Valladolid, Fridau

Fri 0807 Sitting slightly awkwardly round the back of a pool and closed area with a coffee. The owner seems to be around although there's actually about three people sitting around by the pool at the cup. I don't think I recognize and maybe... I don't know. A guy, I don't know. I'm sitting from a distance, I'm not great with faces. [Jeez, the voice typing is terrible when you don't correct it.]

Really didn't sleep that well for no massively obvious reasons yes it was warm but not that warm I kept having these I wasn't even a dream it's like I'm tumbling over and I'm continually thinking oh or both my eyes working it's just crazy I wasn't drunk when I had three beers. About half one, maybe one, I decided I'd go to the toilet even though I didn't really need to go. For the first time ever I didn't put any trousers on (just wearing uw). And of course, the other guy, whose name I don't know, but the one who speaks English well, but doesn't seem to be native, I don't know, just waffling for fuck's sake. He was right on the other side of the dorm door as I opened it. It was not a big deal, but annoying. anyway, he turned the air conditioning and the fan on. The air conditioning was very noisy, but did cool it down. But, you know, life being what it is this morning I was feeling cold in bed. I've been tossing and turning for about an hour or two before I got up really hard to say.

It's actually pretty warm out here already. I did know this and I checked on the phone and weathered forecast on our website and it said it was like 24 Celsius out here at this time in the morning. It's just when you're in the dorm and it's all grey and it's air conditioned and there's a coldish breeze with the fan. It's always hard for me to realise that that's not the weather, that's just the room.

I'm not super enthused about going to the Sanote, but I guess I will. It feels like it's already too hot for me. But as far as I can see from this weather forecast, the UV isn't too bad until about 10 or 11. So if I'm over there for 9, it should be fine. I'll come back to the hostel and put some sunblock and stuff on afterwards and maybe have a shower.

I'm not saying I didn't actually get a reasonable amount of sleep in total and maybe I didn't even sleep that bad. I don't know but it was a bit shitty being in bed and not getting to sleep and blah. And I feel a bit weird sitting here and maybe hiding but no one else is talking and I want to get off and fuck. I don't know.

I think it's hard to be sure, I don't know why it's hard to be sure, but I'm just not in the mood to be sure about anything. I think my shoulders hurting a bit from swimming yesterday, which is, in some sense, no bad thing, but obviously, in the very short term, isn't ideal.

1301 at Pollos brujo. They have coke light in the takeaway fridge out front but not in the eat in fridge. I asked the nice enough waiter and no, I cannot have coke light to eat in. They can only serve me what is in the eat in fridge. And I cannot buy a coke light at the takeaway counter (*of the same business*, remember) and eat it in. I pulled incredulous faces and dithered. Vaguely tempted to walk out but it seems broadly OK and it is cool albeit not fully ac cold in here and I do fancy chicken and so I just decided to order a water.

Have given personal demons a bit of a kicking  I went to the Cantor and tbh it was pretty cool. I was in the water about 1h

1338 food came and now in oxxo. Just quick note if didn't say that yday had a sidra negra soft drink and it tasted rather reminsicent of dandelion and burdock.

1944 Okay, I'm going to surreptitiously voice type at the back terrace of St Patrick's Irish Pub. There's very few people around. Didn't really expect it to be a lot of people earlier at this time of night anyway.

So it's probably going to be a bit crap, but bash it out. I've got myself a half-liter of Dos Equis ambar de barril at 65 for the 500 mil, not terrible. Not a terrible day to be honest, I'm feeling a tiny bit down, tiny bit billy no mates. Not a huge deal, but let's just churn through the rings.

So let's just deal with the night first. There's some English language, music, playing from speaking on too far behind me. It doesn't seem to be fucking things up, but I'm just mentioning it.

So after I got back I had a swim which was reasonably successful so two swims today I was in the water about 32 minutes I think. I did swim most of that I made a bit of an effort. Anyway I had a shower and I did a bit of surreptitious water only washing of some clothes as well and I hung those up around where the swimming stuff was hidden, where I've been told to hang it yesterday. I didn't have any clothes pegs handy so I should have gone and got someone brought some out but I'm sure it'll be alright.

So I had a shave with my crappy razor at a shower before and after the pool. I cleaned my teeth and I came out. I think Brazilian woman was actually sitting in reception. I said hello to her, but in hindsight I should have said, oh is there any way good to go or do you want to go out for a drink, not trying to chat her up, but anyway I didn't. Maybe I'm too intimidated by someone who I think is perhaps a long-term guest. There were a couple of, to be honest, rather chunky looking, unknown guys of in European nationality. They don't sound any obvious language I've heard about. They seem to keep themselves very much themselves so far. They turned up today. There's also one oldish, orientalish looking woman who was on the terrace earlier. So I didn't do any voice typing there after the swim when I was having a couple of coffees. But anyway, it's not super busy. I've not seen the guy I showed myself. I've seen my underwear too. I saw quite a bit yesterday since. I've seen the Canadian Mexican guy briefly, but not really to speak to. Speak to you.

So anywhere I came out and I half wish I'd spoken to that Brazilian woman and I'm wandering around the night life here is maybe not all it could be and I'm thinking what the fuck am I going to do and I'm feeling a tiny bit down not so much specifically because it's a night but because you know the trips coming an end and although I need to decide and I'll probably waffle about it later I need to decide if I want to be in a dorm or not or in a hotel with the private room but which even further lowers the chances of meeting people in Cancun but more on that later.

Oh, I spoke to the owner. He was helping me with the coffee a bit awkward. And I asked if I could extend. I checked on booking.com and got a price and he said, oh yeah, you can just pay me that. I didn't ask for a discount. He can have the booking.com commission money right. Paid him 200 and it should be about 167. I've not seen him since. I'm sure he'll remember to give me the change. It's not the end of the world. Anyway, I have now extended for Saturday night at least.

So I was wandering around a bit and I thought, oh, maybe I'll go to, I was looking at organic maps, and I had seen this Irish pub earlier and I'd sort of forgotten where it was, but I had seen it. So I thought, oh, I could go to La Officina, Cantina, which had spotted the other day when looking for that Chinese place. And I went over there, it's near Yupteco, whatever that place is called, which is a bit quiet, and I'd rather save that for a second try tomorrow, I'm not desperate to go. So I got down to Lafusina and there's a couple of work guys come out in overalls which is obviously not a problem as such and then this slightly strange looking woman was going in and also I'm sure it's not really as sinister as I'm making out. It looked a bit nightclub inside and even though it looks like it's sort of open, hallish kind of place. There's a big sort of banner saying Lafusina which blocks off seeing in there from the street you have to sort of you turn around that either side to get out. You can't see what's going on inside, and I'm on my own and it's like, maybe I should have done, maybe it had been fun, but I just like, I've got no idea what it's like in there, fuck it, I'm not going.

So, I remembered seeing this Irish pub this afternoon  and I couldn't remember where it was, so the bus terminal was nearby, so I went there on the off chance I could get Wi-Fi, which I couldn't, but I managed to get data on my sim in the P7, and I quickly turned that on and had a look on Google Maps. It was just south of the main square on 42. So I came here, felt a bit of a cop-out. It's bigger than I thought, it doesn't feel very matey. I thought I might be able to sit at the bar and get into a chat with a tourist or something, but there was no one else sitting at the bar. By the time I got served and I thought fuck it, I'll come out into the garden now and I've got one because it's a bit cooler.

So I'll talk about the meta-minestate stuff later so let's go back to the Sonote. It was pretty cool as I said actually to be honest, I went swimming, everyone's wearing a life jacket of course. Still a tiny bit weird to be in there because as soon as you're about meter from the edge. In fact basically out of the edge around most of it, except for a couple of sort of step type bits at one end, both ends of the one side where there's a built up platform, it's like, I don't know how deep it actually is, but it's like so deep. It's almost enough. Obviously it's fine in the life jacket and I didn't freak out, but you know, it was a little bit weird so I guess there's a learning experience there for a start.

So I'm doing a bad breaststroke around wearing the life jacket and occasionally putting my head under the water. I'm wearing my prescription goggles. I didn't take my glasses. I left in my shoes in the changing. Well, I left them with the woman at the desk because that's like I said yesterday. There isn't actually a locker. You couldn't really see anything under the water. The water was slightly dark looking, not massively intimidating but a bit. But unless you were near the edges where there were some rocks, you'd basically shove your head under and it's like there's nothing to see. Half of it's covered over as well and, you know, I went early, it was about nine till half ten, maybe eleven by the time I'd finish walking around afterwards.

So it was quite cool, erm, anyway, people were jumping in at some times, not all that often, but quite a lot off this high spot, which I subsequently estimated to be at 4 to 5 metres high, you know, by sticking my arm out and measuring the angular size of it in terms of fingers and comparing that to people at the same distance. So I estimate 4 to 5 metres above the water. So people jumping in and for something, I'm not going to do that, I don't know how to land, I might enter badly. And I sort of gradually worked around in my head because it's like I did kind of want to do it and also unlike some place where I see people jumping in, the wall was more or less sheer and I already knew from having done a swim around the outside that there wasn't really much in the way of rocks under the surfaces like get deep practically immediately.

So, you know, from, oh, I'm not going to do that maybe another time, it was now oh, maybe I could do that, oh, maybe I should do a practice jump in off the side where it's just a meter of the water or half a meter or whatever (which I didn't do as a practice in the end), so  fuck it, I'll get out and have a look. And I even scrambled up some slightly crappy rock exit bit, which you didn't need to use in hindsight, and I'm not sure. Many people did, but, you know, queued off. So I wandered around up there, there's a sort of path around the far side of the cenote, so you can go up.

So I walked up there and I stood on the bit where you jump off and fuck me, did it look high, and I'm like, fuck, and I'm wandering round and I'm kind of hoping to watch someone else jump off, but of course no one else is jumping by this point, just so it's law right. And I can't remember whether I actually saw someone else jump from up there before I did, but I'm standing up there and I'm kind of dithering round and I'm remembering jumping into the deep end of the pool in lessons. And I'm thinking, you know, I should just fucking go for it and sort of pencil jump or whatever.

So, you know, I did jump and it was like a bit, fucking ill just mad go for it without thinking about it, sort of thing, because otherwise I don't think I could have done it, and it was kind of terrifying and kind of cool, and my bum took the brunt of the impact. I didn't like land flat on my stomach, but I must have not had my legs straight out under me or something, because my bum felt like I had the most epic spanking ever. And so I'm sitting there and landing in the water, and I was there in a lifejacket, I dont have to worry about treading water, and I'm like checking I'm okay with the water. both my eyes still working shit.

So I wasn't going to do it again, but I kind of felt I ought to, after seeing some other people, at some point, maybe at this point, I did do a jump off the not very high platform into the equally deep water where you can get in. It's only steps at the ends of that platform. So I did that, which was almost as terrifying, not because of the height, but because I'm thinking, what if there's fucking rocks under there, even though I kind of knew there wasn't, because I'd swim along there, but you know, that's the psychology of it. You know, it's been a while, but it always feels slightly scary jumping in the deep end at the pool. But anyway.

