It's pretty common to imagine New Mexico as a desolate desert, needing moisture and a break from the scorching sun. This is an unfortunate misconception. New Mexico winters are cold. But the winter chill is a result of age, so to escape it, this winter Whit and I took a vacation to old Mexico.
After a long debate over which cruise we should take, we asked Priceline.com to give us round trip plane tickets to Cozumel, Mexico for $400. Priceline obliged, so from Jan. 6-13th, we would be in the Mexican Yucatan, soaking sun rays and acting like tourists. Being a seasoned carry-on traveller by now, I packed only the essentials.
I even managed to bring Jorje along on this one.
Layover in Dallas, we arrived on Cozumel Island at a hot 3pm.
A cruise stop, Cozumel was quite a trap. Lots of tourist prices and shinnanigans. We didn't even need to know a lick of spanish to get around here. My immediate reaction was to get some delicious seafood.
Pulpo, or octopus, was the main ingredient in my fajitas. In the picture above, you can see my waiter getting ready to pour some wine over my dish, causing steam to bring in a delicious tasty octopus dish unlike any I had before (although, I can't say for certain that it was better than Tequilas' octopus, mushroom, garlic dish).
It was immediately apparent that the Mexican landscape was colorful and vibrant.
That night we checked into our hostel, Hostelito. I would definitely recommend for it's nice patios and hammocks, great atmosphere, and free storage.
They must celebrate the 12 days of Christmas in Cozumel.
Cozumel was the only city in Mexico where I could find a skybridge.
The next day it was off to the beach. We rented a scooter for a cool 25 bucks and drove everywhere we could. There are a ton of private beaches in Cozumel, but if you can make your way to the beach without paying anything, you can walk up and down it for free, and mooch off of other beaches.
For the first time ever, I encountered a wild family of iguanas, chillin'.
They do have seasons in Cozumel, but they all look like this.
We rented some snorkeling gear and snorkeled the reef off the coast. Spotted some cool stuff, like squids, colorful fish, and anemones.
After doing some time on the beaches, we wanted to drive around a bit more to see the island. We left the west side, the side that faces the Mexican mainland, and went to some beaches facing the Caribbean Sea. It was immediately apparent that the east side was more windy and rocky, and reminded me very much of the Pacific Northwest beaches (except for the sun and the palm trees).
This was my favorite part of the island: the tide pools.
The water had a depth difference of about 6 feet in these areas. It would rise over the rocks, then recede back, drain, make waterfalls, and show that past these rocks the ocean floor dropped at least 30 feet.
After a long day of seeing Cozumel, we left at night by ferry.
Contrary to what you might expect, the following was the most exciting thing I experienced in Cancun.
That red salsa was the HOTTEST salsa I had ever had in my life. We went walking around the club district (not the outlandish hotel zone) and found a place with some good drink deals and a live band; lots of locals. I couldn't believe how hot the salsa was though, it made me breathe like a fat kid after stairs, and look like I was allergic.
Our hostel in Cancun was really neat looking...although service was sub-par.
The next day it was bus time, and this is when we realized we were out of the touristy area of Cancun...
Goal 84: Learn workable Spanish
Buying bus tickets to Mérida was tricky, but I pulled out some good words that I had learned:
hola - Hello
yo - I
necessitar - to need
bus - bus
boleto - ticket
a la - to the (feminine)
qué - what
buscar - to look
bueno - good
dónde - where
ser - to be
comida - food
beber - to drink
¿Cuánto cuesta? - how much does it cost?
var - to go
sí - yes
no - no
solamente - only
gracias - thank you
como - how
tener - to have
...and many more words for objects and things. Luckily for Whit and I, what I knew got us through many situations where people who didn't speak a letter of English. I was quite happy.
It was only going to get more and more Spanish from here, but getting bus tickets was an encouraging success. We bussed across the peninsula to Mérida, the big city of the area. On the way, we caught a really good look of the towns and culture in the Yucatan because we took the local's bus, 'Centro,' which picked up anyone with a bag standing on the side of the road.
They advertised on city walls. I saw many of these tags all over, and one of them was called 'Flash Gordon,' I realized they were advertisements because 'Flash Gordon' was a DJ dance party.
All of the missions and churches that we saw were yellow. Now, don't get me wrong, I love yellow, but I was hoping for more vibrant colors.
