reports, I’ll write less about the information found in good guides and focus on some practical advice and travel tips I hope helps you plan your trip.
To give you some context, we are a fit early 70s couple who have made over 50 independent foreign trips, so we’re reasonably savvy. But as you’ll read below, every country presents its own challenges (figuring out the parking scheme) and opportunities. This was our first trip to Mexico and Latin America.

Mexico City -4 days.

Day 1
Arrival at the Benito Juarez Airport is as easy as about any international airport (and much easier than many even in Europe). Everything was well-signed. Immigration and customs were pleasant and helpful. With bags in hand, we saw the very clearly signed “Authorized Taxi” booth right in front of the exit into the Arrivals Hall. Before dealing with the taxi, we wanted to get Pesos from an ATM and amid “Exchange” booths we found a couple of big (Mexican) bank ATMs. Fortunately, an American was at the next ATM and informed us that some require a chip card to be inserted, then withdrawn, then re-inserted. Okay. Worked fine. Back to the “Authorized Taxi” booth, gave the fellow the address of the Hampton Hotel Centro Storico and paid 329 pesos. (About $17.50 American.) The official rate is about 5.5 pesos to the dollar. I divided pesos by 6 to make it easier and take in credit card etc. charges. With receipt in hand we walked thirty yards to the taxi stand, gave the fellow the receipt and address and got into one of the modern, clean taxis/vans for the one hour trip to Historico Centro.

It’s a very interesting ride, giving you a good look at the un-tourist Mexico City: hundreds of street stalls and small shops etc. along the way.

We arrived at the Hampton Hotel and Suites Centro Storico around 3:00 PM. Our room was very nice, and we slogged through unpacking the essentials and headed out on a very warm and sunny day.
The architecture in the Centro Historico is beautiful and unique (even more so lit at night). A couple of blocks from the hotel, and we entered the enormous Zocalo, admiring the façade of the Palacio Nacional and the Catedral Metropolitana as we headed around the side of the Palacio to the entrance.

The building’s interior is beautiful: an oasis cactus garden and historic buildings. A little confusion about getting to the Rivera murals, but a Mexican civil servant showed us the elevator. Wow! They exceed expectations. We took in a couple of the early ones (the bucolic life of the primitive people). We then walked to the “end” passing the heroic past of temples and crafts and arts and agriculture and the high culture before the Spaniards.

The centerpiece is the huge mural over the main staircase: Rivera’s compacted retelling of the rape of the native people, the dominance of the church, the rapacious land owners, the oil company exploiters, the various dictators – and finally the revolution with Karl Marx and righteous workers and peasants. It was amazingly thick of the Rockefellers to not know what they were getting when they hired Rivera to do murals at Rockefeller Center. Engaging and amazing. Then we more slowly worked our way back to the beginning. The other murals seemed a bit less sophisticated than the big one, but overall it was a great experience. There were few people at this time, and we had plenty of time to see them just before closing.

Out into the Zocalo, and into the Sagrario. Silver! They were a bit garish but nonetheless pleasing. Next door was the Metropolitana with its extraordinary silver/gold screen at the front of the chorus. Then around to the high altar. It’s all of a piece and what a piece.

Back to the hotel to unpack. We were absolutely done in, but we knew we had to soldier on. We dressed and walked to Restaurant Merceredes. It’s a lovely room constructed from the historic market (with exceptional cone-shaped porous stones which filtered water). There was only one other couple in the restaurant. It’s big for lunch, especially for government officials and business people. But we got excellent service and very good food. Very nice breads followed by a slice of tomato in a balsamic-like sauce. We then had the tortilla filled with shrimp.. My wife had the sea bass, and I had the breaded chicken, ham, and Oxacan cheese dish. Very good green beans and onions. Two glasses of very good Mexican red wine. The total was about $64 American.

Walking back to the hotel we admired the beautifully lit buildings around the Zocalo. This is a lovely centro. One observation and one tip:

SECURITY: Obviously stung by reports of crime in years past, the Centro Storico is rife with police. We were usually out to dinner around 7:00 to 7:30 and back around 9:00 or so. A policeman (or three) on every corner, and no sign of sketchy characters. We never felt unsafe in Mexico City or other cities we visited.

FLASHLIGHTS: Make sure each person has a small flashlight. We use the pencil-size Maglites that easily fit in a pocket or purse. There are abundant street lights, but the sidewalks while clean are often broken up and/or have other small hazards that can end up in a face plant. Same advice for every other city we visited.

Day 2
We wanted to view the Diego Rivera murals in the Secrearia de Educacion Publica (SEP) located off to the left in the Plaza Santo Domingo, but it was closed for the day. (See below on our visit the next day.) We headed for the Antiquo Colegio de San Ildefonso. Its location is not well signed but with a little help from our Mexican friends, we found it.
And wow, it was worth the walk. We paid our 150 pesos and walked into the first lovely courtyard in which several large Orozco murals were on the walls. A good story about the Minister of Education commissioning these in the early 1920s. They were spectacular and in wonderful shape, [A couple were being restored.] We had the place to ourselves. (The background music and the beautiful cloister added to the enjoyment. The revolutionary Orozcos dominated, but there were several other murals by others on the stairways as well.
The second floor was also ringed by Orozco murals. The other courtyard was filled with a huge metal sculpture that looked as though it was made of tinker toys.
We kept asking about the Rivera murals and getting head shakes. We checked again in the gift shop, and three or four people discussed our question. We went through the back right corner of the gift shop into another medium sized room with more conventional murals. As we were admiring them, one of the men from the gift shop came in. Aha. He found a colleague in an office, and that man took us to a corner where a red velvet drapery covered an opening. Wow! It was a beautiful theater in which Rivera’s Creation dominated the back of the stage. A man was tuning a harpsicord, and we quietly admired the mural. This was great. So, keep asking to see Rivera’s Creation.

Outside we crossed the street and peeked through the grate to the Temple Mayor. We saw that it was a ruin with some altar platforms. We didn’t want to walk all way around to the entrance on the far side and decided that we’d seen enough from that perspective.

On our way toward the Alameda, we spotted the front of the Iglesia de la Ensenanza, folded between two buildings. Inside the baroque façade was the narrow, but spectacular set of several gold altars. Baroque baroque.

Down the Calle Tacuba, locating the Café Tacuba until we got to the Post Office - a grand building with lovely teller cages, stairways and an overall lovely space.

Café Tacuba with its tiles and murals and waitresses with white headdresses was a great setting for a nice lunch. All the food was good but not great. Nonetheless, it was a lovely experience.

Into the Museo Nacional de Art where we first went through an excellent “Moderns” show in which Mexican and French paintings were paired – both representing a turning point in portraiture, landscape, abstraction, etc. There were some surprising French painters we knew and didn’t as well as the Mexicans beside Rivera and Orozco who were there. It was especially telling to see the early Riveras – much like early 20th century European paintings.

After the Moderns show, we went upstairs where the highlight was a Rivera mural of a river with several figures bathing, swimming, washing clothes, etc. The room also had some Rivera paintings that were more in the style of his murals. There was another show of Jose Maria Velasco who did arresting landscapes.

Close by, the Museo de Belle Art was one of the most spectacular Art Deco buildings we’ve ever seen. Everything from the stair railings to the light fixtures, to the doors, and the overall sweep of the dome and arch was an Art Deco triumph. The Rivera mural of the various revolutions, featuring Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin, et al., moving on to over-throwing the church, the dictators and other oppressors was great. Other murals by Rivera and Tamayo lined the second floor gallery.

