6 weeks of solo travel around Mexico

Nearly 3 months in Mexico .

Its Friday evening (27th Jan 2012) and I’m wriitng with borrowed pen in the meditation, yoga room of Cenote Encantado in Tulum. Three of the four walls open out onto a natural camping style eco-hostel. Its peaceful and I can only hear the distant chatter and laughter of three guys and their dog kayaking on the cenote. Further in the distance is the roar of the ocean. The sun is going down. I’ve left my addiction to cyber-space back in Playa and my phone has little-zero effetc here either. So its time for thoughts and nature. The little mexican shrine, dreamcatcher and traditional musical instruments are surrounded by cushions and lit by candlelight. Its peaceful. This place makes me think of Northern NSW and good times spent there with loved ones as they live their intouch with nature and kindness dream.

A long walk on Tulum beach and some fantastic bird watching is a good start to the weekend. Kites, cormorants, pelicans ans some other amazing bird with a long pointed beak and crimson head ( like a red beanie) It walks up the trunk of a tree?? (next purchase a Mexican Twitchers book or at least some internet research) but thats for another time. I followed a kilometre line of industrious ants along the road into a forest area, they were carrying bits of leaves 10 times bigger than themselves. I couldnt help but take a ‘David A” style video so impressed with their mexican work ethic was I. Geckos chirp and thats always a pleasing sound. Memories of tropical climates and times gone past evoked. Times when romantic and motherly love were in abundance.

Sleep in Tulum in my one man tent was long and peaceful.. the first night anyways. The gentle owners and their guests all open to share conversation, food and drinks. This place offers both sweat lodge and kundalini yoga too. Neither of those appeal to me and I have only brought limited pesos with me this trip. Organic market where like minded people meet and buy or exchange produce. Its here that I meet with some people involved in a very appealing eco-community 15 kilometres out of town in an amazing jungle. HHHMM…I’m invited for lunch on Tuesday and to see the incredible eco-housing ..I go on tuesday..and I’m truly inspired.

Since my last blog there has ofcourse been happenings. A short trip to Merida to meet my dear freind Jennifer from San Cristobal. A good New Year celebration with her in Playa, dancing our way around the hosue, the beach and the streets. Its always the company that makes the occassion.

Couch surfers have come and gone. A weekend with Xavier from Argentina being memorable. All dancing, phototaking, hilarious and up for anything. BPM Music Festival thumping on Mamitas beach for a week. Sounds better than it was LOL

A week of sightseeing with Marlowe from Canada. Xel Ha being a highlight. Bike riding, snorkling in one of Riveria Mayas largest natural water reserves. Realising that having someone in your space for that long is not an easy thing.

Daytrips to cenotes to pristine and amazing Cenotes in the Coba region, near San Pedro (love that name LOL ) Mexico has so much natural beauty to offer. More than I could have imagined. Its not all cactus and somberos just as Australia isn’t just the Opera House and great white sharks. I had no idea that porcupines existed in Mexico let alone as pets.

Being a solo traveller ofcourse has its ups and downs. Hoping for those special connections with people which are rare and fleeting. Missing the hugs and smiles of ones besties so far away. Freedom and adventure on a platter( not that I haven’t planned and worked for it) its mine and each time I feel homesick I have to remind myself that this was all my conscious choice and plan.

So, apart from emotional ‘wobbles” and another experience with robbery (my beloved bike was stolen) life is as requested. I have health, choice and I am fulfilling my gypsy spirit.

 

Things that make me frown :(

Dangerously broken pavements every where with potential ankle breaking peaks and troughs. They are growing on me and may end up on my ‘things that make me smile’ list.

Sad and homeless doggies. Obviously drugged wild animals used to make money on 5th Av.

Men hacking, spitting and nose clearing on the streets!

Sore, itchy, red and painful insect bite on my face for 10 day now.

Giving myself a haircut with my under arm razor and giving myself a distinctive bald patch.The studio is covered in hair and I dont have a vaccum BLAHH!!

Mexican men wearing way too much after shave.

Things that make me smile :)

Dogs living on flat roofs of houses and looking down at the world below with the occasional arrogant bark that can give you a fright. : Kings of their castles for sure.
Half price(already cheap) cocktails and sometimes completely free on occasion for the ladies..good but dangerous! still I know my limits..
Pristine cenotes everywhere alone the coast and beyond.
Seeing dogs in shops and cafes
Riding my bike everywhere around town with the respect of drivers and pedestrians alike, ‘Pushbikes’ are a big part of the working and recreational culture here.

