Getting Around: Taking the Collectiva Van

Honestly, I would never have thought to go out to the highway and wait for a van to come and pick me up.  No appointment, no concierge, no worries...I am told.

We are on the Mayan Peninsula here in Mexico spending two weeks.  The end of our beautiful vacation is in sight and I am only beginning to learn the ins and outs of this world.

When we want to go to the next community or even from one end of the resort to the other, people come and take us. That is the luxury of coming to a place like this. But sometimes we want to go to a place that does not fit into the resort's routine. For example, we took a shuttle into Cancun last night so that we could have a special dinner to celebrate out anniversary/Thanksgiving. The van really was not going where we wanted to be but it was what was available so we just went with the flow.

Wish You Were Here!

The area we visited was at the far end of the hotel zone in Cancun where we were dropped at a mall. The van driver demanded the round trip fair and it seemed reasonable that he would. But actually what we had in mind was staying later so we wanted to travel into the city center and take a taxi back out. We were flexible and he could not afford to be. We did it his way.

It is all good though. A van ride always turns out to be an education. That is where we heard about the collectiva taxi service. It seems the vans travel up an down the highway here picking up resort tourist and taking them either to Cancun, to Playa del Carmen, Tulum or anywhere else you want to be dropped along their route.

How do you do that? You get up and walk out to the highway. Get on the side of the road going in the direction you want to travel. Wait. Negotiate a price for your destination. Get off, do what you want and go back out to the road to go back to your resort. Now please, I have not done this but the woman that told me about it is experienced, very well educated and has been to this area 6 times at all times of the year. I believe that it really works.

So there you have it...my tip for the day.

Have a great one.

b+