I was able to use the internet just one time after starting our sailing journey, and hopped on for a few minutes to tell my mom that I was alive and well (even though she had the GPS tracker emails), and then see if I had any email updates about the job in Korea. I had a grand surprise that my best friend Maureen had booked her ticket to Cancun. Just before the sailing journey, my other friend Daniel (Spiegs) also booked his ticket to come and see me. Cancun had fairly cheap flights from the states and couldn't have been more excited to start my trip with a friend (Tyler) in Costa Rica, and finish with Spiegs & Maureen. I had messaged them before I left to start coordinating what to do and really felt badly that I couldn't help plan more but I wouldn't be online so they had to do the planning work.. Which normally I wouldn't do much of but since there would be three of us, it could have been more important to have an idea of what we were going to do.
I was a little bit concerned about my passport since Honduras said I couldn't come back in to their country without a new one.. however the immigration worker just asked if I had been to Mexico before and stamped right over corners of a few other stamps. That was a huge relief. The Cancun airport is so overwhelming after things in Cuba. I can understand why their airport fees are so expensive because there are thousands of people waiting to "help" you find your Cancun resort, or book tours, get free maps, etc. This was completely opposite of Cuba with the lack of information. We bought our bus ticket and avoided being hassled by all the people offering rides, tours, taxis, etc, etc.
I landed in Cancun without a clue of what the plan was and there was no wifi in the airport and just followed Nermin since she had booked a hostel in Playa del Carmen. PDC is supposed to be a little cheaper and more down to earth but just as beautiful as Cancun. At the airport the ATMS weren't working and there wasn't another one, however, I had a few extra USD to buy my bus ticket and then checked into our hostel. Sadly was really disappointed I didn't have any money because I was starving and so excited that I could finally withdraw the money I needed and didn't have to have nearly as close of a watch on my money as in Cuba. I knew that I shouldn't have any problem with my debit cards because we already solved everything when I was in Honduras. Arrived in the hostel, told a few people that we were alive and well in Mexico then were on the hunt for MEXICAN food. I couldn't have been more excited for Mexican food.. After falsely thinking that food on my trip would be somewhat similar to how it was in Mexico, and a little disappointed that there were some large differences, I could have eaten street tacos every day for every meal. After our delicious tacos we headed down to the beach and just to walk around. They had a cool Mayan performance going on, with singing, dancing people hanging from trees, it was absolutely awesome.We walked along the beach strip for a while to explore what was around. Sadly, the beach was filled with sea weed and smelled terrible. The guys working in the hostel said if you kept walking along the beach that there are places where there wasn't.
Nermin and I ate so much food that we were excited to have again.. I usually never drink soda, but bought a coke, ice cream, M&M's... My stomach literally exploded from all of these things I ate. There is a really nice outdoor shopping center full of all sorts of classy international stores. We literally had a huge case of culture shock. Between the food, the people, the places, it was a lot to take in after Cuba. There were lots of moments we just looked at each other and laughed at how crazy this was to be essentially back in America is what it felt like. The hostel in PDC was a little on the pricier side (around $12) but included a kitchen, air con at night, and then filtered water. Sadly I had a few surprises to come back to after my time away from "the real world" in Cuba.. Including my parents evicting my tenant, fraud on my credit card, and trying to figure out how I could start the process of getting things done for my Korean c4 visa to work at the summer camp. Luckily the internet in the hostel was fabulous and I was able to make really good phone calls, talk to my credit card company, my parents, my friends, and people who apparently thought I had died? No I don't think they thought I died, but I told people and had a facebook post saying that I wouldn't be responding to anything until I arrived in Cancun and not to be worried.
