I was so proud of myself! I had no fear during my dives in Akumal. Again, the water was calm and clear. We got in the water and I dropped down smoothly! I have realized that I love this part of diving. Dropping down smoothly, equalizing, dropping down more and then your there in the Underwater World! It was great! We saw so many different fish including Barracuda's which I might add are scary as fuck. They sit there not moving, just staring at who knows what, fingers crossed it's not you...and their razor sharp teeth exposed in their open mouths. Ughh, I have chills just typing that. They're scary, take my word.
Anyways we are swimming around and she is pointing out everything and telling me what they are
through hand gestures and writing stuff on her scuba pad. Then she points and gives me the hand signal for turtle. I WAS LIKE A KID A CHRISTMAS!!! OMG!!! I swam right for it and then followed it around...then we saw another and another. I was so stoked when we came back up on the boat. It is never guaranteed what you will see and she - Kim - had told me we may see turtles but she couldn't promise anything.The next dive I was so excited I just dropped down and within 2 minutes we saw not one, not two but three turtles. They do not travel in groups so the fact we saw three pretty much together was amazing. One I swam around in a circle with. The other two...well one was big and sick, he had tumors on him and the third one kept going up to him and the sick one would try and bite him. We stayed about ten minutes with the turtles taking pictures and me swimming after them. We saw maybe 3 more after that I'm not sure but I was so happy...I love turtles and they represent some things for me so being able to see them in their environment and swim around with them was an awesome experience.
After the dives we went for a nice fish lunch and talked about the dives. She told me all about Parrot Fish - which have become my favourite. The colours of the male fish are incredible and the fish themselves are pretty interesting. They can actually change their sex. If there are not enough male fish to reproduce the biggest female will change herself into a male in order to do so and vice versa with the males. They also create a bubble around themselves at night for protection. One of the benefits diving with Kim is that she is marine biologist so you come out with knowledge and a better understanding of the underwater world. I booked two more dives with her for Monday in Cozumel. Now I had a reason to go there.
By the time I got back to the hostel I was exhausted and the next bus to Merida was too late - I was meeting my friend Chelsea there for a night, we met in Bacalar. I had a beer at the bar and then went to sleep as I was exhausted and wanted to get to Merida as early as possible.
I left around 7...Ana was sleeping but she had told me to wake her up. She was sound asleep, I gave her a kiss on the cheek...she didn't move. I said her name and she moaned but I knew she was sleeping so I left with a small tear in my eye. We became so close and spent almost every day together for the bast 2 weeks so I was very sad to leave her. I felt it was a good thing she wasn't awake.
I got to Merida in the early afternoon. Chelsea and I grabbed a few beers and sat by the pool. The pool was massive and looked really nice but once we got in it literally felt like we were in a Roman Bathe and it felt awkward and uncomfortable. We stayed in for about a half our and got out.
It was the weirdest hostel. No music around the pool, apartments where people were living school group of teenage girls and no vibe, yet it has the highest ratings... I have no idea how. We decided to go for a nap and then make dinner.
I was in a huge dorm ... which didn't bother me.... but I seemed to be in the beds where the fans didn't work and the AC was on the other side of the room around the corner. I was fighting a cold. I had been taking antibiotics since Thursday because I was diving...so I was exhausted and hot. I went out and complained ... turns out, when you have fans on 5 it's the slow speed. Who knew.... the other hostel that was the highest speed.
I woke up to Chelsea telling me she had already made dinner - which was awesome - vegan tacos, yummy!!!! We had gone to the market and bought fresh vegetables and fruit when we went to grab beers. As we were sitting there I realized that there was no possible spot for me to teach Monday morning. Everything was outside of the rooms and there was no outlets for my laptop. I would have to move Sunday (the next day) to another hostel so I could work Monday. I went to the front desk and explained the situation. I wanted to know if I could get a refund for the next night... if not it was okay but either way I was unable to stay for another night. There was a bit of banter with the front desk staff but they finally gave me the email address to the manager.
Not even a half hour later the receptionist came out to the common area and said "my manager said you can switch beds." I looked at her confused. "I'm sorry?" "Well you complained about the fans before so we figured that's why you want to leave." "Actually, the fans are great now and that is not the issue... it's clearly not what I said in the email or to you." "Well, you can leave now!!!" She blurted this out loudly and rudely in front of all the guests. "Excuse me?" I replied flabbergasted. "Well, if you are not happy here you can just leave and get a full refund." I was appalled. "Where am I supposed to go? It's 10 o'clock at night!" " I don't know but you can leave." " I don't want to leave tonight... I have no issues with this place its just that I work online very early in the morning and there is no place to accommodate that here so I have to leave for my work shift." She stared at me. " If I leave tomorrow I don't get a refund." She replied "you will get a refund for tomorrow night." "I will stay till tomorrow." She walked away. I looked at Chelsea and we were both speechless...keep in mind every body else heard the conversation.
