Playa del Carmen

Well, I finished up my trip in Playa del Carmen, a beach town an hour south of Cancun. It was extremely touristy, and very expensive. I was going to rent a hammock to sleep in, at least one night, but the place was really shady, so I went across the street to a cheap cheap hotel. I had this hotel written down before I got there, and it was like 400 pesos a night. The most expensive place other that the jungle, but it was still like $27 a night, right on the beach. It was a pretty funny little place, no frills. I think there was some kind of animal in my room which made me sleep with the lights on the first night. I think it ended up being a bird, and it was either living in the ceiling, or the roof was really thin.... I got over it, and i just slept under the sheets using it like a mosquito net everynight.

My book said to walk north along the beach to find the best spots, and so I got up early the next day, packed my little tote and off I went. I walked like an hour past all the tacky resorts and crowds of tourists and found the most amazing spot all to myself. I stayed there all day and got really tan, and swam in the ocean, which was better than any pool. Nothing bus sand as far as you could see, warm turquoise water, no waves because we were in a small cove, it was awesome. I would just float on my back as long as I could.

When I finally let for the day, I walked past some people who had made the trek, and most of the girls were topless. Turns out I had ended up at a toples beach but I didn't know it because I was the first one there. Oh well.

That night I went out to dinner, and then I passed a sports bar. I went in to ask them if they would play the MSU game the next night, and as I was standing and waiting, some other guy was asking if they would put on the UConn game. I asked who they were playing, and he said Pitt. So I immediately pulled up a chair and camped out all night watching basketball and drinking beer. That was pretty fun. The next night I ended up finding a cooler place to go and watched MSU play Purdue with 5 other Spartans.

My 2nd day I did the same thing, except when I got all the way to the good spot, I went to get my sunscreen, and sure enough, I can't find it! So I stay for about an hour and a half tanning and then I swim for a half an hour, and walk all the way back to the room. I get to the room, and I'm like, where's the sunscreen!? Sure enough, its in the bottom of my bag. Ugh! So I went back to the beach, but I just laid out with all the tourists, with wild kids and people kicking sand on me as they walked by....

Woke up on my last day at 6am to watch the sun rise, walked up and down the beach, and drank some coffee at a cute little place near my hotel looking at teh beach. Walked to the bus station, hopped a bus to Cancun, split a taxo with someone going to the airport, and came back to Michigan!

Hopefully now I can get my pictures up online. I took over 1000. I'm going to Chicago this weekend. I start work Monday again. It was awesome! Thanks to Annie and Rudy for letting me do this, it would not have been possible if you hadn't been there! If I'm still at NAP 1 year from now, maybe I'll tackle South America next year!! See everyone on the holidays!

Molly

A real update!

OK, my posts have been lacking since I´ve been on the road, and this is the most excitement I´ve been in, so I apologize. 

Last night around 9 I arrived in Merida and got to my new hostel, again right on el zòcalo! I was feeling better than I have all week, but I ended up falling asleep almost immediately after arriving. I woke up around 7:30 and I no more upset stomach! I finally got out of the hostel around 9:30am, but, I mean, what is there to do before that anyways? I took a realllllly long walk north along a major shopping street in Merida to Paseo de Montejo, which is a giant tree-lined street that the rich people of Merida modeled after Champs-Elysées from Paris. It has a lot of really old mansions and a museum, that kind of thing. It was pretty nice to walk along, and I got a coffee. 

When I was drinking my coffee, I found a tourist magazine that was really helpful, and it had all these maps to interesting places, particularily an organic coffee shop selling coffee from Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Veracruz. So, yes Mom I got you coffee. It was a hell of a hike to get there though, and by the time I made my way there and got the coffee I was ready for lunch. It was nice because it worked out that I was in the area of the restaurant I wanted to go to in my book! That was also a long trek, and I got there around 1pm. 

Ate some good fish for lunch, and got a taxi back to el zòcalo because I it was really really hot, and I was wearing pants. On my way back here the shops were open, so I saw some cute little places close to here that I want to check out. Right now I´m at the internet cafe that is underneath the hostel, which is really nice. 

