For this trip, Daniel and I wanted to visit somewhere a little less on the beaten path. We really wanted to see if we could make it a whole week in a foreign country with minimal luggage; I'm talking carry-on only friends. We wanted to do something that would test our backpacking limits and give us a good introduction to what it's like to be fully immersed in another culture while still being in somewhat familiar territory.
We chose Mexico because Daniel had never been. We've been learning Spanish, and we really wanted to practice in authentic situations. We knew if we stayed on a resort, we would get an Americanized version of Mexico, but that's not what we wanted. We wanted to learn about this beautiful culture, to meet local people and see how they live. So, here's our (slightly) exotic little gem...Puerto Morelos.
There were dozens of restaurants and shops along the main plaza. We loved this little libreria (book store) where we met a Canadian expat who told us how happy she was living here. We also enjoyed exploring el supermercado (the supermarket). You could buy anything you needed including flip flops and reef friendly sunscreen at reasonable prices.
Puerto Morelos (pronounced more-ray-los) is a small fishing village about 25 miles south of Cancun. While it does have its share of tourists, it's not the party city of Cancun, nor is it the upscale resort town of Playa del Carmen, which is further south along the Riviera Maya.
The sea is Puerto Morelos's claim to fame. Local fishermen depend on it for the abundance of fresh seafood that's found throughout this region's local cuisine. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, also called the Great Mayan Reef, is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and the the second largest in the world. It runs all the way from Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, and down to Honduras. The reef protects these warm waters and beaches and provides shelter to sea creatures. Some of the best snorkeling and diving in the world is found along this coast.
Puerto Morelos has had a working lighthouse since 1905 to warn ships of the coral reef. The current lighthouse replaced its predecessor when it was blown off kilter by Hurricane Beulah in 1967. El Faro Inclinado (the Leaning Lighthouse) is still standing in its original location as a symbol of strength and resilience.
Puerto Morelos has a laid back, slow paced vibe with an old central plaza and charming paved streets. Here, locals, expats, and visitors create a marvelously diverse atmosphere. In addition to local Mexican flavors (which, in this region, have a distinctly Caribbean flair) you can find top-notch Asian, Indian, Italian restaurants and more.
Shopping was quite an experience. Haggling and bartering is the way it's done in the street market, so make sure you come prepared to negotiate.
Tourists here are mostly Mexicans, North American snowbirds, backpackers, and eco-travelers from all over the world. We heard lots of European languages and accents. No one just assumed we spoke English, and we loved getting to apply all the Spanish we'd been learning. Of course lots of people here do speak English, so when we we were dancing around words, it was okay fall back on English. The locals love you for trying and are eager to explain and correct. This is one reason Puerto Morelos is such a great place to start your exotic travel adventures.
Getting There
Cancun International Airport (CUN) is about a 30 minute drive from Puerto Morelos. Managing this airport as a first timer can be a little intimidating. As soon as you exit customs, you are bombarded with timeshare panhandlers, tour group offers, and cab drivers. Our B&B arranged for us to be picked up for $55 USD, but if that's not an option for you, you won't have any trouble getting an official taxi. A cab from CUN to Puerto Morelos should cost you about $600 MXN ($30 USD) at time of posting.
Can I Rent a Car?
Absolutely! You can rent a car with your U.S. driver's license (no International DL needed). There are several major rental companies right inside the airport. We rented a car in Puerto Morelos for $45 USD per day. It was super easy. Insurance should come with it automatically, but verbally verify just in case. Road rules are similar to the US, and, while signs are in Spanish, it's pretty common sense what they mean based on their placement and the pictures on them.
Hotel Amar Inn B & B
We fell in love with the Hotel Amar Inn B&B. I found it online and it had great reviews, one of them now mine. It is right on the beach and a short walk to everything in town. We paid a little over $500 USD for our M-F stay. They have cheaper rooms, but we splurged for their best bungalow with an ocean view, and we weren't disappointed. But, before you book, you need to remember why you decided to come to Puerto Morelos verses a 5 star resort in Playa. This is a living-local adventure!
We were surrounded by a tropical oasis complete with wildlife. Our bungalow had more of an outdoor feel that we were used to. While we felt extremely safe and secure, we were living more with nature than around nature. There were small cracks and crevices and the doors and windows weren't sealed. While the larger iguanas were content sunning themselves outside, there were small lizards darting around the walls and ceiling inside our room. We just reminded ourselves that they ate the bugs. They were too skittish to come anywhere near us, and we just made sure our suitcases and toiletries were sealed up tight when we weren't there.
Our toilet had no flusher, which was because it was actually a hole in the ground. I can't tell you how far it went down, but I can say that not once did it smell. I said this was an adventure right?! Everything around us exuded peace and tranquility and the toilet was just part of the experience.
The Amar staff was incredible. Soon after I booked online, they emailed me directly to confirm and ask if I had any special requests. This is where we arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport. The day before we arrived, they texted me specific directions on how to exit the airport and where our driver would meet us. The morning we arrived, they texted me to let me know our driver, Pablo, was at the airport and continued to text with me until we found him waiting with our names on a sign just where they said he would be. It was reassuring to know that the hotel was not only expecting us but there to guide us as we entered a foreign country.
Marta met us by name at the entrance, checked us in, and showed us around our room. In addition to all the space in the room, we had a private rooftop balcony with a table and loungers. There was a large container of fresh drinking water in our room, which they kept full. We also had a microwave, fridge, TV, and the blessed AC unit along with two fans. They had beach chairs, beach towels, and sunscreen for us to use in the common area as well. The daily traditional Mexican breakfast was delicious, and Marta even double checked if we had any allergies or special nutritional needs.
