As the world turns, THESE are the daaaays of our lives! lol
Today's blog should be short because I don't have much to tell. I am now writing you all from my hotel room in Cancun. Once again, let me fill you in on the last few days. :)
We arrived in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico sometime in the early evening (6ish). The sun was getting ready to set and the sky was lookin' beautiful!
My immediate thought when we arrived in Playa and especially once we arrived to our hotel was "wow, this place is special".
Playa Del Carmen is different then the other cities I've been to so far in that it's much more expensive and touristy then the others, but also has a very traditional feel to it. I've said before in others blogs that certain places were good for honeymoons ect.. but nono... if you want to go somewhere filled with romance and sandy white beaches with great shopping, go to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico!! It's awesome!! Although, you'll just have to take my word for it cuz uhm... I hardly got any pictures and zero pictures of the beach (sorry guys lol) which is VERY unfortunate because the beach is gorgeous!
Ok back to the what happened. Basically when we arrived at the hotel, me and the other Canadian couple (Walt and Fern) met up with another Canadian couple from Halifax. Their names were John and Lauren. They were super nice and about the same age as me, maybe a bit younger. They were on a similar tour as us but going backwards from Cancun to Antigua and hitting all the same destinations as us. As such, we had a lot to talk about right off the bat :))
So that night we all decided to check out the market and see if we could find a good restaurant which we did!
The markets here are more colorful and vibrant then other places and they have a much bigger variety of stuff... only problem is that it's soooooo expensive here that I couldn't justify buying anything, tho it was fun to look at :P It's interesting too how low the merchants are willing to go from their original price when you look interested and start to walk away! For example, I was looking at a ring. The guy started at 750 pesos for the ring down to 300 pesos as I was walking away. That's just one example but this is very common in the markets in central America.
One thing I would have like to buy but didn't was these cool wrestling masks à la mexican! Man, they were so cool! I'll be uploading a picture of my tour guide with one on so you can see what I mean.
We also eventually found a restaurant that smelled amazing and had live Salsa (or similar type) music! This place was so much fun and the food was absolutely amazing except, once again, the prices were insane!! For example, I ordered a Mexican Flambé Steak with a pepper & bourbon sauce. It was worth it cuz they prepare it in front of you. What a show!! With the dude flambéing my steak in front of us with the band playing in the back ground and all these amazing salsa dancers on the dance floor, you just couldn't help but get lost in the moment! Till the bill arrived....
Ok... Are you guys ready for this? Now don't forget, we're in Mexico where things are supposed to be cheap. My steak came with a little side of vegetables and a little pile of mashed potatoes. It cost me $38 Canadian! I don't know about you guys but that was the most expensive steak of my life. Normally for that price you get a three course meal! Not here!! Not to mention the 2 or 3 Cuba Libres (rum and cokes) an a garlic shrimp entrer. This meal cost a small fortune! Good thing it was tasty and entertaining ;)
Anyway after that we called it a night and went back to our hotel. I ended up chillin' with the Canadian couple for a while longer cuz they invited me to have a few Corona in their room :)
The next day day I realized that my phone was dead hence the reason i don't have pictures so I plugged it in and went for a walk along the beach randomly running into that Halifax couple again!! Again we drank and chilled on the beach for most of the day till my departure at 4:30pm.
At that time we got on a bus heading towards Cancun where the tour was coming to an end for most of the people in my tour group.
So last night we had our final night together as a group. We went to a traditional Mexican restaurant that was full of traditionally dressed waiters/waitresses and a traditional Mexican band that would play songs like 'La bamba' and similar tunes at your table for 100 pesos per song. We didn't see the point of paying them cuz you hear and see them perfectly fine when they played at other tables.
Here's a video since I know pictures and words just do it justice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXZRSqHOcI
So now I feel like I'm back in Antigua again because of that feeling in my stomach of not knowing what the next leg of my adventure will be like. Only two people, myself and a girl from the UK (Hanna) will be continuing on the tour through Mexico and back to Antigua. I'm told there will be a new couple who will be joining us tonight, though I haven't met them yet. I'll be meeting them later today during a meet and greet I do session we're having at 6pm.
So much for the short blog lol Turned out I had more to say then I thought!
That's all for now folks! I'm off now to Isla de las Mujeres, which apparently has great shopping and a beautiful beach. I'll try to take pictures this time! lol
Adios amigos!