PUNTA ALLEN
The seaside road sign at Tulum read ‘Punta Allen read 50 km’—about an hour’s drive on the sand road. With our trusty all-wheel drive Subaru it took an unbelievable 3 hours to reach that small village at the end of the peninsula! The large potholes were full of water as, of course, it was rainy season! Expecting a much shorter duration, we arrived with the gas tank on EMPTY. Uh-oh…there were no gas stations in the village! Luckily the fishermen we approached sold us some gas—not much tho’ because we only had equivalent of US$7 in cash with us. Crossed our fingers that it would suffice for the return drive to Tulum, and that we’d get there before dark! Looking for gas took priority over lingering in the village plus it was raining so we hit the road…or rather, returned to sand road-puddle-dodging.
It rained harder on the return drive. Our old Subaru slogged thru’ huge puddles giving us a scare when the water flowed over it’s hood a few times stalling the engine. Was dark by the time we reached the main highway in Tulum and pulled into the nearest gas station, only to be turned away because the attendant would only take payment in cash. Disappointed but not surprised as that is a common practice. A nearby station accepted a credit card and we were back on the road to our Playa del Carmen hotel—tired and hungry buy relieved to be on solid pavement!
On the way to Punta Allen (before it poured)
Bridge had some pavement but no sides!
After snorkeling the road to Punta Allen
see traveltoon ‘Punta Allen, Mex’ post
PUERTO MORELOS
A short drive south of Cancun, Puerto Morelos is where we shipped our car (to and from) Miami.
Puerto Morelos dock
Small town, quiet beach
Unusual property for sale
PUERTO JUAREZ
Just north of Cancun, the customs office for importing vehicles is located here.
Puerto Juarez customs office guard
Near Cancun but without any glitz
Puerto Juarez (yeah, he’s tidying the beach)
Besides ferry to Isla Mujeres, not much else
PUERTO VALLARTA
This trip was one of those quick decisions—you know, like when your domestic Canadian flight home is cancelled due to a snowstorm. A shopping mall travel agent had only 2 last minute choices departing the following morning: Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta. The rest is history…history indeed in our memories only as photos from that trip were lost in the shuffle between scanner/file folder/storage/moving ….see traveltoon ‘Puerto Vallarta’ post