Month in Mexico: Part 2

So as much as day 1 and 2 sucked, I woke up all positive on Day 3 in Tulum cos my sister is awesome and sent me some very encouraging whatsapp messages. I start off the day with a visit to the famous ruins of Tulum. Imagine age old ruins set against mangrove forests and turquoise waters. It was breathtaking. I revisted the beach in the day and again I was the only person there. Which normally should be amazing, but somehow last night had left me kinda spooked so I didn’t linger long. Also, its been totally sucking to go to a beach as a solo traveller since I can't swim because I can’t leave my stuff on the water. And no beach has been close enough where I could just swim without getting any stuff. I guess even if I lived right on the beach, I would be risking my clothes and towel. I went back to the hostel for a shower and guess what? Somehow I missed all the signs that told me that the shower turns off automatically after 10 mins. I guess the previous night, the guy pooping made sure I didn't last ten mins. So I naturally am in the middle of shampooing my hair when the water shuts off. I really hope you can appreciate the panic at this point. However, I realized that each time I turn off the tap and wait 5 mins, there is a half-cup trickle of water. So yeah, hair in shampoo, half cup trickles, 5 mins wait. Do that math.  It was at this point that I decided I had it and hitched a ride on a “collectivo” or a public minivan to go live in the city in another hostel. I should however mention that the shtty hostel had an awesome breakfast. They had scrambled eggs cooked with bits of tortilla, just the right amount of salsa trickled onto it, with lettuce and tomato on the side and slices of melon (I added that bit for you, Ciaran the jerk).

Shitty hostel, awesome breakfast

The new hostel was brilliant!! It was clean and pretty and had air-conditioning! It was called Mama's Place.  I immediately met two Norwegian boys (Eric and Ruben),  two Scots ( Cat and Steph) and two Aussie siblings (Tony and Lizzie). I went walking about the city in the day, sampled some excellent grilled chicken and rice. Gosh the salsa with the food was sooooo crazy hot. My least favorite word in Spanish, "picante". And there was this dog who sat by me the entire meal, and I felt so guilty eating in front of him. I gave him a tortilla but he didn't eat it. The dog walked around the city with me the whole time! Adorable!  Then in the night, everyone at the hostel had an amazing barbecue. SO MUCH MEAT!! We grilled tons of beef and tons of chicken and in true fashion, I started off by insisting that I wasn't eating and then dug in. Lizzie also made some excellent guacamole and at the time, I didn't know how much guacamole I was gonna be eating on that trip. We all then headed off to a bar and gosh it was so great to have a fun gang to hang out with. It always amazes me how easy it is to cross barriers in conversation. Everyone was super easy to talk to. And these were probably the first Aussies (not the last you'll see) and first Scottish people I was ever talking to. I thought Lizzie was a hoot as she was totally up for dancing with me in a non-dancing bar. Steph was just overall goofy. Cat seemed less goofy cos she was budgeting better than us and not drinking that night. I still felt like I knew these guys for ages. I was also really excited about swings at the bar! By the end of the trip I realized, apparently that's a very common Mexico bar theme. Overall, it was an amazing night.

Ruins of Tulum

Tulum Beach

Yummmyy.. grilled chicken and rice and tortillas

Mama's Place

Inside of Mama's Place

The awesome hostel guy, Esteban. 

See the huge glass behind it. I drank that whole thing.

Sunburned and smiling

Lizzie making guac magic

First bar swing.. so exciting!

The next day in Tulum was even better!! Tony, Eric, Ruben and me took a day tour to a nearby “cenote”. This is a very popular attraction in the Yucatan peninsula. It’s basically underground cave systems that are partially covered with crystal clear turquoise waters. So we snorkeled through these caves with tiny fishes everywhere and insane formations in the water. Just unbelievable.I wish words could describe how beautiful this was. But since they clearly can't, I'm hoping Tony will oblige by providing me with the underwater pics he took that day. No pressure Tony ;)  We then went to Akumal beach which has access to the second largest coral reef in the world and we were supposed to snorkel at the reef and swim with sea turtles. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow us into the water due to bad climate L This was some fucking BS since the tour was pretty pricey by Mexican standards. But none of us wanted to bitch about it to our really nice Dutch divemaster. So we just sucked it up and went with the alternate plan. We then off-roaded some 30 mins  on a dirt path through the forest to reach another cenote which is completely cut off from civilization. We then snorkeled there through some very narrow cave structures and again saw some gorgeous formations. I was so terrified that I might hit my head on some stalactite and gracefully pass out in the water like Jack from Titanic. And even worse, that I might damage some thousand year old Stalactite in the process. Headed back after that and ate some “Mexican Chinese” food which tasted a lot like Indo-Chinese! It was basically noodles with chicken in a sauce but it was soooo yum. Much better than any of the American Chinese food I have eaten. Speaking of American Chinese food, don't you sometimes feel like eating Panda Express is like hooking up with a stranger. You don't know why you want it but you do, and the minute you have it, you feel the worst guilt ever and you promise yourself that this is something that will never happen again. And the walk back home is shame-ier than any other walk of shame. And yet the cycle repeats. I am obviously speaking of this purely from movies and no personal experience.

Anyway, end of this day, I decide to take the night bus from Tulum to Palenque. So after elaborate goodbyes at the hostel, I reach the bus station and they tell me that my assumption that I can show up and get tickets was pretty dumb. The bus was full and I was stranded in Tulum for another day. You would think that the worst part of this would be missing a day. But honestly all I could think of was showing up again at the hostel after all the sentimental goodbyes. That would be embarrassing as fuck. Also, it was a fucking bitch to walk with my luggage to the bus stop. So I did the next best thing. I insisted that I need to check the bus to make sure it's really full. I don't blame you if you can't believe it worked, because I can't believe it worked. It worked!!! So I was off towards Palenque through the windy mountains. I wanted to stop here on a very mystical note but I have to mention this French chick who sat next to me. She kept poking me in the back every time I leaned on her side and I never had the heart to do the same to her when she was all but leaning on my shoulder. Fucking French (I kid!)