Playa del Carmen (Mexico)

This morning, Jared and I went on another run together, leaving me again gagging to throw up. Then we showered up, grabbed some breakfast, packed up the car, and headed out to the east side of Cozumel to check out the water. We were all a little sunburnt and water exhausted, so I was the only one that actually wanted to get in the water. The surf was pretty brutal, so I didn't dare go far, bit the water was still wonderful. About and hour later, the local hotel realized the boys were sleeping in there $20 peso an hour chairs, so we booked it out before we got charged. We headed back into town to grab some lunch, and made it perfectly to the docks to loadup the car onto the ferry back to the mainland. Scathe moment, as we were climbing the steep ramp onto the ship, the treading on the wheels gave out and we almost started rolling backwards. Come on baby stick with us! The car is such a luxury; we really want her to last! A quick drive back up the highway and we were in Plays del Carmen. We did some hostel shopping, and found a nice cheap one. Walked around the boardwalk for bit, and picked out our cheap dinner place for later. Then we came back to the hostel, for a bit until we were hungry. On our way back, we ran into some friends from Tower Bridge in Puerto Escondido and grabbed a drink with them till exhaustion set in. Back at the hostel now, gonna take cold showers in preparation for our steamy night of sleep. I predict little sleep.

Dive/Snorkel #1 (Mexico)

Today we woke up early to head out to a charter boat to some reefs off the coast. The nice couple we met the day before on the ferry recommended a man name Paul, so we followed the lead and were not disappointed. At the docks, we met Paul Ellis, a former Marine, with a big white truck with Texas plates! He was very nice, and bonded with the boys right away, trading stories from their times in the Corp. The couple we had met on the ferry also joined, where we learned that Michael had been a former photographer for National Geographic, and now, with his wife Jennifer, took some of the most stunning wedding photos I had ever seen. There were a few other groups on the boat with whom we chatted. After about an hour or so ride down the coast, we "parked" the boat and everyone suited up for the dive. It was very organized and technical. Clint and I were just going to snorkel, but everyone else was very experienced, almost all bringing their own diving equipment. Jared had 10 dives under his belt and was still the most novice. Off they all went, blopping into the water, followed by Clint and me with our simple snorkel gear. I think the first dive lasted about 45 minutes to an hour, after which we all got back on the boat for some delicious sandwiches and fruit. We pulled into a shallow area, where some other people snorkeled, and the three of us jumped off the upper deck into the water. I think someone mentioned that the temperature of the water was 84 degrees! After a little rest and digest session, we headed out to a new reef for one last dive. Again, everyone suited up. This time around the water was insanely blue! I literally have never seen that color water before. It was like aqua blue jello! Or as if someone had emptied a bunch of bottled water into a pool, where the sides were painted aqua blue! You could see for ages!! Clint saw a sail fish...I have not idea what that is. After the second dive, we headed back to the port, said our thank-yous and goodbyes, and drove back to our hotel. After a quick hiatus, we set out for a restaurant Paul had recommended; unfortunately, we couldn't find it, but in the process stumbled upon an awesome place called Las Palmas. First off, the waitress/manager was nuts and head-over-heels for both guys! Secondly, they served a massive amount of food for only $80 pesos. Fish fajitas, and beef and chicken tacos, yum! We have not been so full since we left the US! After rolling ourselves back to the hotel, Jared and I grabbed the camera and headed out to a restaurant on the beach to try to grab some nice shots of the sunset. We got a few, but unfortunately, the clouds blocked a good bit of the show, so we left a bit early. Cozumel's sunsets have eluded us, but there will be plenty of opportunities yet to come. Back at the hotel now, and I think we will all have the best night of sleep since departing the States. Elation...fingers crossed.

Beautiful Cozumel (Mexico)

This morning we all got up a bit early and packed up the car, grabbed some Dr. Peppers at the closest Oxxo and headed out for Cozumel. Easy drive, straight down the nice highway. Had a couple of wrong turns, but found the loading area of the docks. We made it with plenty of time, and watched Viaje 2 on the way over. As we were leaving we met a nice couple with Colorado license plates who gave us some ins and outs of the island. They showed us a very nice hotel, which looked way out of our price range, so we did some hostel shopping, and then came back to find out exact prices, and its turned out this place was in fact the cheapest by $10 pesos each. This is definitely the nicest place we have stayed at. Immensely cute. We have a little bungalow for the three of us. We met the nice couple who runs it, and chatted with them for a bit about our plans. Then we headed out for some food, and found a local bar, where, if you ordered a beer, they just gave you tapas. So we filled up on them pretty nicely, and Jared caught the eye of one of the...bartenders? Drunk patrons? We're not sure. Afterwards, we went to a small grocery shore to find some food, so we didn't have to keep buying everything from restaurants. I really wanted to get some fish, because their fish section was full of such fresh fish, that it didn't even smell fishy!! Unfortunately, the kitchen here is pretty sparce, only salt is stocked, so we opted against it, and just grabbed some fruit for breakfast. We headed back to the hotel, and then quickly, Jared and I set out to walk around the boardwalk and catch the sunset, while Clint went on a jog. Cozumel is wonderful! It's a gorgeous little island; very American, but not in the obnoxious way that Cancun is. All the waiters and shopkeepers were astonished when we responded in Spanish to their greetings. After about an hour, we returned back to the hotel and found Clint pooped lying facedown on the floor of our bungalow. Showering up and heading to bed for an early day tomorrow, enjoying the sun and fun in Cozumel!