My hostel isn´t as cool as the other ones I´ve been at. The first, in San Cristobal, was all open, with lawns and gardens, a little bar and kitchen for breakfast, and just a really cool place. One of those buildings they built into a hill, so at one point you go inside a door, and climb stairs, and you find another outdoor area. It was confusing at first, but really nice to be around. Then in Campeche, the place was really sweet. It was just a little doorway on the street with a staircase, but when you went up the stairs, there were hammocks and chairs, computers, people hanging around all over, and an open balcony onto the zòcalo. Since I wasn´t feeling well, it was the perfect place to just lounge and drink a lot of water. 

I did get to walk around the city walls, and went to a museum with my Quebec friend. That was cool, because it was a museum of all the things they found in Calakmul, the amazing jade funeral masks, and really detailed carvings. It was really awesome to see after going to the site. Campeche was a really small laid back place, so while I didn´t get to spend the full day seeing everything, I´m not worried. Plus, to get to the museum, my friend and I took a city bus! So, that was one of my crowning achievements of the trip so far actually. She spoke less Spanish than I did, but she could really get places. The bus was cool, standing room only, we hailed it off the street, all the good stuff!

This hostel now is definately an old house on the inside, but, eh, whatever. It is a bed for 10 bucks on the zòcalo. I can´t complain. I do have a big list of others, which I know there are tons here, a lot in the big old houses, and from the websites, have more of an atmosphere, but, whatever. I like this location. 

Tomorrow night at some point I´m going to Playa del Carmen. I´m debating whether or not to sleep here for a few hours then take the 3:30am bus to arrive at 8:30 and spend a full 2 days there, or whether I should take a night bus, at like 7 or 8, so that I can just wake up there and go from there. 

I found a little tiny place called Cabañas la Ruina, which is seriously on the beach, apparently it is a survivor from the hippy days and is clinging on to their property and not selling to the condos that surround it. Prime location. I can even rent a hammock to sleep in. I´m seriously considering it!

Calakmul and Campeche!

Sorry about the delay, I was in the jungle with no outside contact! I ended up leaving San Cristobal around 8pm, and not arriving in Xpujil until 4 the next day. It was rough, but ok. When I got to my hotel, it all went downhill, fast. I was going to a nice hotel with tours into the jungle and ruins. I was staying near the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the largest reserve in Mexico, and a UNESCO world heritage site. But, turns out the hotel didn´t have cars, so, no tours, even though I had read the websites and called ahead, no one mentioned this. So, I have only enough money to go to Calakmul for the first day, and then the 2nd day walk to the ruin sites across the street and one 2km down the road. Both were cool, yes, and I was still completely surrounded by jungle, but, it was lonley and pretty boring when I didn´t have anything to do. All the people at the hotel were French, German, and Italian. The restaurant made me sick, and that was about it. But, Calakmul is AWESOME!!! I would have just gone there both days if I could have afforded it (it was an 800 peso cab ride, 2 hour drive one way, I had 1050 pesos for the whole time). I saw 2 big deer run right across teh trail, and lots of monkeys!! Spider monkeys and some other black kind that I need to look up. Tons of cool birds everywhere, and awesome trees, and the ruins are seriously amazing. You climb up above the trees, and it is absolutely breathtaking. You can see nothing but trees as far as you can see in every direction, and other pyramids sticking out of the trees. I can´t get pictures up, but I´ll show everyone as soon as I can!!


Yesterday I took the bus from Xpujil to Campeche, so I´m back in a city now. My hostel is right on Principal Parque, so right now as I type, I am looking out the window at the city cathedral! It is a great location, and great view. Last night in the dorm it was just me and a girl from Quebec. She is biking across Mexico, and has 6 months off school. She doesn´t know if she´ll stay all 6 months though. We went out and got ice cream last night.

No joke this is the view from my hostel last night. And I paid 100 pesos!!! (divide by 14 = less than $7!!!)

Today I want to walk the city walls which were built to defend against pirate attacks, and then go to a nice restaurant and eat seafood! Then just walk around and check the place out. I picked up a tour book finally, and I don´t know how I made it without one for a week! It is a lifesaver. Tonight I go to Merida for the weekend, and Sunday night I am off to Playa del Carmen!!!

