First night we did drinking games in the hostel before going out, although were having so much fun with our games didn't leave til like 1 when we were told to go. Unfortunately by that time we'd missed all the open bars. Now girls as a rule don't have to pay to get in most places and as we were half and half we could get the guys in for free too. We gave one guy a small tip for his help - but a fraction of what it would've cost for entry. Next day we were all dead for pretty much most of the day, a few people went to the beach and then in the evening me, Alix, Cam Cam and Theo (Cam cam's friend from home) went to watch the end of this 5k run they had through playa. Then they had this mini show on the beach as like a celebration for the event. Was fun to watch and Alix managed to grab himself a free tshirt - helps when he's like a ft taller than everyone so just grabbed it outta the air no problem. That night after drinking in the hostel only the four of us went out as the others decided to stay in. It had been raining earlier in the night but we used the pause to head out. As we went earlier me and cam cam were able to get the open bar in one place. Then we spent the night jumping between clubs - all in all had a blast. Unfortunately on the way back in started pouring down with rain and we ended up soaked - probs not helped by the fact we decided to go swim in a fountain.
The next day we had booked a tour to go to Chichen Itza (famous ruins) that would pick us up from our hotel at 7am. Having got in around 5/6, and despite setting a multitude of alarms - we were only awoken by the lady from the hostel coming in to tell us the bus was waiting outside! We couldn't work out how we had missed so many alarms - and that not a one out of the 8 of us had heard them - it later transpired that Alix had in fact heard it, but didn't fancy getting up when he saw the time so simply turned it off!
So 10mins of panicked packing and rushing around later we were on our bus - or more accurately our tiny and rather uncomfortable minivan. Not exactly what had been advertised, however given we paid like half the price, an acceptable sacrifice. So needless to say, we weren't the driver or the tour guides favourite people. I pretty much fell asleep the second we got on the bus, as did everyone else, meaning we got a bit of much needed catch up in the 4 hour trip there. First stop was a cenote - a giant sinkhole.
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| Cenote - view from above |
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| Cenote - view from inside |
Anyways, once you go down all the steps to the bottom you can swim in it, and / or jump off some ledges that go round the inside. However we only had like 30mins there as we had to been told to be back at the bus in exactly 45mins as we were on a tight schedule. Given our start, we decided to stay on their good side and get back on time. Good thing too - we basically got on the bus, the tour guide checks his watch and says right time up, we gotta go. At this point there are 8 people not on the bus! His response? They'll have to meet us at lunch, they can get a taxi! Seriously?! We were kinda surprised at that, as a lot of people had left stuff on the bus, which could include their money for taking this supposed taxi! Anyways, luckily as pretty much all the tours go to the same place for lunch, the missing people were able to get a lift with another agency. Lunch wasn't bad and was included - however drinks weren't. Leaving us dying of thirst whilst not so subtlety eyeing up drinks other people had left!
Following lunch we stocked up on water before getting back in the bus to head to chichen itza, which at this point was pretty close. The tour wasn't that interesting in my opinion - I prefer just wandering around and seeing things. Although there were a few interesting add-ons that you can't really get from just looking. Although, I missed like 30mins of the tour when he stopped for too long to explain something allowing me the time to go to sleep! It's a pretty big site although the main pyramid isn't that tall - however it has this cool design feature where if you stand in front of it and clap, it echoes back what sounds like a bird noise. Also, because of the stormy weather it created quite a cool backdrop!
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| Chichen Itza |
Have to say though, my personal highlight was when this big woman in our group who we were chatting to said something such: (bearing in mind one of my favourite youtube videos is the 'ain't nobody got time for that lady' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGxwbhkDjZM&feature=kp) and this woman talked just like that)
'I bet they had slaves and everything but....ain't nobody gonna carry me'
Hard to relay just how funny she was - I hate to say it cause it always annoys me - but guess it's one of those 'had to be there moments'
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Anyways, its was a long trip back again, with the others planning to go straight to Cancun when we got back to Playa (as they were flying back to DF the next day) and me and Alix heading to Tulum. What we didn't realize was that we would pass through Tulum on the way back. Luckily Micho noticed and told us so that we could get off there. Although we'd already gone through it so had to flag down a taxi on side of highway to go back into town. We stayed in a really nice little hostel that the others recommended called 'El Jardin de Freida'. It was only when I started unpacking my bag to look for something that I discovered Micho's and his brother's (Lenny) passports which I'd been looking after for some reason no-one remembers. Unfortunately, Lenny's other ID card was also with his passport so Micho got a 3hr bus early the next morning from Cancun to come pick it up as they were flying the next day and you need some form of ID to board the plane!
