Mon 0925 sitting on terrace with a (cold, but they did tell me) coffee. Have spoken - in English -with mos who asked if I would have breakfast and I said yes and she said it would be 10 mins I suspect there may be warm coffee too.
Didn't sleep amazingly but not too bad. It feels super muggy down here on terrace, dunno if it is just contrast with ac in room or not. The floors is a bit wet, I don't know if it rained in night or they watered it.
Not feeling too bad. As I say, should be a low key kind of day. After breakfast will pop back to room briefly and then head out to a supermarket for some souvenir comestible and toothpaste shopping. I just *might* be able to get by with the tiny bit of toothpaste I have left but unless prices are insane it feels silly to try.
I may come back to hostel around midday and have a soft or alcoholic drink somewhere on off-chance of chat (unlikely, given most people here are probably in transit or are on the beach during the day - incidentally not seen any other guests yet today) and to repack while avoiding peak heat.
1343 back at hostel.
So I had breakfast and two cups of hot coffee. Desperate needed a dump, even I'd already been so I did that. I then came back to my room I think and cleaned my teeth. Maybe had already done that, I can't remember. And then I headed out. I went around the corner to the place where I thought I could get something printed and I went and had a quick chat with the guy there and yeah they're open from 8.30 I can go in tomorrow and it's about 10 pesos plus 3 pesos per print so 13 or 16 if I want two copies. I don't think I have to get the boarding pass printed but it would probably be reassuring to have it printed and so I probably will go there tomorrow timing myself to be there for 8.30 and come back for breakfast.
There was a sort of taco and quesadilla eat in place next to the print shop, whatever you want to call it, internet cafe, so I went in there and I got two quesadillas and a small bottle of tamarind juice, probably a bit less than a hundred pesos. Fingers crossed that was alright, yeah they were fairly fair size, not too bad at all. I then wandered up to the Chedraui nearby and I went in there and I spent quite a while wandering around, snapped a few photos of odd things, including some cactus-y looking stuff which is nogal. So now I know what that is and I can actually eat it when I say it, describe, but look at it.
I got myself a small tube with toothpaste, it was only 15 pesos, so even if I don't need it, it's not too bulky or expensive. I got a couple of beers, well actually those sole mescladas, to drink at the hostel. And I also got (as novelties to share with family back home) some chilli type sweets and some non-chilli sweets and some solid chocolate to make hot chocolate drink with. I had to ask a member of staff where that was, so she was really helpful. I had been looking for the sort of solid bar things like the penella I got in Colombia the other year, which I'd seen in another shop. But they didn't have those here, but they did have nice solid little cakes of it in a packet. So I bought four of those, which I think will perhaps pack easier in my bag, but it's not such a giant lump.
I also took some photos of odd stuff like nogal (cactus thing) and some giant skin pork crackling in supermarket and now I know what nogal is and don't have to avoid it when ordering food! I probably did know at one point but forgot.
I paid on a credit card because I'm trying to eke out my cash supplies that I think I'm fine that was no problem on a whim I asked the cashier if she could swap my 500 peso plastic note for one of the Diego and Frida ones, but she said she couldn't wasn't too surprised I then came back to the hostel and I rang the bell to get in and the woman let me in no problem and then Unpromptedly she asked me if I turned my air conditioning off at 10 and incidentally I had and I said I thought I had and she said oh great Thanks. So I then thinking well, I don't like this very much so I will ask for a favour here. I asked her if she could swap my 500 note and she could she didn't have any super crisp D&F ones but at least I've got one. It it doesn't really matter and in some ways it's an expensive souvenir and I should really have been smarter and set aside the high quality one I got out of a cash machine weeks ago, but as I say not the end of the world and also a small lesson learned there.
When I came out of the Chedraui it was if anything slightly muggier than when I'd gone in and the streets seemed generally wet so I think it must be intermittently raining a bit. I can't say I've felt any rain falling on me and maybe it never gets that heavy but anyway for what it's worth.
So I came up to my room and I found a plastic bag and wrote my name on the back of a receipt and I shoved one of the beers in the fridge downstairs and then I went up to the top terrace and I drank the other one, the mangoia, mango yarda, mangoi, I've got a photo of the can, I can't remember exactly what it is. the oldish bloke was up there with his laptop and earphones, so i didn't say anything, he did leave at some point but didn't say anything, so not super matey. no one except possibly a staff member down on the lower terrace. outside what I assume is a dorm on the top floor by the terrace, there's loads of boots and shoes in a rack, I mean so maybe they don't encourage shoes in the dorm but is everyone really sleeping at this time of day? I don't know.
So while I was in my room before heading up to terrace to drink my mangoyada there was a knock on door and I optimistically thought "ooh, maybe the mos has found a nicer D&f 500 and has come to offer to swap"but instead she wanted to collect the ac remote! Luckily I had decided not to turn the ac on, despite feeling vaguely narked. So they obviously are very anal about no ac outside the designated hours even in private rooms, which does seem out of order to me.
So after I drank that one beer up on the roof, I'll leave the other for later and I might get a straight beer or two at some point later on to bring back as well. I came back here and I haven't repacked properly but I've taken everything out of my bag and I've been through the pockets of the fleece and most of the different pouches and subpouches I've got. And I've picked out a handful of things which I think I can throw away, you know, like just the tic-tac packet that I emptied on the bus the other day and although I haven't done it yet because I'll shave tonight and see which one's the best, I can throw away at least all but one and probably all of my razors before I leave here and there's a few bits of other junk and stuff like that. I've got a huge amount whatever little helps right in terms of weight and bulk when I want to get hopefully some duty free and this food I've got souvenir snacks back in.
The voice typing is clearly slightly buggy because, as I watch it transcribe, it will sometimes show fragments of stuff it already transcribed earlier, which pop up in the new text being entered, and then they disappear in the end. But that still doesn't seem right. And also, for example, there was something about Nogall that kept coming up and then disappearing, and it's only because I just double-checked. That never seems to have actually been transcribed, even though I must have said it at one point because it kept being one of these transient ghost transcriptions later on. Anyway, I mean, I am trying to read what's typed, and it's mostly working, and I'm sure they'll fix it eventually.