And it's, as I say, at some points mixed in with the big jumps, I did do one or two, or maybe three off that shallow bit. But I went into the second one off the top just to sort of prove I could do it again, and again my bum took the brunt of the impact, but, you know, I basically didn't massively hurt myself. And then I think I swum around a bit more and I'm like, okay, I've been in maybe an hour, I think I was in like an hour and ten minutes-ish in total. And it was like, okay, I'll probably get out now, there's no point milking it.

And then I'm not quite sure what happened. I kind of thought, oh I'm gonna walk around and it's like I got, I ought to do another one before I go, you know, just for the hell of it. And so I did it again and it was no, it was still terrifying to jump off each time. But for whatever reason, maybe just luck or maybe I was getting calmer or learning to balance. Although I certainly felt it, I didn't get quite the same bum impact on the third one. It felt a bit more good, not good, but felt better, you know.

You know, I've seen people jumping off things before, like at that pool, towards the bottom of Montezuma in Costa Rica and, you know, when some of the guys jumped off the dock into atitlan in Guatemala, and at least this one, unlike that jump in the Costa Rica, Montezuma one, it felt like it was a pretty much sheer drop, so it wasn't too much of a concern, psychologically, yes, but in reality, not too much of a concern about it. about not jumping far enough out and smashing into the rocks. And you know, I've always been jealous of seeing other people do it because it looks kind of fun. Although I suppose technically, given everyone's wearing a life jacket here, it almost technically wouldn't matter if I couldn't swim, but you know, maybe I wouldn't have had the confidence to be there in the first place or to jump if I didn't have some basic swimming ability. So, I guess it probably has helped a bit. Anyway, so as I say, personal demons given at least a bit of a kicking there.

Downside here is I was wearing my headscarf, sorry, my bandana, and although I probably didn't need it in hindsight because I've deliberately gone early when the UV was low, the UV doesn't really get up to about 11. Plus it was in a kind of deep-ish cavern and half of it was covered over, so I probably didn't actually need anything on my head at all, but I was wearing my bandana. Also, for what it's worth, although I maybe did the right thing anyway, I didn't see a single mention of not wearing sunscreen to protect the cenote here, so I probably could have slathered my head in sunblock if I wanted to. But I didn't anyway.

Anyway, I don't know whether the life jacket was just ill-fitting or if it was the jumps that started at ill-fitting or it was just the jumps or just swimming around. At some point I noticed I'd lost my bandana and I think what happened is that the back of the life jacket was rubbing right up against the back of my head so it almost certainly dislodged it. Maybe I was just swimmingaround, maybe with the jumps. It's a shame, I've had it since 2018. I've not used it a huge amount but when I've used it, it's been nice and I don't like losing things, especially things I've had for a while but I don't, I'm losing anything. But it's gone.

I did keep having a look around for it and I thought I saw it in the water once or twice from the edge and I swam around hoping I'd find it because I imagine it could well have floated near the surface, you know, it's a waterlogged rag but I don't think that's totally impossible but I didn't find it. I suppose if I had to lose it it wasn't too bad a time to do it, at least I lost it doing something kind of memorable and I don't expect to need it to protect my head from swimming for the rest of the time here, when I'm in the hostel pool I am just wearing actual regular swimming costume, no t-shirt, no banana, no sunblock because it's late enough at the day that the UV is not a concern.

So when I got out, I went back into the changing room, there was a sign saying it was 5 pesos, but the woman at the ticket desk had told me it was free with my wristband that I got from my 150 entry fee, and given everyone would have to pay that, everyone could use the changing rooms are free, so I'm not quite sure why there was a possible 5 peso charge, or why so many people seemed to be at least partially changing around the edge, but anyway, the showers in there didn't really matter. This was a changing cubicle and some toilets.

At that point I realised that I had lost the wristband I got when I went in, now I had told the woman to make it loose and I put my finger under it, that itself probably didn't matter which she maybe didn't fasten it completely flat. I don't know if I lost it just swimming around or jumping in or maybe it even got knocked off when the guy was helping me take my life jacket off when I got out and went to collect my bag after that and then changed. But anyway I did lose the wristband as well. Luckily, I didn't realise that until after I'd come out and I'd already asked the woman on the desk if I could go back in fully clothed with my phone to take some photos, and she said yes, and I was wearing a long sleeve top, and I think she obviously remembered me, so I deliberately said, oh is it okay again to her as I was heading down just to get her to acknowledge me, and so no one tried to check my wristband, they probably thought it was hidden under my own sleeve, and she remembered me, so I was able to get back in to take some photos, so obviously not my phone with me when I was actually swimming.

So I took a few photos, although of course no one was jumping in from the high spot then and when they did I felt a bit of a perv because I was in the wrong place or it was a kid or something or I started filming too late, in the end I did manage to film someone jumping off so at least I've got that kind of memory. It is vaguely possible someone filmed me jumping off not saying they did but there were people around and maybe someone did.

At one point they're actually a couple of those turkey vultures sitting practically on the jumping off point which you could make some jokes about. That was very cool. I only had the O6 so I couldn't zoom in on them but I've got some bad photos of that. I hadn't seen any of those earlier.

Oh, when I was wandering around the pool, I think before I went off to get changed, but you know, walking around in my swimming gear, but on the path, I did see a woman jump in. She was the last person I saw before I went to get changed. She looked a bit nervous at first, but then she just very calmly, to my mind, almost stepped off the edge like I've sometimes been told to do in the pool back home. So that just shows, I guess, that it really is a pretty sheer drop and you don't need to jump. So she just stepped off and just fell straight down and did a very straight entry in the water. Obviously, probably partly skill, but also, I guess stepping off does probably help you stay upright.

So I was pretty pleased with myself, to be honest, and by the time I'd actually finished swimming and done the little visit in my clothes and everything, it was probably getting on for 11 or half past. I think I wandered around a bit trying to find the ice cream place that I'd had a fairly decent and cheap palleta de cream de nuez yesterday, I couldn't find it. I went back to the hostel, I think, and dropped my clothes off and changed my phone, and then I went down to Pollo Brujo for lunch. and I think I already wrote about that.

So after Poiobrujo, I thought I'd head down towards the convent, and then walk back up Caldas de los frailes, and I did that, and there was a museum there, and only 40 to get kn. It was actually surprisingly good, the building was the main attraction, the garden was really quite nice. It wasn't as cool as I'd hoped in the buildings, but there was a bit of coolness, and it was pretty nice, and especially for two, I'm not complaining, some iguanas in the garden, and I even saw a cat there. Yeah, I mean that was quite nice, got some photos, obviously.

After that, I think I wandered back into town up Calzada, as I said, not super impressed with that, a little bit boutique, but you know, nice to have seen it. I think it might have been on this bit of the walk that I spotted this Irish pub for the first time. I then started vaguely combing around the place, trying to find that ice cream in place, just for the hell of it more than anything. It was good and cheap, but not that good, or that amazing, but I wanted to find it. I knew it was somewhere on 40, so I started zigzagging up the side streets. I did eventually find it, and I went in there and I had a strawberry one today, and then I went back to the hostel for coffee (though there was no ground coffee and i had to ask and they sorted it after i had swum) and a swim.

So a waiter  just came round and although I ordered the first one at the bar and paid for it there I've ordered another one of the same that means I'm gonna have to tip now but not the end of the world. And then depending on how I'm feeling I might go back and have that one that's in the fridge. I might even get another one on the way back or something but we'll see how it goes. 65 isn't amazing but it's not terrible even if you have to tip on right. At least I'm out and about.

So, with regards to just the general psychology and mindset and where we're going ( nd what a pile of psycho-wank this
is), as I say, I was actually relatively chuffed even up to the point of going back to the hotel and having the swim. Then when I started thinking about the evening and I came out for the evening, it started to go just a tiny bit pear-shaped in my head, not terrible, not waves of despair, but you know, as I said earlier, a little bit billy no mates, etc.

I think the thing is, although it's not a big deal, because I'm coming to the end of the trip, and there's a strong possibility, at least, that I will have a private room in a hotel, rather than a hostel in Cancun, in part out of general laziness and introversion, and in part because I do like to have a private the night before I fly, but it's not critical, and we'll come on to that in a minute, so that this is my last hostel, and while I'm enjoying the swimming pool, and the fact that I can get into a bit of practice before I go back, it's a bit disappointing that it's not super social, and this is it, because Cancun is not going to be a hostel. so there isn't another roll of the social dice as it were.

The music here is super 80's and kind of cool in a very slightly cheesy way. But Jesus, they're just playing a song and I won't know what it is until it starts up. But I had it on a crappy, double tape greatest hits of the 80's or 90's compilation. Lost in a dream. I don't know which way to go.... Moving way too slow.. Love caught into the slamming door.  Yeah, I can't remember the exact name, but Jesus don't particularly like it, but it doesn't feel like I've heard it since I listened to that compilation tape back in the day. It was actually one that was bought, I think it was a Christmas present. Anyway, just an aside.

So I have booked here for Saturday night, and I'm currently overpaid, but that will be fine. I'm torn about the Sunday night. It's cheaper being in this hostel here than being in a private room in Cancun, but really the money is not an enormous factor. It would be kind of nice to actually go into Cancun Centro and have a bit of time there and maybe, like, find something I like, because I'm too negative about Cancun. It's like, as a resort, I'm sure it's fine, I just don't like resorts. It's relatively expensive because it's a big city and there's a resort connection, but even so, the centro isn't necessarily that bad. If I could, you know, it's the sort of place where over the years I could find myself spending a few days at a time over and over again, and if I could develop some sort of affection for the centre, that would be great.

I mean, unless some massively social shit turns up at this hostel, I think there's little social reason to stay here Sunday. I think V is a little cooler than I thought it could be, not actual temperature wise, unfortunately. And like, I don't know if I went to Ecbalam on a previous visit, or I certainly wouldn't have gone to some of the other cenotes nearby, and even if Ecbalam has been visited, it would certainly be worth a revisit after more than 15 years by the time I come back. I could totally see myself coming back here again on another trip. For a few days, you know, hopefully feeling less pressured because it's the early part. But I'm not doing that sort of stuff now. So if I stay here on Sunday, it will be just a potter around, maybe swimming the hostel, which is perhaps the big thing. But you know, otherwise it would just be pottering around and maybe some random museum or something, which is fine. But you know, let's be honest, there's no massive social dimension. I'm not doing any major side trips.

So, I think, on the one hand, barring something turning up, whoch obviously change the calculus, or, you know, me somehow having a major time out in Saturday night, which things unlikely, because every time I want to through that plaza that Mark told me about, it's nice enough, but it doesn't as pub, submit it as people with caguamons, or something, then maybe, but I don't really want to be cadging of them on my own, and I don't know, I will go out tomorrow night, but I'm not super optimistic. So, as it looks at the moment, pleasant enough as a hostel is, modulo temperature questions in the dorm, which are just down to people. The main attraction to staying on Sunday is the chance to swim another time, but even if I don't get to swim tomorrow, and I probably will, I could always swim first thing Sunday morning from leaving, I'd rather not, and if I can swim tomorrow night, I probably won't, but I've already swum three times in two days. If I swim tomorrow evening, that would be four times in three days. There's no point going absolutely mad on it, but all else being equal, yeah sure, if I stay this Sunday, it's a possible extra opportunity to swim, although the pool might be chopped out somehow and I don't.

