Penguing Around

They say one of the reasons to solo travel is that you can achieve the freedom to do whatever you want with the time that you have (or, as a wizard from those books about really cool rings once said: “(…) with the time that is given us” – although I do believe he had better reasons than me to stay away from Existentialism). Still, this idea has been repeated so often around travel circles that, in the opinion of someone who is apparently fond of his contradictions, it has become a somewhat cringy cliche and an excuse to do things people are otherwise too shy or afraid to do at home. Ironically, the freedom to do whatever you want sometimes comes in unexpected forms: here I am, sitting in the common area of a party hostel in Cancun on a Saturday night, writing a blog post instead of partying myself into oblivion at the pool party on the rooftop above me. Some readers, of course, might ask why am I doing this, some might try to guess what is wrong with me, others probably do not care at all (if that is you, thanks for reading anyway!), while the most confused ones might wonder what the hell a party hostel even is. For those who identify with one of those groups, this and the next posts will hopefully answer some of these questions while telling the first part of the story of my trip around Central America and Mexico, during the last five or so months. But in case they don’t, at least I have a temporary distraction from the lost beer-pong balls coming down the stairs.

A few months back, during a rainy Portuguese autumn, I was missing the feeling of wonder that makes you grab your backpack and move to a new place. Although I met fascinating people while trying and failing to hike my way along the beautiful Algarve, the feeling of curiosity escaped me. After around one and a half years on the road, it was not the first time this had happened (I hypothesized that one hits this curiosity wall each six-month cycle, but more data is needed before any grant applications can be written). The universe, however, was nice to me and I found a reasonably cheap flight to a corner of the world I had never been: Mexico, the land of tacos, tequila, and cacti (and as I’d find out, A LOT more, let’s not get stuck in stereotypes more than half a sentence). Convinced that less rain would renew my energy for traveling, I left Portugal behind. A few buses, blablacars, and a short stay with a new friend later, I was in Madrid waiting to board my 26-hour flight to Cancun, where the promise of drunk parties, Mayan ruins, and warm waters was enough to motivate me to sleep in an airport floor for 13 hours (well, it was a cheap last minute flight, what could you expect?). But, before talking about Mexico, some readers might be thinking: wait a minute, you wrote you’ve been traveling for one and a half years? Have you won the lottery? The answer is a big NO, with capital letters for added dramatic effect. As will become apparent to some recurrent readers, I am traveling on a relatively low budget. But more on that later…

After the long night in the airport (see TTT1 at the end of the post for details), when I was woken only once by the cleaning staff vacuuming an area uncomfortably close to my head, an exhausted but joyful Bruno landed at the Cancun airport. And was immediately met by a large number of definitely not pushy drivers keen to take me anywhere for definitely not inflated prices. Most of them screamed over each other, which made me wonder how successful their strategy was. I am not a fan of taxis due to the budget travel situation, and such a loud reception did more to drive me away (pun unfortunately intended) than to impress me. Ultimately I decided to take the first random bus out of that airport parking lot, which was going to Tulum. Luckily, I had been told before (thanks hostel friends from Ericeira!) that some buses in Mexico are quite good and reliable, so I knew what to look for (again, more on that in later posts). The trip went without any remarkable incidents, except that, well, you DO need cash in Mexico for most things, and most people will be willing to give you terrible exchange rates if you don’t have local Pesos (so it’s a good idea to get some at the ATM of your least hated bank when you land).

Tulum was, as people would try to say without really saying anything good or bad, interesting. A mix of warm and beautiful beaches (with Mayan ruins lying by one of them), expensive bars and clubs that apparently make popular social media stories, cheaper hostel parties that probably are not allowed to appear on any social media, expensive healthy food, cheap street tacos, relaxing yoga studios, hectic Latino clubs, etc. A little bit for everyone, it could be said, if not for the heavy focus on partying every night at the same places (as of 2023, only one popular hostel bar is open daily until 3 am, after which only a notably flirty Latino club can satisfy the remaining dancing and drinking needs until around 5 am). That is if you are staying in the town, which is a good 20-minute drive from the nearest free beach, either by bike or taxi (if you can, bike, as most taxis will try to charge you a lot for short trips). If you decide to stay near the beach, at the hotel zone, I can’t say much… except that it’s probably a bit safer than the streets in town. Regarding safety, a few things must be said about Tulum. You probably have heard (like I had) a lot of stories about people getting mugged, robbed, or kidnapped to the nearest ATM at night, sometimes by organizations and individuals who should have been above all suspicion and can be seen everywhere. I was lucky not to witness any of these events myself, although I did hear an unusually high number of similar stories resulting in the loss of a few hundred dollars and/or cell phones – it is hard not to think there isn’t an underlying pattern in that town. So, unfortunately, be careful when walking at night. Have I mentioned that police trucks are seen everywhere, usually carrying individuals holding guns?

