Yucatan Peninsula

My Christmas trip through the Yucatan was a grand success. I anxiously boarded my 6am direct flight from Minneapolis to Cancun, landing three hours later. I immediately hopped on a luxury bus and went an hour and a half south to Playa del Carmen, a relatively crowded, full-of-tourists beach resort on the beautiful, turquoise waters of the Caribbean.

I walked around with my heavy backpack for longer than I would have liked because my first choice accommodation in the Lonely Planet bible was obviously other's, as well. I finally found a hostel in my price range (100 pesos = $10 a night) and dumped my bags, taking off again to book a dive trip for the following morning.

I stumbled upon a Thai restaurant and was way excited to eat Thai food after six months away from Thailand. I ordered the Tom Kha Gai soup, which looked good, but didn't pack all the flavors of the real deal.

After people watching for a bit, I went back to the hostel, showered and went to bed early.

The following morning was a windy one, so diving was cancelled. I was anxious to get down to Tulum, so I checked into my options - bus or rental car - and ended up chatting with the guy working at Hertz in Spanish for about an hour about job opportunities in Playa del Carmen. He suggested I move to Playa, teach English and get a job in real estate because I'm able to speak both English and Spanish and Playa is the fastest growing city in Mexico, which creates a lot of opportunity.

He was interesting to chat with, but I had to get on a bus to Tulum. I stood in a fairly long line at the bus station for my second class ticket, bought a couple tamales off the street and waited for the bus to arrive. I have taken many busses in Mexico, but always the first class variety, so when it arrived and people were fiercely jockeying for position, I was a bit confused.

Once I boarded, I understood - there isn't a seat for everybody on these busses. I ended up standing, but it was only for a short time because a bunch of locals got off in the middle of nowhere, leaving seats for everybody who had been standing.

I read my LP bible and realized that the hostel I had called to pre-book was on the route to downtown Tulum, so I asked the driver if he could stop before. That was no problem and I was conveniently dropped right across the street.

I checked in and headed up to my room that I shared with three other people, four the second and third night because they put a woman on a mattress on the floor. My roommates, Todd from Australia, Mel from Quebec and Hannah from Germany invited me to dinner with them and we headed downstairs to the bar for a beer before heading out with our neighbors, Brion, David and his sister from New York.

We had dinner and walked down to Acabar to listen to live music, running into Roberto, an Italian lawyer from Rome that David and Brion had met the night before. He went to get a couple of Italian friends that he'd met while on this trip and David referred to them as the Pizza Party. We had a blast and laughed our heads off at Acabar and later at our hostel while hanging out on hammocks.

I woke up early on New Years Day, had breakfast with Todd and Mel, booked a dive trip to the cenotes and went to the store to buy refreshments for the beach. At 2pm, Aaron and I bought a bucket, plastic cups, a bottle of rum, orange juice and Sprite for $15 each and headed down to the beach with Hannah and Mel to spend the day laying in the sun. I ran into Diego of the Pizza Party and he invited our group of four to dinner with them at an Italian restaurant to celebrate the New Year.

We went back and showered and the bartender came up to our room to find me and let me know the Italians were at the bar. We had a drink and headed to the restaurant around 9pm. It ended up being 8 Italians, mostly couples, and me. Many of them couldn't speak English and with 8 of them, the conversations were obviously in Italian, but I was able to more or less follow because it's so similar to Spanish.

The food was okay and the company was comical and loud. They were playing the World Cup championship game from the summer where the Italians are victorious, so we relived the event and celebrates with hugs and two cheek kisses at midnight.

I headed with Roberto and a couple down to the beach in Roberto's rental car and met up with the rest of the Pizza Party, also running into Todd who happened to stumble into us. We found an outdoor bar with a live band playing on the beach and hung out there until 6am.

Amazingly I got up at 10am the following day to shower and head to Coba to check out some Mayan ruins. Mel had just strolled in from her beach party and told me that there were two guys sitting at the restaurant bar who were heading to Coba in a car. It would be much easier to go with them rather than hike down to the bus station, so I chatted with the two guys from Utah and they were cool with letting me hitch a ride to the ruins. The three of us rented bikes and tooled around the ruins for the day.

