Last Day on the Island - Apr 17
Late wake again this morning. We spent most of the day doing what seemed like not much but I’m sure whatever the guys were doing on their laptops was productive and useful work. I, on the other hand, was watching HP again. Yeah, it’s my favourite passtime here in Cozumel I think. I apologize for the boring nature of the last few posts but I haven’t had the desire to do much for the past few days.
Fun fact, the airshow that Raul and I went to yesterday was on again today, however, there was a crash. A man diead. Raul and I were glad we went yesterday to say the least.
I remember doing a trip to Sam’s Club and after realizing we didn’t need anything in there, we went to the supermarket next to it. I bought a bunch of snacks and they bought adult things. More time spent reading and working on computer lateer and it was time for bed. I’ve now watched five HP movies in three days. They are all long as well. I don’t know if I’m proud or not. Yeah I am.
Repeating History - Apr 18
I woke up at 4:30am in order to catch the 5:45am ferry, just like last time I was in Cozumel. Why? I had a plane to catch. Raul was awake because he’s had trouble sleeping lately due to the stress inflicted on him by his thesis. Poor dude. So he was able to give me a ride to the ferry terminal. We said goodbye and I borded. Thanks again Raul and Alex for everything!
The ferry ride was cool because you get to “see” the pitch black ocean turn into a dimly lit ocean from the impending sunrise. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take a lot of time to admire it as I was in a rush to catch a bus to the airport. I caught the bus and tried to doze off for a few minutes on the way. And so begins the waste of more of my money. Apparently, while I was purchasing my flight tickets, I had neglected to choose the correct option for the number of bags I have. I chose the “Lite” version when I should have chosen the “Basic” version which basically means I have to pay 770 pesos, almost $60 Canadian in order to check my larger bag. Sweet stuff. Real sweet.
I managed to sleep for most of the plane ride but I don’t think it helped me much as I had a pretty bad pain in my back from the lack sleep I had. I guess. I spent probably half an hour in the airport terminal trying to find a couchsurfing host but didn’t have much luck and so decided I would just get myself to a hostel in Condesa. The subway ride went well and I took a short nap in my hostel bed.
I woke up to a few messages from my friend Carla who I visited last time I was in Mexico City and we made planes to meet up before we took our salsa lesson. I got a meal at the Medellin Market and bought some breakfast supplies and before I knew it, Carla arrived. She had made a sign with my name and a Canadian flag on it because she had originally planned to meet me at the airport. Super nice. She also got me an apple covered in chamoy and a llama souvenir from Peru. All I got her was a package of red tea that she told me she liked. I saw it in the supermarket and thought, sure, why not. Round 1, Carla.
The salsa lesson was dope. The first lesson was advanced and I quickly realized, I think along with Carla, that I wasn’t going to be able to do it. So, we sat out the last half of the class, waiting for the beginners lesson afterwards. The beginners lesson was also dope. I learned a couple of spins, and two moves whose names I don’t remember. We had a blast, then we got rained on pretty hard on the way back to the car. We ended the night with our dessert of the chamoy apples and parted ways, with plans to go rock climbing the next night. Which is hilarious considering I still have my gear with me and I haven’t used it in three and a half months. She be fun. I look forward to it.
Finally Using My Climbing Gear - Apr 19
As you may or may not know, because I’m not sure I’ve told you, I have been trying to find a replace my insole. The reason I haven’t found one yet is because I had washable insoles that I use when I wear my TOMS shoes. In this way, I don’t ruin the shoes with my stinky feet. If you wear TOMS for a whole day, you’re bound to get a bad smell going on. Anyway, I lost one of these darn things in Guanajuato and haven’t had any luck finding any since then. So, with that in mind, I headed out to the mall in Sante Fe which is conveniently close to Carla’s university and the climbing gym we planned on going to after she finished classes. Perfect.
