Day 15: Monday, July 16, 2012
Woke up in and left Chetumal, but quickly found a turnoff
for a cenote; we missed the turnoff and caught views of a super pretty lagoon
entitled Laguna de 7 Colores, then backtracked to Cenote Azul and it was very
cool. Free entrada, very nice little
swimming area, super warm water, a restaurant attached, and some pretty
ladies. After bathing for a while we
made our way up to Tulum, ate Subway, Abraham and I received haircuts, then we
searched for hostels. The hostels in the
centro ran about 100 pesos, but we headed for the beach and kept asking. And of course the prices kept rising, but
oowee some were awesome. One was like 30
bucks a night and freaking sweet, super uniquely architected and decored. We kept driving down this awful dirt road, at
like 7 km/hr, found a beach where we could camp for 10 pesos a night, passed
it, realized that the road we had been driving for hours was not going to lead
us to a viable location and it was like 7 p.m., so we headed back to the
camping spot, enjoyed the water briefly, and set up shop in the dark.
Day 16: Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Up early on the beach in Tulum, headed for the famous
beachside ruinas of Tulum, and finally encountered pinche turistas a la
madre. I waited in line for way too long
to buy a boleto while the others entered quickly and freely; I finally found
them and was a bit perturbed by the unseemly amount of gente—way different than the ruins near Comitán. Well, we took a
few fotos, saw the ruins, then saw that the park actually had a playa! So we basically kicked it there for a while,
super turista style. After the water we
were keen to leave, so we scatted and made our way north to Playa del
Carmen—woohoo! Arrived, it was pretty
fancy and turisty and the centro, we walked the beach a tad, rocked Quinta
Avenida, then set about looking for a place to lay our weary heads. After way waaaay too long, we found Grand
Hostel Playa, which was (and is) quite awesome. Mainly because of the staff, I guess. And, being in Playa del Carmen, we later went
out to dance! Rocked a free entrance, 25
peso chela place called Mezcalinna. It
was pretty sweet. Back to the hostel
around 4/5 in the a.m.
Day 17: Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Woke up around 10 in Playa del Carmen, broke fast (solo),
found a levandaria (I had cruised the club in sweatpants the previous
night. Like a boss.) Umm, we “liked” the hostel on Facebook and
received bikes in return! We cruised
around doing dumb stuff (like actually dumb/annoying stuff, not like fun dumb
stuff), and then I of course got stuck with the bike with a flat… We asked the staff about cool beaches and
they told us about one about 70 blocks north, so we lunched and decided to go
there. With three bikes and four
people…so I started on Abraham’s handlebars, then re-realized running is
awesome, then felt the bottle of Fresca I had downed right before running
(majorly bad idea), then felt the effects of my $12 Mexican shoes and my feet
still hate me…like, a lot. The bikes
finally passed me as I started walking after 50 blocks. They got out of sight and I kept going
straight on Avenida 10 when I should’ve turned…so I just ran into a wall and no
beach. Abraham found me on a bike, I
started walking back, then hopped on the handlebars and we arrived at the
beach! In addition to being pants-less,
I was towl-less and trunks-less, so I was in underwear and sweatpants. I stripped and rocked the water super Mexican
style, then exited the water and let the beach enjoy my clotheslessness. Abraham had purchased a six-pack and they
were enjoying two of the brews in the water, then I brought them two more and Abraham had
the good idea to approach the two not ugly young ladies near our campout and
offer them a beer. So I got to ligando
and before I knew it the rest of the crew were ready to leave—so we left. There was no way my feet were letting me run
back (even though my stomach was no longer full of bubbles), so I let Abraham
have the pleasure of carting me almost all the way home on his handlebars. Some more platicando and then boom! we were
ready to hit up Cancún! I didn’t have a
shirt or a computer, so I ran back to the hostel for both, and voila, I had
some work. So I worked in the car. Once in Cancún we stopped at a little
lagoonside vista thingy, then made our way through the hotel zone and found a
mall type thing where I could use internet to send off my project. Well, it was super duper Las Vegasy, but cool
for what it is. We left and made our way
back to Playa, where we just kinda relaxed.
