Continuing on My Adventure

Looking back I sure wish I’d kept my posts up as I went about my travels, as even looking back in my journal the time, places and faces get mixed up, I guess that’s the sign of a good time? During my short three day stay in Cancun, hanging outing at the hostel I met an interesting and diverse group of people, some travellers, others who seemed to live there and others with quick one night stays as this location was cheap and very close to the bus terminal, able to get you back to the airport easily and cost efficient. This hostel, which has a complicated Mayan name that I can’t even spell using our alphabet was average I’d say, friendly people, but the first one that didn’t have curtains to draw around your bed, so not so much privacy, but in a dorm of ten not a whole lot of privacy away and my bed was once again against the bathroom wall ya you hear everything. Having my first shower after breakfast on day one, I turn the dial only to have water shoot out of a hole in the plumbing leading to the shower head and soaking the toilet as I shower. I felt bad having to go tell housekeeping about it, but there was no way this guy is wiping down a hostel toilet and after my last trip in January and get a shock off the first showered I used that time I was beginning to think I may have some Mexican bathroom curse?

After my first breakfast and grabbing a few beers I headed up the stairs to the pool area, this hostel also had no kitchen so food had to be bought, I pondered the thought of just grabbing a bit more shut eye before beginning my day. There was a couple of German guys sitting around the pool and that was enough to put sleep on hold, for now, come on it’s 32 degrees and I didn’t come here to sleep in the air conditioning. After a quick jump in the pool I joined the guys at their table and struck up a conversation and it turned out today was their last day before flying back home and they had just spent a week in Costa Rica and were indulging on the rum that they had picked up along the way. We then decided to take a walk to the beach, mind you by then it was about 4 p.m. and google told us it was only a 25 minute walk, I knew different. Stopping along the the way for food I picked up a pollo torte (chicken sandwich) fried on the side of the street, cost 50 peso or about $4.25 CAD and we had plenty of rum to drink still. The walk itself, which was heading towards the hotel zone was now closing in on an hour and we finally made it with about half an hour until sunset. Watching the sun lower I realized I was now here on a trip alone, but not alone. There is always many friendly people willing to engage in conversation as long you are and there is so much to learn along the way. I kick myself for not travelling like this when I was much younger.

Closing in on 10 p.m. now it was time to make our way back downtown and towards the hostel, not wanting to walk that far again I suggested hopping on the local bus that would bring us home for 15 peso, so a dollar basically, how could you not? Exiting the bus and stopping by another OXOX for a few more beverages then headed back through the very crowded downtown core of Cancun and to the hostel, but not after picking up some street tacos for 20 peso each, which seemed to be the average price throughout my travels, so about $1.75 and with three in hand I once again had a cheap and delicious dinner.

Once back to the hostel a new group had congregated by the pool area, now to tell how diverse this can be by country we had Sweden, Mexico, France,Chile, Uruguay, Germany, Argentina and me as the lone Canadian and that’s pretty rare I usually run into at least one Canadian at these places. My German buddies took off for a while and I was left with a group that spoke primarily Spanish and although I’ve been practicing, Good luck Steve. Fortunately my new Swedish friend, who was also similar in age was fluent in Spanish and kept me up to speed. Until the ladies from the South American countries starting talking amongst themselves, when he turned to me and said, “I don’t have a clue what their talking about?” I knew there was a lot of different ways Spanish is spoken, but now I was completely lost. All were super nice and tried their best to help me better my language skills, but after a long day and a good share of drinks having any clue what they were trying to teach me was a lost cause, followed by a lot of laughing, I can only imagine what they were getting me to say. My Swedish friend said it wasn’t intentional, but the way some of the words rolled of my tongue gave a much different meaning to the word than was intended. Note to self, bone up on my Spanish skills. 2 a.m. crept up on me and I pardoned myself from the table, brushed my teeth and crashed hard that night, a very fun first day to start my trip.

I was awoken the next morning to the shower running and people moving about the room, one of the joys of a dorm room. On with the swimsuit and out to the pool for a morning dip seemed the appropriate course of action to awaken my tired body. I sat in the sun and filled up on some water until my Swedish friend came down to tell me about his night and a coupe in his room talking loudly on the phone in the middle of the night and watching YouTube, like I said different cultures, I considered myself fortunate to be in the room I was in. Anyway he was local to the area and had been living in Cancun for a couple years and took me to the most delicious spot to grab prime rib steak tacos, nothing better for brunch than that! He also showed me the trick of bring back a found 1.75L bottle of beer and with the trade in only cost 50 peso, once again just over $4 and good enough to get four beers out of, beauty! And helping to wangle in that budget. We spent most of that day talking along with the others from the night before, exchanging the bottle more than a few times and eventually the group of us headed for the beach for a few hours. There’s something to be said about a group of strangers from different countries and cultures that adds a certain kind of magic to a solo trip, it’s definitely a lot of fun and a learning experience as well. That day ended like the others late around the pool until tired eyes prevailed and I was forced by my body to my bunk. People often ask if I have trouble sleeping in a dorm room with ten others, my answer is nope, never had a problem and off to sleep I go, knowing it’s soon time to move on to my next destination.