Damian
Abrahams
Dr.
Mark Morris
Writing
310
5
February 2013
Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen is a little town on the
tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. Growing up I always looked at the peninsula and
wondered what it would be like. Learning about the Mayan and Aztec people
sparked even more curiosity through high school. I felt a magnet was drawing me
there. So when the opportunity to actually go there with six other people came
up I was all over it. I sacrificed some of my student loan, arranged to have my
exams deferred to before or after my trip, and bought my plane ticket to the
Yucatan Peninsula. The trip was paid in full about four months ahead of time
and the travel day couldn’t come any sooner. At risk of adding to my lack of
patience, I downloaded the Vacay app from the Play Store to have a constant
reminder of how many days left until my flight.
7…6…5…4…3…2…1
The week leading up to the most exciting
trip of my life was so slow. All I thought about was what it looks like there;
I would be on YouTube almost every hour looking up videos on Playa del Carmen.
I was on the website of the resort we were staying at least once a day.
The night before our flight I was
scrambling around getting my suitcase ready. It was still quite cold in
Edmonton but the coldest Cancun got was 25°C. Nikki,
Joe, Andrew, Rosanna, Camille, Kathy-Jo and I arrived at the airport and
we all took turns
taking pictures with each other at the Cancun flight gate. I was so excited but
it was still a bit unreal, I’ve been to the airport many times before so it
felt like any other trip. It really sunk in when on the plane the pilot came
over the intercom telling us about how long the flight will be, the temperature
in Cancun, and what movies were showing for entertainment. It felt like
electricity in my veins! I was finally heading to the Yucatan! I get to see
everything I learned about!
The six-hour flight was
anything but boring. Every so often the pilot would come on telling us what was
happening on the ground. Flying over Las Vegas we were told we were the angels
over Sin City. When he said “say hello to New Orleans everybody, we’re now
heading over the Gulf of Mexico!” My excitement caused me to cheer and clap,
apparently everyone was excited because everyone else cheered too. We were on
the homestretch, it was night and all the oil rigs looked like stars in an
inverse universe. We all cheered again as soon as our plane touched down and we
all continued as we taxied to the airport.
Our first shock came in the
airport: guards were carrying different types of firearms. One had an automatic
rifle with a really long clip poking out the bottom, another had a long
barreled shotgun, some carried AK-47s, while others had smaller
semi-automatics. As we checked through customs we had to push a button that lit
either a red light or a green light. If you got a red light you had to stop
while a guard searched your luggage with scrutinizing eyes and his hand on his
automatic rifle.
All of us except one got a
green light. The search took half an hour and our friend walked away sweating
the only bullets we saw the whole trip. We left the airport to head to Playa
del Carmen, about 45 minutes out of Cancun, when we got our second shock of the
trip. We headed down a ramp towards our shuttle and suddenly all these people
in yellow shirts came and took the luggage out of our hands without a word and
walked away! We thought we were being robbed! It turns out they were the people
from the shuttle company doing their job.
We pulled up to The Reef
Playacar in the middle of the night, tired and wanting sleep. I used all my
excitement on the trip. We sent our Spanish speaking friend to the front desk
to check us all in. Whatever they talked about, I was glad: We were upgraded to
a suite in the bungalow right beside the pool and a few steps away from the
ocean. Kathy-Jo and I got a king-sized bed and the safe was included! We went
to the ocean and stood looking out at the darkness. Kathy-Jo cried because was
her first time seeing or feeling the ocean. We flopped into bed until morning.
The parrots woke us up bright
and early, Kathy-Jo and I looked at each other like we were three year olds at
Christmas. We jumped out of bed, pounded on the other’s doors, and scurried to
the ocean. Turquoise blue water surrounded us and white clouds of sand shot up
from the bottom with each step. The drone of plane towing a Coco Bongo club
banner and the murmur of other vacationers filled our ears. The scent of salt
water filled our nostrils, and the warm tropical ocean hugged us—a welcome
contrast to the iciness of Canada’s winter.
We went to the
all-you-can-eat lunch to get ready for our next trip: 5th avenue. Kathy
and I met up with the others on the beach. Someone had the bright idea of
walking to 5th Ave along the beach. Let me tell you, going from the
generally cloudy, cold weather in Edmonton, to a bright, humid walk along a
white sand beach is not the best idea.
5th Ave is filled
so many exciting sights and sounds. We made our way to
Parque Fundadores (Founder’s Park) where men were on a pole
wrapping their tether line around the top. It looked like a nest of rope. The
whole time they were doing this, a man was balanced on the very top of the pole
playing a flute-like instrument and playing a small hand drum. When they
reached the end of their tether, they all hooked their leg in the support
beams, hung upside down, and let go. They all swung around the pole upside down
until they reached the ground.
Our next wave of excitement
came when we planned a trip to Tulum and Chichen Itza, the two Mayan ruins
closest to Playa del Carmen. To do this excursion, however, was a long process
that took up half our day. We received a call in our room from the front desk
telling us of our opportunity to receive a free 24-hour car rental. What better
way to get to the ruins? It turns out our sacrifice was sitting through a time-share
presentation by very gregarious and weasly salemen who just wanted our money.
In the end we stood strong and they gave us the vehicle and we were off to
Tulum!
Kathy-Jo, at that time, recently
got her license but was trained on an automatic. The car rental company gave a
standard. Kathy-Jo got the car started and mastered that, but the rest is
another story. We would sputter forward until she got in second gear. IF she
could stay in second, then we would have been okay. But like any country there
were stop signs, red lights and these dips in the road that slows traffic down.
Those dips were her enemy. They were in every block, and she stalled in just
about every one of them! Once we got to the highway, we were free and clear to
keep moving.
Standing right in the middle
of Tulum, marked by a simple stone, my imagination ran wild. I looked at all
the ruins and I went back to the time of the Maya. My mind made up their
language, I could smell their food cooking, I could see them walking up the steep
staircase of the main temple. I could hear the children laughing and the
chanting of their faithful. I walked with an ancient civilization and will
never forget it.
Our next excursion was a trip
to Cancun to meet our friend Pedro. Pedro owns a deep sea fishing company
called Shut Up and Fish! Pedro brings turistas out in the Carribean Sea to fish
for Barracuda and snorkeling. Because
Pedro was our friend he added a day trip to Isla Mujeres where we had a true
Mexican feast, checked out some sea turtles, and had breakfast at a small
restaurant that served amazingly fresh fruit.
On our way to the turtle
farm, we were stopped by this lady who was selling conch shells right at the
water’s edge. We all checked out her shells, I bought one that she painted a
palm tree on. As I put the shell in my backpack I stopped and thought: “She
sells sea shells by the sea shore!”
On another trip down 5th
Ave, Kathy-Jo and I stopped at a Starbucks. It was so cool inside we sat and
looked at all the people. I caught a glimpse of the word “Diablo” and craned my
neck to see what it was. “Diablo Tattoo” appeared and the idea to be
spontaneous popped into my head. I asked Kathy-Jo if she wanted to randomly get
a tattoo to mark our time in Playa del Carmen. Her not wanting to didn’t stop
me from wanting to get one. I ended up getting a simplified Mayan Guardian on
my right forearm.
Our trip to Maya Riviera was
drawing to a close, as I walked down the path to our shuttle to the airport I
knew then what the tourists were feeling as they rolled their luggage to the
lobby as we rolled ours to our room. I didn’t want it to end. The warm, white
sand felt good as I walked the beach one last time, the Carribean Sea was
glistening, and the breeze was gentle as I looked out to the waves and said
“Hasta next year”
