Armed Robbers - a close Shave
Well I left San Cristobal with the two German girls and we headed to the ruins of Palenque. On the way there I thought to myself how much I love (the Mexican state of) Chiapas. It has beautiful mountainous scenery; an interesting culture; blue skies and fascinating locals. It wasn¨t long before we arrived in Palenque in the dark and found our new home in the jungle. We decided to do a tour to the ruins and the waterfalls as it was the easiest way to see everything. We didn¨t want to finish the day by walking around in the middle of no-where in the dark. Safety first. The tour was pretty much a bus service at convenient times to the places we wanted to go so that was perfect.
The ruins were interesting and the waterfalls stunning with BRIGHT blue water glistening in the sunlight. We took a few refreshing dips by the falls and had a really lovely day. At dinner we were reflecting upon our day; about the Spanish guy on our bus who spoke 100 miles an hour, his girlfriend who looked like she was chewing a wasp the whole day (possibly due to boyfriend chatting to pretty Argentian girl all day; and also saying how Chiapas is safer than we had expected. So we thought. Just then two girls came into the restaurant and we all got chatting. They had done the same trip as us at the same time that day - only backwards. We discovered that 4 buses (including theirs) had all been robbed on the same road we had just travelled through. WHAT? Surely not, we were just there.
The buses were robbed at 12, 1, 2 and 3 and our bus took this road at 5. Could it be that for once lady luck was on my side? The thieves cut a tree down and blocked the road. They then trapped each bus with one car in front and one behind. Whilst holding a huge gun to the back of the driver¨s head they proceeded to steal the belongings of each and every passenger. Shit. One bus was a big intercity one and so the passengers not only had their day packs stolen (cameras, money etc) they had absolutely everything taken as they stole their backpacks too. Passports, visas, clothes...
Every passenger stepped off that bus with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. This was not really what we wanted to hear just before we took our overnight second class bus to Cancun - but I figure if I was a thief I would go for the first class bus every time?
Smelly Bus and Paradise?
Well our bus was fine - except for the awful smell...I felt a bit bad because most of my buses have been 2nd class but this is the first time the girls had taken one and it was pretty shit. The smell made us all want to vomit but I couldn¨t work out what it was. I don¨t think I wanted to know to be honest. The only stops we had were the military checkpoints and we all flirted with them at every stop. Well men in uniform you know.
We arrived in Cancun and took the ferry to Isla Mujeres - a supposed paradise. The water was absolutely beautiful but there were way more buildings than I had expected. I guess it was hard not to compare it to the deserted Pacific beaches. We spent a couple of days here just relaxing on the beach and eating fresh fruit. As for the evenings on the island hmmm there were lots of "vacationers" getting absolutely legless at the beach bar. One Australian guy asked,"How long are you staying here?"
Me: "I don¨t know yet" Him: "Oh then you¨ll be here forever!It¨s paradise!" Me: "Hmmm no I don¨t think I will... Him: "What?! You don¨t like it here?? Yeah well I suppose it¨s a bit quiet.." (As the next house song starts to vibrate inside my lungs and spill out through my eye sockets)
Quiet?! Maybe he¨s been living on a building site.
Funny how two people can have completely different views on the same place.
Anyway my ear infection was still not better so I decided to go to the mainland to see doctor number 2 in Merida.
Natural Beauty
So I had a good time in Merida, the city is nice and I visited the cenotes with a guy from my hostel,Oli. (Cenotes are underground caves filled with beautiful blue water in which you´re able to swim...) We took a bus to the town, once in the town the only choice is a rickshaw (bici-taxi) to the next place and then you use the strangest mode of transport I think I´ve used so far which is a horse-drawn cart - but the cart also runs along something similar to tram tracks...very odd. It was an enjoyable ride to the first cenote and when we arrived I was not disappointed! The water inside the cave was BRIGHT blue. It was really surreal; an underground cave in the middle of nowhere with the most vivid blue water at the perfect temperature for a refreshing dip aaahhhh.
We visited a few cenotes and swam around enjoying the natural beauty and the peacefulness of the caves.. Unfortunately I think Oli spent more time looking at me and seeing as I didn´t like him like that at all I spent the second half of the day trying to avoid his gazes. Why does this always happen?!
Anyway a group of us from the hostel sampled the local nightlife. Hmm. One place we went to comprised of really bad Mexican karaoke, techno music and for some strange reason ..the X-files theme (complete with green search lights and smoke). I was just hoping something would come down and abduct the karaoke singers. As I was still unable to drink (on antibiotics for my ear) by 12 o´clock I couldn´t take anymore techno and left the club. Oli came with me (I think he thought he was in with a chance) but I said goodnight and practically ran to bed.
I spent a few days in Merida. I went to the doctor and explained that I´ve had an ear infection for 10 days. I´ve taken this medication the whole time (showed her)and it´s still not better. She took my blood pressure, listened to my heart beat, weighed me, finally looked in my ear and concluded: "Hmmm you have an ear infection."
(AAGH)"Yes. I know, I´ve been taking these antibiotics."
To which she replied, "Oh. They didn´t work." (AGGGHH). "I know. That´s why I´m here!" I think I can say I lost my faith at this point. She prescribed me more antibiotics and I left.
Joey doesn´t share food!!
Oli decided that he´d come to Chitchen Itza ruins with me and he had a whole plan for us to go to the coast for a few weeks then fly to Cuba together for Christmas and New Year. At this point it seemed like an ok idea as we got along well. We went to see the ruins which everyone had said weren´t brilliant but I had a good day. My only problem was Oli. By the time we got to the place he´d already started to irritate me slightly... and everytime I bought food he wanted some. On the morning of the ruins we´d both ordered breakfast but mine looked better so he tucked in and ate half of mine as well as his!! Without even asking ´Can I try some please?´ From a close friend or family member this is acceptable but from someone you don´t know very well I just found this very rude.
At the ruins he ate half my snacks grrrr and was just annoying for many other small reasons and I found myself getting very irritated. By the time evening came I had already decided that I didn´t want to carry on travelling with him!
We went for dinner and as usual everything on the menu was meat orientated. (Except a salad which I had previously discovered means cabbage, onions and a couple of tomatoes...) So they made me some Guacamole. My meal was the size of a starter which would have been fine had I been able to eat it all myself. Oli had ordered some kind of meat soup, followed by a big steak wrapped in tortillas. Not content with his own huge meal he started to swipe mine again - he ate half my bloody meal and I felt like Joey (FRIENDS). I was so annoyed! With every nacho he picked up and dipped into my Guacamole I could feel my blood start to boil! By the end of the "meal" I was starving and he was rubbing his belly with satisfaction. It was then that I told him I´d changed my mind and I was going straight to Cancun to fly to Cuba.
Awkward Moments
After I told him we weren´t going to spend the next few weeks together and actually I was leaving tomorrow he was pretty pissed off. He said he´d only come in this direction to be with me. (Oops). There were a few awkward silences and I was praying for the waiter to bring the bloody bill. I said that I was sorry but I didn´t want to dive for a while because of my ear and that he´d only come an hour and a half in this direction (on the Mexican scale this is nothing) and tried to make things sound better. There wasn´t much I could say really and in the end we were back on good terms. Although, the next day I did heave a sigh of relief as he stepped on a bus in the opposite direction. Phew.