To focus on the positives, there are incredible places to see around Tulum, most of them called Cenotes. I had never heard this word before visiting one, so here you go: Cenotes are natural pits/sinkholes/underground lakes/ponds that expose groundwater, located in the jungle all over the swiss cheese-like peninsula of Yucatán. Many of them are connected by underground tunnels, not all currently mapped, and, depending on your fear of underwater closed spaces, famous or nightmare-inducing places for cave diving. They got their names from the native Mayans, who considered them sacred and used them as a source of potable water and sometimes for human sacrifices (a comfortable thought to have while you swim in one). Today, most Cenotes lie on private land, so expect to pay to be able to see and get in for a dip – as a rule, the more popular a Cenote is and the most social media-able photos you can take, the more expensive it gets. Their water, being mostly underground and only connected to the sea via some rare exits, is not only crystalline but often cold and refreshing, which no wonder made Cenotes very popular hundreds of years ago among the natives (less obvious why they became popular for sacrifices, guess humans are just weird creatures). To increase their awesomeness, Cenotes are old… very old… having been initially formed millions of years ago, some likely due to the impact of the same meteor that killed the dinosaurs (and how awesome is that! Dinosaurs!). And they are constantly changing, either naturally due to erosion (as in, rocks falling and opening new holes while modifying old ones) or artificially due to irresponsible humans (as in, contaminating the water with garbage, chemicals, and sunscreen – which is impressive in a very twisted way, given that not even the sacrifice supporters of the past thought about getting revenge on their own Gods this way).

Of course, when in Tulum you will probably decide to visit some Cenotes, which creates questions like: How do I get there? Are they always open? How many beers should I bring? What to do in case of a hurricane? To which the answers would be: by ‘colectivo’, bikes, rental cars, shuttles; usually until sunset, around 5 pm, when the old spirits are free to spread fear among tourists left behind; 0 beers (they are, after all, sacred places); and there’s honestly not much you can do, follow the advice from local authorities and enjoy the heavy rainfall, have a pint, and wait for all that to blow over. If you are still confused, here goes a more detailed description. First, colectivos are local buses, usually cheap (around 1 USD), crowded, flexible about their punctuality, and well… a very local experience. Before taking one, it is smart to ask locals exactly how to get there and back and be prepared for unexpected scenarios (once I ended up hitchhiking back to my hostel on the back of a truck since the colectivo took a while to show up and then decided to not bother at all). Second, Cenotes do close early and do not allow alcohol, partially because it’s not really safe to stay there after dark or when drunk, partially because there were stories about Gods from the underworld coming to the surface at night – again, sacred places – and partially because of the local fauna that, perhaps not surprisingly, wants to enjoy their night without many drunk humans around. Exceptions happen when there are special events parties near some Cenotes, as even old spirits cannot say no to a good jungle rave. Third, the area around Tulum is very known for hurricanes. If you happen to be there during the hurricane season (roughly June to November) you can probably experience one.

Maybe it’s obvious at this point, but I did experience a small hurricane there (at least it was a nicely named one – Lisa). And I am aware of the irony of leaving Portugal because of the rain only to land in Mexico just before a heavy rainfall. I even find this amusing now, just more evidence that the universe does have a sense of humor. Anyway, the hurricane lasted until Dia de los Muertos, which was a bit unfortunate, but meant I was not missing out on much of what was happening around me. Contrary to what one would expect, I spent most of the hurricane days in a party hostel, drinking tequila shots inside a very overcrowded pool because not all is lost when you have to improvise. I did follow the advice of not taking a bus south to Bacalar during the three to four days the hurricane lasted (not to mention the protest blocking the road north to Holbox. Amazing timing to arrive, I know). Still, I luckily had a strategy to deal with all the booking cancelations that I think is worth sharing (see TTT2): when you must make bookings in uncertain times (i.e., basically all the time when backpacking), it is helpful to take advantage of the free cancelation policy offered by booking websites. It is also useful to book day-by-day, separately, in case you need to cancel only specific days due to unforeseen circumstances such as a hurricane, roadblocks, or unexpected episodes of madness. When everything else fails, and you still need to cancel some booking, usually a phone call might provide a better solution than purely relying on booking platforms, as many humans are sometimes more understanding than machines (until now, looking at you GPT-4) and might propose alternative arrangements that are better than just losing your money. This free cancelation strategy also comes in handy when you are unsure where to go next, allowing more time to decide before everything good gets booked out. And finally, if many people use it at the same time, we have a real-life application of the Prisoner’s dilemma, so take that people who say you never use the math you learn at school!

