Well what a first week it has been! Rather than opt for a hotel to start our travels like lastime, we decided to go straight into a hostel. This was to get us back into the backpacking mind frame and more importantly save money. We have no intention of returning early due to overspending this time lol.
The hostel we chose was in downtown Cancun which is cheaper than the Zona Hotelera (hotel zone) and a lot more chilled out. You find most of the locals live around this area so we were pleased with this.
Arriving at the bus station in downtown Cancun we had a simple map on my phone to locate our hostel which seemed pretty hard at first (maybe it was the 24+ hours we'd been travelling). For all the negative things you hear about Mexico we were on edge as a local drunk guided us through what at first glance appeared to be a rough area but it was infact perfectly fine and we adapted quickly to our surroundings.
The hostel was amazing with the courtyard filled with graffiti and countless hammocks to lounge in. We had a private room with e suite booked for one night and had the most amazing sleep after venturing out for some food.
We'd located a square around the corner where they had entertainment on for the locals every night and food stalls which were very popular amongst the Mexicans and a few backpackers - 35 pesos for a jumbo burritos s we came back time and time again as it was delicious.
Happy with the hostel we decided to book for another 3 nights but due to availability had to downgrade to a private with a fan instead of air conditioning and a shared bathroom instead of ensuite. This was fine apart from how hot it was in the room and the fact the fan was only about a foot over my head. The following day I nearly had my little finger chopped of by the damn thing whilst putting on my vest and forgetting how close to the fan I was. Luckily it was a deep slash and lots o bruising but nothing to go hospital about (maybe due to Laurah having everything a hospital would have in her first aid kit!)
Anyways exploring was easy even I we didn't speak Spanish as the staff at the hostel explained in great detail plus I'm good with directions and remembering which direction we came from. Getting to the beach was a simple 20min bus journey away costing 10 pesos (50p) each and as you can imagine the beach is stunning and the water crystal clear. It easily surpassed those of Thailand and there didn't seem to be as many people bothering you trying to sell things.
We opted not to go to Coco Bongo for my birthday as we'd been informed it was more of a cabaret show with a disco following and seeing the small guy dressed as the mask outside on the way to the beach confirmed it wasn't what we were after. The club next door call Mandala seemed to be more of our thing playing all kinds of music and was renowned for been a real party place. We bought our tickets from the hostel and this included a taxi to the club, a table, open bar, bottle service plus entry in the daytime to the Mandala Beach Club which we did on my actual birthday. The Beach club was amazing, a little overpriced but wouldn't expect anything else as it is known for having celebrities go there at times and not long ago had Hugh Hefner and 20 of his playmates down there for the day and night.
Once we reached back to the hostel a few of our new friends had said they would like to come join us and celebrate with us but due to the cost (£35 or $70 for the deal) only a few came. Our two Californian friends Amilcar and Andy (some hard partying Mexicans from the hood in San Diego) and Hermes (one of the hostel staff who was Mexican also).
Originally coming to cancun I was upset it couldn't have been during spring break but the night was EPIC and Hermes says it surpasses his spring break exploits. We partied like Rockstars, drunk like fish, competed on stage in various challenges and really brought in 30yrs on this earth with a bang!....the pics only tell half a story and unfortunately the videos cannot be posted - but you can all ask Laurah why hahahaha ha!!!
A couple days to recover and we decided we better get moving otherwise we would spend the whole year at this hostel. As we intend to head south we decided on Tulum, a smaller town rich in Mayan history.
Currently sat on a beach in Tulum recapping on Cancun, look out for the next blog after we leave here!