It is April 29, 2009, and i have two more days. This will hopefully be my second to last blog, ill try to do one more after i get home. But if not, ill say now thank you all for reading and hopefully enjoying this, i know i have, but most of all thanks for keepin in contact throughout the trip. all of you, unless youre a creepster i dont really know thats been following this (sike you guys are cool too), kept my spirits up with your little messages here and there, and ive appreciated it the whole way through very much. and now back to business.
Since leaving the farm in belize ive come up the coast and into beautiful, disease-ridden mexico. My first stop was at Lake Bacalar, which had a white sand floor and turquoise water (both of those seem to be a theme for my mexican stops) and was b-a-utiful. maybe the best part of that place finding a 700 page book in the hostel, the third in a series id read the first two books in ages ago and loved. i couldnt believe it when i saw it lying there and i immediately sat down to read and remained there for the next few hours, and i guess really two days. nothin like a good book youve been wanting to read that lives up to all expectations. the unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of books you can find in hostels´ book exchanges are really crappy thrillers.
My next stop was at the king of all beaches, tulum. i had never even imagined sand could be as soft as this was. i did not know it was possible. I went to the nearby ruins one day. Not nearly as big as tikal, but its right on the coast rather than in the jungle, so a very different setting. in the end tho, to me, a ruin is a ruin, and unless youre really interested in the history of it all theres only so much you can get out of them. On a more exciting note i got to exercise! played some beach soccer for a good while, got winded really fast and often, and got sunburned. in one striking blow my desires to be as tan as ever upon return were dashed, maybe irreparably so. Before leaving there, i did one final dive, this time in cenotes. I hadnt actually ever been to a cenote before, so i wasnt sure exactly what to expect, but wowy zowy zoo it was unbelievable. the first one we went in was basically just like walking around in a cave, except instead of air theres water, and youre swiming instead of walking. but yeah we just swam around through the stalactites and stalagmites, and caverns and little passagesways, with flashlights since there was barely any natural light. The second dive however absolutely blew my mind. it had whats called a halocline, which is where there are at least two distinct levels in the water created by salt and fresh water. salt water, being more dense, lies at the bottom. at first when we got in, the only evidence of it was how bad the visibility got when we swam and stirred up the water. If you were behind someone all of a sudden the water would look really oily and swirly and looking through it was like having horrible eyesight, everything was just a hazy shape. but then youd pop out to the side or up or down and it was like putting on glasses, everything was in perfect focus again. so that was just kinda weird to see, but later on in the dive we got to a point where you could distinctly see the halocline, the separation, and i almost lost it haha. If you were in the saltwater, in the bottom half, and looked up, it looked like there were two surfaces, the first with the fresh water, the second with air. it was like an invisible ceiling or something. and then youd swim up and pass through it, which had the strange feeling of passing through a wall or some sort of barrier or something, and while you are in the very thin border everything gets out of focus for a second, and then you pop up into the upper half. and in the fresh water, looking up you have the surface to the air, and looking down its like having some invisible floor underneath which everything is just a little bit blurry. i was like a kid in a candy shop swimming up and down through it, i just couldnt believe it was real.
I left tulum later that day for cancun, where i made sure to spend absolutely no time before boating out to isla mujeres, where i am now. Just the idea of cancun-built specifically for tourism, tourists everywhere, the huge hotels, the fakeness of it- disgusts me a bit. its the same way with those islands the built in dubai. it just isnt natural, isnt good for the world. in the end its just lots of pollution, the destruction of a local town, and thousands of ignorant americans giving us a bad name to all other tourists from around the world. a while back i had one english girl tell me, and i quote, "all american girls are sluts." i was astonished shed say something like that, especially to me as an american. and so i said what the hell are you talking about? you understand in saying that that youre calling all of my friends back home sluts? and so she said okay, all sorority girls are sluts. now that was a little more understandable of a statement if your only experience with it is through hollywood, but still i said no thats ridiculous you have no idea what youre talking about. and then she said okay, all sorority girls in cancun are sluts. and that just made me depressed, A that anyone would be so stupid as to base their thoughts of all american girls on the few piss drunk ones the met in cancun, but also B that so many traveling people dont understand the impressions that they are responsible for wherever they go. Ive had a few europeans ive met along the way tell me, "ya know, youre a cool american." and at first you know it feels good, its a compliment. but then you think about it and its like, well, what, did you just expect me not to be since im american? and sadly thats really the way it is. i like to think im changing a few minds here and there.
Anyhow now im on this island, and its pretty cool. more beach. I finally got robbed last night. haha well not really i just left my flip flops on the beach and when i went back someone had taken them. jokes a little bit on them since theyre almost worn through, but its still a pain not having them. I have the rest of today, and tomorrow, and then my flight leaves at 9 the next morning. And i think im ready for it. If i hadnt planned to go home now i think i could have continued on, but i did and im not, and im ready to stop bouncing around from place to place and to have my own room and bathroom and home cooked meals and good lord to see everyone again because ive missed you all so much. So ill probably be reminiscing on the plane, but ill be looking forward to landing back home once again very much.
And thats all folks.
love,
gus
and i think i found a great quote for this trip- "i wanna be just about as happy as i can be." thats what im talkin bout
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