First scuba dive, independence day and Tulum!

Last week was such a fun week filled with many exciting things! Monday after our usual 10PM class we joined some classmates to a basketball game. It was not at the university but a bit more in the centre. The stereotype of short Mexicans is seriously disappearing because these people were so incredibly tall! Legs until my shoulders, at least that is what it felt like. On Tuesday we celebrated Dia de la Independencia de México in Playa del Carmen. We went late at night on a 1 hour road trip to Playa del Carmen and we were lucky because just as we parked the car the fireworks went off. We did miss the famous ‘El Grito’. At 11PM there is a speech held about the independence of Mexico and it ends with ‘el grito’ ‘the scream’ where they yell ‘VIVA MEXICO’ 3 times. I watched it on YouTube the next day so it sort of counted haha. Playa was crazy full with people and with Mexican flags and other decorations. We went into several bars. They were really big and it was different from Cancun as all the ‘antros’ (bars) were on the same street, a bit like the Dutch style. We danced some salsa but also went to a more hip-hop bar next to the beach with a pool. We found a friend who could get us in for free in several bars so that was good as you had to pay a 12 euro entrance fee everywhere. I also had the best pizza there! We partied until 04.30 and then took the car back home. I was home an hour later but did not sleep until 7AM. And then I woke up 2 hours later again. Luckily I had no school Wednesday, it is a public holiday as well but I am always free on Wednesdays. On Thursday there were a lot of people missing at my classes. I wonder why. Hahaha. Thursday after school we decided it was time to relax so we went to the beach. However we started this habit of going to the supermarket near our favourite beach for lunch. We always spend like an hour there as there is too much to see and decide and eat. Of course we did not leave without the famous Nutella crepe. We went to lie down at the beach and of course 10 minutes later huge clouds appeared. It got a bit chilly and then we felt some raindrops so we took the bus home. Fridays I am usually free but this time we had our first exam for the Taco class. We walked to the bus and it was raining so damn hard. As I did not come prepared to encounter Dutch weather here I had no umbrella and had to walk around with a towel on my head. At school I had to give a presentation about our plans for our taco stand and afterwards we shared a taxi with some random people and went home. I was still tired from Independence Day so I had an early night.

Saturday my alarm went off at 5.30AM as we had to be at school an hour later for our first buceo (scuba diving) dive! As usual we were the first ones to arrive and other people arrived around 07.15. We were around 10 people and went to Playa del Carmen in the van. We stopped at a diving centre close to ‘Playa Mamitas’ where we got our gear and had to try it on. Afterwards we walked with our gear to the beach, into the sea and onto the boat. Last time I had been to Playa the sea was horrible and brown! But this time I was stunned by the amazing clear blue colours of the ocean, so lucky! On the boat there were already oxygen tanks in special holders as they are way too heavy. We drove out on the ocean and had to prepare the gear ourselves as we will have to know this for the exam. Once we were at the right spot we had to put our ‘jackets’ on which were attached to the tank. Then we put on our flippers, cleaned our snorkels and listened to the last instructions. I was not as nervous as I expected to be so that was ok. I found it quite hard breathing and floating in the pool and my jaw hurt as well so the only knew thing would be to ‘compensate’ my airways. There were 3 instructors and the first one to go in was the woman who helped Fenja and me in the pool, which is why we were the first ones to go in wooh! So I sat down with everything on and ready to go and they told me to get up and walk towards the stairs in the boat. Only the thing was that I seriously could not get up it was SO HEAVY. A few heavy breaths, whale sounds and help from others later I was walking towards the stairs and honestly I thought my legs were going to snap. Standing on the stairs they told me ‘Ok, now take a big step forward into the water’. Felt a bit unnatural stepping into nothing but before I knew I was already floating like a sea otter in the clear blue sea. We swam to the rope and had to start going down. I looked down and breathed through my well breathing thing. The water was so clear I could see the bottom of the ocean. It looked so deep and far away and it was a weird feeling I was going all the way…. There. Very impressive. It was around 12 meters deep so not too deep. I have this problem that I keep floating and couldn’t sink so I spend a good 2 minutes on the surface trying to go down which eventually happened haha. Every half a meter I felt my ears closing so I had to pop them. On the bottom I had to wait until all the others came. I did not see any fish just sand and water. Your sight underwater is very reduced considering colours but also seeing in distance. After a while we went swimming in little groups. I had absolutely no problems breathing and felt no pain. The ocean is just so calm and peaceful 12 meters down. We swam next and over the reef and I saw the first few fish. Really tiny ones with the brightest colours you can imagen but also bigger silver ones. But what really impressed me was that at one point I looked over my shoulder to the left and saw this HUGE group of fish all together. Like in the movie Nemo! I went close to them but they were not scared, however I was so I continued to the other side. There was also a large long fish and huge white fish as well. Some sea urchins hidden in the coral and also the most amazing plants. Bright pink in the shape of a huge shell and it felt like it would snap if you’d touch it. I had to keep popping my ears as I kept floating up and going down. We stayed around 35 minutes underwater and at the near end we saw a big bridge made from coral and we were going to swim through it! Inside there were hiding hundreds and hundreds of fish! I went through and it was soooo cool. Yellow fish, grey fish, blue fish in all sorts and sizes. We then went up swimming slowly towards the surface where we got picked up by the boat. We went up the boat and had to wait around 25 minutes and then got ready for our second dive. However this time we would practise several exercises, the same ones from the pool however now we had to stay underwater. We went down without a rope and went up to the surface without breathing. Again 12 meters down. I saw a water snake and a funny fish with a moustache, must be Japanese. Also a big shell people have at home for decoration however it was alive and bright pink from the inside.

