Yesterday was an amazing day. I was talking to an American woman last Saturday who told me about a boat tour to see (and swim with) whale sharks! She raved about the experience so much (she went last year with a company called Dove6) that I decided I would try to go on Monday or Tuesday. Sky (one of the owners of Dove6) got back to me right away (Sunday) to let me know he had a spot open on the boat. I almost didn´t go, due to my lingering cold (and the effects of Sunday´s dinner also made me briefly ill, but I won´t go into the details of that... it was over quickly and I got a few hours sleep). So we departed from a place called Puerto Moreles (actually, I just think it´s pretty close to there, I don't actually know for sure) and headed out to deeper seas to find whale sharks and manta rays. In June and July, these sharks come to the surface to feed on plankton. As they swim around and eat, we jump in with a snorkel, mask, fins & guide (the law prohibits more than 3 people getting in at once) and swim alongside the shark! It was really, really cool. The first few times, it was difficult to move around fast enough to get a good look, but by the fourth jump, I was actually swimming with a shark for several 100 metres. The shark was so close, I touched its side. They have funny mouths and really tiny eyes.
They didn´t seem to care that we were there, but I couldn´t help but think that we were harassing these gentle animals, chasing them through their home with a loud, polluting motor boat. But I guess that´s just the environmentalist in me: I´m still glad I had the chance to do this, after the frustration and disappointment I felt with my CEA experience. Hey, and I love Hotel Casa Tucan! It´s like being in the middle of a jungle when you walk to your room and down the path that leads to the pool. I´ve been swimming in it a few times. I was so tired after the shark trip that I slept from 6pm until 7am. I slept better than I had in weeks.
I didn´t have an underwater camera to catch close-ups of the sharks, but an American couple on the boat with me are going to email me their photos. I wish I had seen a manta ray: I was looking in the wrong direction when it jumped out of the water. The captain and guide also took us to a coral reef where we snorkeled for a half hour or so. I saw several fish I´d never seen before (although I kept thinking that there should really be a lot more fish in an area like this... I guess we've eaten them all? or because the coral is dying, this must have a direct effect on the fish) I wish that I had been in the Reef program at CEA because I would have learned about this kind of stuff. And I would have been diving for sure, which I have mixed feelings about due to my club experience in Hamilton. If I take the course again (ACUC or Padi), I'll take it in the Caribbean.
Oh, and a word about lizard killers. These are the kittens I helped foster for a few days. I even took them into my dorm last Saturday night because everyone was going to be out all night. Several Mexicans did not approve: kittens grow up to be cats and cats kill geckos and iguanas. Iguanas kill the mosquitos, or so they say... but I can't imagine that an iguana can survive on mosquitos... wouldn't they eat bigger bugs? Even so, I now think twice about cute, cuddly kittens (in a place like Mexico): I can totally understand why people wouldn't want them around. The vet clinic has managed to bring the population down by spaying and neutering many cats over the years. But you don´t see many full grown iguanas because they are just starting to come back again.
Tonight is my last night and I´m going to dinner with Alice, a Brit in the Reef program who I spent some time with (she fostered two of the six cats found at the same resort, but her two are from a different litter, and about a week or two older). She has been in Mexico for almost a year (only went home at Christmas). We are going to a Thai restaurant that everyone was raving about at CEA. The prices are low, so that´s good. Today I went to Subway, but it was not a very good sub. It hasn´t made me vomit though, and that´s a good thing. (-:
Tam
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Dirty Laundry
Well, today was a typical day in Akumal. Nothing worked out as I had planned for the day before. It started when I took my laundry to the "pueblo" yesterday. I had heard that the rates and service were better, so I made the 'long' walk into 'town' to use their services (rather than the slightly more expensive service in Akumal 'Wonderland', as I have come to refer to it as). I wasn't that dismayed when I was told that my laundry would not be ready until the next day, after 2 pm. That's ok, I thought, I'll survive with only a few items of clothing and one towel. I needed sheets, but I asked the CEA cleaning lady (with an interpreter's help) for another set (which I got).
It is now 6:30pm, and I just got my stuff back 10 minutes ago. )-: This really bothered me, but I guess it has taught me some kind of lesson... patience? the fact that the pace is slower in other countries and no one can really be counted on to do something when they say they will? or maybe I am just grumpy because I have been attacked by mosquitoes for 2 weeks straight and I've also had quite enough of the intense heat that starts here at 8am and doesn't let up until about 7pm.
