Leaving Utila

---

Right everyone, sorry for the lack of updates recently. I don't have any excuse, I'm just plain lazy. I have left Utila now as some of you may know. It only me four months to leave the Rock. Utila was/is great, but it was time to move on and try something else. I had a great time on Utila and I would like to express my gratitudes to all the people I met there.
Now, let me tell you guys why I stayed so long on Utila. After I finished the Instructor course (a course I never planned to do), I decided to stick around and assist on courses and do random other jobs they would give me, such as DMing and doing scuba tune-ups. I got a lot of experience and picked up a few tips and tricks from the other experienced instructors. I decided to stay over Xmas and new years since I didn't want to spend the holidays at some random hostel in a random place. The holidays were great fun, although it was really strange walking around in boardshorts and t-shirt on Xmas eve... And, seeing to sun on Xmas eve was a first for me. After new years I thought about leaving, but I didn't really get around to it :-) My rent expired on the 9th of January so I had to decide whether to leave or stay another month.. I decided to stay. Funny how hard it is to leave when you get a bit too comfortable when you stay in one place for quite some time. But when the rent was due in February, I managed to leave. I decided to go to Playa del Carmen in Mexico and try my luck as a dive instructor there.
From Utila I went directly to Copan Ruinas close to the Guatemalan border. I looked at the ruins, which were cool and it was time to cross the border to Guatemala... I knew it would be interesting since I had overstayed my tourist visa by a month. In short, I had to pay 130 USD to get into Guatemala... So my passport stamp shows the 30th of December as the date of entry (even though it was February). Well, at least they didn't throw me in jail or deported me..
In Guatemala, I went straight to Flores in the north. I stayed there for one day and visited Tikal, one of the biggest Mayan sites in Central America. Very impressive. Climbing up on 50-60 metres high temples and looking out over the rainforest. Nice. Afterwards I went to Belize and stayed one night in Belize City... Not really worth it. Belize City is dirty and poor and there isn't much to do there... Then Mexico. Straight up to Playa del Carmen. I've spent almost a week here and no luck finding a job, either in Playa or Cozumel. Seems like they need students, not instructors. I did, however, get a maybe from a couple of shops, so I'll stick around and see what happens. Oh, I also visited Chitzen Itza, one of the new 7 wonders of the world, and Tulum. Chitzen Itza was cool, but there were way to many tourists and people trying to sell me carved out sculptures and other souvenirs. Tulum was beautiful, not so much because of the ruins, but the setting (check my facebook album for pictures). I've had a good time here in Mexico, although I have been a bit depressed due to the grim job outlook. I've met some cool people here though, Mexicans, French, Argentinian, Norwegian (go figure) and Germans... I'll stick around for a few more days and then we'll see. I also applied to a liveaboard in Belize and I might have a job in the Dominican Republic, so you never know where I'll end up.
Anyways, Adiós de Riviera Maya

---