We're in Mexico!

Our Mexcellent adventure has now officially begun: I am posting now from our hostel in Cancún, trying my best to master these funky Mexican keyboards (and, I might add, succeeding admirably).

We left the house this morning at about 4:45 Tucson time and made our way to the airport (thanks in large part to the heroic early morning efforts of Emily's parents) to catch our flight. We had an easy trip to Denver, during which I tried to sleep but had a hard time ignoring the loud, incessant chatter of the two men in front of us, who apparently believe there's a lot of money to be made in alfalfa farming. The Denver-Cancún leg was almost equally easy, except for some bumpiness as we started our descent over the Yucatan. Throughout the trip Emily and I were lucky enough to have a half-row (3 seats) to ourselves.

We made our way through customs without a problem and then began the adventure of finding the bus to get downtown. As soon as one leaves the airport here, swarms of Mexicans descend on you in an effort to get you to take their cab, or their shuttle, or their friend's Fiat, to your destination. In an effort to convince us, one guy explained that no bus to downtown existed (false), and that if it did exist, then you would have to walk 3km to find it (also false). As it turned out, the bus was located at the domestic terminal, which makes sense, given that it is mostly taken by locals. After a bit of a hike, we found the bus area, got the bus to downtown, and saved ourselves a bit of green (or, as it is in Mexico, a bit of purple, pink, blue, and green).

The trip from the downtown bus station to our hostel was another adventure. We reserved a hostel ahead of time, out of the concern that Cancún might run out of beds before we got here, so we had a specific destination in mind, much to the disappointment of a couple of locals who were eager to convince us to the spend the night at their own preferred establishments. After some criss-crossing of parks and a bit of frustration by Emily and my unwillingness to stop and ask for directions (yay for living up to stereotypes), we encountered one woman who noticed we were lost and explained to us how to get to the hostel. Then she offered "un tip"--at least, Emily and I thought she was offering. It turned out, she wanted un tip, so we begrudgingly gave her a buck (tourists!) and went on our way.

We are now at the hostel, which is just fine, though nothing special. We'll be sharing a room with six other travelers, the two of us sleeping in a bunk bed. It's much like being back in summer camp. That's about it for now. We're both tired from a long day and ready to take it pretty easy tonight. Tomorrow we begin exploring.