Cancun, Part II

(For for the first part, go to http://apeakinsidemymind.blogspot.com/2009/06/day-1-o-mexico.html)

Wednesday morning we woke up. For the most part this day was unplanned. We had the morning and afternoon to explore Cancun and see what it was really like. Unfortunately, it turns out that it is a commercial city for tourists, so we ended up just wandering malls and tourist trap sights. It was fun, but it is something that we could have done just about anywhere. In the evening we decided to try some authentic Mexican food rather than our usual meals, which consisted of McDonalds or a grocery mart, or anything cheap and safe. An authentic meal was a bad idea. Both of our dishes were extremely hot. My friend described his meal as pain spread between two tortillas. he managed to finish about 1/6th of his dish. My meal was about the same, but I continued to eat despite the unbearable burning. I've never been a fan of horchata, but I was glad to order one that night to help extinguish the intense burning, if only for a few seconds. During those seconds of only semi-burning I was able to hurry and take another large bite and begin chewing it before the pain became unbearable again. I finished my meal, quickly paid, then went in search of ice cream. Ah, back at Mcdonalds again... The burning was just the beginning. It was followed by nausea, stomach cramps, and wishing we didn't eat there. In the evening we enjoyed night fishing out on the ocean. I caught a pretty decent fish, took a lot of pictures, and really had a lot of fun. Then they cooked up the fish we had caught, along with some vegetables, and served a late meal. If it hadn't been for my previous meal, I probably would have enjoyed this one better. Still, I love the ocean, I love the waves, I love the smell, and I love the wind. It makes me think that I belong on the water.

Thursday morning I awoke to the sensation of extreme stomach cramps and aches. Stupid delicious cheesy way-too-hot burrito thingy... After that passed, we had another day of freedom, which we spent in the beautiful ocean just outside of our hotel, and exploring Cancun again. In the afternoon we took speed boats out into the ocean. We passed through jungles and mangroves on the way, and then stopped for snorkeling in one of the reefs. It was fun passing the locals and seeing them play in the rivers and oceans. It was a very foreign experience. In the reef we saw a number of fish, including some yellow sting rays. the best part, however, was following some squid. SQUID ARE FREAKIN' AWESOME! They put their tentacles together and swim like fish. In fact, at first I thought they were fish with fake eyes in the back of their heads to scare off predators, then I saw them swimming the other direction too and I thought they were cool fish that could swim both ways, but then they opened their tentacles! I tried chasing them and swimming under after them to see if they would spray ink, but I didn't have any luck with that.


On Friday, we woke up and headed out to the Island Mujeres. Once we arrived there, we got talked into buying some souvenirs, then we went snorkeling. This time we went snorkeling in a current, so we could just float along. The best part was diving down towards the flora (or whatever it was) that instantly pulled itself in and disappeared when you tried to touch it. When I saw it, I would dive under and wave water at it just to watch. I like the simple joys in life. =) After snorkeling we enjoyed a buffet and then went on a golf cart tour of the island. We saw some extreme poverty, which is really sad, but we also saw a lot of cool areas and visited the east most part of Mexico. There were also tons of wild iguanas.

Saturday we traveled towards the center of Mexico. We had to take two buses (one of which was over an hour long without any stops), and then we got on a shuttle and went even further. After about 3 hours of travel we arrived at a jungle adventure place. We rode in the back of a stripped down truck through rugged jungle trails. We could see the engine and frame of the truck and it bounced up and down as we drove through winding jungle paths. It felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie. We rode a zip line, repelled into a cenote, then took a zipline into a cenote (landing in the water). Afterwards I went back and rode the zipline again, only this time I went down backwards. Next we got to snorkel through a cenote, which is a freshwater sink hole. It's like a long underground cave that is full of water and splits into tunnels that go for miles. You could probably travel through most of Mexico through cenotes. That was perhaps the best part. Next we rode a "sky cycle" through the jungles and some caves. I took a lot of really cool pictures and actually saw one of those birds with the big tail feathers that used to represent the feathered serpent of the Mayans. On the way back, while standing in the back of the Indiana Jones style truck, my camera bounced out of my pocket and broke open. It wasn't anything too serious, except that I lost my SD card with all of the pictures I took since Tuesday, and I didn't realize it until we were already out of the jungle and on the way back to Cancun. Losing all your pictures from a vacation in the middle of jungle isn't very cool, but I guess it helped me realize just how unattached I really am to physical things. I just shrugged my shoulders and went on.

With the exception of trying to smuggle chocolate milk through the airport (I got it through Mexico, but not the US), and meeting a cool BYU student on the airplane, that pretty much concludes my Cancun experience.