Day 07 - Down Day #2

Anissa arrives today!   My first day in Cancun I was extremely nervous and couldn't wait for Anissa to arrive.  There is a comforting feeling to knowing someone in a strange town.  If I'm going to be lost I would rather be lost with some company.

But that was a whole week ago.  I have met so many great people who have been travelling for months, often by themselves.  In every place they go they make fast friends and travelling companions.  Most people I have met started in South America and worked their way up to Mexico over 5 to 8 months.  How do they get so much free time??!!  Oh right, they quit their jobs.  Sadly, I love my job and don't want to quit!

So today, I have no plans.  I think I will just chat with people.

So I met three know people.  A Korean guy who goes by Jackie Chan, lives up to some stereotypes and began the day drinking.  A Slovenian named Tadej and a guy from Vancouver named Yulgene and I sat around, chatted, drank, and ate everything that Jackie Chan brought us.  I tried some Korean blood sausage, very very chewy, and some Korean noodles that were essentially Top Ramen.  

A great group of guys they are.  Coincidentally, I will be seeing Jacki Chan again today, as well as Youyu.

One of the hostel people made empanadas.  Oh my God did they smell amazing!  I bout three for $50 pesos and gave two away but Yulgene bought me another.

They were gooooooooood.  Best thing I have eaten so far.  

I hung around the hostel a bit longer then packed my things, said my goodbyes, and I was on my way...to the store!  Grabbed a few toiletries then stopped by the market for tacos.  I caught a taxi for $200 pesos, I know but I couldn't find a collectivo, and got to the Marriott Courtyard and met with Anissa!

The Marriott Courtyard is next to the airport, not any beach or anything so we just vegged out, watched late night tv and caught up.

Ok im falinng assslllleeeeee

Day 06 - Isla Mujeres

Today I went to Isla Mujeres!  Such a fantastic island.  I wish I had stayed here a couple of nights.  

Geoff, his mate William and his girlfriend Gus, and I visited Isla Mujeres together.  We bought our round trip tickets at Puerto Juarez for $145 pesos and we were off.  Once on the island we rented a gold cart for $650 pesos and headed south.  

Our fist stop was on the western peninsula where we visited a turtle farm.  

Here they raised turtles and released them once there were of size.  

They act like cats.  They mind their own business and give you some sass when they feel like it.  

After that we headed up the peninsula and reached a deadend.  Except it wasn't quite a deadend.  There was a dirt trail that we of course went down.  Geoff got us stuck in a puddle...good going Geoff! 

 I was happy he did that though because we voted him out of driving duties and I got to take the wheel.  I drove much more recklessly, the only difference being that I never got us stuck.

We headed down to the south tip or the island where there were some Mayan ruins.  $3 entrance fee.  From the top it doesn't look like much but once at the end the trail curves down the cliff side and back tracks.

On the bottoms trail we found a small beach.  I mean small as in 1 meter diameter.  It was the only place to safely enter the water.  So of course Geoff and I swam out!

You can see Geoff in the water if you look closely.

After the swim I needed to hydrate.  I bought a coco frio for $2 USD.  

Coconut water is so good.  Especially fresh coconut water.  I was able to split the coconut on some rocks.

I could totally survive on an island.

Then the four of us went to another beach.  We body surfed a couple waves and hen headed to lunch.

Mmm ceviche con atun.  Basically pure tuna with some salsa and chips.  With an overlook of the Caribbean and Cuba in sight, I didn't think it could get much better.

We returned the gold cart and went to the beach at the north of the island.  There the water is much calmer and more relaxing, like a pool.  

While in the water I caught a glimpse of a kiwi.  Could it be?  Rob?  It was!  The four of us ended up getting dinner with Rob and another Aussie named Chris.  Then we headed back to the hostel.

Not much happened after that. 

Buenas noches!

Day 05 - Down Day

Today is the Champions League Final!  I am totally going to watch that game.  

First, I'm off to the gym.  I found out there is a gym around the corner from the hostel.  50 pesos for the day.  

The gym is small and run down.  Really makes me appreciate the gyms back home.  That being said, I really enjoyed that gym.  Nice and homey.  And since I'm in Mexico I sweat like no other.