After we gave him the ID's we went to rent bikes so that we could cycle down to the ruins. Bikes were great value - like 120 pesos for the two (£6) for the whole day. Didn't even have to leave a deposit or anything, just Alix's trini ID, which looks like a homemade library card!
Unfortunately in keeping with the whole time we were in yucatan area - we didn't have the best weather. There were 3 particularly bad downpours which forced us to take shelter during the day. Luckily though, the tropical climate means its still warm. We also took the wrong route on the first attempt leading us to cycle a long way out of the way! Eventually later in the day we found the main ruins, although the stormy background and threat of more rain meant it didn't look as nice as I thought it would have. Whilst they were impressive looking due to the setting on the coast - they weren't the best ruins I've seen by a long shot and was kinda disappointed after a lot of the hype that people give it! By the end of the day we had cycled some ridiculous distance (on our beach cruisers) and were happily ready to give the bikes back.
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| Tulum |
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| Enjoying our bike ride |
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| Alix |
Unfortunately in the evening, our plans of going to the supposedly great seafood restaurant across the road from the hostel were derailed when it turned out they closed super early and we were too late for food! Ended up at some random little place where two old people were playing live music / dancing. Thankfully an older couple walking past decided to stop for drinks and the entertainment so we didn't feel so bad about ignoring the performers!
Next day we went to Akumal, a small beach area on the way back to Playa del Carmen, found somewhere we could store our bags, managed to avoid all the people trying to sell us snorkeling tours and found a nice spot on the beach.
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| Akumal beach - definitely worth a visit |
The main attraction here is the sea turtles which you can find by swimming out 50-100m from the shore. Knowing that in advance was a great help as it meant we weren't suckered in to one of the guided snorkeling tours that charges 2/3x the cost of renting equipment for an hour guided tour. Considering the sea turtles are pretty large and pretty much everywhere, unless you're blind, then I didn't understand the point in a tour! Especially as renting the equipment meant we had it all day and could go a few times as opposed to just the one opportunity. Not to mention as well that we didn't have to fight other people for 'our turn' to see the turtles as we avoided the giant groups as much as possible. Whilst you're not allowed to dive down to take photos with the turtles, one of the guys associated with a tour group was out there taking photos and was 'allowed' to dive, so very kindly swum down with my camera to take a few close-ups. unfortunately they didn't come out that great as my casing had fogged up a bit so they were kind of blurry! Also, we were having the weather problem again and it was flicking from perfect sun to downpours. However, it was one of the best places we went and the ability to swim so close to the sea turtles means I'd highly recommend going to anyone!
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| Sea Turtle! |
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| Duuuuude |
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| Sea turtle |
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| Also saw a massive sting ray swim by! |
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| Alix representing #trinitodebone |
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| Swimming back down after going up for air |
From Akumal it was about a 45min bus ride back to Playa del Carmen and then a 45 min ferry across to Cozumel. I went to take out money just before we went to get the ferry as we were almost out but the first machine was broken and then the second machine said it was out of cash so my transaction had been cancelled. Didn't think anything of it at the time as it's happened before, however the next machine I went to told me that I had gone over my daily withdrawal limit - was very confused as hadn't yet taken out cash. Turns out that other machine had charged my card without actually giving me the money! Luckily we just had enough money for the ferry and the hostel in Cozumel. When we arrived in Cozumel - late cause the kerfuffle meant we missed the ferry we wanted - I called up and explained what had happened, but was reassured it would probably readjust overnight and be back to normal in the morning. Unfortunately it wasn't and what's more, because of the time difference between Mexico and the UK, the next morning for us was still the same calendar day in the UK as the night before meaning I still had 'exceeded the daily limit' which meant going to call again to get them to increase my limit for the day so we could finally take out cash! Eventually was able to take out cash but the process for getting my money back from the machine is still ongoing 7 weeks later! About 3 weeks ago a letter arrived back home saying that they would be refunding the money after carrying out their investigation, however I am yet to see it materialize in my account :/ Not cool as was around £300!