On the flipside, if I go to Cancun on Sunday I get two nights and probably like two half days and a full day there. If I'm in a private room, in a sort of Mexicany bit of the centre near the bus terminal, I do have a hotel in nind. That might be kind of cool, I could maybe even go in a local bar or I could just wander around and find a restaurant I like and it'd be like, oh yeah, I quite like this little bit of Cancun, you know, this will be a nice place to come on the next time I fly in here.

And I could of course also choose to go into a hostel, ideally in Centro. The trouble is, unless I pay through the nose for a private and I'm not even sure that's an option, that would mean being in a dorm. But, you know, that would be another roll of the dice, and does it really matter if I'm going to dorm for another couple of nights, would be nice to do a tiny bit of clothes washing in a private ensuite, but I'm sure I could get by or go to a laundry or something. And I don't have to have a private before I fly, and you know, it's maybe that's an option. It would still be in centro, so if nothing does work out of the whole stall, I've still got a chance to wander the local area and get to know people that's not going to happen, but you know, find places I like or go to a local bar. And if the hostile does happen to be social then yes sure I've not been to any local places so much but I could do that on another trip and I've had something else in return.

Not saying I didn't like the place I stayed when I arrived this time, but, you know, perhaps I was feeling more confident another time. Now I know it's relatively easy to get a bus into the centre of town. I could think from the airport, I mean, I could stay at one of those local Mexican-ish hotels in centre near bus terminal. Now I've got the idea that Cancun is probably not quite such a bear pit as I envisioned when I was sitting at home befofe coming out here. So, you know, I could do the trying to find little places that I love or at least like, or I think, oh yeah, I always come here in Cancun Centro at the start of another trip when having a private is desirable because I want to recover from the fly and I'd also have the option then to stay a few more days if I wanted. I probably shouldn't book to travel on straight away as I did this time. I shouldn't book before I come home, you know, I should book more on the fly.

So, anyway, obviously I could do all this if I only go to Cancun on Monday, and that way I'm still there ready to fly on Tuesday. I don't think I'm going to go from Valladolid on Tuesday unless something happens to make it massively more appealing here. But, you know, even if I went on Monday, that takes the pressure off with the flight, but it means I have two sort of crappy half days in Cancun, which isn't great for socialising at a hostel and isn't great for exploring the central area from a local hotel either.

So, unless something changes, I'm fairly strongly leaning towards leaving here, relatively early on Sunday morning, and spending Sunday and Monday nights in Cancun, and much as I do think there's some value in having a private before I fly, I am kind of tempted to go for some sort of maybe social hostel, but in the centre, I mean it's probably going to be full of party people who want the beach, but if it's a centro-hostel, maybe not too much, and the downside isn't too great, because apart from the loss of the privacy and convenience of the private, if hostel isn't social, I'm not that much worse off than with the local hotel (I can still explore centro and try to find stuff I like), though it js just possible at the local hotel I get chatting to some locals, or the staff would be instructive or something, but not a huge aspect of it.

Anyway, I don't have to decide now. I may well sort of start to research hostels tomorrow, because it's going to be a fairly slack day apart from some souvenir shopping, and I can put the final decision off until Sunday morning, you know. I don't want to leave too late if I am leaving, but I'm pretty sure I could, like, get up eightisg, do a bit of research and book the hostel and the bus or the hotel or whatever, and then leave Sunday tenish. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, right? Anyway, that's what I'm currently thinking.

Obviously, having been here talking close up to my phone all the time isn't super encouraging of socialising, but there's basically like two tables of people and they're in fairly big groups, one of them is three youngish women and one of them is a slightly weird looking mixed group, it's even bigger. I'm not feeling super social, I mean I kind of feel I should try and do some of the stuff Mark was talking about, but end of trip and the situation and blah blah blah, I'm just not feeling it, so anyway. Thanks for watching.

I'll leave that thanks for watching in just to show it does happen occasionally even though I clearly didn't say that.

2045 Just been for piss, asker waiter to look after my beer, although I can't really see anything happen to it. I went for piss when I got here, but I was reminded of going in that there's actually like three women painted on the wall, I think it's a photo, peering down at the urinal, making joking comments. I took a photo of it when I got here. It's probably not remotely novel, but I don't think I've ever seen it before. It's slightly off-putting tbh. :-)

I am probably going to go after this. I'm not feeling super social, I don't think this place is going to be super social. I've got one left back at the hostel, assuming no one's taken it. That's probably enough. It's not like I have to get drunk, not like I really want to get drunk. I can maybe have a beer tomorrow night, I can maybe have a beer Sunday night. To some extent I have a beer Monday night, right? So no point pushing it. By the time I leave here it's probably going to be nine, maybe quarter past. By the time I get back to the hostel after maybe buying a snack on the way, maybe even getting something from a street stall. It's going to be ten by the time I get to bed probably later, so that's not too early. No point wasting beer allowance and money  when I'm not having a good time, maybe another night I will. Not having a terrible time, but it's just a bit mehish.

OTOH, although a touch expensive, one more here wouldn't hurt and I could then have that one back at hosfel too or have it tomorrow. Not sure.

It's not a huge concern, but because I've been deliberately running my cash down, I am going to need to get some out, but I keep putting it off because it's like I have got enough. I've got about 700 pesos left at the moment and a couple of cash cards and a credit card, but I normally feel a lot more confident when I know that I've got like 1500 or 2000 pesos secreted around me for emergencies. I'm probably going to withdraw some tomorrow, but that's how I keep putting it off because the later I leave it, the clearer it is how much I might need, so I can avoid being stuck with too much. It's fine. I mean, it probably won't be 12 odd years until I come back like it was last time. I kind of hope to come back fairly soon, but it could still be a couple of years at least. I don't mind having 100 quids worth of pesos back at home, but I don't want 300 quids worth sitting around The notes aging and inflation eating away at it, if I can help it, it's not a huge deal.

I was thinking earlier, and not for the first time during this trip, that other there's lots of factors and they're kind of positive factors in the whole in the sense that there's things I'd sort of rather be doing at hlme. But I am wondering if I should maybe see if I can get away, perhaps not for a full two to three month trip, although see how it goes this autumn, but anyway, see what happens. Groovejet's just starting to play. Ah, the angular songstress!

There might be live music here, Fridays and Saturdays at 9.30, I can't read the sign properly, there's a microphone or a cymbal covering the days of the week, it may also not be regular but a guy is fiddling around down there with a guitar. That might tip me over the edge and, you know, have one or two more here. I think the hostel locks up at 11, in theory, I've got a key but I'm not super keen to test it, I don't want to get off my face either. On the other hand, you know, it's not super cheap but I can handle the cost, not pissed. Yeah, we'll see how it goes maybe. And tomorrow I don't have to get up super early, I don't want to waste the day. But today I want to get up early for the cenote,
Sunday I want to get up early to sort out booking if I haven't, and also to get over to Cancun. Monday's my last full day, but I can have a bit of a lie in if I want, tueaday maybe too but I've got to check out and maybe I want to take advantage of the last morning. So if I'm up a little late tomorrow and I'm probably looking at like four slightly expensive pints here, it's not the end of the world, you know, each half litres (don't satisfy etc) probably going to work about £2.50 with tip.

2101 ring my bell as guy practices on guitar. I should have said the music was retro not 80s.

2156 band started about 2115 and are just taking a 5/10/15 min break. I have about a quarter of my third half litre. They are not bad, doing reggaeish covers of popular songs from a range of genres. Audience might be a mix of tourists and locals but hard to be sure.

I am seriously a bit torn. It's kind of tempting to stay, but I'm a little bit worried about getting into the accommodation after 11. I wouldn't mind getting a snack and just eating it before I go to bed. Music is good, but it's not like amazing. I'm just vaguely edgy in a strange way. I'm sure it's perfectly safe to walk back, but you know, but if I cut into the accommodation, I don't want to get too drunk. I don't fucking know. But I also don't want to just throw away this really not that bad night out of some vague, not quite sure feeling.

"This is how we do it". Not recent but feels notes recent than most songs played by bar (not band).

I am half thinking one more beer and then leave even mid set or if they haven't come on. And maybe get the bill with the beer. If I have time to get a snack on way home I will, if not no big deal. And if I miss the 11 lockup I can *probably* get in anyway, and if I can't if is not So insanely late that making noise to get let in is totally out of order. And I might be drunk if anyone wanting to judge but will not be off my tits.

Loads of tables still free on terrace. And people keep leaving and then a handful more come in. The guidebook doesn't even bother to mention any bars to go to in Valladolid for nightlife, just rather stupidly saying you should go to Merida for nightlife, but the guidebook's kind of shit, right? I don't know. I'm sure locals go out sometimes whether they go here or they're going to canteen us or what. Anyway, not complaining, just an observation.

2311 Just got home, the place was locked up, but it was trivial to get in round the back, half wish I'd stayed later at bar but you know, first time I'd done it, so what can you say? I couldn't see anywhere really obvious to buy a snack, although I wanted one less than I did earlier in the night, and I can always gorge myself tomorrow, I'm not feeling particularly hungry, I'm having a glass of water down in the lower, terracy area inside, and then I go clean my teeth and go to bed.

I walked past Tres mentiras on the way back. Incidentally, it was quiet and dark on street, but I wasn't particularly freaked out, which I guess is good. Hardly anyone there, but it looked slightly fun in a strange way. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow night. I will maybe check that square out. Oh, I looked at it from down the other end of the alley on walk back just nkw, and it didn't look terribly lively tonight. Anyway, I think a solid fallback option tomorrow night would be going to St Patrick s, but a little bit later, you know, especially if there's a different band, but even the same one would be ok. Anyway, just a thought.

2318 Okay, obviously there's no sign of anyone. I had two glasses of water, so I'm gonna go up and clean my teeth and go to bed. I'll send this now.

Merida-Valladolid

Thu 1033 at terminal. Vaguely got up about 8-9. Didn't sleep too badly but not great.

Booked hostel - went for the one with the pool, in the coldish light of dawn this appeals less but none of the other options seemed massively better and if I can swim a bit over next few days that would ease pain of resuming lessons. I booked bus, much fuckery but since I also had weird fuckery with trying (and giving up) to book a swimming lesson for when i get back I am not entirely sure this is ado's fault, although tbh what worked on what phone when is a confused mess. And ado are a bunch of arseholes for blocking vpns - so what if someone scrapes their site? The end result can only be someone *buying a ticket from ADO*. They are providing a real world service, not a digital only thing which can be pirated and deprive them of revenue.

