Hola amigos,
Hope everyone is cheering loud the victory of the Canucks going on to round three! I know I was! We are currently in Playa del Carmen, after spending an incredibly beautiful week in Tulum. The beach of Tulum has been the most beautiful we have come across in all of Central America . The water is as blue at Belize
We are getting ready to come home in a week today. I think I am ready. Im getting excited to see my dog most of all. I am definetley coming home with a new found appreciation for everything I have, from where I live, to the people in my life, my friends and family, to my music collection, to my material things. I miss my clothes! I even actually miss the overcast rainy days (don’t hate me for saying that).
The first day in Tulum we spent at the Weary Travellers. We got a private room for 350 pesos which was just a room, and it smelled terrible like those toilet cleaning pucks. It was overpriced and nothing special so we only spent one night. The next day we checked out but still took advantage of the free shuttle the hostel offered and went to the playa. It was so beautiful! Breathtaking! We snorkeled the day away, and had some cheap tacos, before heading back to our new hostel Casa del Sol which was ten bucks cheaper for a much more decent room.
The second day we rented bikes (which were terrifying) and rode to two nearby cenotes. For those of you who don’t know what a cenote is its basically a freshwater pond, fed by an underwater spring. Sometimes its in a cave, sometimes its only partially covered, sometimes it just looks like a lake. The entry was 50 pesos each and you got in to both cenotes. The first one looked like a pond and had a rope swing, so Greg was in his glory. The second one was much deeper and had a cave system in it, we could tell because we saw some diving gear roped up underwater. It is pretty cool to think there are people diving in the cenotes you are swimming in and I often thing of where they might lead to. A lot of them lead to the ocean and are mixed with saltwater called halocline. Apparently it is a mixture where the saltwater is below the freshwater and creates a defined line with separate reflections. It also creates a lot of light for the divers. Next time we come to Mexico
The third day was Gregs 23rd birthday! I had a super secret surprised booked, a trip to a cenote park called Hidden Worlds. I actually kept the surprise up until the last minute when the shuttle pulled up and had huge photos and HIDDEN WORLDS CENOTE PARK written on the side. So close. When we arrived we rode in this ghetto jungle buggy to the first event which was the skycycle. You get in this recumberent bike and ride through the treetops and down into caves. Secondly we got to do two ziplines and a rappel. One of the ziplines was into a cave and you landed in the water, which was awesome. The third, was this unbelievable rollercoaster waterslide zipline, if you can imagine it. It was so scary, but I did it, twice, and felt so cool. Lastly, we got to swim wit ha guide through the cenote which was so awesome. There are no words to describe it. It was like something out of a movie. Stalactites everywhere. The water glowed a beautiful blue when we turned off the lights to experience total darkness. It was an epic day, and we finished it off with a fabulous steak dinner, and shots of tequila. Greg got the photos on his camera so keep posted for those when we get home.
Day four we took the collectivo to Akumal. We had heard the snorkeling at Yalku lagoon was some of the best. After a long walk from Akumal Bay Belize Halfmoon Bay
The next day, we decided to go to another cenote. We did some research and decided to skip the touristy Gran cenote and opted for the lesser known cenote Calavera, which was a little closer to town, and five bucks cheaper per person. We made a really good decision as we had the place to ourselves besides a few divers that would come and go. The place was amazing, just a hole in the ground basically, with a shelf to jump off, which was about 8 feet . It was about 25 feet in diameter but once you got into the actual cave, it opened up to about 80 feet . Underneath the overhang there were adorable little bats flying around and little birds which had nested in some of the holes overhead. It was really beautiful. Calavera means “temple of doom” in español. It really felt like it since the water was making all sorts of gurgling noises around the edges, especially when the divers were down in there. It also had two smaller holes in the top and when you swam to the very back it looked like a skull. Those pictures are also to come on Gregs camera. We walked back into town and had delcious ice cream at our favorite place in town. That was also the night the Canucks advanced to round 3! What a day!
Yesterday we checked out of the Casa, and headed to these cheap cabañas on the beach. It was 350 pesos a night, and had nothing more than a bed, but what an incredible place! It was on the most beautiful beach in Tulum just left of the ruins. For the same price as our original smelly room in Tulum it was quite the steal. We spent the whole day snorkeling which is my new favorite thing. I dream of it at night. We saw a spotted moray, a French angelfish which are one of my favorite fish, and this gigantic trunkfish. I have really great eyes underwater, I love it. We spent the rest of the day lounging. We had some great fish fajitas for dinner, and took a taxi to the Zona Hotelera to see what all the hype was about. There was really nothing, and the beach wasn’t even nice. It makes me feel sorry for those poor souls spending all their money in these resorts that most of them don’t leave, when they don’t realize there are much better beaches and cheaper bungalows down the road. But I guess some people need more than a bungalow with no electricity and shared bathrooms. Not me! We walked the beach back and enjoye the sunset, a couple drinks, and a nice early bed time.
This morning we took the collectivo here, to Playa Del Carmen. My first impression was “Whats the big deal about this place” until we walked closer to the beach. The place is like Mexico meets Las Vegas Central America . Greg and I bought two pairs of sunglasses for the price of one of our budgets for a whole day. It is so hard for me to pay the prices they are asking when I have been to Guatemala and Nicaragua Cancun . We are going to spend the last week of our vacay spending as little as possible and swimming and snorkeling a lot to cut down on costs. We might splurge on another dive before we come home.
I have basically stopped drinking. Not for any particular reason so much as I just hate being drunk, and hate the way I feel the next day, especially mixed with the heat. I have found traveling at this age to be quite strange as I don’t really know where I fit in. It is mostly a young party crowd of people who are totally ignorant to the impact they are having on the environment or the culture. It feels really clicky, kind of like high school, and everyone puts up this facade of who they think they should be to impress everyone else. I feel so incredibly blessed for the fabulous handful of people I have met along the way which have changed me in some way. I miss them a lot everyday. I guess some people travel to meet people, and use it to kind of hide who they really are, because they have an opportunity to be someone different everyday. I think its kind of sad. I travel because exploration is in my heart. Its like a fire burning, to see whats out there, and seeing these places just fuels it more. I am grateful for the people I meet on the way, the people that are in my destiny, but I don’t feel any need to impress anyone. I am just happy to follow my heart.
I think I fit in better with the retirees. Or the hippies…oh the hippies. <3
Anyways, I will try and do another update before we fly home. I hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather and looking forward to May long weekend! Happy BC Day!
The computer keeps rejecting my photos from Playa del Carmen, so Ill try and post them later :)
