Mexico or the adventures of Russians in a foreign land!
My friend and I decided to spend the New Year in Mexico. They chose for a long time, but for some reason they stopped on it. Honestly, having gone there, we knew about the country only from the TV shows of the "local" production, nothing more. We hoped that we would study everything on the spot... A big mistake...
The adventure began long before the start of the tour. It turned out that it takes 40 days to get a visa, that it’s not so easy to get it, that everything is actually checked in the “States”, and those, as you know, don’t really like our brother.
They were supposed to fly on December 28.2007 on an Air France flight via Paris. However, while we were thinking about the details, the tickets suddenly ran out. The tour operator offered a new option - to fly early in the morning on December 30 via Frankfurt. After some time, the tickets were confirmed, and we paid for the tour (we were "pleasantly" surprised by its cost - 160.000 rubles per person, from December 30.2007 to January 13.2008). This is how September went.
Time passed, in October I had to redo the card for the embassy 3 times, fingerprints did not fit in any way. When the third attempt turned out to be successful, we seemed to have calmed down and began to wait for a vacation.
In mid-December, our visa was confirmed, and a week before the trip, we received the documents in our hands.
December 29, we went to bed late, not earlier than 2 am. We celebrated the "departure" and the new year with everyone who wanted to celebrate it with us. And at 5 am we were already at Sheremetyevo-2 (flight LH-361 was supposed to take off at 7 am). Imagine my surprise when the rest, including later flights, were already registered, and there was a blank screen on the scoreboard opposite our flight. By the nature of my service, I fly often, and I am very familiar with the peculiarities of “national flights”, I know that if this happens, then 2 options are possible: 1) the plane is hopelessly broken; 2) the plane did not fly.
From 6 in the morning, a line of dissatisfied passengers began to accumulate at the Lufthansa counter.
By 7 am, the whole plane (250 people) had already attacked this counter, where only one employee worked (by the way, after such a day she had to erect a monument! ). Not only did neither the information service of Sheremetyevo, nor this "aunt" from Lufthansa say a word, but the representative office of Lufthansa in Russia was also silent (the answering machine joyfully congratulated us on New Years, and sent us until January 9, when in Russia work days begin).
We also decided not to lay down our weapons, but we did not attack the 2x2 stand, where 200 people were already crowded. I called my friend, who holds a high position in the "Terminal" (Sheremetyevo-3 is being built). After waking him up and explaining the situation, we continued collecting information on the spot. The comrade, meanwhile, got through to the MASH technical service, where he was told curious details: the plane flew to Moscow on December 29 at 23.00 already with a malfunction - after landing, he was diagnosed with “engine surge”. We will not go into details, but, according to a friend, they could not physically make it (only Siberia flies in the Russian Federation on such aircraft, this is just such an airbus that crashed a year earlier in Irkutsk - A310) due to lack of spare parts. At the same time, the head office in Germany knew about the breakdown since the evening, and did not want to send it to the spare board.
At about 7 am, they announced on the loudspeaker that the flight was delayed, and that an additional announcement would be made in an hour (by the way, nothing was announced about this flight either an hour later or later).
We started calling the hyped phone of the Ministry of Transport (such as a round-the-clock hotline, you can complain about the airline). 2 minutes of long beeps, some grandmother answered, saying: “H... are you calling, we have been working since the 9th. Nobody here! ". At the Lufthansa head office, calls were answered more correctly: "Sir, dont vorry, we know about e problems, weiting pliiiiiz... ".
The mobile phones of representatives of the Pac Group tour operator were turned off, and the office began to answer only from 10 am, saying that “we are not in the know, what is happening to you, call the airline... ”. And it's a New Year's treat for 6 bucks per person!
At 7.30 another representative of Lufthansa came and said that the plane would not fly, the flight was canceled for technical reasons. And she added - ". . . we will rebook on other flights... " And at the end the meanest thing: ". . . if there are places... ".
The situation called for immediate intervention. The people began to shout indignantly. All connections were broken. The "booth" of Lufthansa was practically stormed, while tearing off the sign of the airline. We teamed up with 5 compatriots who also flew to Mexico City. We were 3 couples and one man, his name was Gena. As he said - his brother - Sergey - is the director of the Pac Group in Mexico City. We decided to unite. By 9:30 a. m. , we broke through to the center window and were barely booked for a flight to Paris at 10:25 a. m. (and from there to Mexico City). Registration was already coming to an end, however, the “most kind” representatives of the airport said, “Huh. . were you sent here? We don't have a place. . . " We practically begged on our knees to put us on the flight (that's for 6 pieces of bucks per person! ). When registration ended, we were told that there were 6 places (and we were 7). As a result, people began to argue who will fly. Especially this "brother Gennady". My friend and I lost to this Gennady, and he flew alone on two chairs. And we stayed.