After the dive we went back to shore, washed our gear and everybody went back to Cancun but Fenja and I had made a plan to visit Tulum. A city an hour from Playa and 2 hours from Cancun. We had some food in Playa and then took a van to Tulum. There we sat down at a supermarket and looked for a hostel to sleep in. When we found that we took a taxi and basically spend a few hours on our bed eating chicken and looking at the pictures I took during diving. At night we decided it was time to do something with our lives. We wanted to hire some bikes and go to the hotel zone but it was already closed when we asked for it which meant we had to take a super expensive taxi. We asked if he could take us to this bar ‘Dragon Turquesa’ but he did not know where it was and he was increasing the price. We decided to just get out where we were and walk the rest. It was pitch black outside but after 1Km we found it. Sadly it was very early and nobody was there. We turned around and decided to look for something else. That is when we met this hippie guy who asked if he could join us wherever we were going. ‘Sure’ we said. After a bit of talking he asked if we wanted to see his house. We thought it was weird so we said no but then he said he had a cenote in his backyard which caught our attention. He then said ‘We’re here’. We were literally nowhere and he parked his bike against a tree next to a hippie van (typical). He was wearing no shoes, a skirt, a ripped shirt and a flower headband so it was kind of expected for him to live in a place that was well. Free. With curiosity we followed him, he had a little light on his forehead and guided our way to well his house. ‘here is the living room’ he said where we saw a wooden round table I guess. Then his house was a tent and he had another roommate (which turned out to be the creepy grandpa we saw at the supermarket earlier that day). So yes he was living in the jungle. But then we got to the cenote and it was amazing! Clearest water ever with some fishies in it. He then read our Maya signs because that was one of his many jobs. I then said I wanted some ice cream and he took us to a place nearby that was beautiful! Every single bar or hotel in Tulum is so relaxed and into nature. This ice cream place was decorated with old fancy car pieces and it looked a bit like a typical American milkshake bar. The ice cream was really good as well, interesting flavours too. After that we entered the beach through a hotel where I had like an hour nap in a hammock. After that it was already time to party so we went back to the bar we first went to. Its specialty was Mezcal. The people who came there were so different like really chilled out and cool and nice clothing style. Nothing like the rest of well Mexico I guess haha. The music was also nice like popular music mixed with Mexican dancing music. After a few drinks and chats we went back to the hostel. Next day we rented a bike and decided to conquer the heat and bike to the Tulum Ruins which were quite nearby. It was really beautiful to see. In about 45minutes you can walk around and it’s all surrounded with palm trees and other exotic plants and like a thousand iguanas. It was 1PM so the hottest time of the day but luckily we had towels. It was a shame for all the algae’s on the beach and in the water but it was still beautiful. The Maya pyramids were so cool to see as well. After that we had a juice around the little town there and saw the Papantla dancers again. We then took our bikes to a famous cenote a few kilometres from there but we stopped to eat some tacos on the way. We biked to the Gran Cenote and saw a dead dog and some crosses on the way. Nice. When we arrived we showed our tickets and we had to shower before going in to keep the waters clean. We went down some stairs and wow! This big hole in the ground filled with blue clear and clean water. It was supposed to be really cold but it was ok. It had a few turtles swimming in it and I saw a few tiny fish. I looked down from above and I would guess it was around 10 meters deep max. Until I put on my snorkel glasses and I got such a scared feeling. I went into the cave where it was dark and I saw a few lights really really deep. They were scuba divers! Like 30 meters down! There were like tree trunks and huge stones and others things on the bottom. Nobody really knows how deep and big cenotes are which is why a lot of scuba divers get lost exploring them and well never come back, yikes! Good thing I am going scuba diving there next week haha. Anyway I did not go too far into the cave. The water was clear so I could see everything but I could also see a dark spot in the back where the cenote continued. God knows what is in there! After that we went back to the hostel grabbed our things and took the van to Playa del Carmen. There it started raining so hard the streets were flooding! Eventually we got the van to Cancun and had a nice early sleep. What an exciting weekend 