After Chelsea left the next morning I checked out. " I just want to let you know that I slept very well last night and the fans weren't the issue. I work online and there is seriously no place for me to work here. However your girl was extremely rude to me last night out in the common area in front of all the guests which is extremely uncalled for." They stared at me, cut off my bracelet but my refund on the counter and said "have a nice day!" I will not name this place but I would not recommend it.
I was gonna check out another hostel but I didn't want to reserve a bed just in case they couldn't accommodate my early morning teaching and they couldn't. So I hopped in another Uber and wen to another hostel which I was really keen on. They had an area but laughed at the fact of me talking so early in the morning...like it was a joke. "Merida is the only place I have had this issue. I have been in Mexico three months and not had this issue anywhere. It's okay I will just look somewhere else." "No problem, you can put your bag down here and you are more than welcome to use our WiFi code if you need it." "Thanks."
As I was taking off my backpack she sat down at the desk and said "A thank you would be nice!" I looked at her astonished. "Excuse me?!? I said thank you." "Oh, well I didn't here you." Dios Mio, is there something in the water in Merida because it seems to be full of assholes. I had heard great things about the place but it seemed like it just wasn't meant to be.
I grabbed another Uber and was gonna try one more place. It was a house with a gate and it looked weird but I paid the Uber, opened the gate and went to the front door. It was looked so I rang the bell. I didn't hear it so I knocked and waited. Nothing. I took my backpack off. I looked at Hostel World to see if I was at the right place and I was. So I walked around the side and saw the swimming pool and the backyard but no other entrance. So I went back to the front tried the bell again, knocked and even yelled "HELLO!!!" through the open front window a few times. I checked Hostel World again to check ratings which were good, they were pretty recent and it showed they had rooms available. I walked around the side again and noticed the pool had no water in it - thought that had been mentioned in a review. I walked back around to the front. I had been looking at the stuff on the front steps and it looked like the people in there were moving. Well, I thought all signs are pointing to leaving Merida and Heading to Cozumel a day early. If Mexico has taught me anything it's that when something doesn't go as planned it's because the Universe has something else planned for you and it's most likely a better choice. So I just giggled to myself. Lucky for me I had emailed the owner of the place in Cozumel and she had one bed left so I got in yet another Uber and headed to the ADO station and had a 2.5 hour wait and about 7 hours of travel time by the time I got to the hostel.
The ferry ride was interesting. They demanded I check my backpack and I didn't want to...I said my laptop was in it...to be honest, its huge and it is really hard to take it on and off all the time. They finally decided to give in and they put me on the basement of the ferry where I could sit with my backpack on the chair next to me without taking it off. The ferry wasn't even full up top.
The next day (Monday) was just a chill out day by the pool for me. I wanted a day to relax in the Caribbean sunshine... I had finally booked my flight home and had five days left. I really liked this hostel. It only holds 18 people so you get to know everyone staying there. Everyone is either diving or snorkeling so its chill and not party but people are still enjoying beers by the pool. There are also huge iguanas that roam the property which is pretty cool, however they like to climb the tree that overhangs the pool and poop in it.
We were a ten minute walk out of the tourist area and in the local area which I really liked. We still get to see and experience the culture - including the food - but close enough by foot to see all the touristy stuff.
The next day was my dive and I was really excited but I panicked my first dive. We got down pretty far but I freaked out and swam back up. I had really worked myself up. I knew we could see sting rays but it was the whole shark thing that I was freaked out about. Now they are only nurse sharks but I had just worked so hard to get my dive certification but each dive was still a mental challenge for me. Plus this was a wall dive so when we were dropping I was a little unsure of where to go. We talked for a few minutes, I got my bearings and dropped. I was a little stressed out with this dive. I felt really exposed with this one. We were on top of the wall and then we went over the edge and dropped down but when we look to the left its nothing... just blue abyss and I found it eerie. However ... maybe about 40 minutes into the dive Kim gave me the signal for a ray. It was just flying so smoothly in the water and placed itself just as smoothly in the sand and began to eat. It was beautiful and I looked at it for a few minutes not too close, but close enough.
We had another diver with us but he goes up before us because he goes through his air faster, but only about 10 minutes before us. I actually like the 3 minute safety stop I find it really relaxing and calming.
