Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Panama City

@Margriet: niet verder vertellen hoor, maar ik was eigenlijk ook nooit geinteresseerd in dit deel van de wereld, ik ben hier eigenlijk vooral voor de taal naartoe gekomen, maar ik ben er toch wel achter gekomen dat er zo veel verschillende interessante, andere en mooie dingen te vinden zijn dat ik toch erg blij ben hier naartoe gekomen te zijn

So I was in Tulum waiting for Alberto, my house mate from Guatemala, he didn´t show up the night he would be there, but fortunately he contacted me and we met each other the next the day at the bus station in Tulum. We also looked for a hotel together, because the other hotel was pretty terrible, I shared a room and bathroom with 16 people and only half of the bed sheets were changed before I was given the bed. So we found our hotel, had some lunch, walked around a little and took a taxi to the ruins of Tulum, the most visited Maya ruins of Mexico. We arrived there and understood that they are not so well visited because of the ruins themselves, but mostly of the location. These Mayas built there ruins next to the sea, so in one view you can see both the clear light blue Caribean Sea and the ruins. For the rest nothing spectacular, so we didn´t spend a lot of time there, also because we were dying of the heat. At night we went out for dinner and tried to find a place to go out, but Tulum turned out to be a very boring village and in the ¨best bar¨ there were only 5 other people, so we went to sleep early.

The next day we woke up from the heat and the musquitoes, had some breakfast and then took the bus to Playa del Carmen. The bus trip was quick and after a little over one hour we arrived at the bus station in Playa. Alberto went to the all-inclusive hotel where his friends from Italy had booked a room and I went to my hostel, so we said goodbye and agreed to meet later. So I checked into the hostel, watched a match, walked around, swam in the sea, had dinner, relaxed and then met Alberto and his friends to go out. Going out is one of the main activities in Playa del Carmen, next to relaxing on the beach, so it is also done well, nice looking bars, good music etc.

The next day I woke up late and didn´t have to wait long before the Netherlands-Cameroon match started (at 13:30 Mexican time). I watched it with a lot of Dutch people on the beach, probably the most beautiful location where I´ve ever watched a football match. Later I tried to get in touch with Alberto, but I couldn´t, so I just relaxed a little in the hostel, then had some dinner and in the evening I went out with some guys from the hostel, where I met Alberto, who told me we hadn´t been able to get in touch because his phone didn´t work anymore. Anyway, I didn´t go to sleep very late, because the next day I wanted to watch Brasil-Portugal and then go snorkeling, so that´s what I did.

The next day I watched the second half (I still woke up late) and went to a diving shop to buy some gear. I could also rent it, but since I'm going to go diving and maybe also snorkeling again on this trip and next to that it's better to have a decent mask, because I'll use it in combination with my contact lenses.. Anyway, I took a minivan to "Dos Ojos", which is a "Cenote", a kind of cave filled with fresh water, stalactites and tropical fish. It was amazing how clear the water was, definitely clearer than in the average swimming pool. The tropical fish that was promised, was a little disappointing, but still it was a very special environment for my first real snorkel experience. Then I took the minivan back to Playa, but got the Akumal beach, which is famous for the turtles. So I left my stuff at some bar near the beach and entered the sea armed with my snorkling gear and underwater camera and after 5 minutes or so I arrived at the area with turtles and already soon I found some, sea turtles of 1m or so just swimming in front of me, really amazing. Also the tropical fish here was a lot nicer than in Dos Ojos and there was some kind of soft coral too. So I swam around for 45 minutes or so and then went back to land, had a drink and a snack in the bar where I left my stuff and took back the minivan to Playa where I prepared my bag and went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up at 4 o'clock, when the first people started coming back from going out and I went to the bus station to go to the airport. Of course I slept on the way and once arrived I tried to check in on my flight to Panama, but they didn't let me, because I didn't have a return or onward ticket from Panama to another country. So I tried to find something cheap (a bus ticket or plane ticket) on the internet, asked for support from Holland (thank you mama), but it didn't work, so I had to buy a ticket at the airport, already knowing that I would cancel it as soon as possible and would not use it and it would still cost me $50USD. Anyway, that's what I had to do to continue my trip, so that's what I did and 3 hours later I was in Panama. I had already contacted somebody from AIESEC (the international student organisation of which I'm member and which arranged my internship in Guatemala) and he picked me up from the airport. We were 5 minutes on the way when we were stopped by the police, apparently they were interested in me. They checked our papers, the papers of the car and the car itself, but couldn't find an excuse to do something to me and wished me welcome in Panama. I thought it was quite strange, it's not a very nice way to treat people that come to visit your country and spend foreign money there. In addition, in Guatemala I'm used to being treated as if I were more trustable because I'm white, rather then less trustable like is the case here, apparently. Anyway, there was no problem, so we continued and we went to somebody else's house, I left my stuff there and we went to meet some other AIESEC guys, because that day there was a kind of excursion for the trainees (so other foreign students that temporarily work here). We met them and left off for a place just outside the city where there is a model of a typical Panameñan village, walked around a little and then went to a viewpoint, close to there. That was quite nice, because from there we could see all modern buildings of Panama next to the coast, it's easy to understand why they call it the Miami of Central America. Then we drove around a little, bought some supplies for our pool party at the supermarket and then went to the apartment of one of the guys. It turned out to be quite luxurious and his apartment was next to an outdoor swimming pool with view on the skyline of Panama and next to the gym and sauna... So we spent the evening there, drinking, eating and swimming..

The next day we woke up late, had lunch and went to watch the Mexico-Argentina match in a Mexican bar. It was full of Mexicans, so it was extremely noisy, and of course disappointing that Mexico lost. Then we went to the airport to pick up a new trainee, took her to a mall, had some dinner and went to the cinema. Then we left her at her new place and we went home, had some drinks and slept.

The next day (yesterday) I went to the old city centre, Casco Viejo, walked around a little, saw a church and some other old buildings and then realised I had already missed the first half hour of Holland-Slovakia, but still watched the rest of the game. I walked around a little more, not really impressed by the "historic" center, it is not really nice, but there was one nice church and again a nice view on the skyline. Shortly after I was picked up by one of the AIESEC girls and we went to causeway, which is a place outside the city, again with view on the sea and skyline. So from there you can also see the ships waiting to enter the canal. We had some lunch there, then went to the office of Copa Airlines to cancel my ticket, only to find out I also needed an onward ticket to get my money back.. Later I met the my host in a shopping mall where we bought my onward ticket to Nicaragua and then we went home together and slept early.

Today I woke up late and now I'm relaxing a little before I go to pay a visit to the canal. We should be going to the place where you can see the ships going up in the locks, so I think it will be an impressive view. I should also go to the Copa Airlines office again to get my money back. Tonight there will be a goodbye party for me (apparently the people here attach themselves to strangers quite easily) and tomorrow I will continue my trip to the north/west, to Boquete to be exact. But about all this I will tell you later how it was.