Oh my god, it is also sooo hot here!!! Wednesday in the jungle, when I walked (more than) 2km to the ruins it was so blazing hot that I asked some Europena travellers for a ride back to the hotel (they were at the same place), and thank god, because I was about to pass out. And last night, I got here, and it is just roasting! I wasn´t really expecting this after Puebla. I was wearing pants everyday there, and now I´ll probably wear running shorts today because I´ll be sweating!

Ok, the breakfast is starting! I´ll write more soon. I hope I can show everyone my pictures soon, I have a lot!

update from San Cristobal de las Casas!!!

This grammer will be bad because I dont know how to use this keyboard. Not all the correct punctuation marks.

OK, so I was totally wrong on my first impression and I love this town. I went on a tour today to a giant cave, a waterfall, and some lakes. The last stop on the tour was 2 hours away from town, and I was looking across the lake at Guatemala. It was warm and sunny all morning, and then when we got to teh lakes, it started to rain and it was so foggy you could barely see 10 feet in front of you. So we were all laughing because we couldnt actually see the lakes. Oh well. I see lakes all the time. The cave and waterfall were really cool.

Friday I was a little quick to judge. I spent the day walking everywhere looking around. So, I got my bearings, and around 7 I went back to the hostel to crash, but, there were 2 girls talking in the dorm, one from scotland and one from alaska. the scottish girl and I ended up going out for a few drinks, and it turned into dancing until around 3 or 4 am...I lost track. It was awesome. We met people from France, Britian, New Zealand and Australia. Lots of Aussies here.

Now that I am around other people, I am laughing at them travelling together. I keep seeing the fights. My favorite so far was with 2 older British people, walking past me, the woman says "Throwing a fit?? Youre the one throwing a fit..." and another good one was at the zocalo, and it looks like a 20 something guy and his mom (??) and hes carrying both backpacks, and shes behind him nagging him, I think telling him she can carry her own pack or something, and he THROWS it to the ground and doesnt even look back, and keeps storming along. I smiled at that one.

Tomorrow at 9 Im going on another tour to the Cañon. So far everyone I see has done it or wants to. I get back here at 2:30, and then I have to do a tiny bit of shopping. The Alaskan girl found the coolest store today that makes their own shirts, and she got an anti-multinational one of McDeath, and then it says something about forcing out gringo businesses. I want to get one. She said there were more too.

Im still debating on when to leave. I thought the 6:30 bus stright to Campeche would be awesome, but, now that I think about it, it is roughly a 12 hour ride. So, Id be getting into the station at 6am. And the bus to Xpujil isnt until 12 and 2. So, if I wait until 8 for ADO, Id have the layover and get into Campeche in the best case scenario at 11 or 11:30, and try and catch the 12 or 2 bus... and then I could hang around here a little more too... I dont know what Ill do yet. But, Im having the time of my life. The people at the hostel are so cool I cant stand it. The Alaskan girl came from Guatemala the same day I got here, and she took a boat and 5 chicken busses here. I feel like a wussy on ADO now. Im already thinking about staying at NAP for another year so I can have another 2 month vacation, and do S. America next.

¡Hola de San Cristobal de las Casas!

Well, I made it. I got on a bus last night at 10pm and woke up in San Cristobal de las Casas. Iwalked to my hostel from the bus station to drop off my backpack, and have been wandering around ever since. I haven´t done much but scope the place out really. I drank some coffee and ate some lunch, walked more, tried to find the Cafe Museo, and now I´m sitting in some restaurant/cyber cafe, and I´m the only one here. It is pretty wierd. But, whatever.

I did find the museo, but for some reason it was only open to the cafe museo cafe (hah!). I stood at the counter for a little while to ask about the museum, but no one ever came. I have plenty of time, I´ll go back. Yeah, Rudy and Annie suggested only 2 days here, but I just really wanted to be on my way last night, I figured how bad will it be? well, they were right, but I had already reserved the room for today and tomorrow...

Good news though, when I was at the bus station, I looked for a bus to Campeche and the OCC line has one straight there. I was going to have to get a bus to backtrack an hour to Tuxtla Gutierrez and from there get another bus to Campeche. But now I can skip all that and leave a couple hours earlier at 6:20. I´m sure the bus goes through Tuxtla Gutierrez, but now I won´t have to worry about getting another bus or sit through the 2.5 hours between the two.

