Changing plans

The perils of last minute travel. Sure, its exhilirating and spontaneous, but it doesn’t work so well when you’re dealing with airlines and peak season. We were hoping to go to Cuba, but hadn’t seen the need to buy air tickets in advance.

In fact, we questioned the need to fly there in the first place. Arriving in Cancun, the resort mega-city on the gulf of Mexico, Cuba seemed so close – surely it was just a short ferry ride away?

This turned out to be incorrect – there were no boats plying the Carribean between Cancun and Cuba, or any other part of Mexico for that matter. Booking an air ticket proved no more productive – each airline we checked would not allow us to search for flights to Havana – mysteriously the city was blanked out or we were advised to consult a travel agent.

Turns out, Cuba is not an easy place to get to, especially if you try to fly there at the last minute. This led us to abandon ship and contemplate a couple of weeks on the Yucatan peninsula, on which Cancun is located, before heading to Mexico City for our Spanish course for which the enrolment date is January 5.

With Cuba off the radar for now, our thoughts turned to how we would get around for the rest of our time in Mexico and into Central America and beyond. We are not really too keen on catching buses – sure, they are reliable and comfortable, but they are expensive in Mexico and just drop you off at the biggest town. It is hard to visit villages and out of the way spots and therefore get a real feel for what a place is like.

So the plan is to buy a car – a ute, or pickup as they would call them in Spanglish, this would be great for going camping on the beach, no fear of being bogged and would help us blend in with other Mexicans. So would a VW beetle, which they still appear to manufacture around here. Although as one hostel owner pointed out, a 15 year old VW made in Mexico and worked on by Mexicans for 15 years is bound to have a few problems. 

The plan of attack is to visit the Yucatan's biggest town - the commercial and cultural centre of Merida and attend the mega-car yard sale which takes place on Sundays. Its also where we will be for Christmas day, a Saturday, on which there are big outdoor markets and dancing festivals. Hopefully Santa will find us a not-too-unreliable wreck for Christmas!