Twenty one people on a collectivo/min van (me being one of them) One breastfeeding a baby and all of us including the baby hanging on for dear-lfe!

Watching a Mexican woman in my street chasing her very-free range chickens back home with a broom and laughing all the way.

Getting waves and smiles from a group of cow-boy hatted Mexican men in the back of a ute.

A small child begging me for the banana in my shopping bag and then sharing it with his 2 sisters. For a whole day previously I was hassled by people (including small children) desperatley trying to sell me bananas to no avail.

Wondering how I will get 20 litres of water back from the shop when a water truckl randomly pulls up at my door and sells me one for 20 pesos.

Organising my washing to be done and picked up at my new local Lavadero, all in Spanish. Cant rememebr what I said now but it worked!

 

 

Having an armed policeman stop three lanes of traffic on a very busy roundabout in Merida just so I can cross the road.
Having 2 police shine their flashlights onto the pavement from their car window at 4am on New years Eve so Jennifer and I can have a spot light for our ‘dancing in the streets’ action on the way home.

Beginning of 2 months in Playa del Carmen

Here I sit in ah cacao on the 5th and Constituyentes waiting for my second iced frappe for the day. You haven’t lived until you taste the coffee and chocolate in Mexico. It’s been a big day, coming into Centro on the collectivo at midday and its now 8 hours later. These mini vans are everywhere and for 8 pesos you can hail and be dropped off anywhere on the route (no waiting at designated bus stops here). They’re usually full of locals and packed to the brim. Everyone seems happy and relaxed to make room for another to join them and indifferent to having a tourist on board.
Today I met with one of my ex-students he was a ‘guinea pig’ during my CELTA course. A self taught multi-lingual young man with big plans to eventually be an international interpreter. A non-smoking, non drinking determined and focussed boy. He is very knowledgeable young man of world cultures and history and luckily for me with a passion for improving his English and also has an aunt in real estate. So it’s done. I have been offered a small studio apartment, five blocks away from the beach for 4,000 pesos a month. I feel safe and cared for with Mitze and Georg but the location out at Real Ibiza Housing Estate takes up both time and funds in bus and taxi fares. I want to be able to walk or ride my bike to the beach every morning and float about Playa’ shopping and night scene at will and with ease.
It feels kind of scary to be living alone in an unfamiliar place but will put me in a position where I will need to make more of an effort to get out and about and make more friends. Perhaps I can even offer the occasional couch surfer a place too but they will have to sleep on the kitchen floor. Ja ja
Its really just abase for the next 8 weeks where I can come and go from, checking out the surrounding areas with a home base to leave most of my stuff and travel light. It will also be good to be able to offer Jennifer from San Cristobal a place to relax if she needs it when she comes to Playa. I can’t wait to see her again; she’s absolutely my kinda girl. All dancing, all smiling mamaceeta.
I’m also considering doing an Intensive Spanish and Diving Course in the New Year. It would be another great way to be a part of another community and I always like to set myself a challenge and learn some new skills. It would be very refreshing to be on ‘the other side of the fence’ at International House. I was often somewhat envious of the Spanish students who seemed to breeze in and out of the residence kitchen. Getting together for dinners, cocktails and salsa lessons, practicing their Spanish and then heading out for as night on the town.

I overheard discussions of excursions to Tullum, Cenotes and swimming with turtles. I just had to switch off. The CELTA was so all encompassing, but now all these things are a possibility and living so close to town will make it all conveniently doable. Two months in my own place would in fact cost me less than one month at IH Residence and NO more chapel bells at all hours. Ja ja
So in a few days another brief chapter of my time in Mexico begins.

Wed 21/12/2011

Just signed contract for studio and paid deposit. The estate agent even offered to help me move my stuff. (I’m penning this down in my note book at ah cacao and drinking coffee once again jaja ) What estate agent offers to help you move into a rented apartment? ‘Let me know, its no problem’ ONLY in Mexico.
The apartment is tiny with only 2 rooms, one of which is a split level bedroom/kitchen/dining room. The other room is a combined shower and ‘bano’ combined. So, it’s either sit at the tiny dining table or lay on the bed. I can probably deal with that for 8 weeks.

