I wish I had a chair. There are a lot of things I wish I had that I miss back home in Chicago. One of them being a chair. My friends place is great. $150 for a studio room...it has a little alcove that fits her bed and has maybe 1 1/2 feet on the side to set things down and she closes it off with a rod hanging from the ceiling that she put a curtain on. In the main part of the studio room she has a refrigerator and her dj equipment and clothes and things. It has worked out well. My suitcase is on the other side of the room by the fridge and her clothing is on the opposite side of the room. So when she is getting ready for work and I don't need my things we put my air mattress up against the wall on my side of the room. When she leaves, we put the air mattress on her side of the room so I can have access to my stuff. I still wish I had a chair so I could sit outside and write. My circulation keeps getting cut off sitting on the ground and crossing my legs. Anyway....I have come to realize I have been way too caught up in Facebook and my email. I have lost the intent that I came here with. To write. Every time I get on the computer all of a sudden three hours have gone by. Not to mention today was the first time I walked up and down Juarez street in Playa Del Carmen and there are so many things I discovered today on that short walk to La Farmacia to get my pinche but spray. Mostly mundane discoveries like where the lavandarias are and the hardware store, the pet store so on and so forth. But I really need to focus more on being here and on writing. So tonight, I'm taking a cold shower, I bought a Six Pack of Tecate, I've got my trees, I'm alone with my bug spray and intentions to write. I'm starting to recall the things I miss about home. Rather the "things" I "think" I miss about home. I mean, I wouldn't DIE if I never got to drink another propel, but I'll entertain you with the list of things I miss about home. (Aside from the obvious like family, friends and pets).
*Real dark chocolate
*Guiness (OMG how much I f*ing miss Guiness *tear*)
*Black Cherry Propel (they actually HAVE propel in Mexico it's just different flavors)
*Goat Cheese (also can find it here but it's expensive)
*Drinking water out of the tap (thankfully I can drink the tap water in Costa though)
*Walgreens for a one stop shop on needs for this and that (there's a separate store
out here and in Costa for EVERYTHING. And I missed Walgreens today when I had to go to la farmacia for a tiny weird ass bottle of bug spray when I could have gotten a bottle of Deep Woods Off...the only brand I trust...for $4 instead of this tiny bottle that smells like citron for same price.
*Having a kitchen.
*Being able to buy any ingredient I need at the grocery store.
*Having a variety of choices for inexpensive quick eats.
*My spice rack
Cancun kicked my ass. It sucked me in, chewed me up and spit me out down to the very last moment I was there. I was happy to see my sister but seriously Cancun and I now officially have a love/hate relationship. I arrived on a Sunday and checked into my hostel, the only hostel on the hotel strip. A lot has changed since the last time I stayed in Cancun in the Zona Hotelera. In March I had been here but I was in the city. Well, not much has changed in the Hotel Zone, rather I have changed. Anyway....so checked into the hostel, only 6 people staying there so I had the room to myself. I go down to the lobby to get a good signal for the internet so I can Skype Nicole (sister) and meet up with her. First thing right off the bat, the lobby doors are open and we are literally across the street from the lagoon (aka mosquitos). Within five minutes my ankles and legs once again look as if I have the chicken pox. I was just beginning to heal from my sand flea ordeal. Then I get on a bus and go up to her 5 diamond resort where we naively believe if I just walk in discreetly and act like I'm staying there they won't know the difference. Yea, big mistake. Rule #1, if you don't have any money, you are not welcome in Cancun hotel zone. Period. Not in the resorts, the clubs, even the streets. The vendors hawk passersby, their eyes stare deep into your pockets, and their calls of "hola" are for one thing, to evoke a response in you so they can attempt to lure you into their store. Nobody says hello just to say hello. Needless to say I didn't make it 100 feet into the resort until I was guided to the front desk where I was told I could pay $75 for a 7 hour day pass or $140 for a 12 hour full day pass. Hot, tired, frustrated I waited for Nicole and Karl and I think we took a walk down to the area where the shopping and clubs are just to check it out. I knew it would be a hassle from here on out to coordinate what everyone was doing and meet up or not meet up as the case turned out to be a few times. But you know, I can make the most of any situation. Yea, I had a moment where I was really frustrated and hurt and lonely and bored and pissed off but it was only one day for a few hours. I got over it. I had a great time when I was having a great time and I had a terrible time when I was having a terrible time. Hence, the love/hate relationship with Cancun. I ended up paying the $75 one day, and got to enjoy (and attempt to get my money's worth) the facilities at the Royal Caribe Cancun. Which I am pretty sure I did after two gourmet meals and many drinks later, not to mention the bottle of wine and hard liquor my sister snuck out of there and gave to me. Take that Royal Caribe Cancun.
