Well, Matt leaves Wed morning; his flight is at 8:30AM, which is kind of surprising, because I was worried about his visa being approved due to his DUI. Nate and I are still waiting, but I'm sure we'll hear something this week. My start date is March 9th, so it'll be here soon enough.

The Mexico trip was nice. We tried to cover as much ground as possible, and we did a decent job.

We arrived in Cancun on the 8th around noon. Last time I landed in Cancun the heat was pervasive, and the humidity was, let's just say, there. Fortunately it was the perfect time to arrive - low to mid 80s during the day, high 60s at night. We looked for cheap transportation to the city at the terminal, but everyone was trying to rip us off, typical. One guy wanted to charge $15 per person! We managed to find a kiosk for a local bus, 40 pesos a person. I also happened to have about 50 pesos in my bag from the last time I was in Mexico.

Once we arrived at the bust station in Cancun, we walked around for a minute, then Nate asked a local about hostels. The guy looked like Walter (this older black guy that lived at the lofts and talked to us about life, the 60s, psychology, basically everything, but it was great and I miss him) and it made me laugh. I couldn't help but think every town on the globe has a Walter walking around, a local prophet, proclaiming the way to righteousness and love. The guy was wearing dirty jeans, an unbuttoned tee, and no shoes or sandals if I recall. He even bummed cigarettes like Walter. He took us to this place a few blocks down from the station and vanished into the alleyways shortly after. It ended up being a reasonable place that served breakfast in the morning. We had a 3 bed private room with undersized pillow cases and no windows, except the bamboo like walls, but it was nice. We grabbed some dinner and walked the town some but went to sleep fairly early.

Monday we woke up to catch our bus to Chichen Itza at 9:30. The coffee was excellent, and the crepe-like pancakes with jam proved to be quite tasty. The bus trip to Chichen Itza was about 2 to 2 1/2 hours long. I'd been to the ruins before, but it's not like I wasn't amazed yet again. After the ruins, we hopped a bus to Merida, the capital of Yucatan. I must say, it's a gorgeous city. Apparently when the conquistadors arrived, they were marveled by the Mayan temples in the center of town, reminding them of the Roman ruins, Merida. So, being typical westerners, they tore down the temples and built a cathedral - the first one on the continent. The city teems with Mayan life. Everywhere you can see the Mayan traces in the faces of the people, especially in the Mayan women and girls in traditional attire, walking about selling beautiful necklaces, scarves, and hammocks.

Our hostel room overlooked the square, and our room had two tall doors that made me feel colonial every time I opened them for some reason. Every night mariachi bands would line the streets somewhat sporadically. They only played every 15-20 minutes, but it was the idea of live music playing in the night hour that relaxed and opened my heart to that beautiful town. We ate like kings there.

Tuesday we hopped a bus to Progreso, about a 45 minute ride, walked the beach and streets, and stopped at a local vendor for cocos frios. It was relaxing there. We rode back to Merida that evening and stayed the night. When Matt and Nate laid down, I walked to the corner for a bottle of water, but for some reason ended up wandering the streets around midnight. There were still people meandering the cobblestone at that time. I've always felt comfortable wandering for some reason.

Wednesday we took a 5 1/2 hour bus to Tulum. As soon as we arrived at the station, this lady approached me advertising her hostel. Since we didn't have an itinerary, we tried it out. We booked a two bed private room for a decent price. The hostel was nice, but the walls were dusty and caused some congestion which Matt and Nate didn't enjoy that night. I snore pretty bad some times.

Thursday we rented bikes at the hostel and rode a couple kilometers to the beach. We took the wrong turn at a fork and had to backtrack a bit. Once the beach was in view, we all stopped to soak it in. We locked the bikes up on the street and found a spot on the beach. The ocean was blue and the sand was warm. The sun was just about right, but I knew we'd probably sunburn judging we didn't bring any sunblock. We walked the beach, swam, laid out, and scoped the local beauties, even though most were probably tourists. Our lunch was really expensive, but that's the price you pay for dining on the water front with the wind and bikinis, and for the pure feeling of bliss and relaxation. After lunch we rode to the ruins and walked around. Once we were done there, we rode back to the hostel, threw our bags in the room, and biked through Tulum. We biked all the back roads. It's a pretty laid back town. Like everyplace we'd been to, there were plenty of backpackers and tourists about, though more backpackers I'd say. There was also a surprising amount of French and German speaking people. Every time I heard someone speak French I got excited, even though I hardly understood anything. Hopefully I'll remedy that in the next few years.

