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Published: September 29th 2007
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Hiya everyone!
We have now left the wonderful Mexico to continue our travels to new countries. The last week was spent on the Yucatan peninsular which meant more sun and beach life than the previous weeks. We spent two days in Cancun before heading to Playa del Carmen which lies about an hour south. Cancun had really nice beaches, and we enjoyed our stay at the Mayan hostel, which more looked like a big hut than anything else. The resort however felt very touristy as a change from the other cities we had visited so far in Mexico, and that is why we chose to move on quite quickly. Playa del Carmen felt quieter than Cancun since there were mostly pedestrian streets and not as many crazy salespeople chasing you all the time. We found a nice place (a lot nicer than the average backpacker place) for almost the same price as a hostel, and having our own bathroom and queen size beds is always appreciated! However after dinner the second night we discovered that Lisa’s watch had been stolen.. 😞 So to make the night better we paid a visit to the bar across the street which didn’t have
bar stools, but swings instead and chatted with some Mexicans and Americans.
The second day we decided to pay a visit to the beach which was said to be the nicest one in the area, only a short taxi fare away. There we met Nacho and Delfino who had rented a car and were nice enough to take us to a “cenote” a bit away that we had wanted to go to. Cenotes can either be in caves or over land and are fresh water springs. Here we were jumping from a cliff and trying to use our googles (our way of trying to save money instead of buying snorkeling gear). Afterwards we drove to Tulum, famous for its Mayan ruins and took a stroll along the very nice beach, and stopped for local food in the village. It was interesting talking to the guys since their lives were widely different from ours. Delfino was Mexican living in Playa, and Nacho was from L.A. and we were told stories of growing up with the street and gang life in the city.After our little roadtrip the guys wanted to take us on a crazy ride to a casino and some
other cenotes almost in Belize, leaving in the middle of the night, but we managed to convince them to leave early in the morning instead. After a few hours drive we reached another cenote, which was a lot bigger and offered even higher spots to jump from. We also went to a Pirate museum, and swam in a lagoon. In the evening we discovered that also Playa had a great night life to offer right by the beach and we spent the evening at a hip hop club.
Since our flight was from Cancun we went back to spend the last days there. We took a ferry to the island Isla Mujeres and rented bikes so that we could make our way around the island in our own time. The island in itself was not very nice, but we stopped at a turtle farm and saw both turtles in all different sizes, and also a shark. There was also a dolphin park, but since swimming with the dolphins was too pricy, we decided to save this treat for Africa. We managed to cycle around the whole island, finishing with a swim at the shallow beach, which was well needed
since it as usual had been a hot day.
To conclude the Mexico-part of our travels we both really liked the country and we feel that we got to experience very different parts of it; Mexico City and Guadalajara being so different to the area around Cancun. We really liked the people, the food, culture, and sceneries!
On our way to Jamaica we had a long stopover in Cuba. When we entered Cuban ground we were almost not let into the country. We were asked many questions about our trip and occupation. They seemed to think that it was strange that 2 Swedish students were traveling around like we did. None of us came through the customs the first time. We both had to fill in a form and go to different custom officers. Jenny got in the second time and Lisa the third time. Wuuuh!! After paying a lot in airport tax even though we were only in transfer 😞 we could hardly leave. They took both our passports and led us downstairs to a small room and asked us a hundred questions, again!! Felt a bit nervous!! We really hope it will go smoother once we
fly back to Cuba next time.
Now we are sitting in the dark, writing from Port Antonio on Jamaica, since there’s no light in this Internet café. We spent one sweaty day in Kingston, walking around the rough Downtown and the wealthier New Kingston. We also made a stop at the Bob Marley museum and took some cool photos. Kingston wasn’t as touristy as we had thought, at all. During the whole day we only saw two other white people all around the city. We went out to a club called Asylum at night. Actually we were a bit nervous before we stepped out of the taxi, since we know how much we stand out from the Jamaicans, after our day in the city. We had a really good time even though we didn’t dance that much. They had “entertainment” till 2.30 where they dragged up girls on the stage that did some kind of stripdance but kept their clothes on. In the middle of all the dancehall music they played 80:ies and lovesongs, very random we thought. We though it was funny that 99% of all the girls whore wigs, mostly black ones but also blue, red and
sharp yellow! Since it was ladies night with free entrance and open bar we spent 20 SEK (on taxi) on the whole evening out, pretty good "mon".
After sleeping in we took a local bus together with our new Isralie friend Neta to Port Antonio. A 3,5 hour bumpy ride up and down the Blue mountain, squeezed together with way to many people, we arrived late. Met some guys from the US Navy, who worked here training with the Jamaican military, and played some pool. Yesterday we spent the day on a nice little beach, swimming with some Jamaican military guys and talked to many of the Americans from the navy, marine and coast guard that all lived on the same 98 m ship in the port. 5 o clock they welcomed us aboard their ship for a private tour, and we found out that they had been watching us all day on the beach with their “spy-camera” that could zoom in pretty well! Went out for some wild dancing both with the Americans on theirs last night here and with some of the locals. Today (Friday) we were supposed to go on a rafting tour but it’s been
poooouring down the whole day so hopefully we can do it tomorrow instead. So far Jamaica have been quite how we thought it would bee. Everyone says “mon” every now and then and rastafaries are never far away.
Hope Sweden's not too cold for you yet. If you think it is, you know where to find us... 😊
Take care, the Svetnas
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Petra
non-member comment
Jamaica mon
Fy fan tjejer!!!! Hoppas ni har det kalas bra! Jamaica är inte fel, men mexico också =) Massa kramar