By about 3:00 it was very warm, and we’d covered a lot. And we’d have to cross the very wide a busy highway to get to the Franz Mayer and/or walk a long way to the end of the Alameda park to the building with another Rivera mural. We decided to call it a day. It was a long and hot walk back, but we got a good sense of street life in the Centro Historico – shops, cafes, etc. as we found our way back to the hotel. (More on the Hampton later.) We poured ourselves two very good cups of robusto coffee and took them to the absolutely delightful terrazza. What a relaxing space – a wrap-around terrace with several very comfortable chairs and sofas with a canvass awning and a light breeze.

Off to Legenderia for dinner, about three blocks from the hotel. The streets were quiet, but there are many policemen on every corner. In fact, all of Centro Historico is full of police. Legenderia is hip contemporary – a slick room with contemporary tables and chairs: MTV on a couple of monitors over the bar and not-too-loud contemporary music. It’s beginning to look as though the centro restaurants do a big lunch business and a little tourist business at night. Our waiter spoke no English but was earnest. With a little help from the bar man, we got our drinks. My wife went with a Victoria beer – a medium body beer. I had a glass of Cote du Rhone. The house delivered a delicious fish soup in lovely little homey cups tortilla chips along with several funky pots of spicy to very hot salsa. For an entre, we shared a delicious seared tuna tortilla topped with crispy fried onions. Three pieces were plenty for the two of us. My wife had the Pork Pibil – slowed cooked pork served wrapped in a banana leaf, rolled in a flour tortilla with pickled onions. Delicious. I had a sliced steak that was good, not great served with rice, fried peppers and sautéed leek. It was an enjoyable dinner. A different ambiance but a pleasant one. And the total with a 15% plus tip was about $42 American.

Day 3
Our driver, Baco, was waiting, in his Nissan Altima, and we comfortably headed for the Anthropologica Museum. The ride took us to other parts of the city. As we drove down 5 Febrero onto less-presupposing, but not poor, areas, the city looked vibrant. Not rich, but no signs of poverty. What was intriguing was the entrepreneurial element of the city. Small shop give way to stalls, which give way to framed tents selling all manner of goods. We saw a man at an awning-covered table on which sat a copying machine. “Copia” read the sign, and a woman stood in front while he made copies. That part of the city is not beautiful. It’s sort of a jumble of commercial building ranging from suburban strip mall to stalls. When we got closer to the museum area, we saw upmarket apartment towers.
Baco dropped us at the museum and pointed out the Siteo taxi stand, after explaining the difference between types of taxis. The guides, even recent ones, warn tourists to not get in VW Beetle cabs, but they no longer exist. The brown and maroon cabs are the bottom with the pink and white are better –he said.
The Antrhopologica Museum building is a knock-out! We paid 160, about $8 US for two, and got a guide and a bit of explanation. We just looked in the early man exhibit and then went on to the Olmec and Tolmec areas. The exhibits were beautifully laid out, and there were English descriptions of each area and for many of the exhibits within each area. Another nice feature was the garden with artifacts typical of that era along with lovely plantings. The zoomorphic and anthropomorphic pottery was exceptional.
The Teotihuacan section was a piece d’resistence. An enormous segment from the Citadel was extraordinary. Other portions of the temples and various large and small segments were well-placed in the space. Overall, the museum was a top-flight example of museology.
While the Teotihuacan area was exceptional, the focal point of the museum was the large area devoted to the Mexica culture of Tenochitilan, Tlacopan, and Texococo in the valley of Mexico. The massive stone sculpture of the goddess Coalticue and a richly carved sacrificial urn were impressive. (Several of these pieces were only unearthed in the Zocalo in the late 19th century. The focal point is the huge Piedra del Sol (mistakenly called an Aztec calendar.) It was in remarkable shape and viewing it was helped by a detailed drawing to the side. The large model of Tenochitilan (the city in the lake) was arresting. Once one sees this and understands the sophistication of what this and the other Mexica cities represented, it destroys any notion of these as primitive people. (And much of the Western art we have seen usually shows the Conquistadors meeting loin-cloth clothed primitives.) Of course, the Spaniards, with guns and the alliance of subjugated tribes, triumphed and destroyed the cities while the accompanying priests burned the indigenous literature.
We stopped and had lunch in a lovely restaurant – outdoor café. We heard the demonstration gathering and being exhorted as it headed toward the centro.

After lunch we went to the Maya section. Again, everything was displayed beautifully. It seemed that here we saw more monumental pieces: stele, large segments of walls, carved jaguars, reclining figures, etc. A feature here was a temple garden in which there was a large segment of a temple, two smaller temples and a very tall stele.

At this point we had exhausted our ability to take in anymore and headed to the Arte Museo Moderno, which we’d seen from the taxi in. We walked along the botanical garden for about ten minutes and entered the museum. Fortunately, before purchasing our tickets, my wife caught a staff member and learned that the whole museum was given over to the special exhibition which we had seen on-line and decided wasn’t our interest. The only piece from the permanent collection was one Frieda Kahlo painting and a few drawings in a room off to the side. We glanced at that from the lobby and decided to go back to the Siteo and get a taxi back to centro.

At the Stieo, there were only a few taxis, and the fellow running the show wanted us to get in one of the brown and cream taxis. The driver insisted he was a Phone Taxi, but we demurred and pointed to the much nicer looking car in front of him. The driver of that car said okay. When we asked, 200, he said maybe because there was a big demonstration. But he said he had a meter, which he pointed out when we got in. Off we went into heavy traffic and many detours with scores of traffic police blocking large roads and diverting traffic to other avenues. We got a good look at the Reforma: another section of more pre-supposing buildings. Eventually, we got to the edge of centro, which we realized when we saw the Museo de Belle Arte off to our left. A couple of turns, and we at the side of the cathedral. We asked the driver to stop there. ($300 – 320 with tip = about $18 American.) The side streets off the Zocalo were filled with dozens of riot police in full gear behind Plexiglas shields.

Fortunately, the weather was very pleasant and we were feeling good, so we decided to take a chance on seeing if the Secrearia de Educacion Publica (SEP) was open. We guessed that the demonstrators were still far off so we headed up 5 Febrero toward the SEP (with our fingers crossed). Great, they were open, and after showing ID and signing in, the guard took us into the first courtyard (which we thought was great) and pointed us in the direction of the murals. We didn’t know what to expect, so we followed along a corridor that linked what are two buildings that constitute the Department.

Another Wow! Diego Rivera frescoes filled three floors of the arcade around the courtyard of the convent portion of the Department of Education. The ground floor murals were largely descriptive/narrative: the harvesters, the miners, the foundry workers, the teacher in the field, etc. They were all beautifully done and with more or less political content. Rivera frescoed the lintels often with feathered supine figure or later a hammer and sickle. There were frescoes of important figures such as Zapata and Juarez – dozens filling every space around the courtyard.
The second floor murals, mostly grisaille (gray tones) were the least interesting in their display of the coats of arms of the Mexican states.
The third floor contained more political frescoes: the dead capitalist; Wall Street banquet; the wounded revolutionary, fighting in the trenches. Each and all had great dynamism and narrative. These are “teaching” frescoes. The second floor frescoes were grisaille, and we only spent a few minutes looking at those.
In the third floor murals, Rivera is much more overtly political, depicting heroes of the Mexican revolution and the excesses of wealthy Americans (Wall Street Banquet). Rivera’s mural El Arsenal depicts Frida Kahlo holding a rifle. Everyone was extremely helpful – pointing out the elevators – pointing to various murals. It was a high point of the trip.
Sated from the museum and the murals, we went back to the hotel and unwound.

