Mexico — November 2018
I arrive at Cancun Airport hungover from a birthday/farewell party with my Spanish teachers in Guanajuato. Not in the mood to figure out the Colectivo shared taxi system, I take the ADO bus to Playa del Carmen. After finding the Selina hostel, where I stay for my first night in town, I go to a pharmacy on La Quinta Avenida to buy some medicine.
The next day, a Sunday, I move into a private room on the first floor of my new school‘s student accommodation. None of the other tenants are home, so I head back to the main street for delicious tamales on my own. On Monday it‘s back to lessons for me. In stark contrast to the Spanish school in Guanajuato, most of the other students are Europeans. There is even 1 guy from Switzerland. It’s easy to tell apart the new arrivals from the people who have been here for a while.
Us newbies are struggling with the humid heat in the open-air classrooms. But once the fans in the otherwise traditional Mayan huts are switched on, it gets better. After my first lessons, I accept the teacher‘s invitation for an introductory afternoon stroll around the center of the beach town. But with the high temperatures, I‘m glad it doesn‘t last too long until I can return to my air-conditioned room.
In the evening, I join some other students at the residence for dinner at the Taqueria „El Fogón“ across the street. I try most of the items on the menu during the 3 weeks I spent there and all of them are delicious! Only downside: in the evening there is a guitarist playing „La Bamba“ on repeat and my room was facing their terrace. After dinner, most of the students would usually chill at the tables in the courtyard of our residence and enjoy a few beers while getting to know each other.
More often than not, the few beers lead to playing drinking games and that inevitably leads to taking shots of Tequila and a night out at the bars of La Quinta Avenida. The most frequented by international language students is the club with the matching name “La Embajada”. There we learn useful phrases and grammar structures like “No quiero que te vayas!”. The place is open 7 days a week, which means that the 9am class is not the one with the highest attendance rate.
Between homework, strolls on the beach and rainy afternoons, I spend my time off visiting the beautiful Cenote Lagoon with new friends from Sweden. With them, I also test the local cinema for an action movie on a Friday evening. On the weekends, we take a colectivo taxi to Tulum, where we visit the famous Maya ruins. Afterward, we relax at an empty beach and enjoy some good food and Micheladas at a beach shack. Despite the windy weather, we spend the whole afternoon there before returning to Playa del Carmen.
Another week I want to take some other classmates to the pretty Cenote Lagoon. However, we somehow get lost and give up along the way. Fortunately, we find a quiet beach club with a pool, where we get some Pizza and cocktails for brunch. And the next day we stop at a Cenote on the way to Tulum by Colectivo. Regrettably, I get carried away with too much partying and miss out on visiting Chichen Itza and Merida. Those are places I definitely want to see some other time.
And just like that, my three weeks in Yucatan come to an end. I spend my final nights in Cozumel with Yoko, whom I already explored Mexico City with. She flies over from Guanajauto and together we take the ferry from Playa del Carmen to the island. We stay at a small hotel and enjoy the quiet evening with good food. My plan for the next day is to find a nice beach club and relax in the sun. I’m quite surprised when Yoko tells me that she doesn’t own a bikini. So, the next morning, we first head to the local mall, to buy a swimsuit for the Japanese girl.
Then we rent 2 beach cruiser bikes and venture along the empty streets of the island’s west coast. Luckily, we find a cozy beach club before the day tourists arrive from the cruise port. We order some beers and tacos, enjoy the crystal clear water, and I get a good sunburn. Since Yoko doesn’t speak any English, all our conversations are in Spanish. As sad as it is to admit, during my whole stay in Playa del Carmen, I haven’t spoken as much Spanish as during the last 3 days on Cozumel.
Confident in my language skills, I head to Cancun airport together with Yoko, where I say goodbye to Mexico. While she returns to Guanajuato, my next destination is Havanna, Cuba. I do return to Playa del Carmen during a layover on the way to Guatemala. And rest assured, I enjoyed the nightlife one last time before adventuring through Central America.
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