1400 So I'm not quite sure what to do as I said I don't need to make a huge performance out of this last day. I think I might call home just to sort of get it over with while it's semi-convenient and then I might wander over to some lake it's you know like an inlet from the sea which is relatively close and just walk along the Malecon there and see what it's like be something to do. As I said I've had those quesadillas I haven't eaten a substantial meal today yet so maybe if I see somewhere half promising I'll go there you know and then I can think about what I might eat where I might eat tomorrow. I may go to Parque Las Palapas this evening after or towards dark but we'll see I suspect there won't be anything on but there may be people wandering round and some food stalls and if I go to the ones I was at the other day I'm probably not taking too much an extra risk I did think that I was maybe taking a risk with that place this morning but you can't just be insanely cautious and have no reason to believe it would be bad.
2126 Back at hostel for the night, quietly voice typing this on the upper terrace which is otherwise deserted, but there is at least one potential dorm nearby. On the lower terrace there's a couple who are slightly physical, nothing major, but anyway, obviously not much chance of a chat there. Everything's fine, I'll try and give a blow-by-blow account of what's left of the day, but I have to say things not too bad overall, considering...
So I did go over to the Malecon by laguna nichupte. It was really quiet. I mean I saw a police truck drive past and there was a minibus with the door open and like a few hundred meters down the Malecon there was a few people hanging around. It didn't feel exactly threatening it just felt a bit quiet. I was gonna walk up and down it but it was so quiet and the view was so okay but nothing special. I didn't see much need to go crazy.
With the aid of a phone map, organic maps, I was able to look across and see where the hotel zone was, which was sort of cool, but obviously it's right in the distance. It was a nice enough view, but mostly water to be honest, you know, with a few things very distantly on the skyline.
So I had a look on the map, and I thought I'd go to the cluster of shopping centres or maybe it's all one big shopping centre, I think it's roughly Plaza de Americas, relatively nearby, so I walked over there, and I thought there might be somewhere I could eat there, like, you know, a noodle place that would probably let me pay my credit card to help eke out my cash supply, and, you know, it might be something to do, and blah blah blah, and indeed it was, so I wandered round, and it was quite big and very consumer-y, but, you know, that's Cancun, and it is still Mexico. And it was vaguely cool, and it literally was air-conditioned, which was nice, and I did indeed find a noodle place, and I had something there, and I paid on the card, and it was alright, yeah. And then I kept walking around, and the place is full of these, like, soft toy claw machines, and the little ones cost 5 pesos a go, and they also have at least one giant one, which is 20 pesos a go. I took some photos of that one, and as I was walking past one, there's a guy, probably a local, playing it, and he's already got two, I think, toys on the floor, one was like a giant soft toy hamburger, I'm not sure what the other one was, and he was playing for another one, and he was wandering around the machine, looking at the angles on the crane, and quite a few people were watching him, so I started watching as well, and he put about 5 lots of credit in while I was watching, and he did finally get a toy out, and I was like, yeah. I didn't cheer out loud, because most people had cleared off by then. The claws were not really gripping, just as floppy as the ones I remember when I was a kid that were small, but that was surprisingly cool, and everyone watching him, although they did wander off before he finished, that was surprisingly cool, and a few other people had a go afterwards, maybe, because he'd been doing it, maybe not, although they didn't win anything. But that was surprisingly cheering, somehow, and I've got photos of him walking off with all three of his prizes, no idea if he wants them, or he thinks it's a good way to get them relatively cheap, because he's good at it, or he just enjoys playing and doesn't care about the money, anyway, I thought it was quite cool.
So after that, I wandered round a little bit more, and I was thinking I might come back here tomorrow depending on how the day goes, but it would be somewhere to come and eat, and there's air conditioning to help stop me getting sweated up before the flight. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. So I had one eye on the clock with regard to online check-in, although of course, because I've already paid to reserve a seat, there isn't really any huge urgency, but, you know, in case there's a problem, I want to be having as much time as possible to deal with it. Anyway, so I bought a can of Corona, a big 710ml, at the Circle K (?) near the hostel. I didn't know about it last night, but I suspect it wouldn't have been selling alcohol because I saw another supermarket this morning that also had a sign about not selling alcohol late on Sundays, and despite the oxo bloke saying it was all oxo, I suspect it's a national prohibition, which will at least make more sense. Took a photo of the go mart (?) Sign this morning.
Whoever's down at reception seems to absolutely love that I'm in love with your body Last night you were in my room now the bedsheets smell like you song it's playing now it was playing this morning I think it was playing this afternoon never been a particular fan but you know someone obviously loves it.
So, I got back to the hostel and I came and sat here on the upper terrace with my non-speaking old guy, as usual, and I had my can of Corona and I surfed the web a bit, and then, perhaps slightly late, not that it really mattered, maybe about half six, I went and had a quick shower, and then I was in my room (but the bed-sheets only smelt like me, not you :-)) about 6.45, 6.50, doing the online check-in. It says I've got to have passport and/or visa checked at the airport, but I'm sure that's normal, and I am a UK citizen, so in this direction there's really no major worry. It didn't even want me to type my passport details in, so it was a bit of a non-event, really, but I haven checked in. I've got a boarding pass and I'm all set to hopefully get it printed tomorrow.
So after that I headed out, I asked at reception about coming back late and they said, Oh, the gate's locked at 10, which if that's true generally, it means I was cutting it a bit fine last night by accident. They said I could take a key with me. At first I said no, and then I walked out and then I thought, Oh, what if I've left an alarm on on the P7 in the room? It's going to go off while I'm out, because I was taking the 06 out with me just in case. And so I came back in and I got a key from reception and I took the old alarm set to go off on the P7. I went out and I walked over to Parquet de Las Palapas and there was no event on, but there were quite a lot of people there and the food court's all going. And there's a couple of young guys breakdancing on the stage, just practicing, doing some quite sophisticated and good looking stuff to my non-expert eye. And there were the kids driving the electric cars on the bit in front of the stage. That's really cute and that would just not happen back home because, you know, there'd be liability considerations or the council would block it or something. But, you know, incidentally, yesterday I did notice they had two boxes of batteries. I assume they take a giant box of the special batteries for those cars out with them charged and then every time they change one, they put the dead battery in another box. But I am guessing,but anyway they don't seem to charge them there.
