Jan 07

The Adventures of Ron Mexico (In the Yucatan)

01.22.2007 - 01.29.2007 0 °F
View The Big Trip on tommydavis's travel map.

Well, I showed up in Cancun on Monday, Jan. 22. without a place to stay the night, or any travel plans whatsoever except for the vague idea of heading South. Believe it or not, I met two Canadian girls on the plane named Megan and Lisa and we began to chat. Turns out they have nearly identical travel plans as I do. Anyway, since they knew of a hostel in Cancun, they shared this information with me in return for me helping them get to the hostel (They didn´t speak much Spanish). This is how the trip begins: in a small youth hostel in Downtown Cancun with two Canadian sisters. This hostel was actually really cool. The owner lived in Lodi for a year when he was young, but got deported when the cops saw his expired tags. I started talking with a British guy who insisted that America was still a British Colony. After a few jokes, I busted out the half bottle of Knob Creek that I had brought and we had a grand ol´ time that night.

The next day, I went to the beach in Cancun and snuck into a pool at a fancy hotel. Then I got back to the hostel and said "hola" to about ten backpackers from all over the world (except the US). At about this point, I suddenly got very depressed. Believe it or not, I felt very lonely on the second day of the trip. Thoughts of booking a flight for the next week even popped into my head. It was very strange to not be around anyone that I knew, and I missed Erin very much. I have been so excited about this trip for so long, that I was flat out scared when I finally started it. It was like reality sank in that I was not going to be home for a long time and I had no idea of what was to come. I called it an early night and the next day, cut out early on a ferry to beautiful Isla Mujeres.

The hostel at this place is flat out ridiculous. It holds about 100 people (1 American, which was me) and the party never stops, it just moves to the beach bar after 11:00. After hanging out at the beach all day, I had a similarly depressing evening and again went to bed rather early again. Don´t worry this is about the time that things turn around.

The next day was awesome, highlighted by a lunch of fresh cooked fish in the middle of a day of snorkeling. In the evening, I ate dinner at a place with cheap beer with Megan and Lisa and met this British bloke name Ben. He too has similar travel plans as me for the next month and in fact, we are now travelling together until Belize as we both seem to wake up early and like drinking beer.

After a couple of days of riding around on a moped, swimming in turquoise waters and partying with really funny British, Australian and Danish guys, I remember why I wanted to do this in the first place. Every day, it seems, I start chatting with a forty-something, sun burnt American tourist about this and that and when I tell them I am travelling for three months, I always get the same response: "Good for you. You are so lucky for being able to do this at such a young age." I think to myself that luck had very little to do with it.

I am now in Playa del Carmen, a town that is touristy, but not like Cancun. Today I went scuba diving without a wetsuit and saw some of the most amazing things the ocean has to offer. Tonight I am hitting the bars for dollar beers and 4 peso tacos with Ben and the Canadian girls and probably another person I have not yet met.

A couple of things I have learned so far:

- Out of over 150 backpackers, I am the ONLY American. It´s okay though, I tell people that I am from California and everyone wants to party with me.

- When you live on less than $20 a day in the most beautiful beaches in the world, you are only interested in buying necessities: cheap food, water, shelter, and surprisingly, beer. Believe me, Europeans know how to drink their beer.

I think I might change my travel plans a bit. I might turn around near Honduras and make my way through Guatemala for a few weeks to try to learn better Spanish from a host family (think $50 for one week of room, food and drink and intensive Spanish lessons.) Then I might head up the entirety of Mexico, checking out all of the places I have have always wanted to see. I would take busses right up to Tijuana.

Adios for now. I hope everyone is doing well.
Tom