My first stop was Cancun...mainly to see Ana. She was flying home to France on Friday (I arrived on Wednesday) so our plan was to spend a few days together.
Returning back to the hostel was great! The manager upgraded me for free and the staff were just as wonderful as usual. I truly felt like I was home with good friends. Which was great because Ana ended up not being able to make it until Friday so staying entertained wasn't very difficult.
I ended up becoming friends with all the guys in my room and we had a fun couple of days. We drAna didn't arrive till around 8pm but we were so happy to see eachother. Sometimes you don't really realize how close you are with someone or how much you miss them until you are
lucky enough to see them again. I mean, I knew I missed her but I didn't realize how much. We went out for drinks and talked, laughed cried...it was honestly amazing, and afterbeing home for 7 weeks and really missing Mexico it felt so good to be there with her again.
We didn't really socialize with others as we really wanted to just spend with eachother, I was leaving for Cabo in the morning so we pretty much had less than 12 hours.
When it came time for me to leave in the morning she was of course still sleeping, so I crawled in the top bunk with her, we said goodbye with a promise to see eachother next year as we
are both planning on moving to Tuium and getting an apartment together.
I had two flights. One to Guadalajara and then one to Cabo. I was nice and early but had an argument at check in and didn't think they were going to let me on my flight. I had to pay
$42 CAD to check my baggage and even with it in a big bag I couldn't put my yoga mat with it. I made a comment about it being a bit expensive and this whole ordeal started and was told
if I wanted to fly with them I needed to calm down. Finally after about ten minutes everything was sorted.
I was supposed to meet Max (my friend who is the manager of the hostel) at check-in but he wasn't there. I waited for a few minutes and then decided to go though the security check.
As I was about to enter I saw Max come in the front doors, I started walking towards him and then decided against it as I didn't feel like going back over to check - in was wise so I went
through security and up to the gate.
By the time I had gotten onto the plane Max still hadn't arrived at the gate....he was messaging me telling me he was coming but I honestly didn't think he was going to make it...but
he did.
The owner of the hostel was on our flight so we had lunch with him and his girlfriend during our layover and they had rented a car so we ended up getting a ride with them to the instead
of having to take the bus which was awesome.
The flights were okay . They were kind of shitty to be honest. The first flight I thought we were going to crash during take-off, because the plane wobbled from side to side and then the landing wasn't so smooth. The second flight the plane made this awful loud sound and everything was shaking. The owner looked at me and said "I honestly thought we were driving to Cabo for a minute!" This had a not so smooth landing as well.
The hostel is beautiful...pretty much a resort for backpackers. A beautiful view of the surrounding hills and right in the marina which is filled with extremely expensive yachts. The place is beautiful but I didn't like it!
It is way to touristy for me. There is nothing Mexico about it at all with it's yachts, million dollar condo's, mall, and tourist prices. Don't get me wrong, I had fun. The pool party for the grand opening was awesome and I met some great people, had beer and chilled out in the sun but there was nothing to do there and the diving was so expensive. However...
The Wednesday after I arrived I started talking to this guy Chris at the hostel. We were talking about diving for a good 45 minutes. He then joined me at the pool for a bit. When he was getting up to go take a shower he asked if I wanted to go to Mango Deck with him as he was meeting his friend. "Yes, absolutely!" I said. Mango Deck was supposed to be the place to go and I really needed to get out of the hostel.
This is how I met Ben...and after a day of drinking on the beach I had decided to leave with the guys the next day and go on a road trip up to La Paz.
We had so much fun!!! We dropped Chris off the next day at the airport after we drove to some beaches. We went to Hotel California for Dinner and stayed at this sweet surf camp in an open air hut. Chris had stayed there and told us about it so we looked it up and headed in that direction. It was great...however open air means mosquitoes and BATS!!! Something Chris forgot to mention...we all know how I love BATS!!! I completely wrapped myself up in my blanket with only my face sticking out. Lol it was quite the experience but Ben was ready to leave first thing in the morning as he had been bitten throughout the night.
We continued our way up to La Paz and then drove around the coast which was awesome. The landscape in BCS (Baja California Sur) is desolate but really beautiful with rolling hills and peaked mountains all covered in a layer of green, huge cactus's everywhere, a beautiful coast line and the open road in front of us. I was in charge of the music so played a copious amount of songs and sang each one to Ben.