So I wandered round a bit and then I went over to one of the line of five-ish marcosita stalls and some guy, I was reading what they were and one guy at the next stall said oh do you want something in a nice way and I not meaning to be rude but I said to him "ahora no, gracias" and I wondered whether I should have said "un momento por favor" instead but anyway it was fine I wasn't meaning to be rude and I thought oh okay I will actually buy one off his stall since he asked me and you know so I got a cheesecake one that's what they call (it in English, though they might have misspelled it). At this stall at least the ingredients were queso de bola (which is edam, there was even a whole edam, labeled edam, on the front of the stall), fresh strawberry slices, strawberry jam (mermelada de fresa) and philadelphia which I assume is philadelphia cream cheese not something I normally eat but not too bad. It was 90 pesos I assume that's a fair-ish price it wasn't written down but probably not a tourist tax. I got the thing after a few minutes and it was a bit weird with all the finely grated edam on but I had a bite of it and I'm like this is a bit weird but it did grow on me to be honest and it was quite messy and wrapped in tin foil as well as some paper at the bottom but yeah I quite enjoyed it and it was pretty substantial and I'd probably have another one yet and I'm glad I finally tried one on this trip and that I had my first one in Parque de las palapas.
So I wandered round a bit more and went down a couple of side streets which had kind of stalls on and I took some random photos and I was thinking I need to be careful not to overly milk this but it was quite nice and I do quite like Park of the Las Palapas to be fair and also especially this second visit to Cancun it feels like it's a bit more of a known quantity now and while there might still be some after-long flight kind of worries I think it's now a lot more likely that if I were to fly in at a similar time I'd feel reasonably comfortable getting an ADO coach from the airport into the centre and then walking over to somewhere like where I'm staying now or near Park of the Las Palapas or generally near the terminal on that first night so you know there's options there and that might simplify future trips via Cancun.
Don't get me wrong I did like the first place I stayed and I'm not not staying there now because I didn't like it, it's just that it's location while it's near the airport being here is near the terminal to get a bus to the airport. And I also had no idea how to get to that place I stayed at the start of the trip from the bus terminal easily because I don't know which local bus to take and I wanted to see somewhere new like Park of the Las Palapas so those are the reasons I didn't go back there but not not anything about not liking it
This is just super waffly and like like and oooh and oom but I'm just trying to bash it out. So this is what it is, right?
Gonna go get another beer and then I'll come back. I bought some on the way back just to jump ahead.
So I wandered round a bit more and then I went and got three arrachera Tacos at the place I got them yesterday. I didn't get any quesadillas, not because I didn't like the place, but because I had some earlier. I'm a tiny bit worried about my cash levels. In hindsight, especially given how relatively expensive this place turned out to be, although I've got 150 key deposit to come back, I should have withdrawn more money and it would have been fine if I was stuck with it. I could or would have should have. I think what with putting stuff on the credit card a bit today and tomorrow, it's going to be fine.
While I was sitting at a table eating the tacos the woman who'd been singing to backing tracks At some point near yhe food court came round for tips and I fumbled a tiny amount of coins (I'm a bit short actually) out of my back pocket. As I was leaving to come home, by the way, She was singing a song I've heard quite a bit which basically goes "es un escandalo" over and over again. It's actually not too bad a song. But it always reminds me of that Kirsty McColl song that has that as one of the lyrics, although her song has other lyrics too. I can't remember for sure what it is At the moment, I think it might be "in these shoes", but I'm not sure, probably off tropical brainstorm anyway.
There was also another guy busking with a guitar on the opposite side of the park. I didn't really watch him very much but at one point he was doing some song I sort of knew and quite liked. Maybe the name of it will come back to me, not that it really matters.
So after I had the tacos, I wandered around a bit more. As I say, I was trying not to milk it, but it's also my last night and, you know, it was quite nice. As I think I already said, I do quite like Parque de las Palapas. I am a bit sad to be going. I'm feeling a bit better about Cancun as a whole. Well, not as a whole. This part of it, maybe, than I did before. Albeit, yeah, I'm not crazy about it. I mean, I could see staying around here another night or two on another trip and maybe exploring somewhere else and going to the park one night. But, you know, anyway, I feel better about Cancun than I did, and I'm a bit sad to be leaving both Cancun and Mexico. I should also say this afternoon, I expect it to be cooler anyway, getting on for three or four o'clock. It was basically overcast, and there was quite a breeze up, and I'm not saying it wasn't at all muggy, but it was mildly comfortable, you know.
Oh, on a random note, the guy doing the announcements during the echos of carnival thing last night said, I think, that there was some sort of metal band or maybe rock, but I think he said metal, maybe I got it completely wrong. In some park, whose name I certainly can't remember now, starting in 20 minutes, that sounded vaguely interesting, but I didn't know where the park was, and I kinda wanted to finish watching the echos of carnival, and I didn't really want to be out super late. Good thing, as it turned out, if it really was a 10pm curfew without the key, but just mentioning it, you know, so there were options, so to speak.
Going back to the weather at points this morning-ish when it wasn't overcast it really was very sunny and like when you get a great big open area of just sort of white grey concrete it was almost blinding it was a bit I mean obviously not ridiculous it's just one of those things but yeah quite intensely bright and uncomfortable at times.
So I think I left the park about 9.15 tonight and I went into the oxo the one that was the second oxo last night for what it's worth and I got a couple of cans of beer and a bottle of Pepsi black and I already had and still have at this moment um a clamato in the fridge from last night or was it this morning whenever probably last night so I came back and I used the wrong key I used my room key to try and open the gate. I was here before 10 anyway and some woman came to open the door, but bit annoyed because it would be nice to try the other key but anyway. It's not as if I was drunk at this point remember, I hadn't had anything since that can several hours earlier. Just one of those things. So I came in she gave me the air conditioning control and I went and put my beers in the fridge and there was the couple in the lower terrace and I came up dropped my bag off in my room and started drinking the first beer up here and writing this and now I'm still up here here on the second beer.
Oh, when I came in, the larger, I think, friendlier of the two cats (one of the staff had told me that this cat was friendlier than the other earlier. They do look very similar, I don't know if they're related, but they're not the same) was near the gate and I stroked it a bit, it let me stroke it and it was rolling over a bit. I took some video of it, but that was nice as well.