Day 18: Thursday, July 19, 2012
Plan: last day in Playa del Carmen. I woke up, broke fast, picked up my laundry,
waited for the slowpokes, then we made our way south to Aventura beach, which
was pretty cool, but we only stayed a ratito.
We then went up to Akumal, which everyone (meaning Lucas) said is super
worth it for the snorkeling. I wasn’t
about to pay for snorkel gear, so I just cruised around with my head above
water, but saw some turtles, which was fun, and caught glimpses of the life
below the water. I treaded pretty far
out, then returned to the shore, took a walk, and kicked it under a tree while
Joana and Abraham enjoyed the shallows.
Until. I looked out and didn’t
see them, then noticed Abraham carrying Joana out of the water…something was
definitely not right. He caught the
attention of a couple security dudes, I told Abril something wasn’t right, she
rushed over, rushed back, I packed up and made my way toward the large crowd
around my peeps. Joana and her infinite
luck had been manhandled by a barracuda/shark/eel. Her leg was in pretty bad shape, but there
were some experts present who said she shouldn’t need stitches and everything
would be fine. I got my second ambulance
ride as I accompanied her to the hospital, where they cleaned her up, strapped
her with an Ace bandage, and prescribed some drogas. We returned to Grand Hostel Playa en Playa
del Carmen and slept.
Day 19: Friday, July 20, 2012
Today. Woke up in Grand
Hostel Playa en Playa del Carmen, broke fast around noon, and made our way
through Valladolid, stopped at Chichen-Itza, which was expensive and turisty
(as I had been saying!), and drove till Merida, where we found a pretty darn
sweet Bed & Breakfast slash hostel called Hostal Zocalo (aptly, it is right
on the Zocalo and had some great views, especially at sunset and nighttime,
when the cathedral is lit up). We also
checked Casa de Tio Rafa, which was quaint and funny (and Tio Rafa actually
runs the joint—tomorrow is his birthday and he’s having a party!), and Hostal
Nomada, which seemed cool but was full—they have free salsa lessons M-F. Anyway, Hostal Zocalo is the best and
recommended. Umm, I purchased some dulces,
Joana and I cruised the centro for a bit, and then I wrote all these posts. At present the plan seems to be to head to
Progresso beach tomorrow, then some ruinas, then Ciudad Campeche, then back to
Villahermosa. Just researched hostels in
Villahermos and there only seems to be the one in which we stayed: La Chonita
II. It…wasn’t awesome, but the lady was
nice and it was acceptable.
Day 20: Saturday, July 21, 2012
Breakfast at Hostal Zocalo is awesome! It was one of the main reasons I was super
pro this place. The mattresses are
great, though I slept horribly, but the breakfast is stellar—there are some
cereals, coffee, bread, and all the normal stuff, but also a vast array of
fruits: mango, papaya, watermelon, pineapple, banana, plus yogurt. And then: omelettes and crepes! Super fab.
Umm, pretty much left, caught some more of Merida, which seems pretty
cool. Went to Playa Progreso for a
ratito, then left for some ruinas that feature a cenote or something. Anyway, we arrived and they wanted to charge a schizaload and not offer free student entrance yadda yadda. Then off to Villahermosa, but we first stopped in Ciudad Campeche, which
seemed super awesome and I must return to take it all in. We saw the Gulf, learned that there are some
sweet museums, saw some cool mercadoing going down, and visited a fort that was
pretty hip—especially because it started raining super hard while we were
there. So we left Campeche and made it
to Villahermosa pretty darn late. The
lady there turned into a chatterbox about prostitutes and their (lack of)
cleanliness, politics and corruption, and the fact that Merida is the safest
city in Mexico because the families of the Zetas live there… Interesting.
Finally slept.
Day 21: Sunday 22, 2012
Woke up and went home!
Sorta. Woke up late and slowly,
then didn’t really stop anywhere. Caught
some super awesome lightning…wait, maybe that was the day before—yeah, passing
through Ciudad del Carmen. Hmm, this day
I guess not much happened, but we got some cold and fog in Puebla, which I
liked, and finally entered the city at like 9/10 p.m., then got to Casa Sanchez
at like midnight.
The End.
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