Beach Bum

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Day 333 - Thursday 28 August

Well the bus did arrive safely into Cancun about half eight in the morning but unfortunately for me Mexicans are a lot shorter than I am. There had been absolutely no leg room and my legs had got crushed all night long meaning I hadn´t managed to get an ounce of sleep. To make matters worse Cancun looks like quite a big town. The hotel zone down by the beach is well out of our price range and the hotel prices the taxi drivers are quoting in downtown don´t come into my definition of cheap. Luckily one of us was in the boy scouts and I´d noted down the address of a cheap place we´d found on the internet. We took a taxi over.

After sleeping through the morning, mid afternoon we took a bus down to the beach area. Its all high rise hotels along the whole stretch of beach but we quickly found the main bar area then headed down to the beach. Unfortunately its a bit too late to get a tan but its still warm and nice to be on the beach again after such a long absence.

After heading back early evening and having a rest we headed out again for the night. We hit the bar area but it wasn´t cheap. Everywhere is all you can drink for free but the cover charges are high ranging from $15 to $50 US. Anywhere under $30 is dead tonight with the busy places all charging $50. As everybody else is on a weeks or fortnights vacation its also got that holiday feel with everybody getting very drunk and theres no locals anywhere. I was prepared for that after all thats what Cancun is but it seems Russ wasn´t. Hes not feeling it so decided to go home. Rather than waste $50 (quite a bit to me now) as I was on my own, I had little choice but to also abandon the night.

Day 334 - Friday 29 August

I´m still catching up on sleep so it meant that I wasn´t up until lunchtime and by the time lunch was over and we´d got our act together it was early afernoon before we got to the beach. Still its a clear warm sunny day so time to start getting the tan back.

We spent the whole afternoon down the beach before going back to downtown. With it being a friday night it should hopefully be busy there tonight and a lot cheaper than in the hotel zone.

Unfortunately asking in the resturant we were eating in apparently there aren´t really that many bars or clubs in town. We did eventually get the name of a club thats not going to be full of tourists so went over. It was probably the poshest club I´ve been to in my whole life but wasn´t actually that expensive. Eleven months has taken a bit of a toll on my clothes however and I did feel a little underdressed. Its certainly different to South America.

Day 335 - Saturday 30 August

I was up mid morning to watch the football. Once the games had finished just after lunchtime we made our way down to find out the ferry times to Isla de Mujeres a nearby island.

Hurricane Gustav is passing us by quite close and even though we avoid it, its brought some light winds and some heavy rain. We´d only been off the bus thirty seconds and the rain started. We were soaked before we even made it to the ticket office.

Well thats the beach ruled out for the day so we decided to go to another ferry company to see which is cheaper to the island. After walking for ages we gave up its too far away but at least the rains stopped. Approaching our hostel from the other direction, just a few shops down from the resturant we´d been in last night were quite a few bars and a couple of clubs. That lying waiter, perhaps he wanted all the Mexican girls to himself.

I was in two minds to go out. I´ve not got many saturday nights left and I´ve just found the local bar area but after last night I was just too tired. In the end I stayed in and watched tv.

Day 336 - Sunday 31 August

As I hadn´t gone out last night I was up at half seven and in time to watch todays football. Once the football had finished and I´d used the internet we headed back down the beach area.

Once again as soon as we got their the heavens opened. Luckily this time we managed to seek shelter in a nearby McDonalds in time. It didn´t last long and we still made it to the beach but unfortunately it stayed cloudy for the rest of the afternoon. Its rainy season and although most of the day its clear blue skies, because of the heat it usually clouds over by mid afternoon. I knew I shouldn´t have watched Aston Villa v Liverpool. It was a rubbish game too. From now on no more football.

We made it back to downtown just as it was going dark and as sunday night will be quiet apart from in the expensive hotel zone, we stayed in and watched tv.

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