There was no one on the lower terrace when I went down to get this beer out of the fridge, by the way. There was an Austrian couple, I was ear-wigging on them talking Spanish with the woman checking them in, who checked in when I was writing the first bit of this, but don't know where they've gone, maybe they went out again. It's a shame it hasn't been more social here, but obviously there's nothing I can do. I'm not saying that someone like Mark would not have managed to get chatting to someone anyway, but really, it does feel like it's been pretty thin pickings, and while it would have been nice, it's not a huge deal. It's been fine, and it's the end of the trip, and it is what it is. On the whole, things haven't gone too badly. Yeah, I've been feeling a bit weird and moody, and I was hangry the other day, but like today, the guy getting those toys out of the giant claw machine and the park, just the atmosphere, it was nice, right? So yeah, I can't really complain.
I think Austrian guy has just come out, he said his or hola and I replied. I don't know if I ought to chat to him or not. Yes his presumed gf will probably be out in a minute but that isn't an absolute reason not to. He is looking at his phone though, as to be fair am Ihijust checked buses and they go directly to terminal 3 and at the komd of time I am looking at they are roughly every half hour and take about 35 mins and cost approximately 100 pesos. I am not booking tonoght, I may book tomorrow but I may instead want to play it a bit by ear and just buy one when I decide I am ready at the terminal. I can pay on card either way. I am sure I will end up going to airport earlier than really necessary but I will try to strike a balance.
2229 put phone down a bit but he is just on his. FWIW there was a bar type place on the square with a faded chalkboard suggesting they had 50 peso Margaritas and I was tempted but decided not to, I have had the odd Margarita but it isn't as if I needed one there and then or as if I have generally drunk them in normal bars and the price was a bit suspiciously low (another place nearby wanted 130ish) and I also in a strange way - though it might have added to the memory - want to "taint" the park with having an alcoholic drink. Just making a note, not a big deal.
2232 while I have lost track of what is proper laundry washed, what is self washed with soap and what is water only washed, I had enough clean clothes that by wearing the ss tshirt tonight I was able to change everything except trousers after shower thos evening and still have a complete change (and I have been saving the looser grey trousers for this, to some extent, been wearing black for maybe a weekish including tonight) tomorrow morning, ideally after a shower 8ish. I plan to have breakfast 9ish then take advantage of room aircon to pack and will hang on here til the slightly mean checkout time of 11. I suspect they will look after my bag but may charge me 50, can't be helped. If they won't I will have to take it with me and we will see how that goes and I may go to airport earlier than otherwise.
I haven't shaved since yesterday but if I am not too rushed tomorrow I will shave in the morning. It isn't absolutely critical but probably be nice to.
I think I may have put sliced fried? nogal on the tacos at the park last night and tonight BTW.
The views off the roof terrace are nothing special btw, even when you leer over the bamboo fencing. That should have been peer, but the typo amuses me. But hey, roof terraces are always cool and while it is the a bit muggy there is at least a slight breeze.
It was fairly pleasant in the park afaicr, albeit my hands were sticky after the marquesita and then the tacos. And it didn't help that cos of ss shirt I had put mosquito repellent on so when I sucked my fingers I got that along with the leftover sugar.
2257 just been down to get clamato and also to turn ac on in room. Austrian guy going into i assume dorm as I came back, said hi, he seemed V quiet, perhaps shy or maybe tired or maybe thinks i am a weirdo. :-)
I got a Pepsi black along with the two beers at Oxford tonight, I will have it tomorrow (can always take it out when I go at 11), although using card for small purchases seems fine (eg buying the 30ish peso 710ml corona at circle k on card, I did ask if it was OK) I figured buying the Pepsi now would save using cash or a tiny card purchase tomorrow even if i didn't want it tonight.
I could maybe see myself doing another trip in autumn-ish but well have to see what is going on elsewhere in my life, and it is undeniable that especially if it is longish and if it is in the greyer more depressing late autumn/early winter time it does kind of mean I am always for 4-6 months near continuously (except for Christmas back in UK) which while sort of cool is also kind of disruptive to other stuff I want to do.
It is a way off yet and I will just keep an eye open for cheap flights and see what happens. It may turn out to be practical to do eg a month on early-ish autumn cheaply because of a good flight deal and that might work out as a nice compromise.
Just looked it up online - I really need a better offline app, kudos to devs for the one I do have but I really miss the old pre-AI offline linguee dictionary - and palapa is a palm shelter/roof, and is probably quite a Mexican word. Off top of my head I am not sure if it actually has palm roofs but it is possible, and it may just be historical now wrt that park, but I do have photos to check. Should have looked it up earlier and I dkd try using offline app but as I say I need a better one and mine didn't have it.
Oh, some random stuff on looking that up reminds me that someone did actually use the word "bougie" while talking to me (not about me, and maybe not about herself - I think but not sure it was Holly at San Cris hostel her last night), first time I had actually heard it used for real.
When I was saying about feeling comfortable maybe getting the bus into the centre and walking to a hotel somewhere vaguely like this area on a future trip, I did mean if I landed at like 7 or 8 o'clock at night, it probably would be okay, okay, yeah, you've got the full pack, so a bit more risky and you'd always have that new country fresh off the boat nerves, but honestly I think it probably would be okay, at least the way it seems at the moment, you know, maybe it seems I'd go downhill of course but right now I think it would be fine though obviously always *some* risk. Maybe not at 3am or whatever but then again tbh it feels so kind of dead round here at night that it really might be OK, though of course I haven't been on the streets after 10.
2320 I am vaguely dreading return to UK in the sense of having to eg deal with council and hoping there is no shitty post waiting (so little has been redirected I am worried there has been a glitch, though I dont get much anyway). But notwithstanding the fact things aren't necessarily great there is plenty of political shit here too, it is just easier to shrug my shoulders a bit when I am just a tourist. And it will also be nice to get back and get on working towards various goals with renewed energy and definitely not procrastinating and being lazy and watching junk on yt as I used to. ;-) and as I say there is the possibility of another trip of some sort later in the year.
2324 some woman bustling on and off terrace, I think it might be staff but I haven't had a good look at her and despite my best intentions and having not done too badly overall I never did really manage to get that much better at remembering faces on the basis of seeing them and interacting with them briefly. I didn't speak to her or her to me but if she is staff and we already said hi tonight that would be totally normal.
