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