It is a little bit ironic but since I am not staying at hostels anymore and have a more stable lifestyle I also in the meantime lost a decent connection to internet! So I am connecting from an internet cafe to write the blog for the first time I always managed at hostels before!
I am having a few issues thinking in correct english since I have settled in Playa Del Carmen and started my spanish course, all my vocabulary is getting mixed up and my french is getting worse although words in spanish are usually similar to french but my little dictionary (thanks Sarah for the Mexican Spanish rough guides dictioniary it is helping a lot nowadays!) - is in english!
Anyway my thoughts are not all in order but since I visited Merida I have entered very touristic territories, which has advantages and inconvenients. First it is annoying to pay double or triple the price for everything including a taco, and also to have to deal with the crowds of tourists. On the other side, it means that the local population is more used to foreigners and is not staring at you so often. And to some extent it does feel completely safe in Playa Del Carmen in most places in the center and at most times of the day including the small hours.
So on one side I get the beautiful beach and a relaxing time when I am out of school, on the other side I don´t feel so much in Mexico, all bars are playing foreign music. I am almost missing the proper Mexican bus driver who took me and other guys to the ruins in Palenque whistling to some proper mexican music all the way through, tapping on the steering wheel (at least 2 hours in a row, but it just showed how happy he was to live his life and work!)
In Merida, I finally really connected with other travellers, to the extent of sharing our plans to travel ahead together (not always but finding each other on our way again this time, on purpose). So within a few days we spent quite a few nights to try out Feliz Horas: 2x1 is a speciality here until a certain time for all sorts of cocktails and sometimes beers. It is good to have traveller friends to do the touristic stuff in the most touristic places. And we found eachother again in Isla Mujeres quite shortly. Isla is a beautiful place but I would also call it a major tourist trap. The only thing that saved the whole experience is the hostel where I stayed had a little bit of a private beach with hammocks and some free classes of yoga everyday, and live music in evenings...so I didn't really need to go very far. Unfortunately on the last day in Isla when I planned to rent a bike and go in the South of the Island it had been raining all night and all morning also. So it was just a sign that it was time to move on. The storm the previous night was really far away in the sea and it was a very beautiful lightining show from the beach!
Since Isla Mujeres I took the ferry back to the mainland and went from Cancun to Playa Del Carmen to find my travel friends again for another few days and meet more people! We spent really nice days at the beach but then as I am staying longer in Playa it was also time to say goodbye... It is knd of hard to wave goodbye to the people who brought you a little bit of stability whilst youare so far away from home. But in the meantime, it also means people I can find again on my road somewhere, especially those from South America who I might be able to visit when I get to Brazil, Uruguay or Argentina!
I also met people at the school, but with them it feels slightly different because they are not here to discover Mexico. Just to learn Spanish and have a nice time at the beach...which they could do in Spain, but they just decided to go a little bit further. I am surrounded by Swiss people at the school all speak SwissGerman so at least our common language is Spanish. But there is a gap between us about why we are in Mexico, what we know of Mexico, and how much money we can afford to spend onm very simple things...like food/ excursions and so on... They are nice people but it is almost as if we are living in different worlds. Let's say the most important is that we can practice our spanish! Always keep on the sunny side of life :).... I think it is a good conclusion for today! Hasta Luego