Finally, the hurricane ended before the roadblocks, and I managed to take a bus out of Tulum to Valladolid, a small town in the middle of the Yucatán peninsula, but that is a story for the next post. Still, a lot else could be said about Tulum, the pleasant experiences I had there, or the people I met who joined me at my next stop. Even more can be said about the few late-night parties I ended up going to, and how it felt to be in Latin America again. Even even more could be said about the party hostel culture along this backpacking trail or the influencer life many people live in this part of Mexico. Or even the escapism that happened there during the recent pandemic craziness. But this post is supposed to be more or less a first-person story, and back then I had not realized much of what I see now, many months later, so these stories are for the future. Think of this as a weak version of a cliffhanger, with fewer superheroes and exploding things (but stay tuned as some explosions will come in due time).

Still, after writing this post, I realized that I briefly described a few ‘discoveries’ I’ve made along the way. Still, there is no way people will remember them all after reading a travel journal. For the sake of organization and for those humans who prefer lists of elements to written stories (I know, crazy!), I’ll list them below in a not-alphabetical order and hope they help you as they once helped me. And for the entertainment of those humans who, like me, are absolutely amazed after alliterations, I’ll call those Three Travel Tips and treat them like those “Today we learned” parts of old video courses that people normally fast-forwarded to so they could avoid hours of boring tutorials. For the entertainment of all the other humans, here is a photo of my first beach and first street tacos in Mexico, cause who doesn’t like those?

Many, but very importantly not all, airports allow you to spend the night for free, with different levels of comfort, before or after security, and most of those have working free WiFi so you can distract yourself with videos of your favorite animals being cute. It probably won’t be the most comfortable night of your life if you’re fond of beds, but it can be one of the cheapest if you’re fond of saving money. Plus, it is very convenient for those low-budget and not-so-popular 4 am flights. If you find yourself in this situation, there are different ways to proceed, and I would recommend you to: 1) Look for a couch, away from busy terminal areas; 2) Look for a couch in busy terminal areas or closed restaurants (sometimes they don’t kick you out if you leave before they open next morning); 3) Repeat 1 and 2, but with rows of chairs, ideally not made of metal; 4) Carry and use a sleeping bag, find a corner, and use a bag of clothes or jacket as a pillow, which was my choice during the story in this post. Also, there is a really cool website that can help a lot with choosing among options 1 to 4 in different specific airports and terminals around the world, with reviews and all: www.sleepinginairports.net. I hope it stays up so we can lie down more comfortably!

Bad rhymes are better than lost money, after all. Choosing a hostel can be one of the most important parts of traveling solo. Booking, however, has been made easier by two major booking apps (after all, the World is full of Hostels and you can make some Booking on a particular .com website). It is useful to know that, in most cases, you can cancel bookings for free up to a few days before your stay. Specifically, it means three things. First, if you are unsure when exactly you will arrive at a particular place (or how long you are staying), you can always book each day separately and cancel if necessary, a few days before each booked day. This allows for more flexibility or, if you like romantic words, spontaneity. Second, if you are not sure you are going to a good hostel/hotel, instead of risking a long booking that could result in being stuck in a place you don’t particularly enjoy, you can easily cancel later days and change ho(s)tels. Third, if you are not sure where your life is you are going just yet, you can book multiple places in multiple cities and postpone your decision as much as you can (this one works nicely for typical procrastinators like me as well). There are two downsides, though. Booking each day separately may result in stays in different rooms or dorms, and you have to be prepared to check in and out as needed – you can, of course, talk nicely to the people running your accommodation and often you will end up staying in the same bed, but there is no guarantee. You might miss some local deals for longer stays (although those are rare if you use the aforementioned platforms). Overall, I find it useful to make separate bookings in my more uncertain travel times (i.e., always).  

Finally, if you came here looking for what to do in Tulum, here you go, direct and simple. The beach is indeed amazing, the water is warm and very blue and the sand is almost white. Go to Playa Paraiso, it’s free while at most others you need to pay the local restaurants and bars to have access. Go to the Mayan Ruins. Bike or take colectivos to Cenotes, and swim in them, but be careful with the old Gods (except if you leave garbage there, then may the Gods take you somewhere else). Stay in a party hostel and party in the town, as long as you can handle it (see text for the 3 and 5 am important transition points). Avoid hurricanes if you can, or drink a lot of tequila if you can’t. Have patience with the local influencers, Tulum is one of their natural habitats. Stay safe, and avoid walking alone at night, even if you are not doing anything illegal, as some people might pretend you are (and you can’t prove them wrong). Most importantly, enjoy this crazy mix of old and new cultures. And eat cheap street tacos (after all, you’re in Mexico, this is one of the reasons you came here!)