I had wanted to go diving whilst in Cozumel, however given that we arrived late the night before trying to sort out the money and then lost the morning doing the same, plus we were flying 2 days later, I only had that afternoon to go. Luckily there are no shortage of dive shops in Cozumel - which is supposed to have some of the best diving in the world! We found a couple options but in the end I decided to pay the extra $5 and go with the one where I liked the staff - also, the next one seemed real suspect and didn't seem to exist on the internet - not worth the risk with diving! Alix hadn't been feeling well and doesn't dive so he had a quiet afternoon in the hostel.
The company was called 'Blue Magic Dive Shop' and I'd be lying if I said having a great name didn't also sway me to them! I was doing a 'refresher course' as whilst I have my PADI qualification I hadn't been in some time. Normally the refresher course would be a quick review of basics and then a shore dive. The guy in the dive shop didn't want me to have to hang around so he sent me down to the marina with all my kit to meet the dive instructor. I ended up being able to tag along with a group doing a 'discover scuba' dive, so I got a much longer boat dive on a small reef compared to the shorter beach dive I would have got otherwise! So all worked out well and the water was an amazing blue colour, plus there were plenty of fish on the reef.
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| Reef dive - Cozumel |
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| Giant fish! |
That night Alix was feeling better so we went out for dinner and had decidedly the best meal of the trip:
Appetizer: Choripan - kinda like a giant sandwich with Argentinian chorizo inside
Italian bread with garlic butter
Main: I had garlic shrimp and Alix had the lobster pasta (which had 2 small lobsters on the top)
Dessert: I had some kind of fried bananas with chocolate and Alix had cheesecake
We were there for like 2 1/2 hours eating and taking our time - but was totally worth it! Not to mention it cost us like £36 total including service and drinks!
Next day we left on the ferry early before heading back to Cancun. We were staying somewhere literally right next to the bus station as we had to get a bus to the airport at 4am the next day. That day we decided to go to Isla Mujeres - a small island off coast of cancun. Short and very pleasant ferry ride with live music. When we arrived there were people driving golf buggies all over the place - needless to say we desperately wanted to rent one, but in the end decided to spend our money on the snorkeling tour we had actually gone there for!
Snorkelling tour took us to 2 sites. The first was in relatively shallow water but there was a lot to see! Fish everywhere and a small reef aswell. The second spot we went was a massive disappointment. The main reason we had gone there was to see the underwater museum - MUSA. A wide variety of massive statues at the bottom of the ocean. Unfortunately, we had swapped boats at this point, as they put all the people going to MUSA together and the others on another boat then you meet up after again. Our new boat companions were a family of 4 rather large Mexicans whom it appeared could not swim and were afraid of the water ..... Which begs the question, what on earth made them think snorkeling in the middle of the ocean was a good idea!? Anyways, we're in the water for about 10 mins and get to see some people and a VW Beetle statues before the oldest woman says she doesn't feel well and needs to get out the water. Ok, we thought maybe now we can actually go a little quicker as she was the one struggling the most who wasn't even attempting to swim - just being pulled along by the guide. However, they made all of us get out and that was the tour over?! We asked and he insisted there was nothing more to see - even though us and a Puerto Rican lady who'd come across to this new boat with us were all asking why we weren't getting to see the rest of it. Anyways, luckily the included lunch was good, so Alix decided to eat his money worth in fish instead!
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| Underwater museum (MUSA) - stone people |
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| Underwater museum (MUSA) - car |
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| Sunset - view from ferry on way back to Cancun from Isla Mujeres |
The next day was a super early start to get our 7am flight back to DF. We got in the Friday morning - just over a week after we left. And after deciding to take the cheaper, albeit more difficult, route of public transport to get home, we arrived at the house around midday.
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