We met this fantastic Mexican couple at this beach we stopped at. They owned the little hut/restaurant we were at. They were super friendly and loved the fact that Ben speaks Spanish (I'm lazy). They ended up telling us that their sun owns a dive shop in La Paz and we should go there...which we did. It was affordable with equipment included.
The dive was awesome! I was a bit nervous as it had been a couple months since my dives in Cozumel...however, Ben is an instructor so I had complete faith in him.
I couldn't go down when we got in...but he got me more weights and I was good to go. We swam around the reef and saw starfish and heaps of sardines. The sardines will form a circle around you so that you can't see anything but sardines...it was quite an interesting experience especially when I couldn't see anyone. Ben went one way and the guide and the other two went the other way. I couldn't see Ben but I could see the others...but, you are always supposed to stay with your partner then all of a sudden I was surrounded by sardines...I was in a sardine can and didn't know which way to go. Then, out of nowhere a sea lion swam around me so gracefully and playful.
This is what we had gone diving for...the sea lions. We were told we won't see the babies or the mothers but the juveniles will come and play with us. They like bubbles and they like to tug on things and steal diving masks. The men are never seen because they are always protecting the women. However if you dive with me you see everything.
We were watching a couple of juvenile sea lions play fight. I wasn't really paying attention and then off to my left I saw him... a male swimming straight towards me...and he was a big motherXXXX. I would say maybe 7 feet long and close to 1000lbs! I froze, I didn't know what to do, he swam so fast I thought he was going to brush by me but instead he just swam by me at lightening speed without even touching me...but I was so surprised I didn't spin away. The whole time I was thinking "umm, we are not supposed to see these ones. I think this is a male, he is big, why are we seeing him?" Talk about a wild experience hahaha...he got it all on video but it doesn't even show you how big he was...however it does show you there were two of them...that's even crazier!!!
When the first juvenile swam up to me I froze...I wasn't really sure what to expect...it is a wild animal. He came back over to me and started swimming down towards me so I started blowing bubbles up at him and he started eating them like a puppy and getting closer to me. At one point he swam away and then I feel a huge tug on my zipper string. He was pulling on it because he wanted me to play! It was so amazing!
After he got bored with me he swam up to another diver in our group! He swam just over his tank and when the guy didn't notice him he tapped him on the arm. The guy still didn't do anything. At this point I started to giggle.
He then went down to the guys leg and nipped him ... well that got his attention! The guy turned around and the sea lion bit down on the guys fin and started tugging at it. The guy tried for five minutes to pull free but the bugger wouldn't let go! It was so funny and I couldn't stop laughing...and laughing underwater is not fun...water fills things up!
The dive was amazing! I was so proud of myself and so excited that I had had the opportunity to experience such a wonderful thing.
We went for lunch on a beach and got to snorkel and then we went and did a reef dive. It was kind of boring but it was great practice for me. I even had to take my regulator out of my mouth because part of the bite piece had fallen off in my mouth...I didn't even panic!
We went out for an awesome dinner and drinks that night and the next day we pretty much didn't do anything as Ben was driving me to the airport the next day as I was flying to India. Of course by this point Ben and I had bonded and I was hesitating to leave Mexico like I always do. I questioning going to India...I had actually been quite stressed about it during our the week...I was feeling really overwhelmed with going and was second guessing the whole trip!
We drove for a few hours! We actually had to back track to the hostel in Cabo because I forgot my ID there ... of course....me with cards and ID's ... I'm awful. Though we went to the beach for lunch which was really nice...we enjoyed a few beers and an awesome lunch.... man do I love Mexican food...and beer!
We were kind of sad to say goodbye to each other. We went on the road trip barely knowing each other to spending every waking moment with each other for 5 days and becoming really good friends.
Mexico was awesome! I needed it. I needed to go there, to my happy place, get sunshine and see friends and make new ones. Until next year Mexico when we meet again for more adventures but now my gust of wind has taken me to the other side of the world.
Now here I sit at my ashram in Rishikesh having an incredible time, but you will have to wait for that blog for anything more.
- My Beautiful Life -
