When I arrived in Cancun I had no idea where to go. With no hostel reservations or bus tickets, I walked out of the airport feeling completely liberated. Standing outside, looking around at all of the buses lined up, I decided to check out Playa del Carmen, a town which I had first heard of through a guest at the bar at which I had worked, and then read a bit about in Fly Solo,* a book with travel ideas for women vacationing alone. When I got off the bus an hour later it was easily 32° outside, sometime after 12:00, and I hadn't slept in over 24 hours- I was bogged down by heavy jeans, my backpack, and the extra piece of luggage I was awkwardly carrying for friend; my face was glistening and back sticky with sweat. Feeling overwhelmed by both wonder and fear, I wandered around town looking for a place to stay, and a shower. Pacing up and down the same road, Avenida 5, the most touristy avenue in town, I began to feel that I was going about it the wrong way... After about an hour I found an internet cafe and searched for hostels. I quickly found one, which I chose solely because of its proximity to the internet cafe, and went off in search for it. After about another half hour (the place was roughly three minutes walking distance away) I finally walked into Maria Sabina. I could tell instantly I had made the right choice, if for the wrong reasons- Maria Sabina is the Patron Saint of mushrooms and gonga.
Maria Sabina was a phenomenal place, good vibes, good people, and a place at which I instantly felt at home! I had initially booked two nights there, still not sure when I would want to either try another hostel or go to Cancun, and also mindful that there were likely other nearby places to explore;
I ended up staying there my entire time in Mexico, save for my last night. Every morning I woke up and thought, 'nope, still not ready to go!' My room mates and I quickly bonded, as I did with most of the guests and staff at Maria Sabina. One of my roomies, whom I will visit when I eventually hit Europe, was an adorable French girl on vacation by herself. Another was a vagabond like myself, who left Scotland with the same intentions I had when leaving the States. She constantly exclaimed to me, 'stop being me!' That's what makes staying in hostels often so amazing- I will likely never see some of the folks I hung out with again, but there are many more with whom I know I'll cross paths in the future; I will be back to Playa someday, I will go visit my friend in France, and I will travel with the Scottish vagabond.
So Playa del Carmen... amazing place. Very touristy but not for Americans- they all stay in Cancun while the Europeans and South Americans go to Playa. It's a beach town, with some of the most amazing beaches in the world; the Caribbean truly is magnificent! It's also ridiculously safe- open air restaurants stay open after closing, you could literally walk in at three am when no one was there, but would quickly be arrested by the constant and massive police presence. The two main streets are Avenida 5, which runs parallel to the Caribbean, and is a complete tourist area, and Calle 12, which runs perpendicular to the beach, and is where all of the night clubs are,
many of which extend onto the beach for an outdoor evening of drinking and dancing. The Blue Parrot Beach Club is located at the end of Calle 12. Every night at 10:30 they have fire dancers on the beach, right next to the outdoor dance platform, adjacent to which is a covered bar. In Playa, even the locals go to the beach all day, and then to the clubs all night, work and weather permitting.
Playa was a great location from which to visit other nearby towns like Tulum, the only place in Mexico with ruins on the beach, and Akumal, another (though slightly less) touristy beach town with great surf, and famed for their snorkelling and sea turtles. I took day trips there with other folks from town. I of course met them at the hostel, but many of them were foreigners who were living in Playa, some but not all of whom worked at the hostel. Most of the people I met and befriended were folks who had visited Playa at one point, and then came back to live. This allowed me to enjoy the safety of the town but experience it as the locals did, eating and shopping at the places they would, rather than the expensive and touristy places on Avenida 5.
Eventually, sadly, I had to leave, I had a flight to Rio I didn't want to miss- after all Carnaval awaited! So my last night in Mexico the French girl and I went to Cancun together (she and I both had flights out at near the same time, and stayed in the same room for the entirety of both of our stays there). All I have to say about Cancun: it sucks!
Here's the thing, when I arrived in Mexico, I still hadn't realised what I was doing and how I was going to do whatever it was. I was a bit overwhelmed at the newness of everything, and too timid to use the little Spanish I knew. By the time I left, I felt confident in my abilities to communicate, aided much by my new friends who helped me to improve my Spanish while I was there, and excited for my next adventure.
*Rodriguez Williamson, Teresa. Fly Solo: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone. New York: Perigee Books, 2007.
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