Mexico: Wrapping things up with a BANG!!!

Wie laaste lag lag die lekkerste...

I thought an Afrikaans quote might be appropriate for a change, and while not completely relevant to the fact that my last week in Mexico topped the charts for sheer experience, it does convey the idea that those who laugh last, laugh the hardest...

Ok, to recap, and just to bring things into pespective, no I did not spend the last week reading my newly acquired book, but have been busy as a bee taking in the main events of the Yuacatan Peninsula, to wit:


CHICHEN ITZA: After a rocking few days in sweltering Merida with a fantastic crowd of folks, Sujin and I overcame lack of sleep to head off to Chichen Itza on the 6h30 bus in the morning... this ancient Maya site is halfway between Merida and Playa del Carmen, our next stop, so it made sense to do it on the way. It did not fall short of expectations, we teamed up with some Israelis to hire a kickass guide who really knew his stuff and he made the ancient Mayan civilizations completely come to life for us, including the fact that they ritually sacrificed their best and brightest - and they liked it!

After a hot morning doin the ruin thing, we spent a fantastic hour taking in the local cenote, which is an underwater cave who`s roof has collapsed, but the 30m long roots of the trees above still hang in the water - stunningly beautiful, water not too cold and crystal clear... made me think, wouldn`t it be nice to scuba in this...

We took the 14h30 bus to Playa del Carmen, the place where it all goes down...











PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Now, to bring things into perspective, the wholly overfamous Cancun is Mexico`s Costa del Sol, and to be avoided by backpackers. Much more preferable is the further south town of Playa del Carmen, still a tourist hotspot due to the adjacent island of Cozumel and its incomparable dive options... a scuba enthusiast`s dream!

At the Youth Hostel I bumped into an Aussie called Zack who set me straight - Cenote dives are the shit out here, gotta do em. After a frustrasting couple of hours where I was unable to book my dive for day 1 and NO-ONE seems to be able to do a night dive in the off season, I finally booked some Cenote Action for the next morning.

Suffice it to say, it was AWESSSSOOMMMMEEEEE.... You go down for two dives into these crystal clear underground caverns, you are surrounded by stalactites and the visibility is amazing! Probably two of the best dives I have ever done, you go down to about 15m but some of the caverns are completely isolated so you have to use your light.... Wild!

COZUMEL

If my day had ended there, it would have been fine... but after heading back to the youth hostel, Sujin told me that she was more interested in sticking around in Playa than go to Cozumel (my last stop as I would once more try to get a night dive there, but chances were slim). We said goodbye and I got on to the ferry (which takes half an hour to the island). Now what happened next is so cool!

15h40: Arrive in Cozumel, determine the place is dead and do I really want to spend the night here? Call my sister`s old dive instructor and mate Erwin, he is in town and will meet me in the square in five minutes...
16h00: Meet up with Erwin, who just came off a dive and we can have a beer later, but in the meantime why don`t I try Deep Blue Diveshop over on the corner?
16h15: Walk into Deep Blue just as they are readying the gear to go for a twilight dive, which is both a DRIFT (where the current sweeps you along over the reef) and for the second tank a night dive where they supply flashlight and everything). I sign up, show up and we`re off! I can`t believe my luck!
14h30: Set off in the boat with 4 Texans and dive instructor Javier, these guys have all logged more than 300 dives each, look mean as hell and I feel out of my league...

Suffice it to say, the Instructor was excellent, the Texans were great fun and the Reef was amazing! The water is very warm and the visibility outstanding, the sea life phenomenal (I sat down at 20m for about 5 minutes watching a crab eat some coral...) and we went down to 26m druing the drift dive, a personal record.

So, I capped off my 4 a-day cave-night-reef diving experience with some Nachos with Erwin and a ladyfriend before grabbing the ferry back to Playa and the crazy crowd back at the hostel, finally called it a night at round 2am after giving it horns on the dancefloor on the beach at the Blue Parrot bar for a while... man Guatemala will have to rock to beat this! I am right now waiting for my bus to Palenque, tomorrow morning I go over the border by boat.... not quite sure how all this is going to work, watch this space...