For dinner we Azul Historico a unique restaurant – sort of semi-open under a canopy of vines under a roof. Still it’s largely open air, so blankets were on the chairs and there were heater stands around although not in use this evening. Shortly after we arrived, the sound system went over to ear-splitting techno screech. Fortunately, it backed off into a tolerable techno background. A lively mix of tourists and locals making it the first restaurant in which we were not virtually alone. The wooden tables, funky dishes, and overall setting was pleasing. We split delicious fish tacos for a starter. My wife had sea bass in a green squash seed, and cilantro base. I had a snapper in a coconut sauce (very Thai-like). Both fishes were good but a bit over-cooked. My wife had a glass of Malbec and I had a glass of Mexican tinto. A very good, not great, dinner but a pleasant evening. The total with a 15% tip was about 1200 pesos.
We walked back to the hotel and caught the end of the protest at the end of the Zocalo. There were many police cars on the street, but we didn’t have any problem walking back to the hotel.

Day 4

GETTING TO TEOTUHACAN AND TAXIS
Before this trip we read a lot about taxis in Mexico City and getting to Teotihuacan. First, taxis. Since we stayed at the Hampton Inn Centro Historico, the only in-town taxis we used were to and from the Anthropological Museum. (We took an “authorized taxi” from the airport to Hampton Centro Historico – set price, no hassle. The Hampton (and we were reliably told) other hotels have their own stable of taxis/private car operators. Although we’re pretty fit in our 70s, we were willing to spend a few extra dollars for the convenience and time-saving over the subway. An arranged taxi waited outside the hotel at 9:15 AM to drive us to the Museum (200 pesos – around $12). At the siteo (taxi stand) outside the museum, we picked up a taxi back to the Hampton. (300 pesos – around $18 but there was a political demonstration and many streets were closed and traffic was jammed. We felt it was fair.) Despite what some guide books say, there are no VW taxis. Aside from these privates, there are two kinds. One is a white, with pink top (something to do with breast cancer awareness); and the other is maroon and brown (SF 49 colors). One source said avoid the brown and maroon; another said they were the same.
Another “reliable” source said that the hotel’s private taxis/cars vary in price by hotel: more for the Four Seasons, less for the Hampton.)

We got several very good suggestions about getting to Teotihuacan. Again, investing a bit in our time and convenience, we went with a private taxi/car from the Hampton. We left the Hampton in a clean new Nissan with an English-speaking driver at 8:00 AM. We could have but decided not to stop at the Plaza of the Three Cultures or the Shrine of our Lady of Guadalupe and went directly to Teotihuacan. This is a one hour trip in moderate to heavy traffic. Now here is where the extra cost paid off. Our driver (Mario I can give you his contact info) dropped us at the parking lot near the Temple of Sun (roughly half-way between the Citadel and Temple of the Moon). “Take as much time as you want. I’ll meet you in the parking lot at the Temple of the Moon.” We circumnavigated the temple; visited the very well-laid out museum (another great model of the site) and viewed the Temple from various angles. Of course, the young folks were dashing to the top. We walked up the Avenue of the Dead taking a lot of time looking at the various small “temples” along the way and spending a lot of time in the terrific Temple of the Moon complex, including the Patio of the Jaguar and the Courtyard of the Butterfly. And there was Mario in the parking lot. Then he drove us the ¼ mile to the wonderful the Museum of Murals with great murals and artifacts.
From there Mario drove us to the “main,” and by this time crowded, entrance near the Citadel. This was less impressive than the other areas, and we spent about an hour there.
Fully satisfied, Mario offered to take us to a restaurant he recommended. It was one of the ones at the edge of the site. We invited him to join us for lunch. It was very nice: shaded, good food, modest prices. We didn’t want to go to any handicraft or tequila shops. Back to the Hampton in heavier traffic took about an hour and a half. Base price – 1500 pesos (about $80) Total price (including our driver’s lunch) – less than 2,000. Everyone decides what they want and what they’re willing to pay, but it was worth every peso to us.
***

Following the report on the trip to Teotihuacan which includes some repetition from above.

Mario was at the front of the Hampton at 8:00 AM. We introduced ourselves and hopped in his nice Versa (a bit smaller than an Altima but very clean and comfortable.) Once we got onto a larger street and could talk he suggested a route that was perfect.
We made a brief pullover to see a church and archeological site, and got back on the main streets. Another part of the city and enjoyable for us to see how people live – not poor but un-presupposing at least in this part. There are 23 million people in the city, and as we drove under the arches over the highway that marked the boundary, it was obvious that hundreds of thousands live in cities and areas outside as well. We passed what appeared to be small cities with cement houses (many painted bright – perhaps garish – colors) covering the base and up the side of very steep hills. After a while we were in more rural areas, but built up areas as well. We turned off the main highway and headed for the pyramids.
Once inside the Teo complex, the road is purpose-built cobblestone to slow traffic. Mario’s plan was fantastic. He parked at the lot nearest the Temple of the Sun. “Take as long as you like,” he said. We gathered our gear and headed to the stunning temple. Of course we’d seen photos, films, models, etc. but there’s nothing like being there. From in front of the Temple we could see the long, long, Avenue of the Dead. Whew! Thank goodness we didn’t have to walk the long, long way.
We had beat the crowds so we could clamber around the lower platforms and view the pyramid. There were already several people making the steep, steep climb.
We walked around the right side of the temple getting good different view of the temple on our way to the museum and bathrooms. The museum was excellent with many well-placed and signed pieces from the complex along with another huge model of the complex. Fortunately, we had read a lot and visited the Anthropological Museum so many of the explanations covered material we knew.
Back around to the front of the temple. It was warm but pleasant. After viewing the Temple of the Sun from a couple of angles, we climbed down into the Avenue and slowly made our way toward the Temple of the Moon. We stopped a couple of the altars which were signed. One was the temple of the Puma, and there was a well-preserved mural of a puma with a small animal in its claws.
We zig-zagged across the avenue looking at a couple of others that were signed. They were generally very good.
The highlight was the Temple of the Moon complex. Of course the Temple was spectacular even if smaller than the Sun, but exceptionally pleasing. A handful of folks had climbed, or were climbing, to the first platform which is as far as allowed. But the wonderful attraction was the great symmetry of this enormous space. Temple platforms were place across the wide expanse giving the entire area a keen sense of what this place was all about.
At one end of the complex was the Courtyard of the Quetzal Butterfly. Here we could go into rooms with some murals on the walls and fragments at the base. The focal point was the courtyard with the “butterfly” columns and murals visible in the arcade.
From the Courtyard, we walked down into a complex of what was thought to be priests’ houses. The many rooms gave a sense of living here, and several rooms had murals still visible
Mario was waiting in the parking lot, and we drove to the Beatrice de la Fuente Museum of the Murals. A striking feature of the museum is that it is designed as a temple platform. One has to walk up to the flat top of the building and then down into the exhibition area. The museum is surrounded by beautiful gardens with cacti, oleander and other plants being tended by several staff. Alone in the museum we took our time viewing the many sections of murals and other architectural features taken from the temple complexes. The very good signage, some in English, indicated where the piece was excavated and a bit about it. We had a close-up of the various “butterflies,” jaguars, feathered serpents, rain gods, owls and other motifs from the temple friezes.
Back in the car and down to the Citadel. Wow, there were many tour buses, vans, taxis, and private cars lined up to enter. Once through the entrance (with long waiting lines) Mario dropped us off and indicated the row in which he would be waiting. This is the “main” entrance, so there were permanent shops lining the entrance path. (There were souvenir sellers throughout the entire site but a polite “Non, graciasis” was enough to have them move on. Not nearly as aggressive as the Egyptian trinket hawkers.
After the amazing Temple of the Moon complex, the Citadel was rather unexciting. We clambered down the first “barrier” onto the large field where ceremonies (and sacrifices) took place. We walked around to the back of the large altar platform pyramid where we could see four or five heads of feathered serpent Questzalcoatl protruded from the pyramid, along with a few other heads and other architectural features. Nice but nowhere near as dramatic as the Temple of the Moon. But now we had covered the entire site and very happy that we had done it in the manner my wife and Mario had staked out.
Mario had suggested that he knew a good place for lunch, so we agreed and asked him to join us. The restaurant was just off the site, a pleasant outdoor place that catered to the tours (two of about 15 each were eating the buffet). We had a good lunch, although I ordered a too large dish. And we had a pleasant chat with Mario and emphatically passed on the offer to go the tequila tasting and handicraft shop.
Back in the car, it was an hour and a quarter ride that wasn’t at all interesting. Mario took some back streets to avoid the clogged main arteries, so we got a close-up of some of the back streets of the city. Not rich; not poor; decent.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed for a few minutes but it was only about 3:00 PM. So we walked to the Cathedral. The temperature was very nice; crowds of folks were out, and we had a nice visit. (A young man in front of us paid our way into the choir.) We had a leisurely perambulation of the chapels (gold baroque), the over the top main altar, and the overall sense of the place. Next door at the Sagrario, we once again saw how this pleasing Greek cross building was filled with late Spanish mawkish dreck (cf. the pastel pink and blue facing angels on the altar).
We packed and decided that we didn’t want to go far or to anything complicated for dinner. We decided on the fish restaurant next door – Fishers. We were flummoxed by the menu, but eventually settled on a couple of fish enchichilatas for starters (eh). My wife had a spicy shrimp dish (which got less spicy when she scraped off the hot seeds). I had a grilled tuna that was a bit overwhelmed by the soy lemon sauce. My wife had a Victoria and I had a glass of nice Spanish white. A very spicy fish soup in a glass was a amuse feature. Overall, it was okay, and at about $50, it was a fair price for a decent meal. The service, even making amends for our lack of Spanish was sketchy.