I didn't say yday but when in little supermarket I went to nearish hostel next to Oxxo (I didn't use oxxo actually even if I said I did), a woman had left her shopping trolley in queue and I pushed ahead as wasnt sure it wasnt just deserted and she came back and I moved to let her go ahead of me and she was almost "this guy is a mental patient" levels of reassuring and almost patronisingly nice and said I only had two items so go ahead of her and it was all just a little odd. While not super cheery I also don't think I was feeling noticeably worked up or stressy or panicked or anything.

And it just hit me that the Spanish "X wishes you a pleasant journey" spiel played automatically by some companies at most of these terminals is reminiscent of the Spanish woman giving a little speech in the Strangler's "Spain".

1044 just done bloody Duolingo to get it out of the way. (There is free WiFi at the terminal.)

Ad here says Campeche carnival is on for nearly a month. Perhaps this explains the relatively low key nature of it. Maybe not.

I didn't take advantage of private room to exercise. Easy to make excuses but given I was only there two nights and yesterday I left late even without exercising and had eaten by the time I got back and the other days were arrival or departure days I can't totally blame myself.

Ado won't even allow you to download your own ticket using the link they emailed you via a VPN. Which is just arse squared. (And of course they can't simply attach the ticket to the email, because reasons. No password is needed to use the download link in the email, so I see no security benefit here and it is just extra inconvenience even if you are not using a VPN.)

1056 yay-ish. On his. I spoke to guy and he scanned my ticket so should be fine. He told me to put bag in boot and I asked and he said no and then changed his mind, so it is in rack. But... They are announcing buses, ans showing them on the screen (this is in area B, presumably for more local buses, I was told to come there and showed my ticket in entry) *but* this bus was nkt announced. Or shown in screen. If I hadn't happened to get confused and think the 1100 chetumal bus which was announced was mine I could and probably would have missed my bus, and I honestly don't think it would have really been my fault. Fuck knows.

I hope this is the right bus but hell, if did say valladolid on the front and as I say the guy checked my ticket too.

This is potentially the second to last "long" bus hop of the trip.

1101 seeing a handful of other people boarding - bus is mostly empty - I do wonder if there was an announcement/departure board entry shown between me coming out here and now. No way to know.

1104 I haven't checked my old notes but my memory suggests that on 2010 trip I was coming into Valladolid on a fairly long night bus. I have these weird and probably completely wrong dusty "desert" images in my head.

1116 paw patrol super film or something like that is on. Put my headphones on...

1223 it is freezing on the bus. Got fleece on and it is still a bit cold.

The film just had a point where all the dogs gave their superpower crystals to one because she needed them. This triggered the odd thought of a world where you could maybe go rent a superpower crystal from shop for the day. Odder still, I didn't think you could rent one for the fun of it to go flying or something, but to help you do the housework or something, like you might rent

1258 coming into Pisté terminal.

Some sort of vaguely martial arts superpower film on. Marvel branded. Some stuff about ten rings of power but some woman guardian of the last place unconquered on earth by the guy with the 10 rings defeats him without breaking sweat (I have to admire her commitment to non-intervention, given she could have done this any time but waited til he turned up at her village) then maybe gives him the rings back anyway, but now we are in modern day San Francisco and some youngish guy has a green pendant that maybe gives him super fighting skills but I don't really know and am not actively watching, it is just hard not to see bits and pieces.

2035 Sitting on the deserted hostel terrace outside by the two pools, I've just got back. The only person I've seen is the owner who's sitting inside, so goodnight to him. I'll say hello, whatever.

No one else seems to be around just to jump ahead maybe slightly. There's one ex-guest now friend of owner, a Canadian Mexican chap who I spoke to whenI arrived who's staying here, and there's a young Brazilian woman (who is nearly always sitting in dorm on laptop giving english lessons to brazilians or talking to friends - she seems nice and polite and friendlyish in our brief interactions tho) and there's another guy who speaks very good English but I don't know whether he's a guest or where he's from. I don't think I've seen anyone else. There seem to be like three of us in my dorm, which is me, the Brazilian woman and that guy who isn't the owner or the friend. I don't think I've seen anyone else. It's fine. It's fine. I'm just saying everyone's seems to speak English with the possible exception of a youngish Mexican woman who seems to be staff and for all I know she does speak English. However I'm not saying anything terribly controversial and no one is remotely near me so it's a lot easier to use the voice typing.

For the record, I had two Bohemia oscufas in a bar which we'll come onto as I do the chronological stuff. I'm just about to crack open one of two dos equis I bought at a six on the way back. It seems to be one of those states, I'm guessing, where oxo and other places don't sell beer. Like, Campeche, maybe. Anyway, that's my inference.

Okay, so we got into valladolid probably more or less on time. I walked to the hostel, no problem. Got checked in, as I say, spoke to that Canadian Mexican chap and then the owner, I think he's called Oscar. Everyone very nice, everyone seems to speak English. I got into the dorm, I had a lower bunk without asking. I thought I had to send that message. Brazilian woman was on the bunk, giving a lesson, but I sort of nodded at her and it was fine, We spoke briefly when she happened to finish her lesson just as I was about to leave after unpacking myself and making my bunk. Turns out it was a 30-pesso charge here to have unlimited coffee that you make yourself, and water for the duration of your stay. Wasslightly taken aback. But I thought I'd go for that, I just hope if I do extend, I don't have to pay that again, because it's not the end of the world. Jumping ahead again, I did have a cup of coffee, which probably already puts me ahead of the game, and I've taken a little bit of water. So, while I hope not to pay again, it's not a huge deal.

So I went out and to be honest, for no really obvious reason I was feeling a little bit out of it and a little bit frustrated and a little bit what the hell am I doing here. It's not like I was starving because I had those Takis Fuego this morning and I had 100gish nuts and fruit on bus when a sudden hunger pang came on so it's not like I was absolutely starving nor did I feel actively starving but anyway I was wandering around and it's fairly hot and I'm in a bit of a bad mood and I'm kind of recognising this but it is hard to mentally adjust.

I wandered around and I really wasn't sure what I was even looking for and maybe there's an element of weirdness at the end of the trip and I'm feeling lazy or just want to be home or missing the social stuff I've had recently or I just don't know. Anyway, nothing huge but just saying strange mood.

So I thought I'd go over to the Cenote in town and have a look at it. I didn't have any swimming gear with me and I wasn't in town to swim. I just wanted to check it out on the rules. So I went there and I queued up in the shortish queue and I spoke to the woman. And I wasn't rude, honestly. I wasn't super excited or super friendly, but I wasn't rude. And I spoke to in Spanish. There's also signs. Turns out lifejackets are mandatory, which pissed me off a bit at the time, but I can kind of see that if that's the rules, that's the rules. And other cenotes are probably the same, and it does at least avoid any, oh, am I good enough swimmers to need one or not? So, you know, and I suppose it's an experience. It's 150 pesos, which is slightly steep, including the lifejacket higher. There's no lockers, but you can leave your bag with the woman at the counter where you pay, and there are apparently changing rooms. apparently changing rooms.

So I walked away from that, and I wandered around a bit more, and I said I still wasn't sure what I wanted, and I didn't really feel like eating in any Mexican place, because I didn't want to faff with sauces and fucknose what. Anyway, I decided I'd have a look and see if I could find a chicken place, because I still actually haven't had a proper kind of chicken over a fire, rotisserie kind of place, and there's lots of them, so you could even argue that's authentic. Just an awful lot of them don't let you eat in, or it's too hot and the last thing I really feel like doing is Sitting in an unair-conditioned room, sweating my balls off, eating greasy chicken.

So I was heading over to what might have been somewhere like that, based on organic maps, which does not seem to be terribly up to date in this part of the world, and I came across a Chinese, you know, pick your own and they serve you once buffetish kind of cheap place, super down at heel. Anyway, I went in there and I ordered some stuff, and to be fair, it wasn't too bad. I didn't have a drink because all the stuff in the fridge was warm and the thermometer on the fridge said 14 Celsius. Fingers crossed it was okay. There were a few people in there. So there's that. I then came back to the hostel and I walked past the chicken place which I'd been heading to and it looks maybe okay so I've kind of penciled that in for tomorrow at some point.

I think, to be honest, the whole swimming thing in its different forms, you know, the lesson at home, wanting to swim here, the fact I haven't swum much, the whole cenote business, whether I take advantage of the pool here or not, was playing on my mind. At this point, it was maybe about four-ish, obviously, I'd just eaten as a bit full, so maybe it was a bit after four. So, I came back to the hosfel and I was thinking, okay, look, well, I'm going to have a coffee because I've paid for it, and maybe after an hour, I will see if I can use the pool. So I got back and apart from the woman, staff member, who I asked about coffee and she showed me how to make one, there was no one around the pool was empty, so I had a coffee and I checked sunset and I was slightly tight on time, but basically I had a single coffee and then I went with the dorm and the Brazilian woman was still on the laptop, threw in a call, probably to a friend or boyfriend this time, and I got ready to swim and I came down and had a shower in the little place by the pool.

So I got into the pool, I don't know, it was maybe half-five this point, maybe a little bit earlier, I'm not sure, and actually it was alright, I had it to myself, it's not huge, but it's maybe chest deep for the shallow end and actually like, maybe six foot five-ish, based on trying to measure by standing on the bottom, holding hand spans above my head, at the deep end, perhaps only about ten metres long, although I switched to swimming diagonals at some point, given that I had the place to myself. Anyway, it is actually a proper pool, you can actually swim in, it's not just This is one of those cool offs by sitting in it and slashing around kind of things that a lot of hostels will palm off as a swimming pool. Although there is a second pool I haven't been in there right next to each other and the other one is probably one of those.

And it was pretty tiring at first, I was knackered after five minutes, but I sort of kept persevering, and I was in the water about 37 minutes, and I may well have been swimming for 20 or even quite a bit more at that time, swimming, you know, doing something, treading water or strokes or whatever. And I felt good having made an effort, and this is kind of like prepping for resuming lessons and practicing back home. And also, you know, it means I used the pool which I kind of used as an excuse/reason to pick this hostel, and I ticked it off. And you know, if I never swim again on this trip, I've now done it, and it kind of picked me up a bit one way or another.

I had a bit of a look after that back in the dorm for language exchanges and I thought I'd found one at Les Paul but then subsequently I tried to find Les Paul because I thought I might go over there tonight even though the language exchanges tomorrow and just ask and I realise that Les Paul is probably in the Vayadolid in Spain. Not a big deal. The guidebook is all like Vayadolid is not big on nightlife. I mean that seems to be very true. I'm not too interested in hipster fucking bars and super expensive craft beers. Not like a craft beer but not super expensive one in a tourist place but based on what's about to come it seems pretty quiet and maybe it's only Thursday.