Rainy Days in Cancun without a Car (Mexico)

Yesterday morning, Jared and I had the free breakfast here and headed out to the Chevy dealership to try to fix the truck.  They ended up wanting to keep the car until 5pm, so we were stuck in Cancun for the day.  No problem, we had big beach plans!  Then Mother Nature stepped in and made new plans for us, consisting of basically nothing.
The clouds and rain set in just as Jared and I were trying to catch the $6 peso bus back to the hostel.  Most of the day basically involved lounging and napping .  We found some food right by our hostel, so we didn´t have to walk in the rain too far.
We went back to the dealership, and got slammed with a pretty massive bill.  They also informed us that we need new break pads on all four wheels.  Clint seemed pretty pissed at the amount of money we had to shell out, and their estimate for new pads.  We decided to buy our own at Auto Zone, and Clint has assured us that he has placed pads before and can just do it himself...pray for us!  I ended up going to bed massively early after dinner.  Hopefully, today will be a better day!

SPRING BREAK CANCUN 2013!!!! (Mexico)

Yesterday, Jared and I woke up and had the minimal, yet free, breakfast here at our hostel, Meson de Tulum.  Then we set out to find junk yards to see if we could get a new lock on the trunk.  I learned a new word, deshuesadero, junk yard!!  It was a pretty miserable experience, as we went to 5, and none had the exact piece we needed.  I finally got testy with the last guy, who was definitely trying to dick us around, because we were Americanos.  Somewhat annoyed, we came back to the hostel.  Clint and Jared went out for lunch and a quick, and unsuccessful, attempt to find the beach.  When they came back, we all relaxed a bit, and then set out to the beach.  We went to the super touristy part of Cancun, and ended up at a beach with all the locals.  It is odd for us all, seeing so many Americans.  Even we get annoyed now, but I guess they are also mostly underage or college gluttons, so that could be part of it.

We realized, absolutely no one in that area would ever come over to the mainland, where we are staying and all the local restaurants and bars are located.  To be honest, we were not even really sure what the draw to come here is, unless you are underage.  Don´t get me wrong, it´s gorgeous here, but there are nice beaches in Florida as well, and things are not cheaper here.  If you´re going to just stay in "mini-America" in Cancun, why not just stay in America?  Anyway, the area is chocker-block full of huge hotels, expensive store, and the mandatory Chiles, Senor Frogs, Hooters etc.  The beach was so nice though!!  The water was super clear, and the sand was so fine, when it was wet it looked like soggy cookie dough...which got me into a cookie mood...I think I was alone in that.  We hung out there for a while, relaxing and basking, and then headed back (to our illegally parked car).  We have developed a theory, that driving laws and signs in Mexico, are more like suggestions that actual laws, stop signs, speed limits, parking signs etc.

When we got back to the hotel, we quick dipped in the pool, showered and headed out for dinner and a couple beers.  Then we came back to prep for Hotel Row.  We hadn´t really seen a lot of Americans in our area, so we weren´t sure if it would be very crowded...it was also a Monday.  Holy crap, were we wrong!  When we drove through the same area we had earlier, (which was prety empty) it was like the Vegas Strip at night.  There were people EVERYWHERE, many super young.  All the bars anc clubs have kind of open front areas, so you can see what´s happening inside, and there was music blasting, fog, crazy.  It took us a little while just to acclimatize.  Then we were told every single bar and club had a cover, and it was $55 DOLLARS.  We were crazy blown away, and I actually laughed in guys face.  As we headed back to car, we did a little more investigating and found that one of the nice places had a $25 dollar cover with restrictions.  So we went back to Coco Bongo, and had open bar till 2am.  They also had really elaborate imitation shows of live concerts from people like Madonna and Michael Jackson.  It was fun, and I got my $25 dollars worth.  We get to say that we did Cancun...maybe not like a crazy 19 year old, but it´s done, and it was fun.  We will not be coming back to Cancun.