***
THE HAMPTON INN AND SUITES CENTRO STORICO was an outstanding hotel in every respect. First, its location is superb, about four blocks south of the Zocalo in the midst of shops and restaurants, but far enough away to be away from any noise and crowds on the Zocalo. We booked a slightly larger room which had a sofa and large “desk” area that gave us a lot of space for guides, packages bags etc. The price with taxes (two weekday and two weekend nights) was $135 a night with the usual Hampton Inn full breakfast included and free wifi. The building is lovely – a former convent with beautiful tiles in the large open space and stained glass roof around which the rooms are located. We were on floor 4 and we heard no noise from any other room or from the lobby. Another wonderful feature of the hotel is the gorgeous roof terrace: wicker sofas and chairs and tables, a fountain, nice plantings under a large “sail” awning. Every afternoon we’d return, pour ourselves a couple of cups of the complimentary coffee (and tea) from the lobby and take the elevator to the roof terrace for a very relaxing end of the day. The best feature of the hotel was the staff – absolutely outstanding in every respect. Mr. Mendoza, the concierge and his colleagues were constantly available for advice and assistance in every regard. The desk staff and every one of the others from the men at the front to the folks at breakfast, cleaners and others were genuinely friendly and helpful. Location, the hotel, the rooms, the staff – one of the best overall hotel experiences in many years of travel.

Day 4

Off to Merida. Once again, we’d arranged for a hotel taxi. Here it turned out very well because all the streets around the hotel were closed to car traffic because of a bicycle race/rally. But the yellow-vested traffic police had let our taxi park a block away from the hotel. Taxi to the airport – 220 pesos with tip.
Merida is a small airport, and we got our bag and found the Herz desk. We were taken by van a half mile away where we had a very helpful agent. We went through the whole magilla and went for the 100% insurance coverage – at $50 a day.

RENTAL CARS AND INSURANCE: Again, there is a huge amount of “traffic” on Fodor’s Forum on this topic. Friends had rented a car last year, so we had some info from them as well. We’d heard/read horror stories about “rent-a-wrecks” from major brands etc. We finally booked with Herz. The good news was the daily rate for a sort-off compact-midsize (Dodge Attitude) was about $15 American, and the car was virtually brand new (AC and auto). The full coverage insurance runs anywhere from $30-50, and we decided to bite the bullet since our friends did damage their car last year and were glad they had the full coverage. Overall, the car was very nice, ran well, no problems, not cheap. Check out and check in at Cancun airport was every bit as professional as any car rental in the US.


In Merida we stayed at a small inn -- the Hotel Julamis. Our host greeted us; we dropped most of our stuff and headed to the Square Santa Lucia where we found Trotta restaurant and had a terrific pizza Margherita and a quartino of red wine. Delicious and relaxing.

From the square we headed toward the Zocalo, admiring the colonial architecture and other buildings – a mix. The Zocalo was filled with temporary food stands and stalls selling we etc. We went through the arcade and found the Museum of Modern Art and viewed the interesting show. The temporary exhibitions had some interesting stuff, especially the photographs. The permanent collection was eh – all early 1980s conventional stuff.
We circled the Zocalo, and walked back to and organized our stuff for tomorrow and off to dinner.
Dinner was at Apoala which our host said didn’t take reservations when we emailed him a week or so ago. Well, they did, and, fortunately, they were able to seat us after a 15 minute wait. It was cool on the arcade but not uncomfortable. We started with an excellent serviche of octopus and scallops. The fish of the day was cobia, and there were two preparations. Both were very good on different bases. Oxacan cheese seems to be ubiquitous in many dishes. The only problem was an almost 45 minute wait between our first and second course. We had a couple of good glasses of wine – mine another very good Mexican. Total was around $60 American.


Day 5

Breakfast in the lovely courtyard was excellent: very good croissants, muffins, fruit with yogurt and flan with the ubiquitous Oxacan cheese. We gathered our wits and maps and sunscreen and headed off to Uxmal. After a bit of uncertainty at the end of C. 55, we found the main road to Uxmal. We got through the handful of “interchanges” and we hit the main road to Uxmal – a dead straight road through the low jungle with virtually no turnoffs to towns or farms.
Easy signage got us into the site. Here’s a new one for us. There was a line to pay at Window #1, and after we paid our $148 pesos we were directed to go to Window #3. Huh? A Mexican man in front of us explained that we paid the tax at #1 and the entrance at #3.
Up an incline after the entrance and right smack in front of us was the spectacular Temple of the Magicians. It was so impressive in its size, isolation from the other structures, its rounded edges; altar at the top and opening with Choc. What a start. From there we wended in the courtyard where we could view up close the various designs: birds, snakes, variations of Choc, etc.
Through and down steep steps (this is not a place for the faint of foot) into the huge Courtyard of the Nuns (not really nuns – maybe warriors in training). Here each façade had intriguing designs: entwined snakes; owls, birds, etc. all able to be viewed close up. Down the stairs into the courtyard to view the surrounding “houses” – really two rooms – and more of the intricate stone work. Fortunately, it was a very warm but not hot day, so it was not uncomfortable being in the sun and the shade, with a nice breeze, was refreshing. From the Courtyard we descended more steep steps into the Ball Court. (We would love to see how someone actually put the ball through the circle.) Up from the Ball Court to the other main pyramid and over to the Dovecote with its four or five unique fan-shaped tops. (Jungle right up to the ruins.)
From there we wended – up and down – to the front of the Palace of the Governors. Again, intricate designs across the entire long, long façade. Between the Palace and the Palace of the Turtles, we had an exceptional view of the Temple of the Magicians before descending another steep set of stairs and back to the entrance complex. Great!!!
We sat in the shade; had a couple of granola bars (always with us); ate a couple of ice cream on a stick, and headed back to Merida. We missed one turn, but we stopped at a bar and all the guys agreed that the direction I pointed was indeed the way to Merida. Once we saw a sign and turned off, my wife immediately recognized it as the road to the airport. Tada! So we knew where we were going. I filled up my tank without a problem [See later!], and we were back at the hotel in a thrice.
After a sit down and cool off shower, we headed to the roof and had a glass of tequila with a woman from Austin who had done a serious face plant the other night on the sidewalk outside a restaurant: black eye, stiches, cracked ribs. – Re-read my bit on flashlights. The sidewalks, especially in our part of town are all broken up so we need our flashlights to go and return to dinner.