Getting to the mall went pretty smoothly, I managed to catch to free buses to get there, though it took a little over an hour in total. Mexico City is huge. I then proceeded to scour the mall. The first store I went into that had shoes was Aldo and, to my surprise, they had exactly what I needed. The problem was that they only had women’s sizes and none of them fit my needs. Damn. That was the closest I would get to finding those insoles for the rest of the day. Luckily, however, there is an Aldo that is close to my hostel that I decided I would try for tomorrow. The rest of the time in the mall was spent looking around shops like bookstores, chocolate shops, shoes stores, men’s apparel, and a pet shop. After that great bit of walking exercise, it was time to meet Carla to go climbing! I was so excited because I’ve been carrying around my climbing gear for three and a half months and I haven’t once used it like I though I would.
First thing was first. Carla gave me her sister’s student card so I could go into the university. She showed me around the entire campus including classrooms, the library, the quiet spot with comfy chairs for sleeping, an endless amount of cafes and places to eat, a couple of her friends, the smoking section, the gym, and finally the parking lot where we hopped in her car and went climbing! Yay!
We spent about two hours climbing with her friend of fifteen years and “coach.” Much to my lack of surprise I was only able to send a few V2 problems before becoming too tired to even attempt a V3. My muscles are pretty much gone, the skin on my hands is weak, I may have some tendon strength left, and my knowledge and love for the sport is still intact. I can’t wait to get back at it when I get back home. After climbing I got a ride back to the hostel and we went for sushi. I promised myself I wasn’t going to eat sushi until I got back to Vancouver but what the hell, it doesn’t matter. There was a two for one deal at Sushi Roll, so I took advantage. Carla only wanted one roll and I wanted to, so I decided to get three to even it out to a multiple of two. Mistake. Well, not a huge mistake. The thing is that with the 2x1 deal, you are not allowed to take away your food like I wanted. So I was forced to down the entire three plates of food. Oh well.
It was a pretty good day but I can tell that I’ve been around enough of Mexico City that I don’t have a ton of desire to go see more tourist attractions. I’m mostly just running errands, which is totally cool. I mostly just want to hang out with friends as I’ve said before.
I Should’ve Done That in the First Place - Apr 20
Let’s keep this one short and add a few photos, shall we? This morning I decided I had to do a few things. These included laundry, more insole searching (haha I’m so funny), and a visit to a couple of parks. Laundry was easy enough. I dropped it off and they said it would be done by 4pm. But, I had no plans to be back today so I told them I would pick it up in the morning. Good. Done. Next, Carla suggested that I go do a bus tour of the city and that sounded like a good idea so I scrapped my park plans. First, I went to the mall nearest my hostel and found that no one had the insoles I’m looking for, so maybe I’ll just have to ruin my TOMS and wear them without socks/insoles. I then ate some lunch, interesting stuff.
I walked around the mall for a bit, walked outside to see a strange protest going on that centre around the Panama Papers, something I don’t know much about. The interesting part about the protest was that it was all just half-naked men wearing cowboy hats and boots dancing to Mexican music, waving at cars and smiling. Weird stuff, especially when you consider that half the time it was raining cats, dogs, hail, and the like all day. I walked down to the Angel of Independence statue and tried to figure out how to catch the tour bus. It eventually came around and I hopped on. I feel like the bus probably would have been the best way to get a feel for the city the first time around. There are three different lines that the CapitalBus company offers and they all last quite a long time. You pay 140 pesos for a day pass and you can get on any bus you like. I would say it is worth your time and money if you’ve just arrived in the city.
After the bus I scanned a few bank statements, signed them, scanned them, and sent them off to my bank in order to get my money back from the person that made a few $500 withdrawals a while back. I hope that works.
After that I met up with Carla and Sofi to go hang out for a few drinks. I had a cucumber michelada at the first place while we waited for Sofi’s boyfriend, Alejandro. Even though I don’t like micheladas much the cucumeber saved it for sure. We a had a good time chatting, running through huge amounts of rain, and listening to live music at the Cuban place called La Bodeguita del Medio. It is actually a chain of restaurants, one of which I visited in Puerto Vallarta. It’s the one with all the signatures on the wall if you’re ever interested.
Here are some photos from the day.
