Day 38

Day 38  12/3/2021

Odometer    28,555 – 28,580 ——25  Miles  (5880 Miles Total)

Tulum, Mexico

So two nights ago in the hostel we had someone sleeping in the bunk next to the AC and he was cold so the rest of us suffered. We all decided to crank the AC after he left the room for good. I woke up all night freezing so I didn’t sleep much. I got up a bit late this morning but headed off to a 9am Crossfit class. It was a brutal class in the heat. I almost passed out for the first time in my life from the heat and being dehydrated. We drank a bit last night and I didn’t drink enough water but I got through it without passing out. I was expecting to wake up on the ground with the barbell on me but thankfully it didn’t happen.

Three people in the group I’m hanging out with know I skydive for work and they wanted to jump so bad. I called up two places nearby and asked if I could rent gear and take them but to my surprise for the first time ever they both flat out said no. I couldn’t believe it. Oh well no skydiving today!

I rushed back to the hostel after class because the friends I made were supposed to go to see the ruins at the beach and I gave them my GPS tracker so I can come meet them since they don’t have service. I got to the hostel and they told me they rented scooters for the day since it was easier than getting taxis. I was pumped to ride with everyone! They paid 300 Pesos for having the scooters for the day. I couldn’t believe how cheap they were. I shoved my breakfast down my throat and the 6 of us hopped on our bikes and headed off to see our first denote for the day. I took some pictures of them riding and it was quite funny seeing the girls drive the guys around and two guys on a scooter.

We got to the first cenote which was quite expensive at 250 pesos and damn was it cool. Just a huge hole in the ground with clear water under it. There were a few small holes next to it too, maybe 4 feet in diameter. We all jumped into the small hole and then started sending it off the rocks into the big hole. Marianne used to be a gymnast so she was sending backflips off the rocks into the water, Yannick from Germany followed her in. I dove in head first from about 10′ and then sat on the edge and rolled in backwards to get used to doing a flip in. It’s the way my friends were taught to do backflips into water. I’ve never done a backflip into water but I’ve done maybe 300 aerials (flips) BASE jumping off of cliffs, buildings, antennas and bridges. I’m used to flipping them super hard and I’m pretty scared of over rotating and landing on my stomach or back. I sat on the edge for a bit with them watching and I threw my first one, tucked it super hard and nailed it. Not enough time but the rotation was perfect and I’m super excited to start doing them off of bigger cliffs. Felt good to be doing aerials again since I haven’t done them BASE jumping since 2015. Thanks Marianne!

We had a great time at the first cenote with everyone. It was awesome. I got in trouble for taking pictures of them jumping in with my DSLR since I was supposed to pay 200 pesos if I wanted to take pictures with it but yeah I wasn’t paying. Off we went to the next cenote. We all hopped on our bikes and rode down the street to the next one. It was way different. Way bigger and the water was literally crystal clear blue. I’ve never seen water like this in my life. We had to swim with life jackets on which was a bummer. We swam through caves where the water was maybe 20′ deep and there were turtles swimming around us. I got some cool shots of the girls and Yannick in the water.

We shot back to the hostel so Marianne could get a rock out of her eye she caught while riding the scooter. Watching her drive the scooter with Yannick on the back was hilarious. He’s a 6′ 4″ German dude and he was towering over her on the back while holding onto his helmet since it was about to fly off from the wind! We went out for some tacos and did a little microdose of mushrooms which hit us pretty hard since we didn’t eat all day since breakfast. We were all cracking up like a bunch of idiots at lunch. We decided to go to a Lagoon about 7 miles away. Yannick jumped on my bike which was even funnier and the girls stuck together on their scooter. We got to the lagoon and the girls still did not show up 10 minutes later. I got on my bike and headed back into town to see what was going on and there they were like the guys from dumb and dumber riding on the shoulder of the highway going 25MPH while cars are blasting past them at 80! When they passed me I turned around and they kept giving me a funny look. They thought I was a cop about to pull them over so they were trying to look normal and blend in. I was crying laughing when I heard about that. Anyway we got to the lagoon and it was very clean clear water as well. Yannick and I hung out in hammocks in the water catching some nice sun while the girls were nearby and the whole lagoon could hear them laughing and talking since they were having a blast. I decided to work on my handstands on the dock and I’m glad I did because of course Marianne and Caroline can do them so they threw me some coaching. They cleaned up my form quite a bit and I’m excited to keep working on them too.