Dinner was at Chaya Maya was a big disappointment. The setting is lovely, tables around a lovely courtyard. The menu, had surprisingly inexpensive traditional dishes. We ordered a first course to share and then two mains: my wife ordered the Chicken Pilac and me a three beef filet special. The waiter delivered two glasses of ice-cold red wine. Then he delivered our water to the next table. He had two glasses with ice in them, and we said no ice. He went away and came back with straws. Then he delivered a large pot of tortillas that were to accompany the chicken. Then he came back and removed the large earthenware pot of tortillas and replaced it with a smaller one. ?? Shortly a food deliverer brought our first course and my steak together. Where’s my wife’s chicken? That seemed to be a puzzle. Since the chicken had apparently gone AWOL we went ahead and split the appetizer and the steak. A word to the hostess didn’t seem to add any light on the situation except that about 30 minutes later, another food deliverer arrived with my wife’s chicken. No! We asked for the bill, and the hostess had erased the chicken. Okay, but still a mess of a meal. [Our hotel host said that this was typical of Chaya Maya. Now he tells us.] And the food was okay at best. We were surrounded by American tourists, including a twenty-person tour. Has this place become a tourist trap? We tried to set aside this one bad experience.


Day 6

After breakfast, we headed north to find the Anthropological Mayan Museum. At the circle (a sort of provincial Reforma with its statue), we saw how quickly the city changed from the old town to the more modern business and upmarket section.
Inside the museum there were many very well displayed examples of Mayan stone and ceramic art and artifacts. Some section had English overviews, but we had to figure out the figures from the Spanish descriptions. They were exceptional pieces, especially the warrior/king figures with headdresses so elaborate that it took a few moments to identify the head of the figure. Ear lobe distending circles, tattoos, facial scarification, elaborate, almost fantastical headdresses, belts, tunics and sandals were the attributes of these figures. The rooms were exceptionally well laid out over two floors. It was a good overview of Mayan art from several sites on the Yucatan.
We headed back toward downtown and lunch at the café next to the Jesuit church and had a couple of decent sandwiches for lunch.
Back to Julamis to pick up our bags. We headed out to Chichen Itza. Once we left the commercial outskirts of Merida and got on the main road, first a libre and then a cuote, it was bleak – miles and miles of straight road through the close dense foliage with almost no traffic. We found the cuote, and more miles of boring dense foliage on both sides of the road. Finally, we hit the pay station and after a momentary confusion paid about 80 pesos and drove into the very un-presupposing town of Piste. We found Mayaland. It is a large and amazing theme park. After being shown to our very nice room with a balcony overlooking the “observatory” we dropped our stuff and went to the café bar for a couple of very relaxing beers.
We then took a walking tour of the huge grounds with several complexes of bungalows, pools, and special areas.
After a shower and a lie-down we had dinner in the restaurant. The tours apparently eat at the buffet somewhere else, so we and no more than a dozen other tables were the only ones in the restaurant. The dinner was good, rather plain, although the seafood crepes were delicious. My wife’s “special” beef/turkey “meatballs” were rather dull. My filet of grouper stuffed with seafood was similarly dull. Interesting butters for the bread. A couple of glasses of Mexican cabernet sauvignon made for a good but relaxing dinner. Back to the room to get ready to hit the very nearby entrance to the site tomorrow morning.

Day 7

We were awake comfortably early and went down to a very nice breakfast. (There seemed to be no more than ten or twelve parties eating dinner and breakfast in the restaurant. Apparently, most are on tours and eat at the buffets.) Our “Americano” breakfast included fresh squeezed orange juice, a large plate of fruit, delicious rolls, and scrambled eggs with fried potatoes and beans.)
Pleasantly fueled, we freshened up and walked to our private entrance. Fortunately, I knew the drill: pay for the entrance at cashier #1 and then pay the tax at cashier #2. Go figure.
Once in, we had to walk no more than a couple of hundred yards before coming out at the side of El Capitan. It’s a wow! My wife read the description of the features, and we circumnavigated the enormous four sided temple. At one side, tour guides clapped their hands to create a high-pitched echo. Amusing the first time, but it was incumbent on every tour guide and group to clap. We were way ahead of most of the tours, but we can imagine all day clapping.
Unlike the rigid plan of Teotihuacan, the Chichen Itza site does not have a discernable symmetry so we toured the sites on the perimeter. Unlike Uxmal, we could get very close to each major element: the Platform of Venus, the temple of the Jaguars, and the Temple of the Skulls and view the carvings close up. Some were more weathered than others, but many were in good shape so we could easily make out the features of the warriors, the snakes, Choc, the jaguars, etc.
The temple of the skulls drew a lot of attention: no second place ribbons in this league.
The ball court was huge. No one has yet explained how anyone managed to actually put the ball through the small circle way up on the wall. There was a relief of someone cutting off the head of another guy. These were nasty people. The group of a thousand columns was impressive by their sheer number and symmetry. The man with the long nose was a notable feature. Through the columns and into the market: more columns.
We headed for “Old Chichen.” As the UN World Heritage folks have complained, there are almost no signs indicating direction, and the plaques in front of each feature were in poor shape.
The large tours were arriving, and the paths from site to site were lined with vendors. There was no “hawking” on the sites, and the vendors didn’t hawk their wares aside from a murmured “cheap, one dollar.” These people may not be rich; they don’t look to be desperately poor, but we wonder how they can make enough selling trinkets to justify hauling this stuff from wherever and sitting all day trying to sell stuff that costs a pittance.
The Observatory is the main feature of Old Chichen, and we saw it from our room as well as from other views from the hotel. It’s unique in its round shape: Mayan architecture is square. In that area was another “nuns quadrangle” much smaller than the one at Uxmal, but the smaller square “temples” were able to be viewed up close and in great detail. Other features were the “Temple of Obscure Writing,” and a couple of other unusually named features. Fully satisfied that we’d seen and taken our time at all the sites, we wended back to Mayaland. We’d spent about two and a half hours in total.
Our Mayaland chums said it was okay to check out at 1:00, so we went back to the room and had a sit in our rocking chairs on our balcony to decompress for a bit. Then we took a couple showers, took our time packing and got a fellow to take our bags to the car and then checked out.
Instead of sharing a big buffet lunch with the tours, we got a comfortable table at the pizza oven spot and had a delicious pizza margherita under the trees.

