Day 39 - Marko Round The World

Day 39 12/4/2021

Odometer 28,580 – 28,760—– 180 Miles (6060 Miles Total)

Tulum, Mexico – Bacalar, Mexico

I went out partying with the kids last night. I got home at 2am. 4am Caroline decided to jump on me in bed since she was a drunk child. I heard Yannik yelling at her to cut the shit and I fell right back asleep thankfully. They got home at 4am and Marianne strolled into the hostel at about 10am. I don’t know how they do it. Actually I do. One night out till 4am, the next two nights off recovering. Smart. I got up at 8, threw my running shoes on and went out for a 3 mile jog. It was a nice little tour of the city in the morning while everyone was out starting their day. My knee started to act up at 2.25 miles like it always does so I just made it to three miles and called it a day on that. Breakfast was delicious at the hostel and the kids started to get up slowly and pack up. We booked an Airbnb in Bacalar about 3 hours south or west of Tulum whatever direction you’d call it. Everyone had different plans when we were leaving Tulum. I sat on the hammock after breakfast and relaxed while editing pics on my laptop. I airdropped some pictures I took of them which they loved. I feel like my photography skills are getting very good in the last month. I’m really happy with the results! Marianne walked in around 10 so I went out and grabbed her a smoothie since she was still drunk. I loaded up the bike slowly, said bye to everyone I met there that wasn’t continuing traveling with us and hit the road!

I felt sad leaving everyone in Tulum. It was a great batch of people. Tom was a tall Canadian man with long hair with a hell of a personality. He was so funny all day long and got along with everyone. Some other dutch people all blended into the group very well. The girls and guys that worked at the hostel had a grand time as well. I was happy to see Yannick, Caroline and Marianne later on tonight since we would sure have a good time. The ride was pretty nice. Partly cloudy skies and 88 degrees. The first two hours were weird since I had no service and it was just a long long straight road. Happy I didn’t break down.

Once I got to Bacalar it seemed like a deserted city which was quite the difference from Tulum. I checked into the hotel/Airbnb and it was very clean and beautiful. I unloaded the bike and went out on the search for oil so I could do my second oil change on the trip. I had to go all the way to Chetumal which was 35 minutes to the guy who sold me the tubes a few days ago. He hooked me up with 3 liters of oil I needed that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Once I got back to the Airbnb the owner let me park my bike out front and even brought me something to catch the oil in. I stripped the bike apart, changed the oil, looked over a few things and threw the bike back in the driveway so I can head back down to the beach for the sunset.

I was covered in sweat and got eaten alive by red ants while working on the bike so I was dying to get in the water. I got down there, jumped in the water and went for a good swim. Laying on the dock I met a girl named Kimelen from Argentina and was asking her about the weather in Argentina. She says it doesn’t snow in Ushuaia until about July so I have plenty of time to get down there and not worry about the snow slowing me down. We met a couple from the Netherlands. Bart and his girlfriend. I can’t for the life of me remember her name. We were all chatting for a while watching the sunset. Bart and his girlfriend quit their jobs recently, submitted their apartment at home and decided to hit the road until they felt it was time to go back. A few months maybe, they weren’t sure yet. Bart was kind enough to invite us to dinner. I was happy about that since my friends weren’t in town yet. I wasn’t sure if the girls were even going to make it since they texted me saying they might not be able to catch the bus since their bags were so big and the bus was so small.

I went home and cleaned up and walked down to the fancy restaurant Bart found. I was the first one there and asked for a table of 6 since Yannick finally made it to town but a few minutes later there were about 13 of us at the table. Some of Bart’s friends he made at the hostel showed up and a few other people that other people knew showed up. We had a lovely dinner. The seafood was incredible. One of the best meals I’ve had in Mexico. Bart came over to our side of the table and asked Kimelen a ton of questions about Argentina. Man this guy has some knowledge in his head and is very well traveled. I wish I could think of these questions to ask but I couldn’t ever think of them. He knows how to learn about a place with the questions he asks. I want to be more like Bart.

After dinner we all went to Che hostel for a little party. Everyone was dancing and drinking. I took some pictures of everyone as well as I could with the lighting. Spoke to Bart for a little while and then he and his girlfriend had to leave since they were catching a bus to San Cristobal for a day or two and then Guatemala. I only met him for a few hours but was sad to see him leave. I started to chat with Kimelen after finding out her story. She’s kind of a big dancer in Argentina and quit her job, got rid of her apartment, sold most of her things and decided to travel for a while. She told me she’s only been traveling for about ten days now and how new she is to all of this. I was listening to all of her emotions about the trip and how she felt and to my surprise it’s the same ones I had in the beginning. It’s nice to hear some other people feel the same way in the beginning and it’s not just me. The smile on her face was priceless hearing her talk about how much freedom there is and how much fun her whole trip has been so far. I bet she hasn’t smiled like that in a while at home. We had a nice deep conversation about life for a while and then we decided to go for a walk down to the lake and watch the stars for a bit since the moon was finally gone for one of the first times in my trip and the stars were so bright! Yannick was in the corner making out with a girl so he was fine on his own.

We took a walk down to the dock where we met Bart and just chatted for a bit about life and I was trying to explain to her what feelings she might expect on the rest of her trip and just some traveling tips since she’s completely new to this. I feel like an experienced traveler after giving her all this information. Maybe I am? We split up and went home after a bit and I called it a night. What a lovely first day in Bacalar.

Roadside chicken and a coke on my ride to Bacalar.