Feb 15 Tulum. Hostel Quintana Roots. (Dorm)
I get up in time to walk to the Coba entrance in time for opening. Looking up how to say: "I lost my phone and was told it is here", in espaniol. The parking lot guy nods and tells me something about over there and mentions "tip". My heart is light! Tip? no problem! I go back to the entrance and after some time wasting figure out the man with the phone is the same guy who held our packs yesterday as left luggage. Sure looks like my phone. "Tip" he tells me and I give him 200 pesos, over $10USD.
Then I turn the phone on. My desktop is gone! A bunch of stuff in spanish is there instead. I play with it and eventually get my email and most apps back, but when I try to text or call I get the message: "no SIM card" I later figure out the SIM card was removed and any photos I didn't send to Carol or put on facebook have been lost.
In the mean time I go back to the Hotel Sac Be, check out and wait for the 2nd class bus to Tulum. (Bystanders had to shout at me to signal to the Tulum bus coming down the street that I wanted on -- so used to 1st class buses was I.) And so off we go to Tulum, where I was booked to sleep last night before this fiasco.
After checking in I go off to find a bike to rent (it is a fair distance between the town and the beach area or Zona Hotelera) I ride along the road going through the zone for some miles. The hotels trend new age -- yoga, natural, eco -- likely the decendents of the hippy straw bungaloes of the 1970-80s. Looking for a place to swim. The first place I tried to park my bike told me it was not allowed and I couldn't go in. Admittedly I look pretty old and dishelved when I'm hot and tired. Finally I find a hotel reputed to allow you to swim if you buy a drink (Ziggy Beach). I swim in the rough tide, drink a beer and then use their sanatario shower to wash off the salt water -- oh, and I leave the key to my hostal on the ground while changing into a swim suit.
Ride back to town and have cheap simple tacos at a "fast casual" restaurant. I also talk to a young Argentinian guy looking for work.
[Email from Carol] I waited 20 minutes for you to call on VD day like you said you would. I hope you are ok .......doing well.......and safe and all that. There was a big shoot-out in a high school in Fla .....very horrible. email when you can .........and call if you can, but tell me when that will be.
Love,
'Carol
[email to Carol] Lo muy siento dearest. I have the typical Mark McHugh excuse. I lost my phone!!!! Recovered it this morning from Coba archeological site for a 200 peso tip but in the meantime some one had tried to break in [they actually did take out my SIM card without any forcing] and now I have to recover and reconstruct my phone stuff. I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting! Almost all my photos are deleted from the trip! And the phone says "no sim card. emergency calls only" . What a drag!
[Email from Carol] Hang on to your stuff........be careful.........I will save the photos that you sent me.....take more and maybe get some postcards...../be fucking careful, this is not funny. Keep emailing me.....and remember, if you get too hot, sweaty, tired and exhausted, you can come home a little early!!
[email to Carol, photo of disheveled me with beach in background] My first dip in the Caribbean. Surf was rough and nobody else was in the water, but it's color was azure, the sand was powder, and the Modelo cerveza was $3. The bad part is you have to bicycle miles, mostly on busy roads which parallel the sea but from which you can not see the ocean, because Resorts stand between you and it. The first one I tried wanted $20 for a day pass to use the playa. The next one was more lenient and let me off with a beer.
[email to Carol] Realistically probably will not come home early. Have not done any snorkeling. Nonetheless this traveling by myself is not so much fun.
[Email from Carol] We will make up for it in Italy.....and have lots of fun there in Venice .......
[email to Carol] Actually while the ocean is beautiful, the swimming is done in the cenotes, which are almost all fresh water.
Then I turn the phone on. My desktop is gone! A bunch of stuff in spanish is there instead. I play with it and eventually get my email and most apps back, but when I try to text or call I get the message: "no SIM card" I later figure out the SIM card was removed and any photos I didn't send to Carol or put on facebook have been lost.
In the mean time I go back to the Hotel Sac Be, check out and wait for the 2nd class bus to Tulum. (Bystanders had to shout at me to signal to the Tulum bus coming down the street that I wanted on -- so used to 1st class buses was I.) And so off we go to Tulum, where I was booked to sleep last night before this fiasco.
After checking in I go off to find a bike to rent (it is a fair distance between the town and the beach area or Zona Hotelera) I ride along the road going through the zone for some miles. The hotels trend new age -- yoga, natural, eco -- likely the decendents of the hippy straw bungaloes of the 1970-80s. Looking for a place to swim. The first place I tried to park my bike told me it was not allowed and I couldn't go in. Admittedly I look pretty old and dishelved when I'm hot and tired. Finally I find a hotel reputed to allow you to swim if you buy a drink (Ziggy Beach). I swim in the rough tide, drink a beer and then use their sanatario shower to wash off the salt water -- oh, and I leave the key to my hostal on the ground while changing into a swim suit.
 |
| Me after swimming at Ziggy Beach |
Ride back to town and have cheap simple tacos at a "fast casual" restaurant. I also talk to a young Argentinian guy looking for work.
[Email from Carol] I waited 20 minutes for you to call on VD day like you said you would. I hope you are ok .......doing well.......and safe and all that. There was a big shoot-out in a high school in Fla .....very horrible. email when you can .........and call if you can, but tell me when that will be.
Love,
'Carol
[email to Carol] Lo muy siento dearest. I have the typical Mark McHugh excuse. I lost my phone!!!! Recovered it this morning from Coba archeological site for a 200 peso tip but in the meantime some one had tried to break in [they actually did take out my SIM card without any forcing] and now I have to recover and reconstruct my phone stuff. I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting! Almost all my photos are deleted from the trip! And the phone says "no sim card. emergency calls only" . What a drag!
[Email from Carol] Hang on to your stuff........be careful.........I will save the photos that you sent me.....take more and maybe get some postcards...../be fucking careful, this is not funny. Keep emailing me.....and remember, if you get too hot, sweaty, tired and exhausted, you can come home a little early!!
[email to Carol, photo of disheveled me with beach in background] My first dip in the Caribbean. Surf was rough and nobody else was in the water, but it's color was azure, the sand was powder, and the Modelo cerveza was $3. The bad part is you have to bicycle miles, mostly on busy roads which parallel the sea but from which you can not see the ocean, because Resorts stand between you and it. The first one I tried wanted $20 for a day pass to use the playa. The next one was more lenient and let me off with a beer.
[email to Carol] Realistically probably will not come home early. Have not done any snorkeling. Nonetheless this traveling by myself is not so much fun.
[Email from Carol] We will make up for it in Italy.....and have lots of fun there in Venice .......
[email to Carol] Actually while the ocean is beautiful, the swimming is done in the cenotes, which are almost all fresh water.
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