Penniless in Paradise

aeyryl — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 21:29:00 GMT

My first solo trip was to The Maya Riviera.

My nomad dreams had to start somewhere and i had a plan after finishing high school: It was to get a job in a highlight touristic spot in México to work hard enough and then save enough money to buy me a ticket to Europe...

Then: To work my life off around the globe indefinetly...

When i finally finished High School i used my savings for a plane ticket to Cancun. After a few days from my arrival, i found a job at a Rock Bar...

There was a Classic Hard Rock and Heavy Metal DJ conflated with a Live Aerosmith Tribute band, playing great tunes very loud all night long while i was getting secretly drunk, cleaning tables and washing some of the dirty glassware.

I was earning my money only from the costumers' tips. It was barely enough for a meal a day and a bit more, to save for my plane ticket; but sometimes i could get a sweet half drunken woman to wait anxiously for my shift to be over, to show me her hotel bedroom. So that payed off the rough side and sometimes breakfast.

Anyhow, as time went by, working from sunset to sunrise, i started asking myself: what would the difference be if i were living in Monte Carlo or Palermo, if i can't get off my bed on my day off with this pace of work? I have been living here for more than a month so far, and i have been to the beach no more than three times.

I became so frustrated that i quit my job and decided to take the ferry to Cozumel and stay at one of my friend's house couch doing nothing but chillin'.

So this friend of mine was a Dive Master. He taught me how to Scuba Dive. Sometimes his costumer divers had second thoughts right before plunging into the water, and when that happened i could use those tanks until i finished them off; diving for free at the Palankar Coral Reef: One of the finest diving sites in the world. It is a 1,000 meter vertical underwater drop made fully with coral. Sea life and colors are something beyond words.

There were many people in Cozumel who chose to leave their homeland and stay for many years in the island.

They were easy going and laid back.

Whenever the topic was about unraveling the meaning of life or to wonder about the source of everything that has ever existed, i was welcome to stay at their place to have a joint and talk our heads off until sunrise; listening to Led Zeppellin, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, The Rolling Stones, El Tri, Charlie García, Aerosmith and Bob Dylan.

Some times i could stay over for more than a week at their place, enjoying their company; the food they had and all the booze and fun stuff i could take...

It was so nice and peaceful to be there that i had no problem at all to put my plans of traveling Europe for another time.

Anyhow, after some time in Cozumel it became in the end, my daily job to find something to eat and a place to stay.

I had to be smooth and patient to find the right person and the right argument to come across, and start a conversation. Every day was an unpredictable adventure for me...

Some times there was no place to stay at all, and no one to get food from, and had to stay at the beach with an empty stomach even for three days in a row... But sometimes, i had a Marlin stew dinner at a five star hotel restaurant and a fun company to spend the night and the shower with.

Photos: So far

aeyryl — Sat, 6 Feb 2016 20:53:00 GMT

4 years and a half moving around the globe

Soul seeker

Penniless in Paradise

My first solo trip was to The Maya Riviera.

Photos: So far