I have photos but one of the electric Cars at the park yesterday had a bear and a little girl design on. not sure if it's bear in the big blue house, probably not. I'm not obviously well up on these things. unfortunately the way the transfer had been applied to one side of the car the pink handle on the door looks just like she has a Pinocchio style nose. I did take some photos of it but I'm just mentioning it explicitly so as to accompany the photos. on the other side of the car it looks fine, just on that one side of the car it does have happened to be a Pinocchio nose. I don't know if these transfers are official and you know the cars were bought like that or the operators just applied these different transfers themselves to give the cars different designs. I don't think that car was there tonight, maybe it was broken or worn out, maybe there's different people operating them, maybe I just didn't see it but it did look like it was different toy cars there tonight. Same style of thing but different cars.
Oh, and if I didn't already say, I think there's two kind of different sorts of cars, one for the relatively older children and one for the smaller kids (toddlers?). the smaller cars i think they can be driven but they also have remote control because like last night I saw one little girl in a car and she was like zigzagging left and right and she clearly didn't have her hands on the wheel and I'm wondering, well are there like foot pedals to steer as well? And I assume based on what I saw later, not with that girl, I saw other kids in those littler cars and the parent was walking alongside them with remote control so essentially the kids are just sitting in a giant remote control car while the parent drives it. I think there is the option for the kid to drive it if they want to, i don't know how you switch between the two or if both sets of controls work simultaneously but I thought that was quite interesting.
Not feeling super relaxed with this last beer (clamato), it is fine but not meditative as such etc. Just me out here on terrace fwiw. Nearly finished beer anyway and will move to bed then. Being up 8 is probably even too early, given I just want to shower and shave before breakfast at 9.
2337 There is some sense which it would have been nice if I still had another month of the trip but I think because I've been heading for home for the last week or two so to speak I've got myself into position where I'm now expecting to go home and that oh it's a shame I didn't make the trip longer feeling has kind of somewhat receded and as I've said before the reasons for doing the shorter trip (at least the two main ones) are still and completely valid and so it still does make sense to be going home anyway. I'm sorry to be leaving but at the same time I've got myself into position now where I've been heading back for so long but it's yeah I'm going back and there's no major "it should have been longer" feeling, it's just vaguely sad to be leaving but not specifically related to the Trip length.
And if I didn't already say of course one of my aspirations when I get back is to spend more time working on my Spanish and trying to get lots of input to use the jargon and especially like colloquial and you know different countries input from native speakers talking about themselves you know easier said than done and all that but for what it's worth
The P7 battery is down to 8% and it actually charged to 100% for a calibration overnight but it has had like 7 hours of screen time and I've been using the camera a lot which burns the battery and I don't think it's indicative of a problem and it'll be fine. I've said it to charge to 100% (instead of the usual 80% limit) again tonight so it's ready for the flight, fingers crossed. Although I should be able to top it up at various points on route EG I hope there'll be some sort of charging points at the airport. The 06 on the whole seems to have been behaving quite well, yeah it has done that crash once in a while but not too much and I had a feeling the battery was on the way out a little bit when I was back at home but on the whole, I mean most of the time I've left it in the hostel but I have taken it out and about, it hasn't let me down in a surprising way so reasonably pleased with that. I suspect before the next trip I will be replacing the 06 but we'll see how it goes and I'm not rushing into that because obviously the longer you wait, the cheaper any given phone gets.
Okay I've finished the Clamato so let's go clean my teeth and go to bed. Not too bad a day overall, slightly anticlimactic night. I might have hoped to almost work up is a little over the top but you know feel a little more cheery or drunk or melancholy ish about leaving tonight but it's fine. you know I don't feel bad, I'm not pleased I'm leaving, will be nice to go home, not looking forward to all the airport crap but you know I feel broadly speaking okay. and as I say there were a couple of nice little bits today so not complaining.
2359 bed.
Didn't sleep amazingly but not too bad. It feels super muggy down here on terrace, dunno if it is just contrast with ac in room or not. The floors is a bit wet, I don't know if it rained in night or they watered it.
Not feeling too bad. As I say, should be a low key kind of day. After breakfast will pop back to room briefly and then head out to a supermarket for some souvenir comestible and toothpaste shopping. I just *might* be able to get by with the tiny bit of toothpaste I have left but unless prices are insane it feels silly to try.
I may come back to hostel around midday and have a soft or alcoholic drink somewhere on off-chance of chat (unlikely, given most people here are probably in transit or are on the beach during the day - incidentally not seen any other guests yet today) and to repack while avoiding peak heat.
1343 back at hostel.
So I had breakfast and two cups of hot coffee. Desperate needed a dump, even I'd already been so I did that. I then came back to my room I think and cleaned my teeth. Maybe had already done that, I can't remember. And then I headed out. I went around the corner to the place where I thought I could get something printed and I went and had a quick chat with the guy there and yeah they're open from 8.30 I can go in tomorrow and it's about 10 pesos plus 3 pesos per print so 13 or 16 if I want two copies. I don't think I have to get the boarding pass printed but it would probably be reassuring to have it printed and so I probably will go there tomorrow timing myself to be there for 8.30 and come back for breakfast.
There was a sort of taco and quesadilla eat in place next to the print shop, whatever you want to call it, internet cafe, so I went in there and I got two quesadillas and a small bottle of tamarind juice, probably a bit less than a hundred pesos. Fingers crossed that was alright, yeah they were fairly fair size, not too bad at all. I then wandered up to the Chedraui nearby and I went in there and I spent quite a while wandering around, snapped a few photos of odd things, including some cactus-y looking stuff which is nogal. So now I know what that is and I can actually eat it when I say it, describe, but look at it.
I got myself a small tube with toothpaste, it was only 15 pesos, so even if I don't need it, it's not too bulky or expensive. I got a couple of beers, well actually those sole mescladas, to drink at the hostel. And I also got (as novelties to share with family back home) some chilli type sweets and some non-chilli sweets and some solid chocolate to make hot chocolate drink with. I had to ask a member of staff where that was, so she was really helpful. I had been looking for the sort of solid bar things like the penella I got in Colombia the other year, which I'd seen in another shop. But they didn't have those here, but they did have nice solid little cakes of it in a packet. So I bought four of those, which I think will perhaps pack easier in my bag, but it's not such a giant lump.