Anyway so I went out and I wandered around asking first from the English speaking guy who's not the staff member or his friend and if it's safe and they said yes, there seemed to be a pit bully looking dog I'd seen earlier in a front garden, admittedly very tranquil looking one with the gate open but it didn't do anything so didn't matter but I didn't come back when I came back just now

So I wandered round. I was basically just looking somewhere to have a beer or two. I figured I'd kind of earned it after having made an effort with the swimming and having had a few days off. I could have maybe had some in one of the sort of restaurants around the square but you know it really is pretty quiet and it didn't feel quite right and I kept wandering round and it was fine. It was nice to see the place at night but there were people around certainly but you know I was expecting more bars. I didn't check out one cantina but there were two waiters or bouncers Hanging around by the door and it didn't really appeal, I had a look on organic maps and I ended up going into Yucateco or something like that which actually walked past earlier and decided I wasn't going to go into but seemed like the lesser of multiple evils, not that many evils to choose from to be honest. And it was okay basically, there was a foreign tourist looking woman talking to a local, the rest of the people seem to be Mexican but it was pretty small and wasn't tremendously intimidating.

Oh, just to jump back. Mark had told me, admittedly talking about Saturday night, about maybe 10 or 11 at night, or later, that plaza la candelatka was good and he'd been there with some people and met some locals and they kept giving them beer. I was wandering around and I saw this on the map, actually I looked up where he told me about, even though it was a different day and earlier, I went over there. There were people around, some sort of labour union people, giving a talk on the little stage there. They didn't really seem to be any bars. They were quite a lot of people about, but nothing seemed to be happening bar wise. So at that point, I'd started looking more on organic maps and that's when I ended up going to Yokoteko. I might well try that Clasalacandalaria Plaza tomorrow night a bit later or the night after. I also spotted a bar near the hostel on the way back that might try tomorrow night or something.

I think I made a bit of a booboo in Yokoteko by going up to the bar asking what beers they had and the woman there showed me the menu looking a bit surly and I said I'll have a Bohemia and after we established she didn't actually have any Clara so I got an Oscar she gave me one and I gave her 50 pesos and I think It was supposed to be table service but fuck it didn't know did I so I went and sat down and it was fine and then a waiter came past and gave me some free snacks which made me feel quite a lot better but I finished the beer in a minute. 10 minutes even though I wasn't feeling too bad. I don't know, I was just thirsty or keen.

And like, I saw other people getting the bill at their tables, but the waiter didn't really seem to want to look at me, or they were kind of two of them, and maybe I was just shy, or maybe I don't want to be rude, or maybe I'm not fucking sure if I'm allowed to talk to any waiter, or just the one who sort of served me, or if I'm excluded from this now, because I ordered at the bar, and I don't want to be that guy who's saying, like, well, excuse me, can I get another beer when they're clearing another table, but maybe I'm supposed to do that, and I was feeling a tiny bit shit, not terrible, but a tiny bit shit, and basically, although I was looking around, I wasn't like waving my arms around trying to get tension and there's only about five tables in there, so I get super busy, you know, two or three other groups, tops, because the other two other tables left while I was watching, that's what they were going to build.

So after about 20 minutes without a beer, it's fine, you know, I went up to the bar again and I thought, fuck it, if you're not going to come to the table, then I will go to the bar, and you know, she served me, I gave her 50 pesos, I left 10 pesos awkwardly on the table on the counter without anyone really seeing me as a tip, because I figured although I've had no fucking table service, they have at least given me the snacks. So I got that beer, I drank it fairly quickly, not feeling too bad to be honest, and then it was like I left, because fuck it. I might go back there another night, let's say Saturday, and try for table service, and I'm not holding a massive grudge, but it was kind of shit worse, it was slightly my fault or not.

I was thinking I'd get a beer and maybe some snacks on the way home and drink from the hostel. I went into the oxo, I was looking at the snacks, and as often happens it's like this happens back in the UK as well. I really, sometimes I fancy some crisps, but often it's like I really don't want any of this crap. It's like maybe I'd go for some fried chicken if that was available and I was feeling lardy, but I don't really want to a packt of biscuits, I don't really want cake. It's like I didn't really want any crisps, anyway, so I then realised I couldn't get a beer in the oxo, so I didn't buy anything. I looked on the phone and I found a six, which wasn't actually where the map said it was, but that's organic maps in this part of the world, but I did go in and it was very small, but the staff were reasonably nice, and I got a couple of beers on a 46 for two offer.

So I came back to hostel and that's where we came in because I've been sitting out here drinking the beer and I already said that I think.

So, where do we stand? I'm not feeling too bad with this. Certainly much better than I was earlier. I don't know whether that was lack of food or food just helped anyway or whatever. Maybe the swimming also helped, but not feeling too bad. Bit awkward in the bar. I don't know what the fuck was going on, but that's all part of the tourist experience, especially when you're on your own. It's fine.

The hostel seems pretty nice and I am pretty impressed with the pool in its way. I've also possibly actually spoken to every single person staying and working here and to the relevant extent they all seem reasonably friendly. It does not feel like it's going to be super matey now. I'm not saying that some of these people might not be up for a chat if I'm around them and Brazilian woman is not on her laptop and the other guy is not talking to the owner or whatever but I could always push myself and be a bit brave and do some of the stuff Mark told me so to speak. But it doesn't feel super busy which is good with a bit to the pool but not with other socialising but nice enough feeling better than I did earlier but it's a little bit weird.

Anyway, I think the very short term plan is going to have this finished this beer and maybe have the other one go to bed, not super late, try to be your early-ish tomorrow thinking more about UV radiation than anything but also about busyness and go to the cenote maybe eight-ish in the morning depending on when it opens, maybe get a coffee at the hostel first if I'm up early enough and I can but that way I've ticked the cenote off and you know I've done it and it'll be nice and I don't have to worry about protecting my head or sunblock or whatever because it'll be early. And then, you know, I might wander around, maybe do a museum, maybe have dinner, well obviously have dinner or early lunch I should say, somewhere perhaps that chicken place, maybe somewhere else, apparently how I'm feeling. I might also see if I can extend for Saturday night, so that will be three nights here. We'll see how I sleep, etc. I don't think there's a huge amount to do here, there's probably side trips you can do out to other places and I'm not saying I won't do them, but I'm not desperate at this point in the trip. And then, unless I'm utterly knackered, I might try and swim in the pool again, especially if I get it to myself tomorrow a bit before sunset, so that's more exercise and prepping for return to the UK and take an advantage. And I guess if I stay Saturday again, it would be good to use the pool Saturday night. I could use it first thing in the morning, but if it's empty-ish before sunset, that's probably a lot more comfortable and less stress and less hassle. It's also a natural time for me to have a shower anyway.

2113 Okay, I've just broken off to actually go on book the swimming lesson for next Wednesday. If I feel knackered, it's 6 quid written off. There were four of five slots available, but I figure, especially, given I might get two or three days of swimming at least. I'll talk about that more in a second here. And I am going to be in London that night because I'm not going back to seeing my parents till the day after. Might as well book it. I could have probably put it off. And now it's sorted. The booking site was, I think, trying to be clever as fuck because it showed the timers six hours earlier than it should be. I assume it's using my local time zone. It did say Wednesday, although when I was doing the search, it was confusing as hell because it was like showing one day off. But I'm fairly sure it booked the right thing. I can't see them having completely rearranged everything and stopped evening lessons in the last eight weeks. Who knows? Absolute worst case, it's six quid gone.

So just to resume, where are we? The hostel seems nice enough, it's possible I talk to people, it doesn't feel ultramaty but then you just don't know, do you right? You can go anywhere and find it's not and maybe I can make more of an effort and maybe I will make an effort and blah blah blah. Also, although I'm sure it's not great if I'm going on my own, rather than with a group, maybe there's some potential at that class or place that Mark told me about Saturday night, maybe even Friday night, if I go later, whatever.

It's also nice to have the pool and, given I'm kind of in a wind down phase of the trip, although it would be nice to socialise and go out and stuff, also be nice to meet locals. I could see some value in like, well let's try and pick up the swimming again, take advantage of this pool here for a few days, blah blah blah.

Ignoring the pool, it also kind of feels like actually, unless you start doing side trips, valladolid is kind of nice, but also a little dull. Maybe I'm being unfair, it's only my first day and I haven't always had the best attitude. It kind of feels a bit like a, not like Sankris, because Sankris felt a bit livelier, but it feels like a hotter Sankris if you put that aside. It's like, it seems quite nice and if I wasn't at the time pressure, I could imagine kind of enjoying, spending four, five days longer here. Sort of vaguely chilling out and, you know, maybe meeting people, depending on which hostel you are, and trying different places or going out a bit at night and maybe trying to meet locals. But that's not the time schedule I'm on.

I suppose what I'm saying is, assuming I sleep okay, I can probably see myself extending at this hostel for Saturday night, that way I can go out and see what happens and so forth. I might even extend for Sunday, but what I'm kind of thinking is, although I really have no idea what Cancun Centro is really like, maybe after a few days here on the particular schedule I'm on, It might be nicer to go to Cancun and therefore be less stressed about getting to the airport and have like Sunday and Monday nights in Cancun in the actual centre not in that place I was in when I came. It was nice but you know remote and it was different when I arrived. You know, maybe around Cancun Centro is dead or maybe it's still horribly resorty full of screaming, foreign tourists, or maybe it's threatening, but you know, maybe it's a bit livelier than here, and maybe it'd be something different to see, and you know, maybe I could find a niceish bar and go there, or maybe there'd be a language exchange or something, or whatever. I mean, I don't have to decide now, I do need to decide what I'm going to do in a day or two, But those are my rough thoughts at the moment, anyway I think I don't think it would hurt to stay here for Saturday night, you know that would give me two nights in Cancun, Centro if I wanted them and it also means I have the option to try that place Mark told me about Saturday night or to find somewhere else lively or to be braver about going into different bars or to search for language exchange or meet up group and it gives me at least three nights including tonight with the pool to practice a bit which is something towards prepping for returns to the UK. I could totally still see myself doing the extra two nights here if only because of the pool and because I'm not that excited about Cancun and blah blah and you know getting the bus to Cancun or the airport on Tuesday during the day.

I can't put the decision off indefinitely, especially if I want to investigate this direct bus to the airport. I ought to at least look what times they go, might do that in a second, but I can certainly put the decision off until tomorrow and probably the day after.

With regard to the swimming lesson obviously there's a chance that I'm going to be totally knackered after not sleeping much on the flight and jet lag with my body clock at the wrong time you know it's like that lesson is effectively happening in the early hours of the morning but absolute worst case is I don't turn off or I turn up and I'm shit but at least I've shown willing and I've got back into it and blah blah blah

2124 Okay, ADO being ADO, you can't just search for buses to Cancun airport, you have to search for a specific terminal (or buses to Cancun as a whole), so I had to search to all three. Basically, there's no buses to terminal three or four, there's a bus to terminal two, that's probably fine, I'm sure there's internal transport. However, there are two buses a day, assuming it's not just because the tickets are sold out, but I'm guessing not. One leaves at five in the morning, one leaves at 1500, that's three in the afternoon, takes about three hours, 40 minutes. So the 1500 bus gets therebexactly in time for my flight to leave, and the 5am bus gets there in time for me to hang around at the airport for about 10 hours. So, I don't think I'm taking the direct bus, that's not to say that I won't stay here until the Tuesday and get a bus to Cancun Centro. I already know the terminal, it's the same place, while a bit faffy, I'm sure there is no difficulty whatsoever changing for a bus to the airport, but the direct buses, unless there is someone other than ADO, which I doubt, do not work for me.