Nermin had to go surprise her sister who was on her honeymoon and spending her birthday in Cancun. So I pretty much was kind of dead to the world and just wanted to catch up on life and still had lots of people to talk to while I waited for Maureen & Speigs to arrive. When they arrived we had an Air BNB booked on the amazing strip of "Hotel Zone" beach. We were near the end of the strip and the condo was definitely a little bit different than we expected it would be.. much smaller and the kitchen... was a microwave, toaster oven, and a wine cooler... This was quite a bummer because we had planned on cooking a lot since we were kind of far from a lot of things. But the view was absolutely incredible and I couldn't wait to just kick it on the beach with two of my favorites for a week. Maureen arrived first we literally just talked and talked with so much to catch up on until Spiegs arrived a few hours later. When Spiegs arrived we went to go have some dinner at a little place across the street. The food was delicious, it was the best burger I had in forever.. and ya I know I broke my rule about eating a different type of food in another country but Cancun Hotel Zone, and Cancun in general was pretty much America. The food was delicious and American prices
Most of the week was pretty simple. We had some day drinking parties and enjoyed tequila on the beach or in the pool, went out usually for dinner, and then thought we would try and go out a few nights but failed. The beach view was incredible. Another top five beach in my travels. The water had the most perfect blue color to it and the beach was very empty and had nice little shade umbrellas for us to use! After all my travels I was all about the shade and trying to keep out of tons of unnecessary sun. Maureen thought she had never seen me so tan in my life, and my hair color was so light! It's true, my hair color is crazy and I guess my tan was too! Even though, I'm usually the one people would laugh at while traveling because I would get out my favorite item in my backpack.. my red delta airline blanket and cover up from the sun with it.
So mostly we just enjoyed the beach and the amazing infinity edge pool. One day we went into downtown Cancun, had lunch, went to Walmart to get some food, and walk around a little. It was really hot, not as hot as Cuba for me but for my AZ friends, the humidity and lack of A/C had them dying to be outside the water or a/c too long. We watched some movies and tv shows at night. Going out in the hotel zone is really expensive. A cover charge, which is usually around 60 bucks minimum is also all you can drink, sometimes includes dinner, but apparently the dinner is very gross.. And since everyone is getting all you can drink.. think about what a hot mess it is inside of those places. I'm sure some people enjoy it, and maybe I would have a few years ago but not so much anymore. Not to mention, the absurd (to me!) cost. I don't think I could ever drink that much to make it worth it. Spiegs wasn't feeling well the night we did try to go out, so went back home after dinner. Reen and I wandered around to try and find a cheaper adventure and night out. Fat Tuesdays was free, so we shared a slushy drink there, then heard that Senor Frogs was free tonight so went in there.. Where it was a lot of young people from Cancun going out. I participated as the only "gringa" in a very interesting dance contest.
We also did the Whale Shark Tour.. Which I had heard amazing things about and read online to read more awesome reviews but ended up being a little disappointed. So as an avid Scuba Diver, the Whale Sharks are a huge deal to swim with. You can only find them a few places in the world and since it was the right season I really wanted to go. The tour is outrageously (again) priced at $160 and we arranged our own transportation there.. Which saved us lots of bucks.. There are tons of boats going out to find the whale sharks, and apparently this is the first year that they aren't able to find packs of like 50 sharks. This year they are lucky to find two or three sharks.. Which means all 25 or so boats going out must rotate with two people in the water at a time, kind of guiding the sharks so they don't lose them. The two people from the boat swim with them about a minute, then get back in, you wait in line for the other 24 boats to go, and then another two people from your boat go. After a few people had gone, out boat captain decided that we would go and search with a few other boats to see if we could find other whale sharks. They were all chatting on the radio a bunch and I'm sure had a certain plan of how they would find more, but in the end, after lots of driving
around we just ended up going back to the original ones. Our guide was a high school senior who attends international school and spoke really good English, however did not teach us very much about the process or the sharks themselves. After everyone finally saw the sharks and nearly half the people on the boat were feeling very sea sick, we headed to the snorkeling spot. Where we snorkeled was also disappointing. After we drove by lots of nice looking reefs, we stopped at one where every other boat stopped. There were tons of people and no guide. Luckily I had learned quite a bit of stuff to show Maureen some things in the water and take silly go pro pics. So maybe I'm an ocean snob now days, but it was hard to believe they took us all to the exact same spot. People were standing on the coral, kicking their fins all over the place, and I"m sure in a few short years that reef will be dead. So that makes me pretty sad. The ceviche they served for lunch was pretty delicious but I was rushed to eat quickly before we had to the first boat to get back to dock.. And we were also grabbed out of the water because snorkeling for 20 minutes was too long... and everyone else was already back in the boat. So overall swimming with the Whale Shark was soo incredible. I had no idea how large they were and what a marvel to swim literally right next to it.. hahah where we jumped in, Maureen hadn't put her eyes in the water and then all of a sudden was on top of it and trying to doggy paddle to get off of him. He didn't really flinch and majestically kept swimming. I was quite disappointed with how the tour operated and such, but these things are normal in other countries.. but when you pay $160 bucks... you expect a little more. Boo on you Eco Tours in Cancun.