I also took some photos of odd stuff like nogal (cactus thing) and some giant skin pork crackling in supermarket and now I know what nogal is and don't have to avoid it when ordering food! I probably did know at one point but forgot.
I paid on a credit card because I'm trying to eke out my cash supplies that I think I'm fine that was no problem on a whim I asked the cashier if she could swap my 500 peso plastic note for one of the Diego and Frida ones, but she said she couldn't wasn't too surprised I then came back to the hostel and I rang the bell to get in and the woman let me in no problem and then Unpromptedly she asked me if I turned my air conditioning off at 10 and incidentally I had and I said I thought I had and she said oh great Thanks. So I then thinking well, I don't like this very much so I will ask for a favour here. I asked her if she could swap my 500 note and she could she didn't have any super crisp D&F ones but at least I've got one. It it doesn't really matter and in some ways it's an expensive souvenir and I should really have been smarter and set aside the high quality one I got out of a cash machine weeks ago, but as I say not the end of the world and also a small lesson learned there.
When I came out of the Chedraui it was if anything slightly muggier than when I'd gone in and the streets seemed generally wet so I think it must be intermittently raining a bit. I can't say I've felt any rain falling on me and maybe it never gets that heavy but anyway for what it's worth.
So I came up to my room and I found a plastic bag and wrote my name on the back of a receipt and I shoved one of the beers in the fridge downstairs and then I went up to the top terrace and I drank the other one, the mangoia, mango yarda, mangoi, I've got a photo of the can, I can't remember exactly what it is. the oldish bloke was up there with his laptop and earphones, so i didn't say anything, he did leave at some point but didn't say anything, so not super matey. no one except possibly a staff member down on the lower terrace. outside what I assume is a dorm on the top floor by the terrace, there's loads of boots and shoes in a rack, I mean so maybe they don't encourage shoes in the dorm but is everyone really sleeping at this time of day? I don't know.
So while I was in my room before heading up to terrace to drink my mangoyada there was a knock on door and I optimistically thought "ooh, maybe the mos has found a nicer D&f 500 and has come to offer to swap"but instead she wanted to collect the ac remote! Luckily I had decided not to turn the ac on, despite feeling vaguely narked. So they obviously are very anal about no ac outside the designated hours even in private rooms, which does seem out of order to me.
So after I drank that one beer up on the roof, I'll leave the other for later and I might get a straight beer or two at some point later on to bring back as well. I came back here and I haven't repacked properly but I've taken everything out of my bag and I've been through the pockets of the fleece and most of the different pouches and subpouches I've got. And I've picked out a handful of things which I think I can throw away, you know, like just the tic-tac packet that I emptied on the bus the other day and although I haven't done it yet because I'll shave tonight and see which one's the best, I can throw away at least all but one and probably all of my razors before I leave here and there's a few bits of other junk and stuff like that. I've got a huge amount whatever little helps right in terms of weight and bulk when I want to get hopefully some duty free and this food I've got souvenir snacks back in.
The voice typing is clearly slightly buggy because, as I watch it transcribe, it will sometimes show fragments of stuff it already transcribed earlier, which pop up in the new text being entered, and then they disappear in the end. But that still doesn't seem right. And also, for example, there was something about Nogall that kept coming up and then disappearing, and it's only because I just double-checked. That never seems to have actually been transcribed, even though I must have said it at one point because it kept being one of these transient ghost transcriptions later on. Anyway, I mean, I am trying to read what's typed, and it's mostly working, and I'm sure they'll fix it eventually.
1400 So I'm not quite sure what to do as I said I don't need to make a huge performance out of this last day. I think I might call home just to sort of get it over with while it's semi-convenient and then I might wander over to some lake it's you know like an inlet from the sea which is relatively close and just walk along the Malecon there and see what it's like be something to do. As I said I've had those quesadillas I haven't eaten a substantial meal today yet so maybe if I see somewhere half promising I'll go there you know and then I can think about what I might eat where I might eat tomorrow. I may go to Parque Las Palapas this evening after or towards dark but we'll see I suspect there won't be anything on but there may be people wandering round and some food stalls and if I go to the ones I was at the other day I'm probably not taking too much an extra risk I did think that I was maybe taking a risk with that place this morning but you can't just be insanely cautious and have no reason to believe it would be bad.
2126 Back at hostel for the night, quietly voice typing this on the upper terrace which is otherwise deserted, but there is at least one potential dorm nearby. On the lower terrace there's a couple who are slightly physical, nothing major, but anyway, obviously not much chance of a chat there. Everything's fine, I'll try and give a blow-by-blow account of what's left of the day, but I have to say things not too bad overall, considering...
So I did go over to the Malecon by laguna nichupte. It was really quiet. I mean I saw a police truck drive past and there was a minibus with the door open and like a few hundred meters down the Malecon there was a few people hanging around. It didn't feel exactly threatening it just felt a bit quiet. I was gonna walk up and down it but it was so quiet and the view was so okay but nothing special. I didn't see much need to go crazy.
With the aid of a phone map, organic maps, I was able to look across and see where the hotel zone was, which was sort of cool, but obviously it's right in the distance. It was a nice enough view, but mostly water to be honest, you know, with a few things very distantly on the skyline.
So I had a look on the map, and I thought I'd go to the cluster of shopping centres or maybe it's all one big shopping centre, I think it's roughly Plaza de Americas, relatively nearby, so I walked over there, and I thought there might be somewhere I could eat there, like, you know, a noodle place that would probably let me pay my credit card to help eke out my cash supply, and, you know, it might be something to do, and blah blah blah, and indeed it was, so I wandered round, and it was quite big and very consumer-y, but, you know, that's Cancun, and it is still Mexico. And it was vaguely cool, and it literally was air-conditioned, which was nice, and I did indeed find a noodle place, and I had something there, and I paid on the card, and it was alright, yeah. And then I kept walking around, and the place is full of these, like, soft toy claw machines, and the little ones cost 5 pesos a go, and they also have at least one giant one, which is 20 pesos a go. I took some photos of that one, and as I was walking past one, there's a guy, probably a local, playing it, and he's already got two, I think, toys on the floor, one was like a giant soft toy hamburger, I'm not sure what the other one was, and he was playing for another one, and he was wandering around the machine, looking at the angles on the crane, and quite a few people were watching him, so I started watching as well, and he put about 5 lots of credit in while I was watching, and he did finally get a toy out, and I was like, yeah. I didn't cheer out loud, because most people had cleared off by then. The claws were not really gripping, just as floppy as the ones I remember when I was a kid that were small, but that was surprisingly cool, and everyone watching him, although they did wander off before he finished, that was surprisingly cool, and a few other people had a go afterwards, maybe, because he'd been doing it, maybe not, although they didn't win anything. But that was surprisingly cheering, somehow, and I've got photos of him walking off with all three of his prizes, no idea if he wants them, or he thinks it's a good way to get them relatively cheap, because he's good at it, or he just enjoys playing and doesn't care about the money, anyway, I thought it was quite cool.