Nearly finished first of my two beers here and will probably have the second in a minute (I put it in the fridge)

I'm not feeling too bad, obviously, there's a certain amount of uncertainty, it's not an endless whirl of excitement and adventure and really wild things. It's not obviously like that here, but it's a funny stage of the trip, you know, it's fine, it's fine. I kind of wish I'd put an extra night in in Merida, at the same time. I wasn't crazy about it, and I wouldn't really want to have to change accommodation but I didn't really want to have to pay for another night in that semi-expensive private room. It's not like I won't be back. It's not like there's anything specific I really missed. It's just, you know, maybe I could have stayed there. But I am under the cosh with time, and valladolid it is closer to Cancun. It's not like there's nothing to do here. As I say, if I wasn't worried about the time, it'd probably be quite cool to put in four or five days here.

I was kind of thinking earlier when I left the hostel after just checking in that maybe part of what was making me feel a bit discombobulated was this whole, oh I'm really coming down to the end of the trip so I've got to make every day count and I'm not making every day count because things feel a bit crap and weird or dead or unhopeful. Obviously that's irrational and it is where it is and all sorts of stuff is good and you know I didn't have too bad a day overall and the pool was nice and that has made me feel a lot better about going back. I haven't slipped back immensely on swimming et cetera et cetera. It's all fine. It is what it is and the end of the trip is always meant to be funny anyway so I feel basically okay you know I'm just waffling but you know trying to get there just down for future me to read.

And I do have a fairly solid plan for tomorrow, what with the cenote early and then a niceish lunch somewhere, be that the chicken place or somewhere else, and the odd museum and then a swim at sunset and a casual no fuss bar trip out for the evening. I just need to decide if I'm extending for Sag night, but it's pretty likely I will extend for at least one more night. And I need to check out the buses to Kankoon generally and stuff. I might do that now over a second beer, just to feed into the subconscious decision-making process.

Quite a nice cool breeze. As, if I forgot to say, there was in merida even during the daylight on some streets at some times late afternoon and also more so after sunset and contributing to that vaguely exotic enticing air of adventure I mentioned.

2134 Okay, it's inconvenient as shit due to having to switch profiles thanks to ADO's VPN stuff, but the ideal bus from here to Cancun is 1010, getting in at 1340. I think I may have misremembered that. The bus before that leaves it something like 850. The trouble is, that's kind of okay. I mean, that gives me five hours until the flight goes and, you know, I haven't checked yet, but there are probably pretty frequent buses from Cancun central to the airport. It's just like, what if that bus is delayed? Am I going to be stressing my guts up? You know, I could get the 850 and it's an extra. It's a shitty early-ish morning start, well at least it's still daylight. And it's basically an extra hour and a half hanging around at the airport, if everything goes okay, maybe it's not really that much less stressful because I'm still worried about missing it. So, of course it's always crappy getting to the airport. I mean, this is 50-50, right? This isn't terrible, it's doable, it's not ridiculously optimistic and no safety margin. It does also kind of make me think that it might just be nicer to be in Cancun the night before the flight, and maybe even the night before, not so much for buffer zone as in order to do something with the stays in Cancun rather than just literally getting there that evening and checking in and then going out to the airport next morning.sleep on it I guess.

I mean, unless it starts to turn out to be super social here, or I go out Saturday night and I don't want to be overly worried about being hung over And having to get another bus on Sunday, but I could always book the Cancun hostel and bus on Sunday morning, right? Because I'm not going to be in a super-duper rush to get to Cancun. You know, there's absolutely no problem at all with going over on Monday and extending here on Sunday morning if I am hung over after a brilliant night out on Saturday. These sentences are not in a logic order, it's just the way I'm voice typing but I hope it will make some kind of sense if I really need to think about it in future and it's not like it's critical.

Okay, the voice typonh doesn't seem to work very well if I'm multi-tasking and switch away to another app, not totally unreasonable.

So, to repeat myself, I think what I'm kind of saying is, stay here Saturday night, Sunday morning I make a decision based on whether I'm tired because I had a good night out on Saturday, or whether it just seems cool enough and fun enough here that I really want to be here Sunday anyway. And then I can book for Cancun that morning and just get the bus over. It's not like I'm racing to get a flight that day on the Sunday. So I may stay Sunday here or in Cancun. I would almost certainly go to Cancun on the Monday if I didn't go on the Sunday. I'm probably going on the Sunday but, you know, it keeps my options open. And if I had a good night here on the Saturday and therefore I stay here on the Sunday for whatever reason, I'm still not racing against the clock. But there's probably no major reason to stay here Monday and I could still do that if I really wanted to. I'll see you next time.

It's not that bad, and I have seen this mention elsewhere, so I didn't observe it entirely on my own account, but the voice typing does have a certain tendency, I think it was trained on YouTube data, and if you just do like a tap and then stop tapping without saying anything, it was very likely to interpret that as "thanks for watching" and it just popped up in the transcription of something I said, although it did then change its mind, it only flickered in because it does revise what it's doing as it processes the audio, I guess, but it's kind of amusing. It's not great, but I suppose it's a hell of a lot better than it could be, and even this buggy, crappy, waffly talk is better than nothing for future me to look at.

I do half wonder if I should not have the second beer here and the fourth beer of the night. I'm going to be here at least tomorrow night. Absolutely worst case I throw the beer away, it costs me a pound and I don't really want to jeopardize the cenote tomorrow morning. I don't feel particularly drunk but I also don't crave it and you know, it's late enough that I could go to bed and probably go to sleep without any enormous difficulty.

Okay, if Google Maps to be believe  the Cinote opens at 9am, some idiot in the comments seems to think 150 pesos is 60pence, but whatever. I don't think there's that much h  change to exchange rate  in five months. So, I'm not saying I will have the beer, I was just checking, but that's a bit... I'm sure that's fine with regards to solar radiation stuff. It's a cenote, It's probably in a sort of valley, cave-y kind of environment. But it does mean I probably don't really need to be up any earlier than 730 at outside. I'm not dead sure, but it's probably something like 15 to 20 minutes walkaway tops, perhaps quite a lot less. I've not measured it and I'm not going to look it up on the maps.

If I go to bed now-ish, well it's going to be like ten past ten by the time I'm in bed after cleaning my teeth. I probably will go to sleep. I'll probably wake up in the night, a little bit, nothing major. I'll probably be awake, five-ish, six-ish, and struggle o get back to sleep. I could get up, I suppose. It seems stupid to drink more just to kill the time, I could stay up but not drink here, but probably shouldn't have a coffee, I don't fancy making one either. Doesn't really seem sensible to put on the weight and burn the health credits as it were from another beer. I think I might move towards bed. It's tempting to should have the other beer, but as I say, I'm not really craving it.

I Half wish I'd brought myself a snack back or something but that'd be more unhealthy food and weight put on and I'm not really hungry to be honest you know and I can maybe have some pastry tomorrow or something as well as a nice dinner and there'll be beers tomorrow night and stuff so as I say it's not really a massive loss in the big picture scheme

I actually do still have like a swallow of this first can and beer, because I've been talking and writing this of course. I think I'm going to have that and then I'm going to move towards bed. Absolute worst case is i am up six-ish. It'll almost be daylight, I could even go for a little walk. It'll mean I'm not rushing around. The chances are I'll go back to sleep. It's fine, it's fine. It's not like the dorm's ultra rammed either. Yeah. I think that's a plan. It's not like I'm going to regret not having this beer. I can always have it tomorrow night. Right. It's fine.

I mean, I really can't believe I've got this entire huge terrace to myself, both the pools, they're lit up, presumably, if I really wanted to, I could be swimming at this time of night, or, you know, relaxing in the plunge pool with a beer. There's actually a pool bar set up at the shallow end of the big pool, although, you know, I'm guessing that's somewhat aspirational or leftover from previous owner, but, you know, and I'm glad it's not that kind of pool, so I couldn't swim in if it was full of people sitting at the pool bar, but I still can't believe I've got this whole place to myself, it's just weird. this a newish hostel, so to wish them well, I suppose, on the whole, anyway.

There are cicadas doing their theme or crickets or whatever the hell they are, just for atmosphere.

2155 Okay, I've just finished the beer. I'm gonna move towards bed. I may tap out a teeny little bit on the on-screen keyboard when I'm in bed and I'll send this then. Yeah.

2209 in bed. I suspect other two dorm inhabitants are already in bed and asleep judging from curtains. There is a fan on iirc ceiling which is off and an aircon unit on the wall which is definitely off and it is IMO mildly over warm in here and slightly annoyingly so given these provisions for cooling but can't be helped, that is dorms for you.

Also my bunk doesn't seem to have a curtain along the long side unlike the other two occupied ones but can't be helped.

Merida, Wednesday

Wed 1843 Back at the hotel, there's some sort of event being set up in the main square, so when I got home I had a look to see what it was. It was obviously not starting straight away. I couldn't see any musical instruments either. It might be a political rally or something like that for all I know. Anyway, despite me having had a look a couple of hours ago and some running web search, it turns out there is a language exchange here tonight in some sort of public library in town. It starts at seven. I probably ought to go, but I'm probably not. This is maybe a bit weak, but I'm bit late and I need to shower and clean my teeth before I go and it's... Let me waffle generally.

It's been an odd kind of day, just sort of for me nothing really strange has happened. I didn't sleep too badly, I got up not that late ut then I sort of dicked around in the room before going out about one. There might be some kind of mud dogs and Englishmen thing here because maybe I should make an effort to go out early and then come home or hide myself away somewhere else during the peak of the day but I don't and because of ticking around and I can sleep. I didn't.

I think I have to accept that part of the attraction for me of Merida on this particular stay is that I splurged on a private room with air conditioning, so I can't entirely blame myself for wanting to indulge in it, so to speak.

I will say that if I'd found out about that language exchange, assuming it's actually odd, which it probably is, when I looked at five-ish, I would probably have tweaked my plan slightly and made an effort to go. So we could put it down to sort of anti-serendipity, me finding out about it later. I did look about five-ish. Just, I didn't find that website because I wasn't going in with what are the public events to try and find out what's happening in the main square. I still haven't found that out. And again, I'm probably not going to go back. maybe I will wander out for that, probably not.

I'm feeling a bit bad as I say this. I've been feeling a little bit funny all day, but I'm not going. I do feel I ought to, and it might even be fun, although it does have English, Spanish, and other languages. And with it being in a public library, you do kind of wonder what it's going to be like if it's not in some sort of bar. But the key thing is the timing. I wouldn't really need to shower, and maybe not shave, because I did that this morning. I'd need to shower, clean my teeth. It would be at least ten past seven by the time I left the hotel. I'd then be turning up late, I don't know how long it goes on, I don't know how informal it is, maybe I'm making excuses, it's not a deathbed regret situation.

