Well I´m now in Playa del Carmen, Mexico´s answer to Benidorm / Ibiza ... A grotesque, touristy, plastic, partygoer´s overpriced metropolis, heaving with ignorant tourists and people I already hate just because they have chosen to come here. Thank god I only decided to come here for one day! Taht´s what i´v posted as my facebook status anyway. i got here this afternoon, it was pissing it down with rain, and i geve the address of the hostel i´d booked to the taxi driver and he said he didn´t know it, but i had written down the street it was on, and he took me there, and i asked a few restaurants on that street where it was and they said i was definitely where the address said (on 8th Calle between 5 and 10), but the hostel wasn´t there. this was in the piss pouring rain... and no one seemed to have heard of the place. oh dear. anyway i wandered about a bit, in short shorts, waterproof hiking boots, the waterproof jacket i bought off Kyle, with a backpack on and a non-waterproof case pulling behind me through the one inch puddles... thankfully i´d had the wherewithall to put everything in drybags, carrier bags etc. within the bag, so hopefully eyerything would stay dry ish. anway i found the hostel and it was indeed where the directions said it was, i guess the people who work on the street had just never noticed it, even though it was about 20 metres away. Fools!!
after i´d got into the hostel and into my room, i went out to wander around and look at the place, as the rain was easing off so it seemed like a reasonable time to have a quick look around, and within about five minutes, i was wishing i´d not come here. what do i see around me everyehwere but nightclubs and bars, and tourist giftshops selling neaon plastic shite which is the most grotesque of man´s inventions, trashy ornaments in day glow colours, and tshirts with ´humourous´ captions which may seem funny on holiday but when you get home you realise they are shite and not funny at all (truth is they never were). My god get me out of this place... why the f--k did i think it was a good idea to come here? well, because it has a beach (nice to relax on for a day, i thought) and it has Cozumel, the second biggest coral reef in the world. and i was thinking of doing some snorkelling, but it turns out all the reefs are out at sea and you have to take a glass bottomed boat which is very cheap, they do me good deal, special price just for me, book now, their company the best, other companys scam you, they make you pay extra when you get to cozumel, but they honest company with good price, special deal, very cheap, just book now... AARRGGHH!!
Anyway, the rain was worsening, and the streets were now full about 4 incehs of water, and my waterproof boots are full of water (from it going down the ankle) and i am drenched, and rather lost. i thought it would be easy enough to find my way back, i´d just stay parallel to the beach, but i didn´t realise the beach kind of curved round. not to worry, the streets are thankfully numbered and on a grid so as long as you can count, you can find your way home. Jus tglad i didn´t have to rely on asking people where my hostel wasñ i made a mental note of some more prominent nearby landmarks (Burger King) in case i did indeed need to ask. but i didn´t, and i managed to get back to my room, drenched, with girls using the bathroom for aaaages to do their makeup before they go out. Why am i here?
But i did want to go snorkelling ,so i was kind of forced to do the rounds and pick up the leaflets, but it did get tiresome, everyone saying that other companies have hidden charges but theirs doesn´t... do i really want to go snorkelling that badly..? i just thought i might come to a beachy place to have some quiet time and chill for a day before i go to ecuador, but what a fool am i, thinking that it would be quiet here. there are clubs and bars blaring out bad karaoke and club anthems, and i´m in a hostel of partygoers who have 2 day hangovers. Don´t get me wrong, i´ve had some great nights which preceded 2 day hangovers, but that´s just not what i want at the moment. i feel like i´m at university in freshers week or something. people are smoking in the kitchen and playing annoying dance music as i write this. i fear the quiet chillout time will not be forthcoming. ah well, if i will decide to go to places without really finding out what they´re like first, then i´m the master of my own misery. i just made that up but it sounds like it could be a famous quote.
anyway, i had a good day yesterday. Yeasterday i went to Uxmal, a Mayan ruin not far from Merida. the bus ride was a little longer than i expected, but it was definitely worth it. it was as extensive as Chichen Itza was, but much less touristy (only 5 or 10 other people in view at any one moment), serenely beautiful and extremely well preserved. the place is a thousand years old, and the carved stones making up the brisk structures were well carved into beautiful mosaic-like patterns. there was a great rectangular courtyard with little rooms coming off it, which echoed nicely, and you could just stand there and imagine what it would have been like a thousand years ago. they rather think the stones would have been painted, but i thought it was lovely jus tas it was. there was a central pyramid, the same size as the one i went up in Coba (in the poouring rain) but you couldn´t go up this one... but there was another one nearby which you could go up, 52 steps about a foot high, i thought it would seem hard but i did it in one go... maybe i´m fitter from all that walking in CR, but that was on the flat... anyway the view was beaturful and had a quiet stillness about it, there weren´t any annoying tourguides or tourists shouting - it was great. fat iguanas lazed about on rocks, or scampered across the grass if you got too close, but they looked like big fat lazy things - lovely though.
so that was yesterday, and today i am in a neon fibreglass town of partying twentysomethings and retired fat people. i´m looking forward to leaving already. tomorrow, i may well g oto cozumel, though i fear it may be worse than here, but you can rent mopeds there and so i might do that. or i might have to catch up on sleep if i´m kept up all night by loud music and people singing and smoking outside my room.
Ecuador soon!! Yay!
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