We split up, I took Yannick back to the hostel and decided to work on my bike for a bit. My ABS and traction control stopped working a few days ago. I took the ABS sensors off and cleaned them, inspected the cables leading to the ABS sensors as far as I could see them and nothing. I threw up a post on the BMW forum so I’m hoping I’ll get some feedback on what might be wrong with my bike. Me, Yannick, Marianne and Caroline decided to leave our dorm and get our own private room at the hostel so we moved all our stuff into the room. Me and Yannick fought them to get the king size bed to ourselves and they got stuck with the smaller bed. Sorry girls! I cleaned up and laid on the hammock in front of our room for a while just thinking back on the trip. I can’t believe it’s been 38 days and all those negative feelings I had in the beginning are completely gone and I’m happy I’m writing all of this down since I can read about this in the future on my next trip and know what feeling I should be expecting. The amount of fun I’ve been having despite the small bullshit is just awesome. We do whatever we want all day everyday and come and go as we please to different towns. I’m learning to stay at each place with no expectations on how long I will stay. When I decide I’ve had enough, I’ll pack up the bike and move on. I won’t be going somewhere saying I have to stay here for a night or 3 nights. Whatever happens happens and when I’m ready to leave I’ll leave. No regrets about leaving too early anymore.

This was life. Cenote hopping all day, lovely friends, lovely food, beautiful sun and temperature, laying in my hammock without a care in the world about anything really. I didn’t want to leave this hammock at all. Life here is just great. I took a little nap and decided to go out for a walk around the town since I haven’t really done that yet. Treated myself to a smoothie, ice cream and an Acai Bowl. No more spicy food for me. That’s what got me sick the last few weeks. I had some spicy tacos the last two nights and my stomach was not having any of it. I’m glad my stomach is strong and I haven’t gotten sick from bad food but just no more spice for me. I love it but the stomach can’t handle it anymore. I hope it’s not a long term thing. I got back from the nice walk and the girls got back. We all hung out and they made a big batch of Mojito while the hostel had a free Pina Colada night so we are having some good drinks tonight. I busted out the cards and we got about 10 people to play shithead.

This part put a smile on my face. It’s December 3rd and in the middle of the game I got up, walked across the street barefoot into a little bodega, got some snacks and walked back to the hostel to eat it during the game. I love how you can just walk barefoot anywhere down here and no one gives you a funny look. It’s awesome. We’re all playing shit head for a few hours while I’m updating the blog. It’s 80 degrees with a light breeze in the air, we’re all drinking and talking and having a great great time. One of the hostel workers sent me a picture of me working on the bike which was cool to see and one of the other guys took a picture of me typing up the blog so you guys can get a feel for what I’m seeing right now. Caroline is behind me in the picture filling up my Pina colada while Maarten was taking the picture of me! haha Thank you Caroline!!! She never looks at the camera while pictures are being taken we’ve all learned very quickly

Caroline is 27, Yannick is 25 and Marianne is 27. They all want to go drinking tonight. I got lucky last night since they were tired from the night before but I have no luck tonight. They’re dragging me old ass out with them tonight to go drinking and partying and god damn it I’m gonna be hurting! Hah I hope I don’t walk in from the night with them at 4am like they always do. Im gonna shut the laptop and enjoy my company and get ready to go out with these damn kids.

We all went out at about 11am to this party hostel walking distance away. Packed with partiers! Our girls were dancing on the bar pouring shots in everyone’s mouth with terrible aim! I had a great time there. Not my scene but the group was super fun and we had a blast. The hostel party ended at 1am, they went to another bar and I called it a night at 2am but woke up at 4am with Caroline jumping on me when her and Yannick got home from the night. Marianne is still yet to be seen at 10am the next morning as I’m finishing up this post! haha Looks like everyone had a great time. What a crew. I’m gonna miss these people.

One of the scooters they rented for the day