So I went out for a walk about one and it was hot as hell and I didn't really know what I wanted to do and I was just wandering the streets and I was feeling a little bit like, what the hell am I doing? I was gonna maybe have a pastry or something but I didn't find any bakeries, I was gonna have a coffee but I didn't find anywhere that didn't seem like a rip-off. As I wandered around I did actually go into one place that seemed to be advertising a white coffee or a latte at about 60. But I went in and it looked quite big and slightly fancy and they had a courtyard at the back so I wandered out there to see if it was cooler or warmer in there than inside and a waiter sort of looked at me and he said table for one in Spanish and I said I just wanted to have a coffee and he pulled a fucking funny face at me and then he said yeah okay and I just said in Spanish probably badly it's okay I'll leave thanks I wasn't even storming out in a strop, i just wasn't that desperate for And the last thing I wanted was to have them pissed off with me and give my money to them if they were going to act like that. It's not like there were no tables free. The entire inside was empty, well, like 90% empty.

By sort of chance, I saw the Museo de Ferro Carrille in organic maps and I thought, okay, I'll go over there like, you know, that's serendipity. So I wandered over towards La Plancha and the park's quite nice and queued us to the town under the owners or the council or whatever. The railway vehicles and carriages scattered around the park haven't been refitted even though they appear to be publicly accessible and although it's hot as hell (OK, exaggeration), it's really rather nice.

After the full start and the fact I was a bit weirded out by the fact that you have to seemingly walk past loads of staff and down an aisle to get to the ticket office and that it was 120 pesos which felt a bit steep and that they asked me to leave my bag at the counter. I went into the museum. At least it was air conditioned and I will fully admit that for whatever reason I was feeling in a slightly funny mood already at this point I had vague political crap running around at the back of my head which maybe didn't help although I probably didn't really alter my perception too much. I just wasn't feeling, I don't know, in the mood for touristing or I don't know, I don't know.

So I went in and I'm looking at some of the exhibits and there's an annoying train chugging and whistle sound going off every now and then. And I'm having a look around the exhibits and it's not bad and it's like the place isn't actually as small as I expected. A couple of things different from the very informal, oh here's some trucks out on some track and a little exhibition doesn't open till three in a single room thing in Oaxaca. Although the oaxaca one was cool and in some ways I preferred it, you know, it was just different at the very least.

As I say, I had some vague political stuff running around my head, but there did seem to be a vague art gallery, word salad, workers' revolution, hints of diversity stuff about the text on all the exhibits. I was reading the English versions, but I looked at the Spanish ones and they had the same kind of slightly weird word salad structure. It wasn't just that the translation was poor.

There were like three set-piece things there, and I'm going to say technically they were pretty cool, right? I'm not going to say they're most amazing ever, but they were pretty cool, technically, and kudos for that. One of the annoying things about them was that there seemed to be like staff members or a few staff members kind of shadowing the little groups of tourists. There were not that many tourists there. All the stuff I did was basically me and I, as you were a Mexican couple, probably Mexican tourists, who knows. I didn't really speak to them except to smile at them a little bit. Actually it was sort of another half set piece that was just a bit dull but was nicely done in it way and probably aimed at kids but let's talk about that in a minute.

So anyway, before we get onto what they were, like the problem with these staff shadowing around was like you'd be looking at some exhibits and you feeling like you're being watched. And then at one point I was going to wander down a corridor to look at some stuff that was there and it probably wasn't the most interesting stuff ever, but there were some exhibits. And instead the staff woman politely gestured me into one of these set pieces. And then I never got to go and look back at the other stuff. I'm not exactly gutted about it, but it's like there was stuff in the museum I couldn't see.

So the first set piece was this old train, I think it's number 350, but it doesn't matter. Took a few very bad pictures, but I tried not to go nuts on the pictures. It was in this sort of circular room, and there were projectors, I don't know if there was some sort of laser light as well, and it wasn't quite 360 degrees around the walls. There was nothing right behind the train, I think. But otherwise it was close to 360, and they were projecting a sort of animation on it, and there was some narration, Andor Music. The first thing I saw, which the Mexican couple didn't turn up in time for and weren't allowed to stay to watch on their own because they had to shuffle us all around was some very brief animation about some people running through a desert and one of the women got pricked by a cactus-y thing and she picked up the thing and hit it on a rock to punish it and she discovered how to make some sort of fibre by beating this plant on a rock and it was like, well, a bit weird. to folk story or did you make this up? But, you know, it was fine. No real objections there.

And then the second bit in this circular room with the train was along, I think, pretty much music-only, slightly psychedelic animation of flying through space with vaguely train and station-related imagery, but a lot of statues and stuff. And as I say, it was actually quite cool. I did quite like that. It wasn't a lot the best thing ever, but yeah, I did like that.

So after that I was wondering what would happen next but then the woman shooed us out the opposite door to where we'd come in the other side of the train and we went into this room and there was some exhibits and then I started looking at some of them and then this is where I got chewed into the second set piece and we sat in this old carriage and there were like projectors set up either side so were you looking out the window as you were looking at a projected image and then they had a kind of she told us to sit down well I didn't know and I don't think the Mexicans knew It was actually going to be a set piece. We thought we were just walking through this carriage to have a look at it. It was an old second-class carriage from 1925. Quite nicely restored, quite nice. Yeah.

And so she told us there was going to be a show and to sit down. She didn't say show, but whatever. And then there was a pepper's ghost type thing where a virtual chap gave us a little introductory spiel and my heart sank because he said we were going to learn about gender equality. For better or worse, he meant men and women, but it's like for fuck's sake. I didn't go to be lectured.

And the odd thing is that the actual like projected filmy thing was just so contrived. It was just sort of in parallel chuntering about bills in the Mexican Congress or whatever in 19, whatever the hell it was, you know, early 1900s-ish, mixing that with this womans story While they were building the railroad and how she had been selling like food to the men working on the trains. They didn't go on about how she had been handicapped or something. It was just, oh, better for our daughters, working for the future, equity. It was utterly contrived. Maybe I should be grateful that it wasn't too really hammering the point home, but it's like they were just desperately trying to force this theme into a railway context. I don't know.

And the thing is the actual technical side of it was really good. At the start, there was some juddering or jerking. I'm pretty sure the carriage couldn't move at all, but maybe it could. You know, probably just had something knocking on it at the right point. I did expect this, but when they started to alter the production, so it was scrolling past the carriage, it did actually kind of feel like we were moving. As I say, I cannot rule out that the carriage didn't move a tiny bit but I don't know what makes me kind of suspicious Is that they seem to drop the moving illusion really quite quickly. It was probably just the way the film was done. It was a kind of animated thing, I think, quite hard to describe. And they did do it again a bit later on, so, and I can't really see the carriage being rolled back and forth inside the museum, even on a short length track. But who knows, my best guess is it was the illusion where you're sitting still because the window moves, you know, the stuff outside the window moves, you think you're in Like when you're in a coach and a coach next to you pulls out and you're not moving but for a second you think you are.

Anyway, we got out of that and the woman took us up to some projected thing on the wall and it turned out it was like a three people could play conveniently independent thing where there was like a virtual button and on each of three tracks that are sort of animated vaguely open TTD station you could push a button to start and then you'd pick a train and that train would drive in and then you could pick a carriage and that carriage would roll in and join itself the train and then when you were ready you could press start and the train as a whole would drive out of the station and then it would repeat. I didn't quite get it at first and I wasn't sure if we were supposed to be competing against each other and although you know I try not to worry about looking childish and its nice to do these things rather than having to be/pretend "oh I'm an adult no I won't do that thanks". I also felt a bit awkward and I was feeling a tiny bit peeved after the the gender equality pseudo lecture.

So after that she took us into the final thing which was not technically as good but sort of technically good. We sat in a room with mirrors all round basically with loads of chairs and although I kept sort of not actually paying attention to the depth of fact and I'm describing this backwards the basic setup was There were two parallel mirrors and we were sitting between them, so obviously you could see a sort of distant and slightly fainter reflection of the rear mirror in the front mirror, whichever way round you're facing. I guess you all were meant to face the same way. You could of course see yourself and the two other people who were in the audience with me, but that wasn't too distracting.

And they then projected two sort of synchronised but slightly different films on the front and rear mirrors so as we're looking at the front mirror we have kind of one film in the foreground and the other one which as I say I sort of accidentally kept mostly ignoring in the background. Quite a nice technical effect all the same and I don't think I'd see anything like that before.

I didn't massively object, but the problem was that the film was essentially a promotional piece of fluff about the Tren Maya, you know, a little sprinkling of all connecting communities and crap like that, but it just feels like why the hell am I paying to watch proper gandery shit (propaganda shit, but i love the voice typing version, it has a news huddlines feel) like this? Maybe the Trenmaia is a great idea, maybe it's not, but it's like, apart from the technical merits of the film, it really wasn't that interesting. as at least it was a train theme, but...

And then she told us we could go out and there was a temporary exhibit (which had actually already been to the door of accidentally and spoke to the woman there about where the entrance to the Real Museum ticket office was) in a small thing across the way which had some hard to describe, some sort of fabric-y artworks, like I've got some photos of it that were like almost pseudo-giant knitted figures and dresses and geometric-y kind of shapes made of fibers. If not amazing, I took some photos of that, so that will help explain better than I can say.

They also had like a cafe in one of the two or three railway cars that were sitting along the track where you had to walk past to get to the ticket office. I think one of them was an old Pullman car and it was air-conditioned and I had a cafe in. I did open the door and take a quick peek in. I was kind of tempted to get a coffee and it would have been slightly cool to do it but there was absolutely no price list and I was still feeling a little bit miffed at the way the whole thing had worked out and the proper gandery quality of it and it's like no I'm not that desperate I'm not going to give you any money especially if you know I go in and then you say oh it's 150 for a latte or something so anyway.

So I walked through the park, which was hot but quite nice, so I walked around the lake and you know it was clean and it felt safe and there were a few people around and there were a couple of tracks marked out with I think three different lengths, presumably for people who want to cycle a jog which is nice obviously I'm not doing that in this heat and wearing a clothes I was wearing blah blah blah but you know really quite nice

At the south end I think there was possibly the actual old station. It had been turned to some sort of academic-y building with a preachy sign out front. You were allowed to go in but I wasn't sure I'd be able to get out the far end and you know I just took a few pictures and then went out of the park through one of the normal entrances.

Oh, I also, earlier in the day before I got to that park, I walked up just by accident that sort of commercially street, I can't remember the name of it, just to the north of the centre which I think Mark had told me about with shops and stuff down it. They attempted by a noodle type place but it was like a proper Thai restaurant and the prices were a bit high. Paseo de Montejo is the street.

Oh, I also forgot to say that I did the flight seat booking before I left the hotel at one ish. I had to use the phone data, you know, mobile data. The hotel wifi seemed really slow, but I got it done. I used some air miles to get the price down to 31 pounds, which isn't great, but I think that's as good as converting the air miles to nectar points. Although, I'm not really sure. And, you know, anyway, it is what it is.