Today, I had decided to devote my entire day to trying to get some work done (taking an inventory of the books in the Reef office). But that plan was thwarted when I found out at 11:30am that they would be fumigating all the dorm rooms, including the office I was in. When this happened, the six kittens that are residing in CEA dorms all had to clear out too, so I had to give up my work plans to kitten-sit from 1pm to 4pm. It's not like I had anything else to do, and it wasn't all that bad (hey, kittens are cute and someone has to help them out, right?). The afterno0n also involved the comsumption of several alcoholic drinks because we stationed ourselves at a table at the nearby outdoor pub. I am going back to the office after this blog post because I know the combination to get into the Reef office (and I know that the a/c actually works in this dorm room). It is very, very, very hot in Akumal in June. I don't feel very good as a result, and I also seem to be fighting another cold (sore throat, cough... or could it be dengue fever or malaria? hmm) I can't wait to get back to civilization next week: my life will be boring once again, but it will be more tolerable than this.
On Sunday, I'm leaving the CEA dorms for the solitary life in a hotel in Playa del Carmen. I picked an inexpensive place ("Hotel Casa Tucan": the only perk is the 15 foot deep swimming pool... other than that, I'm not sure what I'm in for (no a/c, only a fan)... but I will be sleeping in a room by myself... ahhh, the luxury of it...not having to be woken in the middle of the night by drunken youth... I am truly astonished by how much alcohol the Mexican university students can consume: surely it is enough to kill people, under certain circumstances. And they don't just come home really late from their nocturnal activities: they come home in the morning (6am) and sleep for most of the day. It's really incredible. (or maybe I am just jealous that I can't handle such as schedule of drinking and not sleeping much? I'll have to ponder that.)
I visited Tulum last Sunday and it was really beautiful, I'm really glad I went. I have some great photos, but I'll wait until I am home to post them here. I've made friends with the Brits from the Reef program (I can speak to them in my language!) because they are caring for several of the abandoned kittens (there are 6 in total).
5 days left.
Adios,
Tam
It is now 6:30pm, and I just got my stuff back 10 minutes ago. )-: This really bothered me, but I guess it has taught me some kind of lesson... patience? the fact that the pace is slower in other countries and no one can really be counted on to do something when they say they will? or maybe I am just grumpy because I have been attacked by mosquitoes for 2 weeks straight and I've also had quite enough of the intense heat that starts here at 8am and doesn't let up until about 7pm.
Today, I had decided to devote my entire day to trying to get some work done (taking an inventory of the books in the Reef office). But that plan was thwarted when I found out at 11:30am that they would be fumigating all the dorm rooms, including the office I was in. When this happened, the six kittens that are residing in CEA dorms all had to clear out too, so I had to give up my work plans to kitten-sit from 1pm to 4pm. It's not like I had anything else to do, and it wasn't all that bad (hey, kittens are cute and someone has to help them out, right?). The afterno0n also involved the comsumption of several alcoholic drinks because we stationed ourselves at a table at the nearby outdoor pub. I am going back to the office after this blog post because I know the combination to get into the Reef office (and I know that the a/c actually works in this dorm room). It is very, very, very hot in Akumal in June. I don't feel very good as a result, and I also seem to be fighting another cold (sore throat, cough... or could it be dengue fever or malaria? hmm) I can't wait to get back to civilization next week: my life will be boring once again, but it will be more tolerable than this.
On Sunday, I'm leaving the CEA dorms for the solitary life in a hotel in Playa del Carmen. I picked an inexpensive place ("Hotel Casa Tucan": the only perk is the 15 foot deep swimming pool... other than that, I'm not sure what I'm in for (no a/c, only a fan)... but I will be sleeping in a room by myself... ahhh, the luxury of it...not having to be woken in the middle of the night by drunken youth... I am truly astonished by how much alcohol the Mexican university students can consume: surely it is enough to kill people, under certain circumstances. And they don't just come home really late from their nocturnal activities: they come home in the morning (6am) and sleep for most of the day. It's really incredible. (or maybe I am just jealous that I can't handle such as schedule of drinking and not sleeping much? I'll have to ponder that.)
I visited Tulum last Sunday and it was really beautiful, I'm really glad I went. I have some great photos, but I'll wait until I am home to post them here. I've made friends with the Brits from the Reef program (I can speak to them in my language!) because they are caring for several of the abandoned kittens (there are 6 in total).
5 days left.
Adios,
Tam
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