NOTE ON MAYALAND
This place is a hoot! And it’s great. We booked a small upgrade, so our room (without breakfast and dinner) was around $135 USD, and it was a lovely room: two double beds, a beautiful marble tiled bath with a large Jacuzzi, and a balcony with two nice rocking chairs looking at the “Observatory.” Tours apparently have a separate area for a buffet dinner. We and no more than a dozen other parties ate in the very nice restaurant. Good, not great, excellent service, very fair prices. Ditto for breakfast: the very full “Americano” two eggs etc. etc. was about 180 pesos each. The grounds are extraordinary; worth a long walk: pools; bungalows, wooded paths, all a delight. AND, the most important feature is the hotel’s “private” entrance into the site, no more than one hundred yards from the hotel. So we were way ahead of the tours that typically begin to flow in around 10:00 to 11:00 AM. (Some tour buses apparently arrange with Mayaland for drop off at “their” entrance and then a buffet lunch following the visit. The hotel was very accommodating with a late (1:00 PM) checkout so we had plenty of time to visit the entire site, go back for showers, and have the porter take our bags to our car while we had a delicious pizza at a lovely patio before heading off to Playa del Carmen.
**

Off to Playa del Carmen
We managed the strange toll booth arrangement to get onto the Cancun cuote, and drove 70 km along the boring highway where we saw no more than ten cars (at most) the entire distance. Eerie! The turn off to the new cuote to Playa was clearly marked and we were onto this road with almost no cars either. It might be the tolls. Overall, the toll was 220 – which is a lot for Mexicans.
The check-in was good at the Playa Palms Hotel. My wife unpacked while I went in search of parking. Realizing that there is virtually no free and easy parking in this area, I found the parking garage and parked the car.

PARKING IN PLAYA DEL CARMEN – DON’T

Don’t bother trying to find street parking. You’ll spend your vacation looking for a spot. The only free spaces do not have yellow or red curbs, and every curb I saw within blocks was yellow or red. There are a couple of parking garages up around 1 North and 10th – not expensive, safe, and you don’t need a car in PDC.
We sat for a bit; checked email and made a reservation at Muelle (which I think was meaningless). We walked up the Quinta with its blizzard of shops, restaurants, bars, and what not until we found Muelle. All open but a table just inside took the edge of the chill. Nice fish house décor.
We ordered an octopus bruschetta to share, which was good because the waiter delivered a generous plate of the house appetizer – a delicious bean salad with great bread. Then our generous octopus appetizer arrived: many marinated pieces on a crisp toast. Delicious. My wife had the seafood platter: grilled shrimp; grilled octopus; grilled pompano; grilled squid and scrumptious homemade thin-sliced potato fries and green beans. I had the grilled pompano which was a portion at least twice what one would expect in a US restaurant – along with the fries and green beans. My wife had a glass of some red; I had two glasses of Malbec. Overall, and excellent dinner at a very moderate prices – about $70 American.

Day 8

A great day, so far, that got off to a ragged start. We both slept well and didn’t hear any of the dreaded disco from nearby clubs. And it appears that almost all the people staying at the hotel are in their forties to our age, so no back and forth partying – yet.
We heard a knock on our door at 7:00 AM. What could that be? Sitting on our deck table was breakfast. What the dickens. How could they get that wrong? It was cloudy and cool, so we brought the tray inside and had a decent breakfast. When the fellow came to pick up the tray, and we asked him why it was delivered at 7:00 instead of 8:00, he pointed to his watch. Ooops. Playa and all of Quintana Roo is on Eastern time.
Fortunately, that was the only problem all day. We cleaned up and went down to our little palm-shaded beach. We put our towels over a couple of lounge chairs (which seems to indicate long-term dibs) and took a very nice long walk along the easy walking beach to the ferry dock. Aside from a couple of public beach access locations, the entire beach is lined with condos, All-in-Ones, and beach clubs with ranks of recliners, umbrellas, and patios. Already, the massage girls were out. There must be dozens of these places in Playa: on the beach, every twenty yards. They look to be oil rubdowns rather than real massages, but that’s what they do.
By the time we got back to our beach we were delighted by our little oasis. We found a couple of loungers with an upright position and settled in. It was gorgeous. We watched the fishing boats come in; the pelican hanging out for handouts while their cousins splash-dived for food – and a constant stream of folks just walking by. Our palm trees added enormously to the unique ambiance of our place – comfortable shade.
After a while, we took a walk in the other direction. Wow! After the Taj and Indigo Blue Beach Club, there arose an enormous All-in-one. There were hundreds of lounge chairs lining their crummy, cement and sand-bagged beach. We saw at least two pools; music playing of course, a buffet on the beach, and a huge resort hotel.
We cleaned up and headed out. We stopped at Imprevist to make a reservation for dinner for tomorrow night and got a recommendation for a casual place for lunch. We found it; it looked good; but we tripped up with the menu. My wife wanted fish tacos, but we let ourselves be talked into a seafood service combination plate
Back to our beach for a rest, still reveling in the gorgeous weather. Finally the wind picked up and we and virtually everyone else cleared the beach. Back in the room for a rest.
Dinner at Yaxche was excellent – the best all- around dinner in Mexico so far. The manager had our table in the “romantic” area upstairs, but a stiff wind was blowing down 5th right in my face so we changed to a table inside.
My wife had an outstanding Sopa de Lima (although it was called Massawal on the menu). I had a cold shredded beef (Tzic) mixed with coriander radish, and sour orange, in itself delicious, but with tortillas and salsa, chopped radishes and liquefied beans made excellent tacos. My wife had Chicken Kinich a chicken breast marinated and served in a tangerine sauce on a bed of mashed potatoes and spinach (Chaya). I had Chicken Poc Chuc, sliced breast marinated in sour orange and served on a hot plate accompanied by grilled red onions, chicomate, and liquefied beans. Tortillas were on the side, but I’d had enough tortillas and had it straight with the other on top. It was excellent. The presentation of both dishes, especially my wife’s was superb. Overall, the service was a big cut above what we’d experienced in Mexico City and Merida. The entire meal, food and service and price was top flight.

Day 9

We had a leisurely breakfast; put our stuff together and headed to Tulum. An easy ride. There were many tour buses at the site, and we walked about 1 KM to the entrance. Tulum was a commercial trading site, so while there were “religious” ruins, the site did not have the prominent religious features seen at Uxmal and Chichen Itza. Aside from El Capitan, most of the other ruins were ruined, but the site is enhanced by its exceptionally beautiful location on the gorgeous coast. It was very warm (hot) so we weren’t sorry that it only took about an hour or so to tour the ruins. Nothing too special to report.
Off to Ziggy’s. I was surprised that Rt. 15 was a narrow road with scores of beach hotels and restaurants once we got into that zone. Finally, we found Ziggy’s and it was worth it. We got a table on a sandy terrace overlooking the beautiful beach and turquoise ocean. Couldn’t have been better. We ordered two versions of fish tacos and they were both great. These were accompanied by interesting fruit drinks. We took a long walk along the gorgeous wide and firmly packed beach, looking at the string of hotels and restaurants lining the beach. It’s apparent that funky, cheap, bohemian Tulum is a thing of the past. This place is definitely moving upmarket and then some.