We tried to hit up Chichen Itza which is an ancient mayan ruin, however booked the tour last minute and had a little mishap with the pick up time and missed our tour. Sadly it was our last day together so we couldn't arrange to do it the next day. We thought about renting a car and then just decided we would enjoy the lovely beach one more day! While the week in Cancun with Maureen and Speigs wasn't my normal style of travel, it was so nice to have familiar faces, meet almost no one new, catch up, and have fun with them! Next trip i'll definitely have to get them to pack a backpack soon for the next one and go without plans!
I spent my last night in Cancun in a hostel near the city center so I could catch the bus to the airport. I wandered upon a park where there were dance performances of all types. I ended up hanging out there for hours walking around and then watching again. There was also a little plaza down the street with salsa lessons going on. Plus the owners of the hostel were very cool and fun to hang out with. When I arrived they had just made some delicious stuff for tacos and guacamole! YUM. I was really really, ready to get home and onto new adventures.
At the airport, I had printed my boarding pass at one of the kiosks and headed up to go to my gate. Your gate isn't even assigned until one hour before your flight. After I went through a crazy line through security I realized that I never got my passport stamped.. This is a huge problem.. Every country I have ever been in there is always an exit and entry stamp.. So you might be able to understand my concern. I finally found people working at a gate who weren't busy but they were just airport personnel. They told me that I could go back through security and get the stamp. I needed to visit immigration on the first floor. In the Duty free store, they told me I would get my stamp just prior to boarding the plane.. Finally, I found two people working for American at a gate who weren't boarding people. They said there is no stamp in Mexico.. I explained my reasoning for why this was really strange.. If you don't properly exit a country, many countries won't let you enter.. I guess for the US it doesn't matter? Well, turns out they were right, but a very strange thing, that you would never experience at a land border but I didn't have problems entering customs in Phoenix. it was a very quick process and I was asked almost no questions by the person.. With the new immigration system you answer questions on a computer, it takes a picture of you, then you hand it to the officer and both in Florida and Phoenix, I had just one or two questions asked and was super excited to see my dad!
I was a little bit concerned about my passport since Honduras said I couldn't come back in to their country without a new one.. however the immigration worker just asked if I had been to Mexico before and stamped right over corners of a few other stamps. That was a huge relief. The Cancun airport is so overwhelming after things in Cuba. I can understand why their airport fees are so expensive because there are thousands of people waiting to "help" you find your Cancun resort, or book tours, get free maps, etc. This was completely opposite of Cuba with the lack of information. We bought our bus ticket and avoided being hassled by all the people offering rides, tours, taxis, etc, etc.
I landed in Cancun without a clue of what the plan was and there was no wifi in the airport and just followed Nermin since she had booked a hostel in Playa del Carmen. PDC is supposed to be a little cheaper and more down to earth but just as beautiful as Cancun. At the airport the ATMS weren't working and there wasn't another one, however, I had a few extra USD to buy my bus ticket and then checked into our hostel. Sadly was really disappointed I didn't have any money because I was starving and so excited that I could finally withdraw the money I needed and didn't have to have nearly as close of a watch on my money as in Cuba. I knew that I shouldn't have any problem with my debit cards because we already solved everything when I was in Honduras. Arrived in the hostel, told a few people that we were alive and well in Mexico then were on the hunt for MEXICAN food. I couldn't have been more excited for Mexican food.. After falsely thinking that food on my trip would be somewhat similar to how it was in Mexico, and a little disappointed that there were some large differences, I could have eaten street tacos every day for every meal. After our delicious tacos we headed down to the beach and just to walk around. They had a cool Mayan performance going on, with singing, dancing people hanging from trees, it was absolutely awesome.We walked along the beach strip for a while to explore what was around. Sadly, the beach was filled with sea weed and smelled terrible. The guys working in the hostel said if you kept walking along the beach that there are places where there wasn't.