I’m now sitting on the beach in the shade watching the holiday makers.
There’s American families’ playing ball in the sand. There’s tourists’ parasailing. There’s oil buffed and (not so buffed bodies) strutting up and down the foreshore. There are boats and kayaks surging through the waves, people fishing, sunbathing and lazing about with alcoholic beverages. I love to watch the pelicans soaring and dive bombing into the shallows. A few Mexican people are collecting rubbish, talking and laughing. Why the hell didn’t I bring my bathers? Today probably not the best day to leave my bag unattended on the beach, just been to the bank.

Memorable beach moment:

A few weeks ago whilst I was splashing and floating in the shallows 3 pelicans swooped and dove almost simultaneously into the sea about 3 metres away from me. They bobbed about drying their wings in the sun for a good ten minutes or more. They take turns in giving me the curious eye. I hope they know that I’m on their side.

Disturbing sightings for the day and in fact a few days now:

A lion and tiger cub being used for paid photo opportunities on 5th Ave (major tourist strip) The tiger cub looking extremely relaxed, sad to say probably drugged. Surely this kind of animal exploitation is illegal? Where the hell did they get these babies?
As if a hat wearing iguana and leash wearing monkey weren’t bad enough. SAD FACE 

Back on the Carribean Coast for now

So I survived the long bus trip back to Playa. I felt relaxed and confident to be back in a place where I knew my way around. So far from my home in Oz but it feels like home as I have some familiar sights and faces to return to. Mitze is her lovely welcoming self and after a shower and rest I’m easily tempted to to take her and George’s offer up to have a free night out at the infamous Coco Bongo Club. Night after night while I tried to sleep at the school residence I would hear many a drunken group making there way back from this such place and now it was my turn to see what all the fuss was about. What a mad place. Tequila and drinks flow non-stop, women dance on the bar in between a series of musical stage shows from Elvis to Phantom of the Opera, circus style and everything in between. When in Coco Bongo do as the Coco Bongians do, and so I did.

Streamers, balloons, mass karaoke and dance til you drop. As a lover of live music and a relaxed atmosphere this place is far from my idea of my usual night out but hey, I went with it and had a blast. Beautiful mayan faces and a balloon doggie came my way. Happy girl.

Saturday night it was the Xmas party for Mitze and Georges block of flats. Everyone spoke Spanish. I listened and I suppose am a little wiser??  So, its now Sunday and I catch the collectivo into centro. After purchasing some red nail polish and mascara that I unashamedly apply in the supermarket carpark, where no one blinks an eye, its off to the beach. I meet a great girl from Boston who watches my stuff while I enjoy a dip in the sea. A randon fella called  Frede joins us. He’s a restuarant owner, ex-surgeon??  and so I’m invited to join him and his mate Louis for dinner. Both wonderful people, generous and full of passion for life. We exchange number, perhaps I will see them again?

Todays random sights. 1. The bus stops at the lights, I guy runs up and through the window gets change from the driver for 200 pesos. Everyones happy! 2. Another  guy gets on the bus and serenades us all. Three stops later he jumps off without saying a word. Gotta love Mexico.

 

Hostel life and San Cristobal

So it seems I may be changing my mind about both the hostel experience and San Cristobal, never say never hey? I have met some great people in the hostel and its been more like  family home than a party place where drinking and shagging prevail. LOL I have my own room at a very good price and its close to some amazing fresh food markets and funky bars and cafes. This however is a cold time of year to be 2,200 metres up in the Chiapas mountains. Just as well my new boots and poncho were easily attianable,appreciated and cost ‘stuff all’

One week in San Crisotbal turned out quite a highlight! I will definately try and make it back when the springtime hits maybe around April or May next year. Great little town, funky cafes, bars, markets, music and loads of welcoming, bohemian people. Made some new friends and English teaching seems to be the go here. dancing sems to be big here if you know the right spots and I definately got my fill of dancing with both girls and boys, partnered and unpartnered, love it !!

Just happened to be in town when The Festival of Our Lady Guadalupe was happening. So much, food, colour music and fire works. I think I may finally be over my sudden, loud noise phobia.

Once again to see everyone from 3 year olds to 90 year olds all working nonstop to make a peso is both inspiring and somewhat sad at the sametime. Whether packing food at the markets or selling trinkets and warm hats and scarves in the streets and cafes, the quest to earn and live is immense.

Two unusual things sited: 1. A little old mexican man in a dance club where reggae and scar music plays was wearing an umbrella (minus the metal handle) as a cape. 2. A litter of wild kittens hanging out with a turkey at the banos. All hidden from the roadside cafe on my way back from San C to Playa. The long, delayed 20 hour bus journey, but hey the bus was nearly empty so we all got to stretch out and get some sleep.