I decided I needed to buy a pair of pants and shorts.  Jeans are fucking terrible in humid climates.  Just awful.  They don't stretch and stick to your sweaty skin.  Ugh.  So me and a kiwi named Geoff set off to go to the mall.  We walked about 30 minutes through town to get to the Malecon Américas.  

It is just your typical mall.  Sears, Gucci, food court.  As Geoff and I paroused through we happened upon a stand with feeding fish.  So of course we had to try!

How did it feel?  It tickled!  Lots of little fish picking at my dead skin.  Afterwards my feet felt super soft and smooth.  $10 USD for 15 minutes, but the worker forgot about us and we got 25 minutes.   I had almost no feet left after all the extra time!

Geoff and I looked at a few stores before deciding to just go to Sears.  I got a pair of orange pants that had some stretch to them.  I am much more comfortable now.

On the way home we stopped by the supermarket Chedraui and got ingredients for guacamole.  Back at the hostel I whipped out the guacamole and salsa, sat down to watch the game, and realized it had just ended.  Shoot!  Oh well at least Messi won.

Over dinner I tried to convince a couple of Israelis to come work in Silicon Valley.  Inbal and Eran.  I'll have to visit sometime if they don't make it to the Bay Area.

That night I played Ring of Fire (Kings Cup) with a couple Norweigian girls, a guy from LA, and Daniel.  We played with a German deck, which is the same as a normal deck except the Jack and Queen have different symbols.  They played with some ridiculous rules such as the Bobo (Jack).  Whoever pulls the Bobo is the "asshole" and gets to boss everyone else around.  They also don't have to follow the normal rules.  What kind of crapnis that?  One of the Norweigians was just a fascist when she got the Bobo.  I was actually afraid when she dawned her card.  We ran out of chaser pretty quickly so I started drinking straight bourbon.  Bad idea with the fascist playing.  

Eventually it got late and people were being really loud, so I went to bed to piss off the owner of the hostel.

Night!

Day 04 - Chichen Itza

I'm up and ready at 6:50 for my tour of Chichen Itza at 7:00.  The shuttle didn't arrive until 7:30.  Mexican time.  Half an hour early or late, either way.  

The shuttle arrived and off we go!  I took a tour of Chichen Itza from the hostel for about $45.  I went with a German name Peter, a Pole named Kata, a Japanese turned North Californian named Youyu, and a Kiwi named Rob.  

The tour was mainly in Spanish.  Fortunately our guide spoke Spanish, Potuguese, and English.  So after his hour intro in Spanish, he repeated the entire thing in English.  Yay!

So here is what I learned.  Mayans do still exist.  They are very short, no taller than 5 foot.  They are also a suppressed people and very poor.  The guide was saying they live off the land, have 12 or so children who all live in the same hut with no beds.  From what I saw, I don't quite believe that.

Our first stop was a Mayan village.

Lots of carvings and paper weights and masks.  Then we walked through a shop that was giving us tequila samples.

More of a tequila liquor than actual tequila.

We walked through a village and a Mayan woman was making tacos and giving then to us tourists. 

Mmmm fresh made tortillas.  The best.

Walked around the village a bit.

Then we ate a classic Mayan lunch (I think).  Basically a Sol Food style meal but not as good.

Then it was back to the bus and off to a cenote (sinkhole).  

This is some Indian Jones shit!

That's Youyu and Kata.

The cenote was awesome.  Simple awesome.  My pictures do it no justice.

Out of the water, more tequila tasting with Rob and then off to Chichen Itza!

Chichen Itza was...well it would have been awe inspiring but hundreds of peddlers and fake panther calls took a lot away from the experience.

The engineering that went into Chichen Itza is amazing.  If you stand in front of the stairs and clap the sound travels up the stairs and it sounds like a quetzal.  

In the hip ball court standing in the center, if you clap you can hear 7 echos. The Nayans were obsessed with the number 7.  They also invented 0 and I heard a lot of nothing at times.  Also in the ball court, the emperor and his guest sat 200 meters across from each other but could speak normally and still hear.  Same concept as the exhibit on the Exploratorium or I think a parabolic satellite dish.  It directs the sounds waves in one direction.

After the tour I travelled around.

Then the park closed.  WTF?!  Only give minutes to see the other half of the place?  

