I Love Relaxation!

Our beautiful, yet deceiving first hotel...

The view of the Caribbean from our first hotel

A typical-looking street in Holbox

One of the pretty sunsets I saw alone...without a special someone... =(

My tiny bedroom I shared with Kari at the second hotel

Sorry I haven't updated my blog for a week! I had internet access all last week but wasn't able to access my blog. I had Fall Break from last Tuesday through Sunday so I went with 3 other girls from the program to a little island off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Caribbean. It took 20min. by ferry to get to it from a little town called Chiquila. I started the trip with only 3 of sleep, so getting up at 5 didn't go well. My tummy was not happy with me. Whenever I hardly have any sleep (less than 6 hours...haha) I feel sick to my stomach. After dealing with mono this whole summer and sleeping almost 15 hours a day, it is weird for me to not sleep at least 8-10hr. at night. So anyway, with 3 hours of sleep and getting up at 5 the trip didn't start off well. We took a first-class bus from Merida to Cancun and I slept the whole way there so I got another 4 hours of sleep. Once we got off the bus in Cancun we randomly ran into a guy that works at the hostel in Tulum that I have stayed at twice. So he showed us a good pizza place a block away from the bus station. We had 1 1/2 hours to kill so we said, what the heck?! We were all hungry by then (me included)! Once the time passed, we got on a second-class bus for another 4ish hours to get to Chiquila, the little town where we got on the ferry going to Holbox.

I put my drawstring bag on the floor and put the straps around my feet so no one could take it. But after being woken up after falling asleep by Kari screaming at me to grab my bag I did (half-asleep and a little grumpy because I didnt know why she was telling me to grab my stuff) haha.... I dont like to be woken up randomly when I am asleep. I am one that loves sleep! After falling back asleep right away, literally 1 minute later, Kari is hitting my arm saying that she didnt have her purse. Low and behold, the guy who was trying to take my stuff took her purse. She lost $2500 pesos (about $200), debit card, and camera. She was the one awake among the four of us and her stuff got stolen because she was so worried about our stuff that she didn't think about the guy taking her stuff. Once Kari saw the guy trying to get my bag, he got off the bus carrying a duffle bag, so her purse must have been in there. For some reason I decided to take my American phone even though I knew I wouldn't have service with it on the island. It was such a blessing because Kari was able to use it to call home and get her two bank accounts closed and her debit card cancelled within 15 min. of this happening. We were also able to call Val from my Mexican phone to let her know what was going on since I was the only one that had Val's number. I'm at least glad that I was prepared otherwise we would have been out of luck!

Kari was upset at first but we reassured her that everything could be replaced. She only lost about $200 in cash and her camera that only had 3 pictures from the pizza place on it. Among the 3 of us that had all of our stuff, we were able to cover for her the whole week/end. We were more than glad to cover for her since she stayed up and watched her stuff and was so concerned about her stuff that she didn't think of herself. However, we all learned 2 life lessons this weekend: don't put your things on the floor of a bus and don't believe everything you read on the internet.

When we got to Holbox, we took a golf-cart taxi to our hotel. Golf carts, motorcycles, and bikes are the only forms of transportation on the island since all the roads are made solely of sand. When we got to our hotel that we had pre-paid 3 nights for, we found out that there was no satellite tv, let alone a television set, lock boxes, or a swimming pool that worked. The hotel website said that the hotel had a working outdoor pool, satellite tv in each room, lock boxes, a dorm fridge, and A/C all for $125. However, when we got there we were informed that the pool only works during certain months and is undergoing maintenance now like every other year. We were super disappointed in the Mexican business laws because in the US false advertising is not allowed. We were all super mad that we pre-paid the room for 3 out of 4 nights so we had to stay there with nothing to do. All we had was A/C, dorm fridge, and beach front. So, we made up activities to do! We played MASH a couple times and learned more about each other as well as just sat around and talked. I loved the relaxation but it was annoying paying $125 for a night in a hotel that should have cost $60. So we started looking into other hotels on the beach and booked a room at a different hotel for our last night that was cheaper and had a full kitchen, living room, two bed rooms, satellite tv, A/C, and a beach front. So we kicked ourselves even more after finding that hotel room.

So in total, the whole week/end was spent sleeping in, laying out, swimming, napping, eating a couple times each day, laying around, laughing, and talking. Each day was like that. It was super relaxing! I could go for another one of those kind of vacations. Its so much more fun when you know you are getting credit for being able to just relax on a beach in the middle of nowhere in the Caribbean, especially when we know how cold it is at home! (Sorry, but its true!!). I really don't know what else to share because that was basically what went on the whole week/end. The only thing I struggled with was 2 guys that were one of the girls' friends from Merida came to the island on Friday so we could get a ride home and not have to ride the bus back home. So, once they came it turned into a weekend full of drinking and drinking games which are fine, but it wasn't as fun for me since I didn't participate. I had some good laughs and still hung out with them but didn't take part in what they were doing. I have respect for them and their choices even though its not something I would do. However, through all this, I got a lot of homework done and got caught up on sleep!! I know doing homework over break sounds lame, but I didn't have to complain when I got back about how much I had to do since I had already done most of it! Thanks for reading!