Izamal was so humid in April, that when we left, all we could think about was iced coffee. We'd spent the morning wandering around the town, as neither of us really wanted to leave - but eventually figured we'd best hit the road. When we were emptied out onto the highway, Leanne looked at me and said "you know, they have those really good iced coffees at Chichen Itza..."
The expression of utter shock on the tour guides faces when we told them we weren't there to see Chichen Itza, but had merely stopped for coffee still amuses me. One man followed us as we walked to the gate, "but you can't come all the way here, and not go inside!" We explained to him that we'd been twice before, and he started to laugh. "Okay, I see now!" I gotta say, we're pretty spoiled to be able to say we've stopped for coffee at Chichen Itza...
We enjoyed the old highway from Piste to Tulum, but I think I will always have issues navigating my way through Valladolid. (That said, next trip I'd like to stay there.) From Chemax to Tulum, I was suprised how the road had changed. In 1996, we'd been stopped at a military check point, and one man had held a machine gun within inches of my mothers head, while the other man searched the trunk. In 2007, the turn-off to Coba was being constructed into a massive round-about, which was our first clue that Coba was going to be full of tourists.
Neither of us are into lying on beaches, but that doesn't mean we don't love being at the beach! It was such a relief to be at the beach, but sad to know our little adventure was drawing to a close. Zamas was beautiful, and we were impressed by our suite. We had a few different balconies, some with a beach view, and one on the back that overlooked Sain Kaan. For some reason, from the moment we arrived, I started thinking "this is where I'm going to see my spider."
We decided to head for the grocery store at Tulum, and as we came downstairs, Leanne said "There sure are a lot of ants here." I hadn't noticed them, and shrugged it off as no big deal, since they were in the kitchen. I guess I wasn't thinking...
The fridge was not plugged in, but as the door had been closed - it stank. Though you can't see the ants in this picture, believe me - they had a freeway engineered through this kitchen, heading straight for the beach from the back.
Just like all hotels at the beach, the towels had been folded into swans, and set up to make a heart. This suite was big enough for 10 people, so we were laughing about having so many beds to choose from.
Our salt-water shower in this heavily tiled bathroom was beautiful. I must say, I wouldn't want to clean all of that tile! I was unsure of how it would feel to wash and condition my hair in salt water, but my hair felt so sticky from the humidity, I didn't really care.
Holy Cow! Who needs a bed this big? I would hate to be in the middle, considering there's no AC, and the windows, as I was soon to find out - were unscreened (meaning most people use the bug nets, which trap the heat.) I snapped this picture, then stood by the window to catch the breeze. As it was getting late, I couldn't see if there were screens in the window, so began putting my hand through the gaps of the blinds. To my surprise, there were no screens. I turned around, and this is what I saw running along the edge of the bed:
Thing is - he looks really small in this picture. We get wolf spiders in Canada, some of which can get quite large - but this spider was by far, at least as large as my hand. She was around 3.5 inches across, but what disturbed us the most was that she just ran back and forth along the edge of the bed, as if she were guarding something....like, babies? eeewww! Leanne said "I'll go get the broom!" And I replied, "If you try to hit that thing with a broom, it'll jump on your head!" I stayed in the room with the spider, to keep my eye on it. I am absolutely terrified of spiders!! But then Leanne let out a sigh. "Um, Jennie? I think you should come and see this..."
And there we had our second unwelcome house-guest! Scorpions don't really bother me so much, (I've never seen a big one) - I'm mainly just arachnophobic....but Leanne was very concerned with this little scorpion, due to the possibility of Mamma, and also - all of the siblings related to this little guy. I think we would have been okay, had it not been for the fact that I said "Okay, I think I should maybe pick my luggage up from the floor." But when I picked it up, a foot long lizard went running! Looking back on it, it's quite funny - but I think what bothered us most was that we'd paid $40 - $45 a night to stay in beautiful rooms, and this place was charging us $200 a night. We both feel that the ants were likely the cause of the problem, but we'd been shopping and were storing our food in the trunk of our rental, so it wouldn't attract the ants. That already felt like a bummer, considering the price we were paying - but to discover a massive spider, a scorpion and a lizard within minutes of the other, we began to wonder what else was there.
We approached the manager to see if there was another suite we could be moved to, but every room was taken. He told us he'd have someone come kill the spider, but at this point, we were convinced the ants were the problem - and were likely what attracted the other bugs. I was terrified of the spider, and Leanne was disturbed by the scorpion factor. He told us he could not refund us, but we decided to stay and eat at the fabulous restaurant. We ended up driving to Playa del Carmen that night, with great disappointment. One thing we did find out though, is that the highway is much nicer to drive in the dark, than during the day.
Upon coming home, we had a bit of a hard time convincing the management that we deserved a refund - but eventually they agreed that no person should be expected to pay $200 a night to stay in a bug-infested suite. At first, they tried to say we should have expected it - being in the tropics and all. I then explained that I'd been to Yucatan three times, and had stayed in very inexpensive hotels, and never seen a bug in my room, let alone a spider, scorpion and lizard within a minute of the other. (Leanne and I both love lizards - but wondered if we'd find a snake next.) The woman finally agreed to refund us, and I must say that considering how awesome the restaurant is, and the fact that the ants will be taken care of by the time I go back - I may yet give this place another chance. I do think I'd skip the kitchen-suite though, as I honestly believe the kitchen was likely what attracted the ants and other creatures.
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