Chichen Itza is a great place with lots of history and interesting things to see.  Lots of peddlers really take from the experience.  All in all it was a good tour, I just wish I had more time to explore.

Back at the hostel I taught more people the glorious game that is Mao.  And they loved it!  We played some 10 games with 7 or 8 people.  Hopefully they bring the game back to their home countries.  

Part way through the game, a hostel worker named Daniel brought out some Cubanas.  My first taste of Cuba was smokey and light.  Not bad.  But also not something I would do regularly.

Off to bed.  Tomorrow I have no plans.

Day 03 - Whale Sharks

I was picked up 15 minutes early, good thing I had woke  up 30 minutes early.  At 6:10 and I was the last person of the group to be picked up.  I can't imagine when the others had to get up.  

we all got to the port where Whale Shark Tours is based out of.  I booked my trip online for $175 but I found out later that you can book it through the hostel for $120.  If that wasn't enough I had to rent a wetsuit for $25 and biodegradable sunscreen for another $15.  You aren't allowed to go in the water with the sharks if you have normal sunscreen on, so it's none or biodegradable.  I had already gotten my share of sunburn for the week so I opted to buy the biodegradable sunscreen.  

$215 spent to swim with whale sharks.  Was it worth it?  

Yes.

Not only did I swim with a whale shark but I also swam with a couple manta rays and swam through a reef.  Well worth the money.  Visibility was poor though, about 2-5 meters.  We would jump in, see nothing and then a few seconds later a huge mouth would come at us and we would scramble to get out of the way.

Swimming along with the shark was somewhat surreal.  It was about 10 meters long and 2 meters wide.  Big enough to swallow a human alive!  This giant gentle beast swimming along not minding us at all.  Well...he was probably rather annoyed that humans kept jumping in his way.  There was only one whale shark and all the tour boats would circle to the front and plop human depth charges in its path. 

On the way to the whale shark we saw a couple manta rays that were about 3 meters in diameters, giant!  So we headed to swim with them after the whale shark.  The experience was similar, drop a human depth charge in front and have the human swim along with the manta.  

After that second amazing experience the captain punched it over to the reef where we snorkeled for a good half hour. A man from D.C. Pointed out a bonefish and some giant hermit crabs to me.  He was an outdoorsy guy and had an eye for nature.  I managed to get a cut on the reef right on my forearm.  I thought nothing of it but the man from D.C. said that reefs were rife with bacteria and that cuts often get infected.  

Oh shit!

Not to worry.  The captain came prepared with antiseptic and cleaned me up.

So with a blown mind and bleeding  forearm, the captain and crew served us fresh ceviche, pineapple, and mango.  

No kidding.  This stuff was good.  The best I've had anywhere.  'Twas a great end to the tour.

Back at the hostel I hung out more with the North Carolinians.  Love those two.  Allie, another guy named Carlos from another part of Mexico, and I went out for some ice cream.  The ice cream out here is terrible in comparison to back home.  I'm spoiled.  I know.  Instead I had a chocolate, coconut, frozen banana.

Delicious. 

After ice cream we turned around and got a marquesita.  It's like a crêpe but like a waffle but with cheese.  Pretty delicious.  

The night before, Allie had started to teach me to salsa dance.  Boy is she good.  And boy do I suck.  Nevertheless, I was stoked to be learning.

Tonight we had a send off party for one of the hostel workers.  Most of the hostel went to a local club to help celebrate.  180 pesos (hombres) for cover and open bar.  It was fairly dead when we entered at 11:30.  By midnight some of us from the hostel were dancing.  Another couple began Ochenta(?) dancing.  Only one word can aptly encapsulate their dance.  

Sexy.  Watching the two of them was a treat.  

Once the live band came on the party was started!  The North Carolinians were also fantastic dancers along with the local hostel employees.  About 1:30 the band stopped playing and normal club music came on.  Still fun to dance to.

Holy crap!  1:30?!  I need to be up at 6:30 for Chichen Itza! 

Buenos noches!

Day 2 - Beach Day

Slept like a baby.

I woke up feeling great and needing to pee.  I bounced between the 3 bathrooms trying to find a free one.  The hostel workers kept directing me to open ones but someone would get to it before me.  Ugh, can't I just relieve myself first thing in the morning?

