Two taxis and a flat tire

Two years ago the taxi ride from Cancun to Chiquila took 2 hours and 15 minutes. Today i.e. Friday, the taxi ride took 5 hours. Well, two taxis and a flat tire, I said.

Empezamos a las nueve de la manana con Carlos, nuestro taxista, muy buena gente. Nos llevo' por otra ruta, una carretera de cuota, mejor, mas rapido. Despues de manejar un buen rato resulto' que la salida a Chiquila' estaba cerrada a causa del huracan Wilma. Alguien le aviso' a Carlos que regresando diez kilometros tal vez pudiera encontrar otra salida abierta. So we went back but it was no go. The exits were closed. Now we had to go all the way back to Cancun to pick up the old carretera that we had taken before. Llegando alla' resulto' que el propietario del taxi no habia renovado el permiso para que nuestro taxista manejara en la carretera federal. So he wasn't allowed to take his taxi on this road. He called another taxi to come and get us and take us to Chiquila'. Meanwhile we are patiently waiting thinking maybe we should have taken the bus, which usually takes 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Oh, well, our second taxi arrived about ten minutes later and after giving Carlos some pesos to cover the gas and working out a fair rate for the second taxi driver, so we didn't end up paying more than we had arranged, we were off.

La carretera estaba dura...rough, full of pot holes, llena de baches and mostly under repair. The plan was to catch the 12 noon boat to Holbox, but now it was 11 thirty and we still had a two hour or more ride ahead of us.

En camino se nos poncho' una llanta y nos paramos para que el taxista la cambiara. The flat tire.
Total que llegamos como siete minutos antes de las dos cuando salia el otro barco para Holbox. Tuvimos suerte porque nos subimos y no esperamos mucho para salir.

Durante la corta espera, Teo vio un perro que andaba en el barco caerse al agua. No one seemed to notice the dog except Teo who then called someone y un joven logro' a salvarlo mientras Teo detenia al joven para que no se cayera el al agua. Estaba yo adentro del barco leyendo cuando regreso' Teo y me dijo, "You missed all the action."

Llegando a Holbox nos encontramos con Esther, la administradora del hotel donde siempre nos quedamos y nos dio un aventon en su carrito de golf. Asi que no tuvimos que pagar taxi. Pense' que si hubieramos llegado a medio dia no la habriamos encontrado. Ella nos platico' de las noticias y de la derrumbe de la isla por el huracan.

I love this place. Much of it looks the same as before and much of it has been reconstructed and some hotels, restaurants and houses are just rubble, escombros. But it survived. Sobrevivio'. El mar ha subido un poco en algunas partes y hay menos playa, pero de todos modos la playa es hermosa y hay una tranquilidad que no se encuentra en ningun lado facilmente. Ojala' que se quede asi'.

Soy Lorena
1/27/07