So I was wondering around the sort of quite nice actually, I quite like it, the sort of slightly grittier area, vaguely south and east of the main square. I think it's the main square of my geography really, isn't that clear here? Afterwards and looking at the little shops and like there's the little party shops selling party accessories and pinatas and there's all the sort of clip-party signs like, oh it's not a party without such and such and all these It's ridiculously happy, kind of kids enjoying the party. And that's how I'm still oddly cheering, I suppose.

And you know I saw a couple of taco restauranty places and there were a couple of Chinese pseudo buffet type places and I was really quite tempted but I was also feeling a real pull to go back to cheese up pizza and long story short I wandered round a bit and I had a coke and I found somewhere to have a coffee on the square (nicte-ha) which was a bit of a mess somehow but not a huge deal and I used the free Wi-Fi to call home and then I went and had my pizza (carnes frias not mexicana today) at cheese up and came back to hotel via main square (seeing that event set up) and oxxo to get some cold fizzy water and takis fuego.

As I was wandering around looking for a coffee and killing a little bit of time before the pizza, I did actually find another nice little square with some places round it, but one of them seemed a bit expensive and then there was a Starbucks and also seemed a bit expensive. There was actually a Costa next to it and I nearly bought some of them because it wasn't expensive, but luckily I asked the woman at the counter and if they had toilets for customers and she said no, I double checked, so it's like I didn't go there anyway. It seems ridiculous, but there you go.

So if we're talking generally it's like I think in all sorts of ways I'm in a bit of a funny mood, it's the end of the trip, it's hot, I have paid for this private room, I'm obviously a little pushed for time, I may be a little bit "the trip's almost over", getting lazy or so on, not quite just wishing I was home already, we're not quite that far on but maybe an element of that.

I'm really not entirely sure if I like Merida or not. I think I kind of do, but it's just been so weird. I didn't like the heat earlier but maybe I picked the worst time of day to go out. As I was wandering around that bit sort of southeast of the main square and finding all these little places I could eat. I was kind of wishing I could stay and eat in them, but it's not that they were particularly superbly Mexican or anything, so it would be pretty ridiculous to stay on just to have some more evenings to eat. It's not that there won't be any noodle bar in Valladolid.

I mean probably the best you could say is that I kind of do like it here but it's been a real flying visit because I was originally gonna skip it on this particular trip and then I decided I would come here because I sort of got tempted by the prospect of a private room (even if it wasn't super cheap) and I didn't really want to do a double bus hop to get straight from Campeche to Valladolid. And maybe, although everything was of course fine in reality, maybe it was nice to have a private room and a bit of quietish time to myself after the minor in my own head stresses I've written about in Campeche.

If the guidebook is to be believed there's quite a lot of like side trips you could do from here to places nearby, a lot of them seem to be a bit indigeneous-y but I guess that's not that different to some of the places near San Chris. I think I could totally see myself coming back through Merida on a future trip and making more of a stay and more of an effort if I fly into or out of Cancun. But anyway with the time constraints and so forth and the relative expense of staying in this hotel I think it I'm Better to just treat it as a flying visit and move on to Viadolid tomorrow where I should be able to have four or maybe five nights depending on what I do about staying or not staying in Cancun the final night. That's also something I really need to look at tonight.

The need to look at viadollid accom and buses and make decisions or at least initial investigations on the bus from Valladolid to Cancun is another reason not to go out tonight on top of the private room and the laziness and the timing of the lang exchange and the uncertainty of the thing in the main square. It does all feel a little bit crap but you know I think it's fine and I'm probably now I have written all this up with the voice typing in a horribly waffly, slangy, unpunctual way, going to watch a bit of YouTube, drink some more of my cold, fizzy water, and then after that I'll have a look at some of this onward investigation plan stuff.

Ideally I need to remember to buy some souvenirs and post a couple of postcards from Viadolid. I saw some postcards today that made me think about it, but it figured it didn't really make sense time-wise here by that point. I did also go in one little shot and I got chewed out after a little bit and I only realised after a few seconds that she was telling me I had to leave my bag at the counter, but I just left. I was pretty sure I didn't really want the thing. I didn't drop out or anything, it's fine.

I'm maybe also a bit edgy about staying a dormitory and or whether I'll get chatting to anyone and so forth but it's fine. I mean I've got a recommendation for a hostel it might even have a free bar which doesn't make sense but whatever and I think it's got curtain beds and I will jist book for two nightto start wkth s if I can get into this one of course and see how it goes. If I meet people great, if I don't I suppose it's not ideal but I'm kind of feeling a little bit tired and end of trippy and I've already had some good social experiences so it is fine.

Just to repeat something I think I've said before, one of the downsides of being in a hotel is that you don't get a fridge and there's no free drinking water. I've got my filter so the latter's not a huge problem but you know there are downsides. On the plus side it's maybe a lot less tempting to just drink for no reason so this is helping me have a couple of days off and to a limited extent I suppose that also helps offset the cost of the room versus a dorm.

The clothes were almost dry this morning when I finally left. I'm not going to wash underwear, but I think I might wash my top in the sink tonight because then that's at least stretching the supply out a little bit further.

1939 Okay, I washed the top.

I should say that the woman who showed us round the last two or three things at the railway museum, she was perfectly pleasant, I mean, I was just feeling bit generically annoyed and the fact that she stopped me looking at some stuff that I could have seen but that's I guess just how their system works and I had no personal problem with her, she seemed very pleasant. Oh and I will say it was all in Spanish so you know at least I got to practice all the spoken stuff was in Spanish, the plaques all over the world were in both languages.

I am feeling vaguely guilty about not making the most of my opportunities here, but I think that's just part of the slightly odd feeling of mood I've been in all day. Not exactly down, but just kind of a bit off balance or something. It's hard to say. I really don't think it was wrong for me not to go to the language exchange equally. I'm not going to investigate that event in the main square. Didn't look super promising. I mean, it's easy to make excuses, but I do have the private room. I want to make my plans for the next few days. I'm also leaving tomorrow, right? If I had more time and I was staying a couple of extra nights, it might make all the difference. I might have made more of an effort to find a language exchange earlier.

It's fine. Even if I've not done very well, hardly the end of the world, is it? And, you know, maybe a night or two of relative quiet will set me up for the rest of the trip. You just don't know.

As I was walking back tonight, you know, in the twilight dark, I was thinking as I think I did yesterday, it's really quite evocative, a tiny bit disconcerting, but it really is quite evocative with the sort of yellowy orangy light and the not brilliant lit streets, but it doesn't feel super dangerous, and you know, you're walking past all these old buildings, and the idea of going into some bar or going to some sort of event does kind of appeal, but it's my last night here, I chose to stay in a hotel rather than a hostel, so I've not met anyone. I don't have anywhere to go or anyone to go with. I am leaving tomorrow. It's good to have a couple of days off, etc. But as I say, it probably is worth coming back to Merida and trying to make a bit more of an effort and maybe doing things differently and maybe staying in a hostel or putting in more time here and trying to find events to go to in the evening or something.

It's probably obvious because I don't think I've ever really done it unless I've explicitly said so, but I haven't gone back and looked at my notes from 2010 about Merida. It might be interesting to compare them, but I have not looked at them while I've been here, so they are not contaminating my opinion one way or another. I, to be honest, I'm not sure that I really remember very much. It's like maybe I saw the big flag (or flags before because there's another one in the railway museum park as well as the main square). Maybe I went through railway museum. I think I went to the zoo when I was here last time and I have vague recollections of sitting outside a hot bar in a street somewhere and maybe even talking to a local but really I'm not remembering much at all that reminds me of what I'm seeing here now.

2156 I honestly don't feel that tired, but I was lying down on the bed, admittedly watching YouTube, and I was finding myself drifting off to sleep, so maybe I'm more tired than I thought. Anyway, I've dicked around a little bit, looking at the buses. Basically, I'll check the times tomorrow, but there's plenty and it takes about two, two and a half hours.

It's a bit odd, the hostel which Mark recommended with the free bar, which is called New Friends, is not showing on booking.com at all. It is on hostel world, but if you look at it in the small print it says the age range is 18 to 45, so technically I don't qualify. I don't think that's why booking.com isn't showing it given they will cheerfully show me hostels which only have female dorms available, but who knows? I'm not saying I couldn't try to get in if I wanted, but I'm not that desperate. What if they turned me away on seeing my passport? I'm not entirely sure I like the policy. You know, it's their business. If that's how they want to do it, fair enough. But I'm not sure why I should fight to give them my money. I've had a look on booking.com. There's an awful lot of hostels in Valladolid. I think I've found one that kind of appeals to me. It's fairly cheap and the reviews seem fairly good. It's new-ish. It looks like, although it could be deceptive, it might actually have a genuinely large swimming pool, something you could swim in, which would be a nice bonus. I'd probably just book for two nights and then see how it goes. I am potentially in valladolid for four or even five nights. So if I like it, I can extend. And if I don't, I have maybe two to three nights to try somewhere else. And, if either hostel or whatever I end up staying in an environment is nothing special socially or whatever, it's not the end of the world is it? I've not actually booked it, it's being very coy about only so many beds left, so I'll probably be fine and I'll book it tomorrow morning along with the bus. I'll hopefully therefore not be up too late. I've semi-packed It kind of looks like there's a lot of junk lying around, but I kind of know there isn't. It just squishes into my bag right. There's also the clothes drying in the bathroom and stuff like that. I don't know exactly when I leave. I need to be a little bit cleverer than I was when I was leaving Campeche so as not to waste time unnecessarily, but I think it should be fine for me to get up about 8ish tomorrow and have a little bit of a think and book stuff.

I'll admit I haven't looked at all into bus options from Valladolid to Cancun. I'll probably do it tomorrow, or once I know exactly how I feel about the V hostel, etc. I think if the limited buses direct to the airport do sell out then that's a shame but it's not the end of the world because there's still the option to go through the bus terminal in the centre. It's only within terminal change and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of centre to airport buses. I don't know what times the buses direct from V to C airport are. I don't want to leave it till the last minute Mark said he met someone and they wanted to do it but they booked up because there weren't many but I'm not that worried and I think it would be better to get to Viadolid tomorrow and take it from there.

It really is annoying, the kind of illiterate quality dictating this gives when I'm not taking lots and lots of effort to patch it up afterwards, but at least it gets the stuff down there and it is basically intelligible except where the voice typing misses a chunk out and I don't notice. It's better than nothing, right?

2203 So I'm going to clean my teeth and have a quick shower and go to bed. I really don't have that much packing to do. I've guzzled some of the takis fuego, but I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Bit indulgent, but since it's maybe my last private room, I thought go with it because that's not the sort of thing that's so easy to snack on in a hostel with no privacy. Yeah, I think everything's basically fine and there shouldn't be too much trouble getting up relatively early. I'm not too much under the cosh, given I don't really plan to do anything in town tomorrow. The bus terminal isn't that far and check out is at 12. But if I could be up for 8ish, that would be great.

2218 going to bed.