Getting into the travelling groove

The last post I wrote (before my short story about the Italian) was pretty depressing. But you´ll be glad to know that I´m feeling a lot better and really getting into my travels. I think it´s hard to get accustomed to being a traveller/backpacker and it takes a couple of weeks and I was feeling that kind of loneliness and missing home that you get when you´ve been away for a little while. Califonia doesn´t really count because it wasn´t really travelling. It was visiting friends for the most part, which is really different. Plus it´s just a whole different world up there in the developed land!

So right now I´m loving Mexico. So much so that I´m staying longer than I planned. nothing like going to a place you don´t like so much to make you like where you were a whole lot more! Plus my funds are running a bit lower than I´d like and I´ve heard Belize is a bit pricier so I´m saving it for you mole gal Natalie! Belize when I´ve saved up enough $$$ again!!!

I´m starting to think that having a companion while travelling might be a pretty good thing. I know I´m pretty independent and can handle spending long amounts of time on my own, but there is something to be said for having someone else to look out for you and also someone else to just BE there in that shitty experience when you´re waiting for the bus or your flight has been delayed (nearly all my flights have been delayed! what the hell? the only one that wasn´t delayed was so shit I thought we´d crash!) or just whatever. I met an Irish couple and she was really sick on the bus and he was looking after her and really concerned and he held back her hair while she puked. Which is gross but very sweet. Nobody holds your hair when you´re travelling on your own.

what i love about travel is that you get to be you but outside of everything external. so you can be and do anything and test out all your limits. its strange because ive realised ive got more limits than i did when i was travelling through europe. two years and im more set as a person. When i was travelling through europe i was so... i guess inexperienced in a lot of ways, but that meant i was so open to ALL new experiences that i could just do anything. now im older and more tied down with responsibilities and... i dont even know what it is. i guess you get older and you change and you cant do that crazy party stuff all the time anymore. Or i cant. Im much happier to sit and chill with a drink and chat than to go out and party the night away. Id rather meet and talk to and just chill with lots of different and interesting people than just meet guys who just want one thing and party with people.

my brain really isn´t working well. I think it´s the sun. And maybe the extremely large daiquiri I had last night. Very delicious, but HUGE! It totally knocked me out so I slept like a baby, even in the dump that I stayed in last night.

A funny story about an Italian stallion

I thought this was really funny so I had to share it.

On my way from Cancun to Playa del Carmen I was waiting for the bus from the airport and I started chatting to an Italian guy living in LA. I should have picked straight away that he was Italian because 1) he had a bossini bag 2) he had a ridiculous amount of luggage for a relatively short trip 3) he had a furry leopard print hat and 4) he was checking out the ladies like there was no tomorrow! Anyway he quickly decided I wasn´t particularly cool and he found some other Italians to talk to instead. So I got to sit there and see him interact with others instead. It started raining down ridiculously hard, i had to put my pack on my raincoat so the bottom wouldnt get wet and i had my umbrella out to protect me from the rain coming in diagonally. when i ran out into the rain to get into the bus, i was in the rain for about 5 seconds and got completely drenched.

Anyway when I got on the bus I ended up sitting across and just a little behind from the Italian stallion. He´d found a Spanish Cougar (I think she was Spanish, I heard her speaking Spanish earlier and they were speaking Spanish or Italian together but I couldn´t really hear properly). She was really beautiful, very made up and in a revealing red halter top and tight jeans. But she must have definitely been at least 40, maybe late 40s? Eye lines never lie, a good eye cream is a good investment. He was probably late 20s, maybe early 30s. About 20 minutes into the trip I looked over and they were making out passionately in their seats. Interesting. I didn´t think that people really felt romantic on buses, but I guess this proves me wrong.

Although I should have remembered the gropey Belgian from Vietnam, he thought that buses made me romantic but... no.

However, some people do just get on a bus, meet someone and then feel sexy. I suppose.

I guess I am at Playa del Carmen and it´s a party place!

And he was Italian...

:)

Mexico

As I was travelling by boat out here to Isla Mujeres I had a lot of thoughts floating through my head and now that I´m here in front of a computer it´s all a big blank. I´m enjoying Mexico so far for the most part, but I´ve decided that due to lack of time Im just going to limit my time here and get moving along to Belize almost straight after Havana.

It was pretty rough sleeping last night, my room is like a sweat box. Six people crammed into a little room with only three fans, the room ends up being hotter than outside. I drifted in and out of delirium and was rudely awoken by a guy in my room turning on the toilet light so I got up and lay in a hammock outside near the party dance floor. Not the best place to fall asleep, but it was cool at least. This morning I got up early and lay in a hammock again, much quieter this time.

I can´t help but feel slightly wrong and out of place here. Getting used to the travelling life style again is hard. Being a solo traveller is harder than I remember. The place Im staying at now is apparently a party hostel, never my favourite kind. Not that I have anything against partying and all of that, but I just find that I tend to enjoy myself more at places where its a bit more chilled out and relaxed and theres not always this constant need to go go go.

Im glad that Im here and pushing myself out of my comfort zone, but it just seems so much harder this time around. Im older and I dont want the same things anymore. Perhaps I know myself better, I dont even know. it just feels really different this time around. I still like talking to new people and looking around and doing new things, but... I dont know.

I feel kind of like a fraud or something. Like im travelling but im just pretending and everyone else is the genuine article. does that even make sense? its all surreal like im floating way above myself and looking down on it all.

I wasnt as impressed with isla mujeres as everyone else said i would be. Is there something Im missing? Its just a kind of pretty, fairly touristy island with nice sand and clear water. Is that spoilt or what? I think Im beached out. Its great but I dont like to just lie around like a beached whale...

Yosemite and LA

I'm skipping over a couple of days of San Fran because I did almost nothing for them. I did some laundry, relaxed, watched some trashy American TV and caught up on some sleep. Fun, but not exciting. Didn't really deserve the sentence I just wrote about it.

Anyway, Tanzila and I booked a Bug Bus Tour to Yosemite, but unfortunately for us, they didn't have any cabins left so we got stuck camping. There's nothing more annoying than camping when you know there are beds nearby. It was a fun trip but really hazy because of all the fires over here right now. So the amazing views? Not that amazing right now.

Been in LA for a couple of days and stayed with a (mostly absent) friend. Nice to see the city though and drive around a bit. Am in a hostel now in Hollywood. Hollywood is a bit decrepit and not as glam as it probably was 60 years ago. I'll see what it's like in the morning!