Later that night we hung out with this drunk guy from Winnipeg. We were all chilling outside smoking a cigarette next to our room when he randomly walked up for a chat. We were a bit apprehensive at first, but after talking to him for awhile, I ended up liking the guy. He was a bit older, somewhere in his late 40s. He told us about this dramatic breakup with his girlfriend in Belize a few nights before, and how he wandered Belize city drunk and high while he was being chased by the cops. Apparently he didn't get caught. He told us about his life in Canada and how he sold medical marijuana. He showed us pictures on his camera. It was some good looking stuff. He smoked two joints while we were talking. He offered us hits, but we told him how we were going to Korea to teach English and that we'd be tested as soon as we entered the country. I remember him saying, "that sucks." All in all, he was a cool guy. He told us how he was a Buddhist and that he lived in a small home in the country. He said he rode his horses to the grocery store and rarely used his truck, except when he had to haul things. He also told us about his idea of buying land outside Cancun and building a home out there. We told him that'd be cool. After our talk we all said goodbye to him. I wondered if he stayed in Tulum, or actually went to Cancun to buy land, or if he just wandered Mexico until his heart healed.

Friday, Matt woke up early to catch his flight. Originally he planned to work Valentine's day, so he booked his flight to leave on Friday, even though Nate and I booked our flight for Sunday. He ended up changing his mind and tried to change his flight itinerary, but it was too expensive, so he flew out Friday instead. After he left, Nate and I took a taxi to Gran Cenote. Cenotes are these underground water caverns. Apparently they break the ground above the cenote so you can stair down to the water and snorkel or dive. Gran cenote isn't really big, but it's beautiful. We rented snorkels and swam around. The water was so clear. There were a lot of deep parts that looked creepy, but when the sun shined into the water, it was somewhat of a mystical experience. There was a covered portion to the cenote that had another opening about 45 feet over. I swam over there and took my mask and flippers off and just sat on the sand. There was moment when the wind blew, and I was all by myself with my eyes closed; it was special.

When we finished there, we took a taxi back to the hostel and hopped a bus to Playa del Carmen. Fernando, from the hostel in Tulum, told us Playa del Carmen had a lot of plastic. He meant the town was kind of superficial. I thought plastic was such an interesting way to describe a place. And it was true, once you could see the town, all the plastic veneers peeked their heads out in the sun, hoping to the catch the eyes and wallets and purses of all the people gullible enough to lose attention. All in all, it's a cool place though. You don't have to spend a lot of money obviously, but it would have been easy to.

There was a youth hostel we found a few blocks from the bus station, though it was a bit pricey, it was nice. There were tons of people there, young and old. Surprisingly, there were only 3 Americans, including Nate and me. That night we ate at this hole in the wall joint a block down. The waitress was adorable. The food was so cheap we ordered much more than needed. Her eyes shot opened when we said how much we wanted. It was funny. She had to explain the portions to us. Typically you'd think the more something costs, the more the quantity, but that wasn't the case at this place. Everything was cheap.

After dinner we stopped by a local store and bought some cerveza - a six pack a piece. Nate threw the beers into his backpack and we walked down to the beach. We drank and walked and talked and smoked and sat and looked at the moon. We ended up with a good buzz and walked back to the hostel to crash.

The next day we chose to stay inside during most of the daylight. We ended up a bit sunburnt from the day in Tulum. Later in the evening we went to Walmart, which was conveniently across the street from our hostel, and bought some steaks, onions, garlic, rice, and wine. We cooked our meals next to these french girls that laughed at us, or so I thought. Their meal looked hell of a lot healthier and tastier than ours. The steak ended up tasting pretty damn good though, and the wine gave me a good buzz. I tried talking to the french girls, who were actually from Quebec, but my elementary french didn't go very far. Fortunately they spoke decent English, so we were able to have a nice conversation. They'd been in Mexico for a month, just backpacking around and whatnot. They told me to visit Quebec somtime, and I told them it was my goal eventually. After we talked, Nate and I walked to the beach for our last night in Mexico. I wished we would have stayed longer, but it was ok.

Sunday we woke up and took a shuttle to the airport, arrived in Atlanta later that night.

It's been about a week since Mexico, and I'm staying at dad's. Since I quit my job and sold my car, I veg in front of my laptop all day, reading about everything and nothing. I've been reading about teaching English everywhere but Korea. I guess it's not too soon to plan for the next position. I'm debating between enrolling in a TEFL course overseas or an online TEFL certificate course. I've heard the distance certificates aren't as highly regarded, or regarded at all sometimes, but I'll have a year of experience after Korea, so maybe the online certificate should suffice. Though, the experience of taking a TEFL course in another country would be wonderful, especially in a french or spanish speaking country. I've looked into South America some, but France seems to beckon me. We'll see.

I haven't started packing yet. I imagine it won't take too long, but I really should start. I imagine after my visa is confirmed I'll be more proactive. I've had problems deciding what books to take. I know I'll have some free time, but I also plan to explore the country thoroughly in my off time. A dozen books should suffice, maybe a bit more.

Anyway, here's some photos of Mexico.