Mayan Land: Day 4

Why did the best weather come last day?
So that we have to come back!

It was raining the first thing in the morning, so we decided to get dressed and have coffee at the café and not carry it in the rain. But, when we walked outside, the rain stopped and the clouds completely cleared up around 9 already. Yay! Beach time! The water was calm for the first time we were there. Too bad it was our last day. I even thought that if the weather was bad today we could go to the aviary we saw on the way back from downtown last night. But, we wouldn’t miss the time at the beach today.

The check out time was noon, but they let us stay until 1PM. Since we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 2.30, we stored our bags in the car (good thing about having our own vehicle) and went back to the beach for another hour. Had our coffee there and some pina-colada! We’ve had so many different drinks on this trip. : ) But they probably water down some of those drinks, because we didn’t see any alcohol effects.

After quick lunch, we were on the road. Stopped at one store downtown on the way, and found our way onto the main highway. The driving here is…a bit different. People don’t give turn signals, shift several lanes without any signaling, and drive some 20 km/h above the speed limit. Just before the exit ramp for the airport, it seems that the speed changed from 80 to 40 km/h, and the police lights came on behind me. I didn’t get a chance to stop before the circular ramp, and I didn’t think it was safe to stop on the ramp, so I tried to signal them I’ll stop at the top. But they then turned on the siren and started saying something on the megaphone. In Spanish. I stopped half way up. A friendly fella came to me, shook my hand, and ask for the license. I had no idea why I was stopped until he informed me. 88 on the radar. Oops! I said I was just following the flow of traffic, which I was. He said he’ll have to take my license to the police station 5 minutes away, and the ticket will be $150! Um, He said he’ll have to take my license to the police station 5 minutes away, and the ticket will be $150! Um, yaiks! I started pleading to let me go, we have a plane to catch…and I thought of just asking how much to just let me go. I heard of people doing it in some country, including Bosnia, but I didn’t do the research to find out if that’s common in Mexico. Well, he then just asked me: “I’ll be a nice guy, so how much would you give me to let you go?” Um, I don’t know, I was never asked that before, I said a bit confused. I offered $20, he scoffed, pointed to his buddy in the car, and wanted 20 each. I said, come on, you could have had a full car of your friends in the there. So, I just gave him a 20, he rolled it in his hand, and let us go. Ok, so now I know: If you do get caught speeding, test the waters first, and then offer some money. Better than paying 7 times more.

Finding the rent-a-car place took us several times circling around. They checked the car, and almost wanted to make me responsible for a little pebble chip on the windshield. But they didn’t. Checked-out, took the shuttle, got the boarding passes, and onto the gate just in time for boarding. No time to spare; well I guess we did spare a little with that cop.

Bye-bye the Caribbean’s . We’ve had a great time, relaxing and restful. You could have gave us more sunny days, but then again, I had enough sunburn. I think I could should do this every winter!