In Mérida we had another fantastic hostel, and got upgraded to a 4-bed, private bathroom, room for free. I wish we could have stayed here longer because they had a nice pool, with hammocks over it.
We went out to check out the city, and we were recommended this little restaurant with authentic Mayan food, and good prices.
They brought out chips and salsa. That salsa was the HOTTEST salsa I had ever had in my life (yes, hotter than Cancun salsa). Made of Habañeros, when the waiter said it was spicy, I grinned, knowing my New Mexican chile background. I was a fool. I realized I should have tried it before getting a chip-load when my face started going num, and I could feel my stomach extinguishing flames. Although it was delicious, I couldn't hold a conversation with Whit whilst eating it because I could focus on anything and my vision was going blurry.
The menu did seem interesting, but the food was delish. Mayan food consists of lots of boiled eggs, banana leaf, whatever plant is on the left side of my plate, and pumpkin parts. These are boiled egg enchiladas covered in boiled eggs, under a creamy sauce, and with a leaf.
These were some big buildings in the area.
There was a plaza that was really lively, and made the city quite nice. A drum group performed in the middle, and there were vendors all around. Whit bought a Mayan hammock form a dude who told us all about the importance of hammocks to Mayans.
The next day we left to the Chichen Izta Mayan ruins.
Although I had seen Chichen Itza many times on TV, I had only thought to visit the ruins after seeing pictures of people climbing the pyramid in some tourist photos. Unfortunately, they discontinued that privilege, and now you can only scope it out from the base.
It was a really great place of ruins, interesting and intact. I caught snippets of info from the guides all around us. However, the ruins didn't have nearly the same impact as the Pyramids of Giza. I think the granite rock made it seem less authentic, and it was actually hard to convince my mind that these were the work of living Mayans.
There was some very cool stuff though, this was the ball court, which I was excited about because I had also seen this on a PBS special.
After we had our fill, we headed to Tulum, where Whit had wanted to go all along, but I insisted we take a detour around the country for.
We stayed at a hostel that had free bikes, free cooked breakfast, and free bedbugs. We biked everywhere on our cool bikes, 2 miles to the Gran Cenote, 3 miles to the beach, 1 mile to town.
This was our hostel, the Lobo Inn. We stayed here for the last three nights of the trip.
We went cave snorkeling at Gran Cenote. It was really amazing, and these pictures don't even come close to giving the awesomeness justice.
There was lots of divers who would go deep into the tunnels of the caves. I did what I could to follow them a bit, but I could only go so far before needing to survive.
Super awesome, definitely recommend.
And of course, everyday we went to the beach. If you look in the distance, you can see a small Mayan box, built on some cliffs overlooking the sea. It was really a cool scene, and the beach was gorgeous.
This was an overlook on one of the beach cabana rental properties. We had planned on staying in these, but they were much more expensive than the hostel, so we decided against it.
After scoping out plenty of coconuts throughout our trip, and having an unsuccessful run-in with coconuts in the past (involving a state ranger, a state park, and a law against ripping coconuts out of the trees in Florida), I needed to eat and drink of a fresh coconut.
Although I couldn't figure out how to find the best ones, I became very successful at breaking and entering the tropical nut. The first time I used two large concrete fragments from the side of the road. The next couple times I was more precise with a sharp wooden stick.
Drinking coconut water is the only water you can drink worry-free in Mexico.
Unfortunately, the well runs out eventually.
Back in town, we went shopping to cut food costs (I mean, we'd been gone for almost 6 days and had already racked up a bill of over $200!). I had to change my pants after I saw they ghetto-packaged a match made in heaven: frosted flakes and rice.
Winding down, we bussed back to Playa Del Carment, ferried over to Cozumel, got a souvenir cup in the world's smallest Hard Rock Cafe, and coped with Montezuma's revenge.
(Well, Whit did. She decided that if other people were using the water, it must be ok for her to use it.)
In Cozumel we went back to the place we ate before, and I treated myself to some conch fajitas.
Not nearly as delicious as octopus, I felt more triumphant eating something majestic and exotic.
I couldn't quite figure out this sign, other than a shameless promotion of consumerism and drug use....
The last day was cloudy and rainy, so it wasn't even that hard to leave.
The trip was a very welcome break from playing Final Fantasy, and fronting the cold all winter. Getting back, it was time to get ready for school again...
Status: Waiting for the storm.