THE PEMEX PESO SWITCH IS ALIVE AND WELL.
We headed back to Playa. I needed to fill up, and we stopped at a Pemex, Okay Fodorites. Several of you warned me; described exactly how the scam works – and I still got stung. Perhaps I was lulled by the fact that I’d filled up at an earlier Pemex with no problem and it was late in the afternoon. But at one Pemex in Playa del Carmen, I had the guy fill it. The pump read something like 345, I handed him a 500. He kept gesturing to the amount on the pump and foolishly I looked. In a split second when I turned back he was holding a 50 and insisting that I’d given him a 50 instead of a 500. No amount of my insisting was going to make a difference. What do these guys do, practice every day – hands faster than a three-card-monte player. I’m not sure what I should have done: held onto the 500 until he gave me change; not looked at the pump; knocked him to the ground and searched his pockets; driven off without paying? I can now see why Pemex doesn’t take credit cards – too many of their attendants are thieves. So fellow Fodorites, it’s not an urban legend. They’re faster than a greased snake. Perhaps you should have smaller bills and pay with those. A $20 or so loss didn’t ruin our trip to Mexico but it certainly takes off a bit of the shine.

For dinner, we headed to Imprevist -#7 on TA and almost universal “excellents.” A cool semi-basement room with chic settings and lighting. The service was very good. We got an amuse buse of a mushroom fritter. Good. We split mushroom/risotto ravioli in truffle oil – very good. My wife got a miso beef filet, and I had a seafood risotto. Both were good, not great. The perferirole with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream was very good. We had a couple of glasses of Mexican wine which was very good. Overall, our impression was that this restaurant could have been dropped in any one of a hundred American cities providing a good, albeit expensive, dinner with few if any surprises. The other peculiar, and problematic, feature of Imprevist is that it tries to be two things – international bistro and Asian fusion --- and does both good, but not great. A pleasant evening, a good dinner, but it could have been better.

Day 10

The new doors etc. at Playa Palms cut the sound of the clubs to virtually nothing. It had gotten to be a big problem. We had our breakfast, cleaned up and took a long, long walk down the beach and beyond the ferry terminal to the beginning of some all-in-ones. Some looked more attractive than the huge one to our left, but still large. Further down the wide beach, the hotels gave way to a series of smaller condo-type buildings as well as some for sale, some larger ones under construction, and an overall sense of more changes underway at this not-so-sleepy fishing village. It’s a Yucatan version of South Beach: loud, drinking all day; beach clubs; and the crush of all of them together not an attractive setting. Playa Palms is about the only one in which some semblance of sanity remains. Next door, Taj is highly touted, but that’s directly over the Indigo Beach Club. (We had very nice grilled fish sandwiches for lunch at Indigo Beach Club. The music was okay, and we had a table looking out over the boats.)
We had a conversation with a long-time Playa client who’s been coming here for 10 years. The big unpleasant surprise is that virtually the entire beach in front of the hotel has washed away.
After lunch, we read and relaxed on the beach.

PLAYA PALMS HOTEL
Playa Palms is a very difficult hotel to rate. We were looking for a pleasant, a little laid back, beach experience. The good news is that Playa Palms is virtually the only hotel from Ivan’s Pier to the Cancun ferry terminal that comes close to providing that experience. In response to complaints about the loud music that goes until 5:00 AM, the entire front entrance has been glassed in and sound-resistant sliding doors and windows installed in every room. We had a beach front room on the second floor, and once the doors closed we could not hear the music from either the Indigo Beach Club to our left or the two huge clubs down the street to the right. The rooms are excellent with mini-kitchens, lovely patios. (Rooms on the ground floor have folks constantly walking bye, so book one on the second or third floor. And, those are only [un] accessible by a narrow curving staircase. Those rooms are absolutely not for anyone with mobility problems. I didn’t get a sense of a security issue, but starting at around 7:00 PM, the hotel posts a security guard at the entrance and another at the beach.
So, you have to decide if you want to stay in the only place on the beach that provides a modicum of sanity. A big downside, however, is that the entire beach in front of Playa Palms has washed away. Beach erosion right up to the chairs is also the case on this entire ¾ mile section of beach. The hotel’s webcam which used to show the beach has been “out of order” for some time. It’s unlikely we’ll be back in this area in the foreseeable future. If we did, we’d go to Tulum – where what friends experienced a more funky, laid back ambiance – but our day down there clearly indicated that this is undergoing the same radical changes seen in Playa. Fifth Avenue is a zoo: bar after bar and new huge shopping malls with all the charm of huge American suburban malls. Summary: Playa Palms is a singular place in a mostly a young persons’ party town.

Dinner: We had a big and delicious grilled fish sandwich lunch at the Indigo Beach Club and didn’t feel like walking or taking a taxi to a restaurant. And since there were several choices on the menu at Jaxche that we didn’t have the other night, we decided to return. On a warmer evening, we sat outside upstairs and had a very nice dinner. No appetizers. My wife had the Pork Concinita – pieces of pork in a green “sauce” with red onions. I had chicken mayiatas, strips of chicken marinated in sour orange with sautéed onion and peppers. Both were delicious. A couple of glasses of the very good Mexican red. A satisfying evening. Quinta was rolling along with all the charm of crap shops, mall stores, hawkers, and loud drinkers.

Day 11 – Playa del Carmen to Home
We had a fairly leisurely morning, having breakfast and packing. We didn’t miss the beach because there was a 25 mph + wind blowing.
Packed, I walked to the parking garage, paid 400 pesos for about 36 hours and got back to the hotel easily.
The drive to the Cancun airport was easy, and the signs for the aeroporto were frequent and large. So, we found Herz with no problem and had a no problem drop-off. The van took us to the large and crowded Terminal 3. Hundreds of people were getting out of vans and tour buses (which we had seen on the highway) and lining up at the various airline check-ins. Delta had several agents prowling the area and lines checking id and tickets, directing folks to the correct lanes, and generally making check-in easy.

Thanks again to all our Fodor Forum friends for the great advice.

SambaChula

"The official rate is about 5.5 pesos to the dollar."

(Don't remember where you are from, which dollar, but)
The current exchange rate (January/February 2016)
is 18+ pesos to one US dollar.

----
The last time someone tried to scam me at a Pemex (the one on 307 in Tulum), I had gotten out of the car and clearly told him 200 pesos, got distracted by the other guy asking to pop the hood to check the oil, and meanwhile the first guy filled the tank. I told him I had asked for 200. He said he would call the police. I said "go ahead. I will tell them you are a thief. THIEF." He shut up. I gave him 200 and got in the car and drove off. But you probably can't get away with that if you only speak English. The guys at Easyway when I returned the car just laughed at the story.

SambaChula

And thanks for the detailed trip report. It should be a help to future posters.

SambaChula

Also, the official airport taxis charge according to distance of the neighborhood from the airport. A larger car (more people, luggage) costs more. Sometimes they give you a larger one to make more money.
I stayed near the Cathedral/zocalo in the centro historico two weeks ago and paid 250 pesos with Sitio3000 taxi company. (Coyoacan, near Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul, which is a bit further, was 275 pesos.)

tripplanner001

Thanks for your incredible report. You've helped brought back fond memories of our long weekend trip to Mexico City last summer. We're also interested in the archaeological sites of the Yucatan. Did you enjoy Uxmal or Chichen Itza more?

