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Before you land, the flight attendants will give you two forms to
complete: a customs declaration form and a Mexican Tourist Card [immigration
form]. When you finish filling these out, put them with your identification.
The first is about your stuff, the second is about you. You will need
to present them after landing. * After you deplane, follow signs to immigration ["Migracion"]. Generally, just follow the crowd. At the booth, present your identification and your Mexican Tourist Card. They will check everything and hand back all but their copy of the tourist card. Keep your copy. You'll need it when you're leaving Mexico. * After immigration, follow the signs to the baggage area and get your luggage. If you have a lot of bags, carts are available for $1 US, or about 10 pesos. [Note: Mexico uses the dollar sign to indicate pesos, so $10 can be either dollars or pesos. Ask if it's not obvious.] * You can take a taxi to Casa Lalita. In the Charter Terminal, there are kiosks in the baggage area where the workers speak English. It's $40 US per taxi and you can pay with US dollars. They will give you a ticket to give to the taxi driver. If you can find a bunch of people going to the same place, you can share the cost of a van, which can be around $70 US total. In the Main Terminal, there are more opportunities to procure a taxi beyond the customs area. Other options for the more adventurous include a $15 US Playa del Carmen shuttle - you need to offer an additional 20 pesos for door to door service to Puerto Morelos. There is often bus service to Puerto Morelos, though this is not great for the luggage laden. Look for "autobus" signs. It's about $4-5 US for a ticket to PM. You'll get dropped on the highway at the PM exit {46}. Proceed across the highway to the taxi stand {47} and get a cab to Casa Lalita. * After baggage, you go through customs. You will need your customs declaration form. Look for the miniature stoplights [or teaming crowd], where you will press a button. A green light [more common] lets you go through; a red light means they will probably check your luggage. If you have indicated you have food or other forbidden items on the customs form, they may check your bags even if you get a green light. Customs keeps your declaration form. * Once past customs, proceed to the exit where you'll find the taxi stand. There may be service people along the way who will offer to take your bags and get you to a cab. These folks are not the drivers. Actually, they can expedite things. If you didn't buy a taxi ticket, you can make arrangements with these people... try to settle a price before they run off with your bags. There may be less English spoken paying this way. The drivers often don't speak any English at all. $2US tip per person is fine. * The driver will know the way to Puerto Morelos. If you are renting a car, follow signs to PM [also Playa del Carmen, Tulum], not Cancún [Cancún is north of the airport]. It's about 30 miles south of the airport on highway 307. You'll get to a sign for PM at a stoplight and turn left [east] on Blvd. Jose Maria Morelos. You'll travel about a mile. The first road you encounter that outlines the town plaza is Avenue Javier Rojo Gomez {29, 1}. Ask the driver to turn left, and check the odometer. Casa Lalita {43} is exactly one kilometer [6/10ths of a mile] and is on the left side of the street. Gomez, a divided road, runs parallel to the beach, which is now to your right. The three-storied Casa Lalita is on a corner lot and features many arches. You'll see a break in the divide as you're almost past the house where you can make a U-turn. Then, take an immediate right on the street perpendicular to Rojo Gomez and pull up to the iron gate. [Villas Shanti {42}, another popular yoga destination, is across the street.] If you get to a hard left turn in the road, you've gone half a block too far. Some guide books say you don't need to tip drivers; decide for yourself. Ring the bell and someone will show you to your room. The stairs just inside the gate go to a private dwelling. The stairs by the kitchen go to the Teacher's Quarters and Teaching Studio on the third floor. * Puerto Morelos is in the same time zone as Central Standard time in the US. Next Page: Welcome to Casa Lalita |