This city is pretty cute. I see lots if places I want to eat. A little chilly. I´m wearing jeans and a fleece and it is comfortable. Tons of tourists, well, not tourists, backpackers. My hostel is pretty cool at first glance. It is all open, and grass, and I get breakfast in the morning. This is my first ever and I feel like I´m in some kind of a club or something.

There is something special about the coffee here too, I think this state is one of the main coffee growing regions (Chiapas). So, thats why there is a coffee museum. I plan on drinking a lot of it while I´m here. : ) I saw a little shop for tours too at the zocalo, I´ll check that out after this and see where I can go.

change of plans

today I decided to leave early, so, 10pm tonight I'm on a bus to San Cristobal de las Casas!

Here is my schedule as of this moment, but, I've made like 15 of these, so, even now this might not stick, especially as it is going along. I don't know how much I will be able to get on the internet either, most of these cities should have internet cafes I can get to, but, who knows what I'll be doing.

I'm staying at hostels, and one really nice hotel in the jungle. Taking busses everywhere.


2/5 Thursday: depart Puebla 10pm for San Cristobal de las Casas. 11 hour ride, sleep on bus
2/6 Friday: arrive San Cristobal de las Casas 9am, staying at Hostel Posada
2/7 Saturday: San Cristobal de las Casas, staying at Hostel Posada
2/8 Sunday: San Cristobal de las Casas, depart 8pm for Tuxtla Gutierrez, 1 hour, get bus to Campeche 11:30, 11.5 hours, sleep on bus
2/9 Monday: arrive Campeche 11am, catch bus to Xpujil at 12 or 2, 3.5 hours, take taxi to Chicanna Ecovillage Resort (outside biosphere reserve Calakmul and ruins), arrive 4 or 6
2/10 Tuesday: Calakmul
2/11 Wednesday: Calakmul
2/12 Thursday: depart Calakmul as soon as possible, arrive Campeche sometime, staying at Hostel Pirata (Pirates used to attack this city regularly)
2/13 Friday: leave Campeche at 6:30 for Merida, arrive 9, staying at Hostel Zocalo
2/14 Saturday: Merida
2/15 Sunday: Merida
2/16: Monday: depart Merida sometime (3:30am?) for Playa del Carmen, 5 hours, staying at Hostel Popol-vuh
2/17 Tuesday: Playa del Carmen (maybe go to Cancun tonight, so I can hang around Wed.)
2/18 Wednesday: leave Playa del Carmen for Cancun, 9am, 1 hour plane leaves 1:30

The only changes I can maybe see would be taking a day away from Playa del Carmen to stay in Campeche longer, since I will probably have less than a day there total. But, depends on how much I like it and what else I would like to do.


Yes Dad, you were right. I packed up my backpack, and weeded out some unneccesary things, so I'm leaving my duffel bag here. Annie will be going to Texas in April and will mail it up to me in Michigan, because mail is unreliable in Mexico. I really didn't wait to deal with carrying it. But, now I know for next time.



Mom, you can look any of those hostels or hotel up on the internet and see them. I'll be taking ADO busses the entire way. http://www.adogl.com.mx/es/index.htm

Click on "Venta en Linea" and you can see the cities they go to. That map isn't exclusive, at the individual bus stations you can take shorter trips too, that's how I'm getting to Xpujil. You'll have to look that place up.


So, 10pm tonight it starts!!! I'm going to downtown Puebla now to drink a bunch of coffee and sangria, and eat some tacos. I'll update as much as I am able! Promise!

Teotihuacan

Pyramid of the Moon

Pyramid of the Sun
View from the top of Pyramid of the Sun

Carvings

The priests' house

Today I went to the ruins of Teotihucan outside of Mexico City. 2.5 hours to Mexico City, and then another hour to the ruins. It was a good warm up for my next few weeks.

Get out your maps, ready for this?