There was always someone available to help us arrange plans or answer questions, and they greeted us by name every time they saw us. Christian made several calls to help us plan our day at the Cenotes including scheduling a cab to pick us up. Luis arranged for a doctor to come to our room to administer our preflight COVID test (thank goodness that's over now!). The service was impeccable. There was a little "leave and take" library, and my favorite moments at the hotel were spent reading in the hammock by the pool.
La Playa (The Beach)
More recently, the city has begun catering to low key tourism with local boat owners operating snorkeling, diving, and fishing tours. At the time of this post, a two hour hired boat to the reef with snorkel equipment was under $20 USD per person; just catch one of the boatmen on the pier or the main plaza looking for business. Since it's such a slow paced small town, business is coveted; you will be well taken care of in anything you do here.
We missed Hurricane Agatha by a few days, and you could see the aftermath of seaweed on the beach, but it wasn't bad at all. The water was crystal clear and workers came by and raked. We loved how natural everything was, which made us feel more like we were actually in the authentic tropical paradise that we were.
In the center of town, right off the main plaza, is a small pier. Every evening, locals gathered around the pier and plaza taking in the evening ocean breezes and drinking well earned cervezas (beers) after bringing in their catch...either fish or tourists. Kids run around, people play music, sell their wares, and generally just hang out. We felt absolutely safe walking around town day and night.
Cenotes
My favorite part of this trip was visiting the cenotes (pronounced sin-no-tay). There are no rivers in this part of central Mexico. There is a large underground aquifer that runs (like underground rivers) throughout much of the Yucatan. Every so often, there is an opening where the limestone has collapsed and the water is exposed; this is the cenote.
We visited Cenote Zapote, an ecological park with four different cenotes, one of many in this region. We paid $40 for our driver to take us to the park (about 20 minutes away), wait for the entire time we were there, drive us to one of the other cenotes and wait while we explored that one, and then bring us home. Our driver, David, spoke un poco Ingles (a little English) and we spoke un poco Espanol (a little Spanish), and between us, we were able to get a pretty good guided tour on the drive out there.
The Ruta de los Cenotes (Route of the Cenotes) takes you on a miles long journey through the jungle. There are signs directing you to the various crystal clear natural freshwater cenotes, many of which have flooded caves that you can even explore if you're brave enough.
Most cost between $5 and $15 USD per person to enter and swim. We paid $40 USD per person because our park had four Cenotes, one with a zipline; we were not disappointed.
Two of the four cenotes at Cenote Zapote (Zapote is a type of tree) were completely underground except for a few small openings. You would never even know they were here from above. The water was ice cold, but felt so good in the heat. Tree roots and vines from above somehow found their way down to the water in the underground cenotes, and there were stalactite and stalagmites everywhere. There weren't any bats and only a few small fish.
This was a unique experience, and I loved every minute of it. I swam one handed out to the back of one of the caves holding my phone out of the water just to get these amazing shots. Visiting the rest of the Ruta de los Cenotes is definitely on my short term bucket list.
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza (pronounced chech-in eat-za) is an ancient Mayan city that dates back to around 900 AD. It was a powerful regional capital that served as a major trading and religious center. In modern times, people have been visiting the area since as early as the 1840s; it has been excavated as an archaeological site since as early as the 1860s and has continued to be to present day. In 2007, it was designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and in 2017, approximately 2.1 million people visited this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Interestingly, the site had been owned by private individuals until the Mexican government legally purchased the land in 2010.
Chichen Itza is about a three hour drive from Puerto Morelos. Even though we knew it would take all day, we decided that we couldn't be this close and not visit. We also didn't want to be stuck with a tour group for that long, so we rented a car and made the drive part of our adventure.
The villages we saw along the route confirmed how poor the people in rural Mexico really are. We learned that the average wage for these people is equivalent to $20 USD per day. And no, that's not enough to live on even in this part of the world. It's not uncommon for extended families to live together and pool resources. It's also not uncommon for people to supplement their incomes by making handicrafts and having several small side businesses.
We learned so many interesting things about Chichen Itza because of our guide Candelario. He made our visit so much more enjoyable with all the facts and info that only someone intimately familiar with the area would know. We found him on the walk up to the site. He showed us his official tour guide license, and gave us his price, $50 USD, for a private tour. He showed us which entry tickets to buy ($35 USD each) and took us through security. There were lots of other tours there with big groups that were booked as excursions through tour companies. I loved that we decided not to do that and just try to explore ourselves. We would never have met Candelario and had the fascinating private tour. I totally recommend snagging an official guide when you get there; you will learn so much about this awe-inspiring wonder.
Our trip to Puerto Morelos, Mexico was everything we wanted it to be. The locals appreciated that we were not afraid to use our limited Spanish and learn as much as we could about their language, land, and culture. I am certain this is why we had such a engaging experience. We never met a person we were intimidated by who was unkind to us. Even the one guy who tried to scam us (and almost did!) gave us a full refund and advice which is pretty unheard of since sin devoluvion (no refunds) is pretty standard here.
Mexicans are a vibrant, friendly, relationship driven people, and we fell in love with their culture. We soaked in as much as we could, and it only left us wanting more. If you are looking for a beginner's "exotic" adventure while still leaning on the somewhat familiar, give Puerto Morelos a chance, and let us know what you think!
Are you ready to start planning your own Mexican mini-break?! Let me take care of all the logistics so you can experience Mexico at its best!
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