Chichen Itza...Not Today Topes (Mexico)

The next morning we woke up, in hopes that life was good with Clint.  The mosquito net worked its charms and allowed us a bug-free night.  Our friend Simon greeted us, and Jared and I headed back over to the cenote for breakfast and and early swim.  The cenote was super neat, the pictures do it justice (though I will have to get him to put more up).  It was gorgeous, and so serene.  We were the only two people swimming, so it was really great.  There were tons of fish and birds flying overhead.  Then on our walk back to the hostel, we met Clint perfectly to watch him continue down the road past the hostel.  Luckily, he saw Jared running in his rearview mirror.  Thankfully, the tent was retrieved, but poor Clint got stopped 3 times at checkpoints, and once got extensively searched.  The three of us, then piled in to head to lunch and Chichen Itza.

These were probably our least favorite ruins.  The price to enter was over double what we had paid at (in our opinion) better ruins, such as Palenque and Teotihuacan.  The number of tourists and especially vendors everywhere yelling for you to buy things really seemed to cheapen the whole experience.  It seems more like Disneyworld that actual ancient ruins.  None-the-less, the ruins themselves were neat. The day was incredibly hot, so afterwards, Jared and I rewareded ourselves with a popsicle!  

After the ruins, we headed back to the hostel, and made the last minute desicion to drive that day to Cancun.  Luckily, the drive was only about 3 hours so we should have gotten in right before dark.  No checkpoint stops, completely easy driving, and our first roadtrip without any surprise topes!!!  HAHA!!  SUCCESS!!!  Jared was very proud.  Unfortunately, we ended up getting into Cancun a bit late and had to drive through a new city at night.  There are a massive amount of roundabouts here, that do not work like normal roundabouts.  Apparently, being in the inner lane around the circle does not mean you are going to continue circling.  We drove around for about an hour, and asked perhaps 7 different hotels, police officers, and anyone else where it was.  This place is the best kept secret is Cancun!  We finallyyyyy found it, actually right as we had given up.   The place where we decided to give up was across the street from ours.  She pointed us through a small parking lot to the hotel...without a sign.  Anyway, this place is great and cheap, and has a pool!  We settled in, grabbed some dinner, and came back to the hostel.  At least we got to know a lot of the city during our hour long city stroll.

Where's the Tent? (Mexico)

Nice and early the next morning (I have literally been sitting here trying to figure out what day it was, and am now giving up on that), Jared came in to get me up for a morning workout. SATURDAY!!!! It wad Saturday haha. So we went on a jog and then did situps...both if which sucked. Then we got ready for the day and headed out for some cheap breakfast. Thankfully no one has caught on that our car is malfunctioning, so there she was, completely rob-able, with the truck not locking, and no one the wiser. We quick ran over to the Chevy dealership hoping for a piece to lock the truck, but they were out, so we headed back to the hostel to pack and head out. The drive to Chichen-Itza was superb and fast. We did get stopped at 2 checkpoints, one of which they had us actually get out to search the car. They were very nice about the whole thing, chatting us up throughout, and then let us be on our way. We got in around 3pm to our new spot, Yucatan Mayan Retreat Ecohotel...to camp. The place was very nice, and practically empty (there was only one other person staying there). As we were unloading the car...to camp, we realized that Clint's pride and joy, the tent, was missing and had, in fact, been left in Campeche. After frantically, and unsuccessfully, trying to get in touch with Monkey Hostel, Clint decided he would drive back, and against Jared and my better judgement, wanted to go it alone. At least Clint still has his cellphone, so we knew he could contact anyone if he got in trouble. Off poor Clint went to get his tent, and Jared and I tried to set up a makeshift sleeping area. Luckily, we had all the essentials, tarp, mosquito net, bed pads etc. We were not really staying in the main town of Chichen-Itza, which is about a 15 minute drive...completely fine when you have a car. So we set out to find food and entertainment. Luckily, Mexico is full of natural and man-made wonders, and we found a cenote (lagoon set deep into the earth) with a restaurant AND a store that sold 1.2 liter beers for $25 pesos, definitely the best price yet. Dinner was yum, and they let us drink our own beer,thankfully as we finally stumbled upon our hottest salsa yet! Unfortunately, the cenote closed at 5pm, but the only other guest at our hotel joined us for the tail end of dinner, so we hung out a bit. On our walk back, we grabbed a few more liter beers (for our British hotel-mate and myself as Jared was already buzzed). The rest of the night we spent hanging with out new friend, Simon, who had just started out his year-long traveling adventure. Sleep was actually quite nice, not as noisy or hot as jungle camping...for all those looking into camping in the jungle vs forest.