Are You Sure You’ve Been in Mexico for Three Months? - Apr 06
Once I arrived in Campeche I got myself to the hostel with relative ease. I met a guy named Ryan from California who works from his computer. I asked him about the sites and the scenes and he basically told me everything I had read in my Mexico book. No problem. I had bobbled around on my laptop for a sufficient amount of time before realizing that it was midday and I had done nothing. I decided to walk the town. I slapped on my hat and no sunscreen and began the flip flop footed journey. I am describing it that way to help you realize how many mistakes I made. One, it was midday, that’s when the sun will be at its hottest. Two, I didn’t wear sunscreen. Three, I wore flip flops to go for a walk. Get the picture?
I saw pretty much all of the Centro Historico in an hour or so and decided to go into the architecture museum. While it was interesting, it was also a lot of reading and fairly dead inside. After the museum I sent a message to my friend Raul living in Cozumel who had given me the recommendation to visit this town to see if he had any specific recommendations. He had none. Oh well, it seemed to be more of a “good to see it” kind of situation. Which is true, because the town center still has these ancient walls and “forts” used to protect itself from pirate attacks. Pretty neat. I walked to the market to check it out, because you have to do that when you get to a new city. It is basically the same as all the others and now that I think about it, maybe you don’t have to see the market.
I spent the rest of the day relaxing at the hostel, trying to let what I have now labeled as sickness pass by. I think this is the effect of the heavy drinking from the other night. I haven’t had a solid sleep since and my stomach has been ever so slightly uneasy. Though I’m not in any pain or anguish, I’m more so annoyed with how I’m feeling.
Nothing to See, Nothing to Do, A Lack of Want - Apr 07
After a bit of broken sleep I woke up around 9am and set up shop in the hostel common area with my computer, books, water, and lack of motivation to do anything at all. And so it was set and so it was done. I spent almost the entire day in front of the fan in the common area of the hostel on my computer watching videos, doing Anki, looking up remote jobs, online Android development courses, random things, places to visit near Merida, and of course the fan favourite, Facebook. I did, however, leave the hostel to get ingredients for making some pasta. Then I made the pasta. I even ate it as well. It was alright.
Just after 8pm I decided to go check out La Puerta Tierra to see if the show was on like my book had described. I arrived late so I sadly had to find something else to do. That something else turned into a movie with popcorn and a ginger ale because ginger ale always used to sooth an unruly stomach when I was little. Why, I don’t know. At any rate I finished the movie and went to bed.
Do you ever wonder if you have a travel limit? An amount of time you can travel before you start wanting to either do nothing or maybe just go back to work or at least home? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and although I don’t think I actually want to leave, sometimes it’s difficult to figure that out and be rational. Maybe it’s just getting too hot.
Suh, Dude? - Apr 08
Slightly boring start happened with this day. I basically put off doing anything in order to wait for the temperature to cool down before taking my bus to Merida. I sat in the hostel, caught up on blog stuff, watched another movie (I’m getting good at it), and drank water. I think I’m in a bit of a rut. Who knows.
My bus left the station at 4pm and I arrived in Merida at about 6:30pm. I walked to the hostel as that is the most economic way of doing things. It was weird walking through Merida again, not only because I had been before but also because the power was out in a large portion of the town. After a shower I went to the zocalo to meet up with Nick, a man I have encountered three times before on this trip. You know. Nick. We went to a restaurant I had been to before so I could get some food and after we went to a Mayan Pub, a place I had been to before to have a beer and meet up with Chico and Claudia, the siblings that I originally met in Cozumel and then again in Merida the first time. They’re still cool. Todavia me caen bien.
Nick’s friend Argentina also showed up at the bar to hang out. We chatted all night and eventually ended up at the German bar that I had visited the last time I was here. I think we’ll have to start going to places I have seen pretty soon or I’ll go crazy. The brother and sister duo walked me to my hostel and we said goodnight, promising to see more of eachother during my visit. Claudia still says I’m not Mexican. I’m a little disappointed but she’s pretty hard on me anyway so I’m not going to let it bother me. Jaja.
Here’s a photo of the pool in the hostel. I think this is my favourite hostel that I’ve stayed at.
Que Estoy Haciendo Conmigo? - Apr 09
Voy a intentar a escribir un “post” en espanol, sin ayuda del internet o cualquier otra cosa. Preparate.
Esta manana me levante a las nueve. Fui a la area comun del hostal para desayunar y vi mis amigos alemanes de San Cristobal de las Casas. Solo han llegado de Palenque en un autobus de la noche. Hablamos un poco sobre que ibamos a hacer en los dias siguientes. Planee mi viajes en Merida y decide que voy a ir a Progreso, Uxmal, y Izamal hasta el martes. Hay un show de luz en Uxmal y Izamal y Progreso es una playa. Los alemanes se fueron y envie un mensaje a Nick para ver si queria hacer algo conmigo. Nick no me envio un mensaje en respuesta entonces estoy en el hostal escribiendo este “blog post.” No se que voy a hacer hoy. Tal vez ire al mercado para comprar cosas para cocinar esta noche. No estoy seguro que debo conseguir un lugar de CouchSurfing porque el precio en este hostal es bueno. Veremos!