Returning to the counter, I saw how a group of people, about 30 people, surrounded a certain person - it was the deputy. director of Lufthansa in Russia Yuri Evgenievich (unfortunately I don’t know his last name... ). Everyone wanted to fly to their points on time. It’s a pity, but many didn’t fly anywhere: 15 people didn’t have time to board the cruise ship in Miami, and went home, people flew to Goa not on the 30th, but on the 2nd, and to Caracas on the 1st of January.
Seeing this, I began to “storm” the Lufthansa counter again. I found a couple more compatriots heading to Mexico City. Having reached the counter again, they announced to us that there were no connections and you, like, were in flight. We raised such a scandal that they even pulled the police from Sheremetyevo to us. And then the woman who had been working with this crowd since 5 in the morning suddenly said: “wait, there are 5 seats for the evening flight from Madrid…”, and started punching new tickets. By 12 o'clock we had tickets to Madrid (departure at 19.00), and from Madrid to Mexico City (departure at 00.40).
It's time to get even with the airline. Yuri Evgenievich, seeing my mood, immediately suggested that we “get drunk” in any restaurant, bring him checks, which he kindly agreed to compensate. And I had to compensate neither more nor less - 8.000 rubles. Moreover, I also had to fork out for a hotel. Ironically, the only available rooms were all-inclusive junior suites at the local Novotel, one of which we kindly occupied (I won’t name the price of the room, but the figure exceeds a thousand dollars a day).
Let me tell you, we are lucky. People lost their connection to the USA, and they were late for the New Year's cruise to the Caribbean countries. Everyone left to celebrate the holiday at home. In Caracas, in Goa, people flew on January 1-3 (instead of the promised 30-31)...
Having eaten, drunk, slept off, in the evening we flew to Madrid. 5 hours flying, 2 hours in the dutik, and then 12 hours to Mexico City. The flight was at night, so I, unlike my companion, slept all the way. Iberia, by the way, is not such a bad airline as it is “painted” on the net.
At 6 am local time, we arrived in Mexico City. The impression of what they saw through the porthole is amazing - on both sides of the side the city was visible to the very horizon. And no matter how we circled over it, its borders were not visible.
We were met by the director of the Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation in Mexico, at the same time the representative of the tour operator in this country, Sergei (it was his brother who did not give us a seat on the Paris flight). He quickly rounded up the 6 of us (in Madrid we found 2 more couples from a Lufthansa flight). On the way, he said that those who arrived yesterday from Paris were sitting without luggage. I’ll get ahead of myself, but I’ll add that the luggage was brought to people on December 31 at 23.00 in the evening (and for almost 2 days people walked in the same clothes, without personal hygiene products, etc. ). By the way, the suitcase of this Gennady was never found (we learned this on the flight... ).
Sergei brought us to our hotel - "Gran Melia Mexico City". I will say that Melia stayed in hotels often. This one also confirmed its "five". That's where we parted ways with Sergei...
No sooner had we had breakfast than the guide came for us. We were taken with a "review" of Mexico City, then, of course, to the souvenir market, and in the second part of the event - to Teoteokan, on the top of the largest pyramid of which we met the Russian New Year. The time difference and a difficult flight nevertheless took their toll, on the way back it was cut down so that we could hardly get out of the bus. I specifically briefly talk about excursions - come and see for yourself.
Separately, about the meeting of the New Year. For 130 bucks per person (without alcohol), dinner was poor - salad, soup, second, a modest dessert. No buffets and mass celebrations. "Entertainment" also limped - local dances "about nothing" - they got tired of them in half an hour. We will remember for the rest of our lives how they fed us dumplings. They brought a plate to my neighbor Sveta, there were 2 dumplings on it. She ate one and cut the other one. A waiter runs up, grabs a plate of dumplings from her and gives it to another Russian girl. We are all in shock, she is trying to explain to him that it will not eat. The waiter was not at a loss, and offered the dumpling to the next one... Summing up, at one in the morning local time, having drunk "Soviet" (specially brought from Moscow, taught by the experience of past years), we went to bed.
In the morning, after walking around the hotel, we began to gather. We were on a flight to Cancun. 2 hour flight and we are there. Although, they rightly say that the resort is American, it was clearly not happy to see our "Russian team" - that evening a hurricane flew by (strong wind, rain, etc. ). This weather, which lasted for 3 days, spoiled part of the expensive vacation, and the sea calmed down only on the day of departure - January 13!
We were settled in Gran Melia Cancun. I must say right away that of the entire Melia chain, where I happened to visit, the hotel in Cancun turned out to be the worst. The interior is of course excellent, but everything else... Meals for a maximum of 3, - and in quality, and in variety, and in taste. On the first day I was struck by the queue at the restaurant for dinner. Moreover, it was created by the hotel employees themselves - people were led around the hall for a long time, seating them. Then the concierge walked back for a long time and seated the next couple... Very slowly! It should be noted that the Mexicans are all very slow, they obviously do not like to work, and until you give a “kick” twice, no one will really do anything. This applies to all servants in the hotel, on the streets, in restaurants, etc. But there are worse hotels. The other couple lived at the Oasis Hotel. This is the most "American" hotel. And the majority of local residents do not like him, and tourists, in fact, too... I have not seen so many Americans aged 18 or over anywhere. Moreover, if in the “states” they don’t get anything except for a light “Budweiser”, then here they drank whatever they wanted. And then they “yelled” at the whole hotel at night and staged orgies on the beach. In general, who wants to sleep with an American (American), everyone here - get everything on the first night. At the same time, the hotel is a level cheaper than others.