PaoloCast2

Hi tripplanner 001,
Teo, Uxmal, and Chichen Itza were vry different, so we're delighted we visited all three. Folks from our hotel in Merida had driven to and from Uxmal and Chichen Itza on day trips. So, I hope you are located where you can do both. However, we thought that Uxmal was more complex and overall more enjoyable than Chichen Itza, and we'd pick Uxmal if we had to choose one.

tripplanner001

Thanks for the feedback. Both Uxmal and CI are on our list for a visit and probably other sites as we're into archaeological sites and ruins. Enjoyed my time at Teotihuacan very much.

cybor

Bummer about the Pemex station. One station in particular on C 59 in Merida tries that and a few other scams. For future reference demand to speak to the manager and tell him to make the attendant empty his pockets. If that doesn't work ask to speak to the policia. It usually doesn't go as far as getting the police involved.
These guys, btw, do know enough English to know key words like thief.
Sounds like you overall had a decent trip.

SuziiQ

Wow what a fantastic and insightful trip report PabloCast2. My family and I are following a similar route when we travel to Mexico and Cuba in June. We are even staying at the Hampton Inn, so your info on getting from the airport to the hotel has made me think maybe we could get a taxi too. I was thinking about a private car but got a shock at the price of about $175 Australian. Although we don't speak Spanish so will that be too much of a problem?
Also liked you private trip to the Teotihucan booked from the hotel. I think we will definitely do the same especially as we will be travelling with our two boys. After that we go to Oaxaca then onto Merida. We won't be hiring a car in Mexico too confusing driving on the other side of the road for us but do plan on going to Uxmal etc. Then we are going to Valladolid to see Chichen Itza and some cenotes. We make a side trip to Cuba then end our holiday with a week in Playa Del Carmen.
We have a bit more time than you, but you still managed to pack in a lot of things. We too like to see a lot. Make the most of our time in another country.
After reading your report l feel much more confident about taking my family to Mexico. We too have travelled a lot and take the normal precautions when abroad. Unfortunately you read a lot of negative things about Mexico so l'm hoping we don't encounter to many hassels whilst there.
Thanks again for such a wonderful report.

hopefulist

Wow - quite a report, thanks for posting!

tripplanner and SuziiQ - Consider Ek Balám, too, just 20 minutes or so north of Valladolíd; we enjoyed it much more than Chichén Itzá. For the latter, arriving 1st thing in the morning (easily done by colectivo from Valladolíd) meant we beat the heat and the crowds - almost no people in our photos - and the salespeople were just setting up, not a plague or problem as some report.

PaoloCast2

Hi SuziiQ and hopefulist,
I'm always pleased to return the favor to our Fodor friends who have helped so much in the past. In trip planning, almost every country has it's special issue that causes anxiety, and taxis in Mexico was one. So, to re-emphasize, absolutely no problem with the taxi from the airport to the Hampton. In fact, while there were mostly passenger cars in the taxi queue, they put us in a nice 8 person van - which might be good for your family. (We guessed that they were sending a van into Centro for a pickup of more than 2 people.)
Renting an auto was the other issue that created a lot of anxiety. Although we've taken public (and semi-public) transportation all over the world, I guess I suffer from an American need to drive my own car. But the rental with insurance was very costly. If I had to do it over again, I'd consider a private car/driver from Merida to Uxmal and back and the same from Playa del Carmen to Tulum and back. I'm sure that it would have been less expensive than auto rental and insurance.
Mr. Edgar Mendoza at the Hampton will take very good care of you -- and I'm sure folks at the other hotels will do the same. We emailed in advance and got the details about time and price etc. for our specific requests.
Enjoy your trip.

live42day

great report. We are going in two weeks so nice to see this.

tripplanner001

Thanks Hopefulist. So many places to visit and so little time.

welltraveledbrit

I really appreciated all the details on your Mexico city trip as it'a on our shortlist. Thanks very much for posting!

Tripplanner - we went to Uxmal, Edzna, Labna and the Ruta Puuc when staying at the chain of fabulous Haciendas (Santa Rosa, Temozon and Uyamon) ) about 15 years ago. We also went down to Campeche and Calakmul which was well worth visiting. We didn't go to Chichen Itza, but loved the smaller sites and enjoyed being able to drive ourselves around, though at that time some of the rural roads were in some disrepair (sinkhole) mainly.

Interested to read what PaoloCast2 said about CI vs Uxmal, we opted to focus on thequieter sites and I don't regret it.

Merida was very enjoyable too and overall we very much enjoyed the holiday.

SambaChula

"In trip planning, almost every country has it's special issue that causes anxiety, and taxis in Mexico was one. So, to re-emphasize, absolutely no problem with the taxi from the airport to the Hampton. In fact, while there were mostly passenger cars in the taxi queue, they put us in a nice 8 person van - which might be good for your family. (We guessed that they were sending a van into Centro for a pickup of more than 2 people.)"

That (the van) accounts for the higher price than I paid for a passenger car sized taxi to the same area of the city (rate is set by area). Before I left, I read that was one scam often used with unsuspecting tourists to drive up the price of a taxi ride from the airport. When I was given a price at the taxi booth for the area I was going to (centro historico), I made sure to confirm that the rate was for a regular car, not a van.

PaoloCast2

Hi SambaChula,
I don't want to worry this issue on taxis to centro to death, but I made the "no problem" point to SuziiQ.
We went to the "Authorized Taxi" booth in Arrivals and showed the man the address for the Hampton Inn Centro Storico. I paid him 329 pesos and was given the chit. I dug out the chit from re-cycling. I won't try to translate but the operative info reads:

Sitio 300 Yellow Cab A.C.
ZONA 4
TIPO PAGO MXN
VENTANILLA
SERVICO EJECUTIVO 329.00
7 PASAJEROS MAX
UN SOLO DESTINO
FACTURACION

Are you saying that I got the van price instead of taxi price and that I should have said "taxi not van" at the booth? At the time, my quick and rough calculation was that the price was about $18American, and I figured that was pretty good for what was about a 50-60 minute ride from the airport to the Hampton. Some of these guys may be crooked but I doubt they're stupid. Why tie up a van for 79 extra pesos?
In any case, it sure beats $150Australian that SuziiQ was quoted. I recall getting some pretty high prices from Royal Tours for pickup at the airport when I was researching taxis/cars to Teotihuacan.
I feel as though I (we) owe some clarification to SuziiQ since it sounds as though two adults, two children, and luggage might require a van.

Leely2

Great report, thank you! This summer I visited--and loved--Mexico City and also got hooked on pre-Columbian sites (Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Cholula). Want to return and see more, so this is very helpful. Glad you had a good trip and I appreciate all the detail.

Fra_Diavolo

Nice detailed report. I hope to get back to MC soon.

I was surprised though at your disappointment with the Citadel at Teotihuacan. The first sight of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl left me dumbstruck. I wonder if something has changed -- access or approach.

Anyway, thanks.

PaoloCast2

Hi Fra Diavolo,

I looked back at my report, and perhaps I damned the Citadel with faint praise. We started at the Temple of the Sun, went to the museum; spent a lot of time on the Avenue of the Dead; a lot of time at the Temple of the Moon complex etc. So, by the time we got to the Citadel, we were probably a bit too tired to be "Wowed" again. Still, if one had to budget their time and had the ability as we did I'd still recommend starting at the Sun, then going to the Moon, and leave the Citadel for last. It will all still remain a high point of this and our overall travels.

SambaChula

Well, PauloCast_2, you got me curious enough to dig out my receipts.
The details on mine read:
Sitio300
Zona 4 (I stayed near the cathedral)
Preco. $215.00. (which makes me think I got ripped off because I know I paid 250 pesos at the booth, the return by regular taxi was 180 pesos)
Fecha 24/2/2016 2:51pm
Modalidad. SEDAN