Friday: 10pm leave Puebla for San Cristobal de las Casas

Saturday: arrive San Cristobal 9am

Sunday: San Cristobal

Monday: San Cristobal, depart 8pm for Campeche (couple hours waiting in Tuxtla Gutierrez)

Tuesday: arrive Campeche noonish, try and find a bus outside of the city to Calakmul: biosphere reserve with ruins, think Indiana Jones movie set

Wedesday: Calakmul

Thursday: Calakmul

Friday: depart as soon as possible to Campeche, 3 hours

Saturday: Campeche, depart 6:30 For Merida, arrive in Merida 9pm

Sunday: Merida

Monday: Merida

Tuesday: depart Merida at 3:30 am for Playa del Carmen, arrive 8:30am

Wednesday: depart Playa del Carmen for Cancun 9am, plane takes off 1:30pm for Michigan

I might make some slight adjustments, Rudy says 3 days in San Cristobal might be too much, so I might just shift everything forward, leaving on Sunday night, and spend more time in Campeche or Playa del Carmen. Or Merida.

I have my bus schedule all figured out, except for how to get to the middle of the jungle from Campeche. The website for the hotel I want to stay at says there is a bus that runs there.

I have hostels lined up in each city too, and they all have tours to the ruins surrounding the city and other tourist info, so it will be an action packed trip!

When I get to Michigan I have 4 days to recover before work starts on Monday.

weekend in Huatulco

Friday we drove to Oaxaca late at night and spent the night. We were supposed to leave there at like 5 or 6 am, but, the camping stuff didn't get out of storage, so we had to wait until that was open. We ended up leaving around 12 I think. It was a 6 1/2 hour drive to Huatulco, and we went to the site of Rudy and Annie's new house. It is being built, so we put up our tents there for the night and went out to dinner.

We went to a little tourist markt looking for lifejackets, and then ate dinner on the beach. I mean, right on the beach. It was really nice and the fish was great.

Woke up the next morning as the sun was coming up, and we packed up to go to La Boquilla, which is like an hour away. We stopped and got a quick breakfast, and drove along the coast about an hour, then turned off on this one lane dirt road going off into the jungle.

But, once you saw the beach, it was amazing.

It was a tiny little thing, and no one was there. It was close to 100 degrees all day, and we spent it laying around, reading, playing volleyball, raquetball, swimming, racing, and finding rocks. It was awesome. When it started getting dark, we set up camp again there, right on the beach. There was a small hotel on the beach too. But, it was small thatched roof huts scattered around the hill, and a restaurant.

http://www.bahiadelaluna.com/

We asked them if we could eat dinner there, and they said no problem. They just had to know how many to cook for, since the hotel guests don't really have any other choices for food. Town is about an hour and a half drive. We had 2 courses, the first I think was some kind of Ecuador-ian chicken, and then the main course was Peruvian pulpo (octopus). I've had octopus before, but this was one of the best meals I've ever had. I'm going back there as soon as I can.

We looked at the stars after dinner, and in the morning we woke up for the sunrise. Around 10:30 we left because Rudy had a meeting with the architect of the house. So we stopped by the Huatulco Best Western (Annie and Rudy know the owners), ate breakfast, swam in the pool and chilled out. It was a really cute little place. Nice food, but, I haven't eaten anything in Mexico that I haven't liked. Well, I don't like the papaya and coconuts, or this tea I'm drinking. We eat papaya constantly. It is supposed to be one of the best things to eat for your stomach, so it is always around. I don't like it very much, but I eat it because people keep giving it to me.

I've also had this kind of rash on my face, I guess for about two weeks now. It started at the corners of my mouth two weeks ago. They were all dry and cracked one day, and it stayed like that for a few days, until my whole face started itching. You can't see anything on my face, but it can get pretty bad some days. At the beach, I didn't notice it once. So, the salt water helped it out a lot, but then yesterday, when we left, it went crazy. The Oaxaca crowd was very concerned, so they gave me this bag of leaves for a tea that will help me. But, it tastes absolutely awful.

Today is my one month mark in Mexico. Now I have 2 weeks until I leave. Today is my planning day for my adventure. I don't plan on being in one place for more than 3 days over the next 2 weeks. I'll be in Puebla until Thursday, today going back downtwon for the last time, then trying to get to the big ruins outside Mexico City tomorrow, and Thursday doing some climbing at teh volcanoes. Friday I go to Oaxaca, and spend the weekend with Areli, who is still the only person I can understand. I'll leave there Monday, and try to hit up San Cristobal de las Casas, Villahermosa, Cuidad del Carmen, Campeche, Merida and end up in Cancun/ Playa del Carmen on the 18th to come back to Michigan nice and tan!