Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Here at last...




Here at last (06/04/2015), 

I'll start with a picture right away this time...


Above: XTC Dive Center Peer, the peer to paradise.

Well here we are again... been a while, I know, but that's mainly because a lot of things had to be done for my departure.  It was all a huge hassle, and I can assure you, there was a lot of planning to do in terms of everything. The decision I made came with all kinds of arrangements to make.

I don't know where to find the inspiration at the moment ... because I am so overwhelmed with all kinds of new experiences. These experiences are totally new. A new environment, a new weather to threat with, new people, a new...everything really. So I'll just continue this when I feel like it I guess.

Ok well, I think I'm going to write some more. (09/04/2015)

So what happened once I got on the plane? I flew from Brussels to Munich and from there to Cancun. Once arrived I got my luggage and got a taxi towards Tulum around 2100h. Initially I didn't want to take a taxi because they are way more expensive than the busses but I hurt my back that bad when taking my luggage from the carrousel that I didn't feel like spending two or three hours on a bus and stopping several times along the way. I just wanted to check into my Hotel Latino in Tulum City Center and relax and get a good sleep. I got there around 11 o'clock in the evening.

My back was killing me so I didn't do anything else than settle in and lie on my bed. Bit sad to be honest, I was so hungry to see the town at night and have a walk to check it out but that didn't happen.
The day after I got a physiotherapist at the hotel, Julian, who gave me a one hour massage to loosen all my muscles. The problem according to him was stress and probably overloaded lower back muscles. I thought I had a nerve stuck somewhere like a hernia. But according to him I was stressed and seen I had done so much hard work to get the apartment ready for selling, getting all furniture out, amongst other things. Basically it all stressed out the muscles that much that I had an inflamed lower back. Great hotel by the way, in the center of Tulum, Hotel Latino.




Above: Hotel Latino outside room view and the pool.

The pool at Hotel Latino, pretty good for a quick refresh and with my back inflamed and muscles all stressed out I did get some water therapy. I love the 'BE FREE' tile writing in the pool. That's entirely what I am trying to achieve... some form of freedom. And above all, doing what I want to do.


Above: Tulum City Hall

Some more Tulum stories first (15/04/2015)


Above: This Mayan Circle is close to Tulum's City Hall, a lot of people gather here for encounters - A lot of people see the Mayan Culture as being dead, but that is entirely incorrect!
I met these two Canadian girls (Meagan and Morgan to the left) at the Hotel Latino and we did go for supper in the evening, since they had been there for a few days already they knew where to go and where there was great foods.
To be honest the food in Tulum was awesome. It's a pure Mexican city, where commercial tourism hopefully will never come. I really enjoyed the city of Tulum.
Taco's with seafood, pork or veal, quesadillas, tortillas, ....everything was super delicious and yes, very cheap indeed. I also had a delicious Mayan meal, picture below. This one really impressed me, so simple but soooo much taste. Nice and spicy but that's the way I like it. I think when food is used with the appropriate spices, nothing can be too spicy.
I always say: Well at least you feel your mouth is alive - after a good spicy meal!
Traditional Mayan dish: Pozole with pork meat. 



It didn't feel comfortable for anything I was wanting to get to do in Tulum.
Luckily the massage helped enough to be able to have the two dives I planned at the Cenotes. So on Sunday I dove two Cenotes: Dos Ojos (Two Eyes) and The Pit. Both of them were amazing and I never dove in a cavern before. Finally diving again! And look where at.

 

Cenotes are freshwater pools connected with each other through underground rivers, finally ending up in the sea. So a lot of them have fresh water on the upper side and salt water deeper down. This combo of two waters creates a cloud between the two different waters that actually don't mix. It's amazing to see.
The Pit has it since it goes down to 65 meters more or less, and somewhere in between at 25-30m the salt water meets the fresh water and a very distinguished cloud is visible. Sublime! I have a video that I will upload showing this cloud formation. The link will follow. The picture above is not me, it's taken from Google Pictures, Cenote The Pit. 

Nothing could beat these two dives at that particular moment. It felt as a total relief from all work and sorrow I had gone through for the past few weeks, maybe months really. I don't have any pictures from the diving, but I do have a movie which I haven't uploaded to YouTube.

Anyways, happy to be where I need to be for my Dive master formation. In Mexico, Quintana Roo, Xcalak.
I passed my EFR (Emergency First Responder), and at the moment I am doing my Rescue Diver. Once I'll be done with that I will start my 3 months internship for Dive Master.
One more picture for you all... XTC Dive Centers' Pier to eXTaCy, the gateway to heaven under water.


PS
You should see the stars here at night... I mean in Belgium, you can easily find the Pole Star and the two Bears but out here, it's a different ballgame... very hard to locate any of the systems I mentioned. I still haven't worked it out to be honest. :-)



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