So after that, I wandered round a little bit more, and I was thinking I might come back here tomorrow depending on how the day goes, but it would be somewhere to come and eat, and there's air conditioning to help stop me getting sweated up before the flight. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. So I had one eye on the clock with regard to online check-in, although of course, because I've already paid to reserve a seat, there isn't really any huge urgency, but, you know, in case there's a problem, I want to be having as much time as possible to deal with it. Anyway, so I bought a can of Corona, a big 710ml, at the Circle K (?) near the hostel. I didn't know about it last night, but I suspect it wouldn't have been selling alcohol because I saw another supermarket this morning that also had a sign about not selling alcohol late on Sundays, and despite the oxo bloke saying it was all oxo, I suspect it's a national prohibition, which will at least make more sense. Took a photo of the go mart (?) Sign this morning.
Whoever's down at reception seems to absolutely love that I'm in love with your body Last night you were in my room now the bedsheets smell like you song it's playing now it was playing this morning I think it was playing this afternoon never been a particular fan but you know someone obviously loves it.
So, I got back to the hostel and I came and sat here on the upper terrace with my non-speaking old guy, as usual, and I had my can of Corona and I surfed the web a bit, and then, perhaps slightly late, not that it really mattered, maybe about half six, I went and had a quick shower, and then I was in my room (but the bed-sheets only smelt like me, not you :-)) about 6.45, 6.50, doing the online check-in. It says I've got to have passport and/or visa checked at the airport, but I'm sure that's normal, and I am a UK citizen, so in this direction there's really no major worry. It didn't even want me to type my passport details in, so it was a bit of a non-event, really, but I haven checked in. I've got a boarding pass and I'm all set to hopefully get it printed tomorrow.
So after that I headed out, I asked at reception about coming back late and they said, Oh, the gate's locked at 10, which if that's true generally, it means I was cutting it a bit fine last night by accident. They said I could take a key with me. At first I said no, and then I walked out and then I thought, Oh, what if I've left an alarm on on the P7 in the room? It's going to go off while I'm out, because I was taking the 06 out with me just in case. And so I came back in and I got a key from reception and I took the old alarm set to go off on the P7. I went out and I walked over to Parquet de Las Palapas and there was no event on, but there were quite a lot of people there and the food court's all going. And there's a couple of young guys breakdancing on the stage, just practicing, doing some quite sophisticated and good looking stuff to my non-expert eye. And there were the kids driving the electric cars on the bit in front of the stage. That's really cute and that would just not happen back home because, you know, there'd be liability considerations or the council would block it or something. But, you know, incidentally, yesterday I did notice they had two boxes of batteries. I assume they take a giant box of the special batteries for those cars out with them charged and then every time they change one, they put the dead battery in another box. But I am guessing,but anyway they don't seem to charge them there.
So I wandered round a bit and then I went over to one of the line of five-ish marcosita stalls and some guy, I was reading what they were and one guy at the next stall said oh do you want something in a nice way and I not meaning to be rude but I said to him "ahora no, gracias" and I wondered whether I should have said "un momento por favor" instead but anyway it was fine I wasn't meaning to be rude and I thought oh okay I will actually buy one off his stall since he asked me and you know so I got a cheesecake one that's what they call (it in English, though they might have misspelled it). At this stall at least the ingredients were queso de bola (which is edam, there was even a whole edam, labeled edam, on the front of the stall), fresh strawberry slices, strawberry jam (mermelada de fresa) and philadelphia which I assume is philadelphia cream cheese not something I normally eat but not too bad. It was 90 pesos I assume that's a fair-ish price it wasn't written down but probably not a tourist tax. I got the thing after a few minutes and it was a bit weird with all the finely grated edam on but I had a bite of it and I'm like this is a bit weird but it did grow on me to be honest and it was quite messy and wrapped in tin foil as well as some paper at the bottom but yeah I quite enjoyed it and it was pretty substantial and I'd probably have another one yet and I'm glad I finally tried one on this trip and that I had my first one in Parque de las palapas.
So I wandered round a bit more and went down a couple of side streets which had kind of stalls on and I took some random photos and I was thinking I need to be careful not to overly milk this but it was quite nice and I do quite like Park of the Las Palapas to be fair and also especially this second visit to Cancun it feels like it's a bit more of a known quantity now and while there might still be some after-long flight kind of worries I think it's now a lot more likely that if I were to fly in at a similar time I'd feel reasonably comfortable getting an ADO coach from the airport into the centre and then walking over to somewhere like where I'm staying now or near Park of the Las Palapas or generally near the terminal on that first night so you know there's options there and that might simplify future trips via Cancun.
Don't get me wrong I did like the first place I stayed and I'm not not staying there now because I didn't like it, it's just that it's location while it's near the airport being here is near the terminal to get a bus to the airport. And I also had no idea how to get to that place I stayed at the start of the trip from the bus terminal easily because I don't know which local bus to take and I wanted to see somewhere new like Park of the Las Palapas so those are the reasons I didn't go back there but not not anything about not liking it
This is just super waffly and like like and oooh and oom but I'm just trying to bash it out. So this is what it is, right?
Gonna go get another beer and then I'll come back. I bought some on the way back just to jump ahead.