Una cosa mas. Estoy seguro que estoy en un punta baja ahorita. No se porque, tal vez necesito ver mis amigos en Vancouver y Victoria y mi familia tambien. En este momento he viajado lo mismo numero de dias en Mexico que viaje en Europa cuando tenia 18 anos. Pero en este caso, no tengo un amigo con quien estoy viajando. Es verdad que tengo amigos en Merida, seguro, pero este es diferente. Siento extrano. Extrano mi familia y mis amigos de Canada. Es un sentimiento extrano porque tengo esta oportunidad asombrosa y no se que quiero hacer. Creo que quiero vivir en un lugar por un rato pero no puedo porque tengo que, pues no TENGO QUE, regresar a muchas lugares otra vez. Y cuando termine en Mexico, voy a empezar la misma cosa en Canada. La unica diferencia es que tendre un coche y el idioma sera diferente.
Tiempos asi, cuando me pregunto “Por que estoy viajando?”, “Que quiero hacer con el resto de mi dinero y tiempo?”, y “Que quiero hacer cuando regreso a Vancouver y Victoria? Quiero trabajar como antes? Que quiero?” Y la verdad es que no se nada. Una amiga mi dijo en Facebook que estas teniendo un “crisis” de cuarto vida. Creo lo tengo tambien pero me parece que estoy quejando cuando tengo una vida libre y mas o menos facil. Solo que yo se es que quiero aprender mas el espanol y empezar aprender mas idiomas cuando he dominado bastante del espanol. Espero que lo averiguare. Consejo esta bienvenido.
Si quieres corregir este “post” esta bien conmigo. Necesito la ayuda. No voy a usar acentos porque es dificil con un computadora.
Con el resto del dia fui al mercado para ver si habia cosas que podia usar para cocinar mi cena. No encontre nada y fui a Walmart para comprar las cosas. Pase la tarde con mi libro de Harry Potter al lado de la piscina, leyendo, relajando, nadando, y durmiendo. Fue bueno. A las siete, fui con mis amigos alemanes a un restaurante donde sirven comida mexicana y vegana. Fue un poco caro pero me gusto. Despues fui con Nick a un bar que se llama La Mezcaleria La Fundacion. He estado a este bar antes pero no me acorde el nombre. Claudia llego con sus amigos a las once de la noche y tuvimos mucho diversion. Nos fuimos el bar solo antes de las tres de la manana y regrese al hostal.
Back to the Beach - Apr 10
That was a difficult post there. I’m not sure about this, but if you don’t speak Spanish, I’m pretty confident that Google Translate will give you the right jist of the story. So I woke up today just after nine in the morning even though I wanted to sleep in a little bit because I told Nick that we would go to Progreso’s beach today. I got my stuff together, had breakfast and ran into my friend Etienne who I met in Sayulita. He’s a French guy who has been living in Mexico City and recently, has been travelling through Mexico. I love running into people like this. We’re literally on the other side of the country and we ran into eachother. Awesome stuff. Once Nick arrived at the hostel, he also said hello to Etienne and then we caught our bus to Progreso quite a bit later than we told Claudia who was also coming to the beach.
We met with Claudia at the bus station and grabbed some shade on the beach in the form of a 100 peso umbrella. After a little relaxing, multiple switches between Spanish and English, a few dips in the ocean, and a ton of jokes, we went to Heladios for food. This is a pretty cool restaurant. First, you order a drink and then you are bombarded with tonnes of appetizers and snacks. I swear you wouldn’t be able to count how many if you stayed for any substantial amount of time. It was a good time. After we had sufficiently stuffed our faces with appetizers, snacks, ceviche, and beer, we decided to get the bus back to town. Both Nick and I had had enough sun and Claudia had an exam to study for.
Here are some photos:
Some photos of Cluadia. I wonder if one nice photo of a person is more embarrassing than three photos of a person trying to cover there face in emabarrassment. You be the judge.
When I returned to the hostel, I had zero plans for the night but I did have two German friends that decided to stay an extra night to hang out, drink, and have a generally good time. What more do you need? Turns out you need beer. This is the second time it has happened to me in Merida but they don’t sell beer in stores after five in the afternoon on Sunday. I assume this is a religious thing. We struggled around town for a while before giving up on the notion, sadly sitting by the pool defeated. However, with some luck, we were able to buy three beers from the hostel fridge at reception. With that in mind we made a salad with pretty much everything I had bought the other day, feasted, and drank. After finishing, Etienne showed up with a guitar and what you can imagine ensued. I played guitar for 30 minutes or so and then the Germans and I went to a bar to dance some salsa, or at least that’s why I went, I don’t think they had any plans to do that. The bar was mostly full of people from England and New Zealand who did not seem interested in dancing. My luck. Two beers later and we left to go back to bed.