Nermin and I ate so much food that we were excited to have again.. I usually never drink soda, but bought a coke, ice cream, M&M's... My stomach literally exploded from all of these things I ate. There is a really nice outdoor shopping center full of all sorts of classy international stores. We literally had a huge case of culture shock. Between the food, the people, the places, it was a lot to take in after Cuba. There were lots of moments we just looked at each other and laughed at how crazy this was to be essentially back in America is what it felt like. The hostel in PDC was a little on the pricier side (around $12) but included a kitchen, air con at night, and then filtered water. Sadly I had a few surprises to come back to after my time away from "the real world" in Cuba.. Including my parents evicting my tenant, fraud on my credit card, and trying to figure out how I could start the process of getting things done for my Korean c4 visa to work at the summer camp. Luckily the internet in the hostel was fabulous and I was able to make really good phone calls, talk to my credit card company, my parents, my friends, and people who apparently thought I had died? No I don't think they thought I died, but I told people and had a facebook post saying that I wouldn't be responding to anything until I arrived in Cancun and not to be worried.
Nermin had to go surprise her sister who was on her honeymoon and spending her birthday in Cancun. So I pretty much was kind of dead to the world and just wanted to catch up on life and still had lots of people to talk to while I waited for Maureen & Speigs to arrive. When they arrived we had an Air BNB booked on the amazing strip of "Hotel Zone" beach. We were near the end of the strip and the condo was definitely a little bit different than we expected it would be.. much smaller and the kitchen... was a microwave, toaster oven, and a wine cooler... This was quite a bummer because we had planned on cooking a lot since we were kind of far from a lot of things. But the view was absolutely incredible and I couldn't wait to just kick it on the beach with two of my favorites for a week. Maureen arrived first we literally just talked and talked with so much to catch up on until Spiegs arrived a few hours later. When Spiegs arrived we went to go have some dinner at a little place across the street. The food was delicious, it was the best burger I had in forever.. and ya I know I broke my rule about eating a different type of food in another country but Cancun Hotel Zone, and Cancun in general was pretty much America. The food was delicious and American prices
Most of the week was pretty simple. We had some day drinking parties and enjoyed tequila on the beach or in the pool, went out usually for dinner, and then thought we would try and go out a few nights but failed. The beach view was incredible. Another top five beach in my travels. The water had the most perfect blue color to it and the beach was very empty and had nice little shade umbrellas for us to use! After all my travels I was all about the shade and trying to keep out of tons of unnecessary sun. Maureen thought she had never seen me so tan in my life, and my hair color was so light! It's true, my hair color is crazy and I guess my tan was too! Even though, I'm usually the one people would laugh at while traveling because I would get out my favorite item in my backpack.. my red delta airline blanket and cover up from the sun with it.
So mostly we just enjoyed the beach and the amazing infinity edge pool. One day we went into downtown Cancun, had lunch, went to Walmart to get some food, and walk around a little. It was really hot, not as hot as Cuba for me but for my AZ friends, the humidity and lack of A/C had them dying to be outside the water or a/c too long. We watched some movies and tv shows at night. Going out in the hotel zone is really expensive. A cover charge, which is usually around 60 bucks minimum is also all you can drink, sometimes includes dinner, but apparently the dinner is very gross.. And since everyone is getting all you can drink.. think about what a hot mess it is inside of those places. I'm sure some people enjoy it, and maybe I would have a few years ago but not so much anymore. Not to mention, the absurd (to me!) cost. I don't think I could ever drink that much to make it worth it. Spiegs wasn't feeling well the night we did try to go out, so went back home after dinner. Reen and I wandered around to try and find a cheaper adventure and night out. Fat Tuesdays was free, so we shared a slushy drink there, then heard that Senor Frogs was free tonight so went in there.. Where it was a lot of young people from Cancun going out. I participated as the only "gringa" in a very interesting dance contest.