I definitely had a lot of introspection throughout the five days in Cancun. I'm reading this book "Open Veins of Latin America" which is about the exploitation of Latin America since the day Christopher Columbus set foot on one of the Caribbean Islands. It has always been a constant internal battle of mine to determine whether it's useless to try to fight (in big or small ways) the system or to simply acknowledge it exists but be of the camp that always says "This has been going on ALL over the world since people coexisted on the planet. That's life." I still don't have an answer. I just don't know how anyone could think raping, pillaging, plundering until someone's livelihood is all but dead is ok. I just don't get it. These hotels make BILLIONS of dollars, yet the front door guy only makes $600 a month. And it is justified by the fact that the standards are different here? Or that having these huge resorts is justified because without them the local economy would suffer? All excuses. It's not the Mexicans who own their land and the hotels on them. They are just slaves that get paid slave wages. Then again, aren't we all in some way, shape or form? I guess what I'm really railing on is the injustices of the entire world and how much they piss me off. Including myself and people who are working for someone elses riches. It's too overwhelming for an individual to even care anymore. We just try to carve out a slice of our own happiness with what we've got.
We had a few good party nights for Nicole's birthday. There was some "raucous" behavior exhibited by all. Such juicy tidbits being reserved for private conversations with friends and family. Such as that concerning a said limo, or throwing things out windows, into fans....random characters we met on the street that gave us things we needed, beer dumped on each other in public... so on and so forth. ha ha ha. I met two interesting people (when do I NOT meet interesting people) at my hostel. One, the president of El Caribe hostel association and owns 8 hostels, bars, restaurants and a surf shop. He seemed a little off at first, a loud, rude Aussie who stormed into the lobby cursing up a storm at the woman at the front desk who apparently runs the place. I found it disgusting and felt bad for the lady. Later that night I was talking to the front desk guy and the Aussie overheard me and we had a cigg outside. When we were done, he said "Do you smoke?". lol. What do you think I said? So we went by the lagoon and I, bottle of wine in hand, and he, a drink in hand bullshitted for a few hours, we *smoked* and I racked his brain for the business tips of owning hostels. He said Cancun is a place for anyone to make money, and it's stupid money. Basically bottom line is that I've put on my list of goals for the next ten years to own a few hostels. And not own as in own the building, but buy the lease from an already existing hostel. I think I got enough information from him to know what's up.
The beaches are really messed up in Cancun from the hurricane. It's insane. And apparently the government closed down most of the beaches for renovation even though there is enough beach to allow people to enjoy. I JUST missed the hoopla when I paid the $75 to go to my sisters hotel but there was a protest by the people, news cameras, journalists, etc....because the government had been promising they were going to open the beaches because clearly locals and tourists alike were getting pissed off they didn't have access to any beaches.
By the way, to dispel the rumors or the denials...either way...you CAN get some drugs in Mexico that you can't get in the States over the counter. Particularly at this one chain store called Drugs & Deli. Go figure. I hear from some people you can, from some you can't, well it's confirmed. Want some Xanax, vicodin, viagra, soma, tramadal, etc...and Drugs & Deli is your store. Just in case you needed to know that.
I did get to go to the beach a couple of times and the beach is what makes it all the more worth it. Despite all of the not so positive aspects of Cancun Hotel Zone, it all melts away when you're sitting on a white sand beach with crystal clear blue waters spread out in expanse before you. Breathe in....mmmmm.....aaahhhhhh. Exhale.
I've got a lot on my mind. Don't know if I mentioned it before but never fails whenever I am away from home I seem to be reading books that correlate with the recurrent themes throughout my trip. Right now I'm reading "The Rural Life" which is all about a man and his farm and his writings about life on a farm. Each chapter is a different month on the farm and how obsessive farmers plot their land, know the trees and the grasses and nature. Nature certainly has been a recurrent theme in my trip thus far. And also the book previously mentioned Open Veins of Latin America.
I won't get into the books and their intricate correlations now except for one part of The Rural Life. It is sometimes hard to write these blogs. A lot of self analysis goes into it. And erasing when I read a draft. Like tailoring my thoughts to myself to appear or not appear a certain way to the small but still seemingly judgmental audience. Not that any of you are judgmental in a bad way, but we're all judgmental to a certain point and let's face it, writing is about the barest of bare arts you will find. Paintings can be interpreted and yes, words too, but writing bares all. I like the writing style of the author, Verylyn Klinkenborg, which he comments in January, "Many of the great journals - I think especially of Samuel Pepy's seventeenth-century diary and James Boswell's eighteenth century journal-are not marked by self-consciousness. They're marked by a dogged absence of self consciousness, a willingness to suspend judgment of the journal itself, if not of its author, in order to keep the enterprise going. both men wrote for an audience of one." In the spirit of Klinkenborg, fuck it. I write, I curse, I spew thoughts that one might never hear if I didn't let you into my brain. For better or worse, dumb or smart.....
Here's a cute video I took on the beach. This man basically pimps his monkey out to tourists for photos for $10.00 a pop. And after this video is some pictures of the fun times we had cuz we're crazy.
So I am coming closer to figuring out my goals and just like I said Cancun chewed me up and spit me out....while I was waiting for a bus to get back to Playa Del Carmen it torrential downpoured on me. Fuck you very much Cancun. Sorry, like I said, had a great time but it just made me laugh at the end. I was like this is heaven and hell all at the same time. Good times exclamation point.
I had a wonderful time in Playa Del Carmen. I shall elaborate another time. Ciao love u and miss you all.
Posts