I was pretty happy about the sting ray and felt better going down for the second dive. But we got lunch first. They had prepared an awesome lunch for everyone on the boat. Bread, nachos, fresh tuna mix for sandwiches, fresh guacamole and fresh fruit...yummy!!! I had told her that my tank was making a funny noise and I thought it was leaking, she said she saw some bubbles but it was fine and I hadn't lost any air.
Now, Kim had told me Cozumel wouldn't be a lot of fish but the coral is awesome. Were we in for a surprise. We surrounded by fish before we even got our heads under the water and when we dropped to the bottom we were inside an aquarium. It was incredible. Remember the old aquarium screen savers...that's what it was like. It was like swimming in Finding Nemo but this time I sang Under the Sea hahaha and Part of Your World. I don't even think I could explain it... we saw Trigger Fish, Chrome Fish, Barracuda's, Parrot Fish, Angel Fish, Royal Angel Fish, giant lobster and so many more that I can't remember. Everywhere I looked there were fish, coral and bubbles floating up from the coral. It was fantastic. At about 40 minutes Pierre went up and Kim and I stayed down. She pointed out a Midnight Parrot Fish which is rare to see, and it was huge. She gave me the camera and I followed it and took some pictures as I turned to swim back to Kim I saw it! I turned to Kim to tell her but she was already signaling "look a shark!" In my heart stopping moment I took a photo and then froze. Without realizing I started to fin up and she had to pull me down. It was some feet away from us but I was still a little freaked. We watched it swim away and around the reef that we were swimming over to. When we got over there I checked all around...it was gone. Thank goodness, this was where we were doing our safety stop.
"I am so happy you saw a shark you lucky girl!" "So lucky," I responded.
All the people I met on these dives were fantastic and they were all super happy and stoked that I was newly certified. They all welcomed me to the diving world and I am stoked about it. Each dive is still a challenge but I feel that this has opened so many things for me. I'm part of a world that I only saw pictures of or heard other talk about and now, there are places I will go to because I am certified. I am part of the underwater world and I love it and am so very proud that I fought my fear to get my PADI.
That night one of the guys at the hostel who I had met in Bacalar and I went for drinks. I wasn't diving nor did I have work the next day so I really wanted to have drinks that night. It was nice and chilled out and we took our drinks back to the hostel with us and chilled in the pool very quietly. You are not allowed in the pool after midnight and the owner is kind of like a strict mom so we didn't want to get caught.
I was leaving for Playa the next day. Ana had the day off so we decided to meet up one last time before I flew home. I should've asked her to meet me in Cozumel. I really loved it there, I loved the hostel and really liked how chilled out it was and how homey it felt. But I left around 11am and my friend helped me with all my stuff to the ferry which was awesome, it was so nice to have some extra hands to help me out.
Again they tried to tell me I had to check my backpack but they finally gave in and let me keep it...again the ferry was pretty empty but no basement this time.
When I got to the other side I needed a cab. I knew the hostel wasn't far but my ankle had been sore for a few days and it was hot as fuck there is no way I was walking. One guy tried telling me it was 400 pesos. I gave him a piece of my mind and told him he was ripping off tourists. I ended up getting one for 100 which is really expensive but I took it.
My last two days were spent in Cancun at the hostel with everyone there. It was a wonderful last two days but this time I was really leaving and hopped on my flight that Saturday at noon.
Someone told me that Mexico would be life changing and I didn't know what to think...they were right. So many things happened that in-turn were like the butterfly effect causing an incredible succession of events that changed or touched me in different ways. They opened my eyes, my heart and my soul and there are really no words to describe how Mexico made me feel. How I felt when I was in Mexico. It was the first time in three years I felt beautiful and confident. I felt like my true self and I felt on top of my universe and I miss it dearly. I became part of not just the underwater world but part of Mexico's world. I may have had a shitty year last year but had I not gone through that I would not have gone to Mexico this year. I always believed things happen for a reason but Mexico really opened my eyes to that and now instead of freaking out about things happening I get excited to see what the universe has for me instead. I spent 80% of the trip on my own and I'm okay with that... I needed it. I traveled with a different mindset this time and I loved it and fell back in love with myself and the incredible life that I have.
I am heartbroken to have left Mexico. I miss it every day and feel a part of me is still there waiting for me to come back...which is the plan...maybe a little more permanent next time. Ana told me to pretend coming home is just another trip so that is how I am treating it - though I work crazy hours lol.
I am so grateful for everyone I met, you all made my trip what it was and I miss you all every day. I can not say enough words to tell you what the past three months have been to me.
Estoy lleno de tanto amor y pasion por todos y por Mexico mismo. Gracias por tres de los meses mas inreibles de mi vida. Tu estas en mi corazon. Hasta el ano que viene.
- Mi Vida Hermosa -