You can talk separately about excursions. They are really expensive. An excursion to the "shkaret" (national park) with a Russian-speaking guide costs 130 bucks per person. At the same time, the park is clearly poor, and the markups there are from 100 percent. An English-language tour is 2 times cheaper, and if you go wild, you will save another 20 percent of the original cost. Together with a couple from Surgut, we rented a car (we’ll talk about the features of national car rental below), and in a day we drove around 3 sightseeing places - Koba, Chitchen Itzu, Tulum, saving 150 bucks per person. And there are pyramids everywhere! In fact, the pyramids quickly get bored. All excursions are of the same type - the pyramids and the ruins around them, located in different parts of the Yucatan Peninsula. After Teoteokan they look poor, and even the price is too high. The second type of excursion is “natural”. They drag you around the national parks, show you 2-3 cockatoos, 1 monkey, fish and butterflies. In general, for such money, too, about nothing. It is also boring on the islands and in the sea, everything is ordinary, as in Turkey. Only an order of magnitude more expensive.
Now about cars. I already wrote above that we rented a wheelbarrow. Several features of cheating tourists. They turned, as time showed, in vain, nai... ali in full. Know, dear compatriots, that Europcar is a crook in this market. Firstly, the prices are high, the cars suck, old and dead. Secondly, carefully describe all defects down to the smallest. For example, on the right door, I noted 12 large scratches, I did not even take into account the small ones. But in vain! The receiver for the return of the car counted 16 of them (! ), while demanding compensation of 60 bucks. You say insurance? The contract says that the maximum amount of coverage is 90% of the amount of damage caused. At the same time, everyone points a finger at the contract, in which you signed some time ago. To avoid this, add in the contract the phrase in Russian "The terms of the contract were not explained to me in my native language, there may be inaccuracies in the interpretation. " From the word “interpretation”, even experienced Russian-speaking Mexicans go into a “stupor”, and you can save a lot of money (in case of problems). By the way, about Russian - only a few speak “our”, enough to count the fingers. So - about the cars. I discovered an interesting fact for myself - the largest fine in Mexico - for improper parking - from 60 to 120 bucks, depending on the city and parking place. Another feature is that you can park at the intersection at least 15 meters before it starts (in Russia - 5 meters). Of course, we did not know this, and ran into a fine. In our absence, Inspector Gonzalez issued a fine, put it under the windshield wiper and... And twisted the back number, infection. Such rules in Mexico - for incorrect parking, the rear number is twisted (only the rear, the front is not allowed). So if you want to leave the car near the entrance to the local city hall, immediately roll up the back number (this is done very simply). Well, I forgot about the fact of the absence of a number, but the receiver did not! In addition to the scratches, they also charged me 110 bucks for the room. I fought off scratches, but not from the number - I had to pay (more precisely, the money was simply withdrawn from my credit card, referring to the terms of the signed contract). Interestingly, after a couple of days I found the strength to rent another car - from Avis. Interestingly, a premium class car cost 30% less than a barn in a Eurocar. At the same time, no one appeared either due to scratches or other defects... As our guide said on the phone, they have such a business. Europcar itself, whose office is located in the hotel, knows that you park your car in the parking lot at the hotel for the night, quietly at night their representative rolls up the number, and then presents a fine for losing the number.
Now about the guides. Honestly, they don't exist at all. Only one company operates on the Russian-speaking market - ArminaS Travel. The main Russian-speaking guides work there. Its founder, a certain Armina, used to work in Pak Group, left a year ago and opened her own company. She has a husband - Mark - the main guide, who really knows nothing. He has a cousin Tony - our guide, who never showed up... For the whole vacation. And he did not solve a single problem, which, as you understand, there were many.
Finally, about cheating. Everyone deceives our brother. . . Whoever can. For example, drivers of local buses - when traveling 13 pesos for two, from 20 they give change 5-6, but not seven. And when you start telling them something, they pretend they don't understand. . . Or souvenirs in the market. We bought 12 bottles of souvenir tequila - inside instead of tequila there was tinted water. In restaurants, everyone runs after you, demanding a 10% tip. Many manage to include them in the bill and still demand something from above.
And the most interesting thing is that in Cancun, in principle, longing. A week later, I already wanted to go to Moscow so much that I would have flown even today...
They flew back without incident. Only the places were given in w... ne and separately from each other. As the representative of the airport explained, Lufthansa allocated such a block for the Russians! Goats, damn it.
In general, you can go to Mexico. Then tell your friends and colleagues. But in the off season. When we flew, the price / quality is below average...