After relieving myself Kent and his friend Allie invited me to the beach with them.  Well, I sort if invited myself but it's one and the same while backpacking.   We took the R1 bus again to the strip, it's where the beaches are.

We found a spot to post up for awhile.  Kent and Allie jumped in the water right away.  I stayed behind to apply sunscreen and read more about Mark Whatney McGuyvering on Mars.  After a time a lifeguard came out and told us to move because of a rip tide.  Now I grew up by the ocean, I am decent at spotting riptides.  I noticed the water was a bit churned but it wasn't nearly like a riptide in the Pacific.  

So we moved down the beach and I read for awhile.  Eventually I jumped in the water.  Holé molé was it warm!  So great!  I body surfed for a bit and tried to teach Kent and Allie but a surf instructor told us to move because we were in another riptide.  What the hell is with all the riptides??  They weren't very strong at least.  

We left the beach and went to grab some lunch.  We ended up at a resto near the hostel.  I got a margarita and the North Carolinians got Micheladas. "What's a Michelada?"  It is a drink comprised of Worchestershire, soy sauce, Tabasco, with a beer poured into it.  It sounds god awful.  Like some drunk looked at his barren kitchen and poured in the only remaining condiments into his beer.  I kind of liked it though.  I like the spicy drinks.

Then we went to the local park and got some grub.  The park has an open square with a stage a about 8 food shops selling mainly Mexican food.  I ordered 3 tacos and some guacamole.  The tacos were just OK.  I've had so much better in California.  

There's the tacos and Ernie, a friend from work.  

Went back to the hostel and read some more.  God this book is enthralling.  Then went again with the North Carolinians to the local supermarket to grab some tequila for margaritas.  

Mmm margaritas are good, at least that's what I'm calling the salt-rimmed Squirt, tequila, and lime juice we had.  

Ate a dinner of noodles and talked with other hostelians.  I met a guy named Yuyu from Berkeley who also happens to be going to Cuba on Tuesday, a Pole named Kata, and a German named Peter.  I somehow convinced them to play Mao with me.

Holy crap, they liked Mao!!

Time for bed, I have to be ready by 6:25 to swim with some whale sharks.

June 03, 2015

Day 1 Flight to Cancun

Parents drove me to SFO.  We said our goodbyes and I was on my way!  Not really.  First a potty break, then TSA, and then I was on my way!  Yay a 9 hour trip with 2 layovers!

I actually was excited for my flight.  First because I just started to read The Martian by Andy Weisse.  Fantastic thriller about an astronaut stranded on Mars.

Eventually I arrived in Cancun and ordered a shuttle to my hostel.  It was expensive at $17. Sheesh.  But it was 9:30 and I didn't want to figure out the bus system that late.  

This is where I was dropped off.

Shady looking street eh?

The front if my hostel (Hostel Orquideas).

I had my concerns looking from the outside.  I certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore.  Once inside though, I was warmly greeted and shown to my room, that I was sharingn with 7 other people.  Can't beat $11 a night!

An Irish bloke name Dave noticed I was a n00b to the hostel scene and showed me the ropes.  Then we caught a bus to the strip in the hotel section of Cancun.  A fellow from North Carolina named Kent joined us and we went exploring for a bar.  We caught the R1 bus line a few blocks from the hostel to the strip.

As it turns out, Cancun is a Mexican replica of Las Vegas.  Every few meters was an hombre trying to hustle us into a bar, a club, or a strip club with the line "you like titties?"  Gracias, perro no.

The clubs were pumping music tonight.  Too bad it was a Tuesday and no one was out.  A number of middle-aged people were at the clubs holding the long balloons, making it seem like the club was raging.  It wasn't.

Eventually we found a bar and got a drink.  Yay for $6 cerveza.  Seriously, I'm spoiled coming from the westc  past of the US.  It's hard to leave the microbreweries.  This is where I decided that downtown Cancun sucks.  Expensive, shitty beer for a similar yet not as good experience compared to Las Vegas.  At least drinks weren't $15 like in Vegas.

We managed to make it back to the hostel after only 1 drink.  Luckily the Irishman knew the bus system.  

Time for bed!

June 2, 2015