January 2 was diving in the cenotes day. The cenotes were created by the meteorite that crashed into the Yucatan and is responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Cavern-like areas were created with various sinkholes and openings that allow natural light to shine through. They're a popular area for scuba, snorkeling and swimming.

Right after diving, I hopped on a bus to Merida, stopping in Chichen Itza (too late to see the ruins) and hopping on a local bus the rest of the way. I finally arrived at the Nomadas guest house in Merida around 9:30pm exhausted and ready for a shower and bed. I briefly chatted with Aurelie who had traveled from Villahermosa to meet me and crashed.

I woke up early, had breakfast with Aurelie and checked out the ruins at Chichen Itza, much more impressive than either Tulum or Coba and well worth a trip. Afterwards, Aurelie and I went out for dinner with three Americans, a French girl and a guy from Mexico City. We met a group of Argentinian girls for a drink afterwards and went to bed.

After another breakfast of toast and coffee, Aurelie and I ran to the bus station to buy tickets to Uxmal, yet another set of ruins on our way to Campeche. Merida is famous for hammocks, so we headed to the store recommended in the LP bible and I bought a matrimonial hammock for $25. They're handy to have for trips because if you can't find a guest house to sleep in, you can often find a couple of trees.

We walked around town taking a few pictures, grabbed our bags and headed to the bus station. It was only an hour and a half to Uxmal and these ruins rally those at Chichen Itza in their impressiveness. It amazes me as to where the Maya found so much rock; the ruins are filled solid with rock and there are many seriously large structures at all of the sites.

We had a bite to eat and headed out to the curb where we planned to catch the segunda clase bus at 4:30 pm. We arrived 5-10 minutes early and the bus had already arrived! Since when do things happen early in Mexico?! I sat on the curb for two hours waiting for the next bus and watched Aurelie try to thumb us a ride to no avail. Don't worry, I would only get into a car if it was driven by tourists and they were heading directly to Campeche, 176 km away. Aurelie said she hitchhiked all the time in northern Mexico when she worked in Colima, but it doesn't appear you have the same luck in the Yucatan.

Our bus ride to Campeche was three hours and we were happy to get to the Monkey Hostel and crash in bed. Aurelie had stomach pains and was crying and groaning, but managed to get to sleep.

Campeche is a nice, colonial city with, yes, more ruins about 50 km east. I had breakfast and walked to the segunda clase bus station to hop the bus to Edzna. If I had looked in the LP bible, I would have known that I needed to go to a different station, but I was informed anyway. After asking where the bus to Edzna was, the man told me at la esquina de los perros or dog corner near the market.

I headed to the market and asked an old man selling fruit where la esquina de los perros was and he told me on el otro lado del mercado or the other side of the market. I walked halfway there and asked again to be sure, but was told the same thing. Once I reached the other side, I asked a woman selling vegetables and she pointed me back the other way. When I explained that I'd just been pointed this way, she told me to go to the cafe...what?! I walked back a few meters and asked another person who pointed me back again. Frustrated, I explained that I was getting conflicting reports and a helpful, knowledgeable woman drew me a diagram, explaining that the dogs are statues on the end of a bridge. I believed this woman and easily found dog corner.

The bus station was easy to find and the tickets were easy to purchase. I had a half hour to kill before the bus, so I walked around and took a few pictures, talking to a man on the corner who explained to me that the government gives the people the paint for their homes. What a great idea - the old town area of Campeche looked great and probably helps with tourism. Money well spent.

Edzna was only an hour away and easy to explore. I showed up at 1:30 pm for the 2 pm local bus and it, too, was 15 minutes early even after the driver told me it wouldn't be early! I made it back to Campeche and spent the afternoon exploring and observing the Dia de los Reyes Magos celebration, known as the epiphany or Day of the Wise Men. Apparently, the kids are given three gifts, one from each of the Wise Men on January 6. They eat what appears to be fruitcake and there are several food, candy and toy stands on the street.

Aurelie and I boarded our first class, luxury bus with extra leg room and beverages at midnight and arrived in Tuxtla the following day at noon. It was a nice trip, but I was happy to get home and unpack my backpack after three weeks on the road (including the two weeks I spent in California and Minnesota). The Yucatan was beautiful and I'd like to return with a car and explore more of the jungle and a few more Mayan ruins...I guess I can't get enough.