Wednesday, April 28, 2010

CANCUN, MEXICO - WHERE IS MY HOSTEL?!

Cancun, Day 1


I left Ottawa, felt strange in my empty apartment with nothing but a backpack. I didn't want anyone to see me off at the airport, I wanted it to be my first taste of truly being on my own since this would be the case for Nearly 7 weeks I figure I may as well get use to it.




When I got to the airport in Ottawa, I met this American guy. It didn't take too long for me to pick up his Texan accent and wonder what he could be doing in a city like Ottawa. We bonded over breakfast (he shared his breakfast with me while I was waiting ages to order, and then paid for my food!), his job, wife and apparently great kids.

To my disappointment we didn't seem to be sitting near each other on the plane, but that didn't last long as my seat buddy ended up being quite friendly and happened to be the brother of one of the VPs at the job at just left. How ironic!

I had to change flights in Chicago, which is normally when you are flying out of Ottawa for my flight to Cancun. As soon as I got to the gate I knew things were going to be a touch wild in Mexico as you could already see the lineup of spring breakers. I felt instantly overdressed as I had my wintercoat and gloves in my arms and everyone was already wearing shorts. I told myself that I would change in the bathroom when I landed. The flight went smoothly I was seated next to this family from Quebec that I recognized from the Ottawa airport, they seemed thankful that I spoke french in a plane full of Americans so me and their daughter could exchange the odd 'thank you' and 'excuse me'. Landing into Cancun was amazing, probably one of my favorite 'landings' ever. I mean the scenery, the perfect sand the blue of the water was amazing, we circled the whole area. This was definitely a great choice to kick off my trip after finishing up work the day before.

>> You can just see the strip here which is shaped like a 7 (although you can't make it out from this picture)

When I got off the plane we were lead off to customs as usual, but I have to say I haven't seen a lineup this large and excruciating since I was at customs in Rome. I knew it would be a while so I put my earphones in and zoned out. After I got out of customs, there were more forms to sign and another unorganized crazy line up. After I made out I was expecting local workers to be jumping down my throat asking me where I was going and if I needed their services, but shockingly that didn't happen. I already knew that I was going to take a local bus, I was determined to find my hostel on my own and not splurge on a taxi like I would have on previous travels. After asking around I found the bus I needed to get to Ado station. It was one of the nicest coaches I've ever been on, I guess what I had heard before about coaches in central and south America were true. The next thing that struck me was the smell, it smelled amazing in Cancun. It took about an hour on the bus to get to Ado station, the main terminal in downtown Cancun.

Once I got out of Cancun I took out the map and directions I had to the hostel, except I hate it when you don't know which end of the street your suppose to be on. I circled around for a while, I even followed a guy that looked like a traveller hoping he was headed to my hostel. After getting whistled and hollered at by a couple of locals I finally oriented myself towards the hostel but I still needed help to get on the right street. The first thing that annoyed me was that street signs don't seem to be labeled properly and when they are, there faded!
Anyway once I got to the right street I saw the square that was described in the hostels directions and I was golden from there.



The square I was looking for


I felt a bit awkward initially walking into the hostel, it felt like I was walking into somebody's home, but the owner Monica was welcoming and helpful. Her 15 year old son Simon showed me to my bed, the area was really one big floor full of beds. They invited me to come to a basketball game, but I was so tired from the trip and looking for the place that I declined. As bad as it sounds I instantly went for comfort food, aka Burger King. That's what you do when you don't know your way around and your among the unfamiliar.

The first night I thought the guests at the hostel were a bit on the boring side, not quite sociable, but I had a nice German bunkmate, but she was leaving the next day.

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