We also did the Whale Shark Tour.. Which I had heard amazing things about and read online to read more awesome reviews but ended up being a little disappointed. So as an avid Scuba Diver, the Whale Sharks are a huge deal to swim with. You can only find them a few places in the world and since it was the right season I really wanted to go. The tour is outrageously (again) priced at $160 and we arranged our own transportation there.. Which saved us lots of bucks.. There are tons of boats going out to find the whale sharks, and apparently this is the first year that they aren't able to find packs of like 50 sharks. This year they are lucky to find two or three sharks.. Which means all 25 or so boats going out must rotate with two people in the water at a time, kind of guiding the sharks so they don't lose them. The two people from the boat swim with them about a minute, then get back in, you wait in line for the other 24 boats to go, and then another two people from your boat go. After a few people had gone, out boat captain decided that we would go and search with a few other boats to see if we could find other whale sharks. They were all chatting on the radio a bunch and I'm sure had a certain plan of how they would find more, but in the end, after lots of driving
around we just ended up going back to the original ones. Our guide was a high school senior who attends international school and spoke really good English, however did not teach us very much about the process or the sharks themselves. After everyone finally saw the sharks and nearly half the people on the boat were feeling very sea sick, we headed to the snorkeling spot. Where we snorkeled was also disappointing. After we drove by lots of nice looking reefs, we stopped at one where every other boat stopped. There were tons of people and no guide. Luckily I had learned quite a bit of stuff to show Maureen some things in the water and take silly go pro pics. So maybe I'm an ocean snob now days, but it was hard to believe they took us all to the exact same spot. People were standing on the coral, kicking their fins all over the place, and I"m sure in a few short years that reef will be dead. So that makes me pretty sad. The ceviche they served for lunch was pretty delicious but I was rushed to eat quickly before we had to the first boat to get back to dock.. And we were also grabbed out of the water because snorkeling for 20 minutes was too long... and everyone else was already back in the boat. So overall swimming with the Whale Shark was soo incredible. I had no idea how large they were and what a marvel to swim literally right next to it.. hahah where we jumped in, Maureen hadn't put her eyes in the water and then all of a sudden was on top of it and trying to doggy paddle to get off of him. He didn't really flinch and majestically kept swimming. I was quite disappointed with how the tour operated and such, but these things are normal in other countries.. but when you pay $160 bucks... you expect a little more. Boo on you Eco Tours in Cancun.We tried to hit up Chichen Itza which is an ancient mayan ruin, however booked the tour last minute and had a little mishap with the pick up time and missed our tour. Sadly it was our last day together so we couldn't arrange to do it the next day. We thought about renting a car and then just decided we would enjoy the lovely beach one more day! While the week in Cancun with Maureen and Speigs wasn't my normal style of travel, it was so nice to have familiar faces, meet almost no one new, catch up, and have fun with them! Next trip i'll definitely have to get them to pack a backpack soon for the next one and go without plans!
I spent my last night in Cancun in a hostel near the city center so I could catch the bus to the airport. I wandered upon a park where there were dance performances of all types. I ended up hanging out there for hours walking around and then watching again. There was also a little plaza down the street with salsa lessons going on. Plus the owners of the hostel were very cool and fun to hang out with. When I arrived they had just made some delicious stuff for tacos and guacamole! YUM. I was really really, ready to get home and onto new adventures.
At the airport, I had printed my boarding pass at one of the kiosks and headed up to go to my gate. Your gate isn't even assigned until one hour before your flight. After I went through a crazy line through security I realized that I never got my passport stamped.. This is a huge problem.. Every country I have ever been in there is always an exit and entry stamp.. So you might be able to understand my concern. I finally found people working at a gate who weren't busy but they were just airport personnel. They told me that I could go back through security and get the stamp. I needed to visit immigration on the first floor. In the Duty free store, they told me I would get my stamp just prior to boarding the plane.. Finally, I found two people working for American at a gate who weren't boarding people. They said there is no stamp in Mexico.. I explained my reasoning for why this was really strange.. If you don't properly exit a country, many countries won't let you enter.. I guess for the US it doesn't matter? Well, turns out they were right, but a very strange thing, that you would never experience at a land border but I didn't have problems entering customs in Phoenix. it was a very quick process and I was asked almost no questions by the person.. With the new immigration system you answer questions on a computer, it takes a picture of you, then you hand it to the officer and both in Florida and Phoenix, I had just one or two questions asked and was super excited to see my dad!
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