So I wandered round a bit more and then I went and got three arrachera Tacos at the place I got them yesterday. I didn't get any quesadillas, not because I didn't like the place, but because I had some earlier. I'm a tiny bit worried about my cash levels. In hindsight, especially given how relatively expensive this place turned out to be, although I've got 150 key deposit to come back, I should have withdrawn more money and it would have been fine if I was stuck with it. I could or would have should have. I think what with putting stuff on the credit card a bit today and tomorrow, it's going to be fine.
While I was sitting at a table eating the tacos the woman who'd been singing to backing tracks At some point near yhe food court came round for tips and I fumbled a tiny amount of coins (I'm a bit short actually) out of my back pocket. As I was leaving to come home, by the way, She was singing a song I've heard quite a bit which basically goes "es un escandalo" over and over again. It's actually not too bad a song. But it always reminds me of that Kirsty McColl song that has that as one of the lyrics, although her song has other lyrics too. I can't remember for sure what it is At the moment, I think it might be "in these shoes", but I'm not sure, probably off tropical brainstorm anyway.
There was also another guy busking with a guitar on the opposite side of the park. I didn't really watch him very much but at one point he was doing some song I sort of knew and quite liked. Maybe the name of it will come back to me, not that it really matters.
So after I had the tacos, I wandered around a bit more. As I say, I was trying not to milk it, but it's also my last night and, you know, it was quite nice. As I think I already said, I do quite like Parque de las Palapas. I am a bit sad to be going. I'm feeling a bit better about Cancun as a whole. Well, not as a whole. This part of it, maybe, than I did before. Albeit, yeah, I'm not crazy about it. I mean, I could see staying around here another night or two on another trip and maybe exploring somewhere else and going to the park one night. But, you know, anyway, I feel better about Cancun than I did, and I'm a bit sad to be leaving both Cancun and Mexico. I should also say this afternoon, I expect it to be cooler anyway, getting on for three or four o'clock. It was basically overcast, and there was quite a breeze up, and I'm not saying it wasn't at all muggy, but it was mildly comfortable, you know.
Oh, on a random note, the guy doing the announcements during the echos of carnival thing last night said, I think, that there was some sort of metal band or maybe rock, but I think he said metal, maybe I got it completely wrong. In some park, whose name I certainly can't remember now, starting in 20 minutes, that sounded vaguely interesting, but I didn't know where the park was, and I kinda wanted to finish watching the echos of carnival, and I didn't really want to be out super late. Good thing, as it turned out, if it really was a 10pm curfew without the key, but just mentioning it, you know, so there were options, so to speak.
Going back to the weather at points this morning-ish when it wasn't overcast it really was very sunny and like when you get a great big open area of just sort of white grey concrete it was almost blinding it was a bit I mean obviously not ridiculous it's just one of those things but yeah quite intensely bright and uncomfortable at times.
So I think I left the park about 9.15 tonight and I went into the oxo the one that was the second oxo last night for what it's worth and I got a couple of cans of beer and a bottle of Pepsi black and I already had and still have at this moment um a clamato in the fridge from last night or was it this morning whenever probably last night so I came back and I used the wrong key I used my room key to try and open the gate. I was here before 10 anyway and some woman came to open the door, but bit annoyed because it would be nice to try the other key but anyway. It's not as if I was drunk at this point remember, I hadn't had anything since that can several hours earlier. Just one of those things. So I came in she gave me the air conditioning control and I went and put my beers in the fridge and there was the couple in the lower terrace and I came up dropped my bag off in my room and started drinking the first beer up here and writing this and now I'm still up here here on the second beer.
Oh, when I came in, the larger, I think, friendlier of the two cats (one of the staff had told me that this cat was friendlier than the other earlier. They do look very similar, I don't know if they're related, but they're not the same) was near the gate and I stroked it a bit, it let me stroke it and it was rolling over a bit. I took some video of it, but that was nice as well.
There was no one on the lower terrace when I went down to get this beer out of the fridge, by the way. There was an Austrian couple, I was ear-wigging on them talking Spanish with the woman checking them in, who checked in when I was writing the first bit of this, but don't know where they've gone, maybe they went out again. It's a shame it hasn't been more social here, but obviously there's nothing I can do. I'm not saying that someone like Mark would not have managed to get chatting to someone anyway, but really, it does feel like it's been pretty thin pickings, and while it would have been nice, it's not a huge deal. It's been fine, and it's the end of the trip, and it is what it is. On the whole, things haven't gone too badly. Yeah, I've been feeling a bit weird and moody, and I was hangry the other day, but like today, the guy getting those toys out of the giant claw machine and the park, just the atmosphere, it was nice, right? So yeah, I can't really complain.
I think Austrian guy has just come out, he said his or hola and I replied. I don't know if I ought to chat to him or not. Yes his presumed gf will probably be out in a minute but that isn't an absolute reason not to. He is looking at his phone though, as to be fair am Ihijust checked buses and they go directly to terminal 3 and at the komd of time I am looking at they are roughly every half hour and take about 35 mins and cost approximately 100 pesos. I am not booking tonoght, I may book tomorrow but I may instead want to play it a bit by ear and just buy one when I decide I am ready at the terminal. I can pay on card either way. I am sure I will end up going to airport earlier than really necessary but I will try to strike a balance.
2229 put phone down a bit but he is just on his. FWIW there was a bar type place on the square with a faded chalkboard suggesting they had 50 peso Margaritas and I was tempted but decided not to, I have had the odd Margarita but it isn't as if I needed one there and then or as if I have generally drunk them in normal bars and the price was a bit suspiciously low (another place nearby wanted 130ish) and I also in a strange way - though it might have added to the memory - want to "taint" the park with having an alcoholic drink. Just making a note, not a big deal.
2232 while I have lost track of what is proper laundry washed, what is self washed with soap and what is water only washed, I had enough clean clothes that by wearing the ss tshirt tonight I was able to change everything except trousers after shower thos evening and still have a complete change (and I have been saving the looser grey trousers for this, to some extent, been wearing black for maybe a weekish including tonight) tomorrow morning, ideally after a shower 8ish. I plan to have breakfast 9ish then take advantage of room aircon to pack and will hang on here til the slightly mean checkout time of 11. I suspect they will look after my bag but may charge me 50, can't be helped. If they won't I will have to take it with me and we will see how that goes and I may go to airport earlier than otherwise.
I haven't shaved since yesterday but if I am not too rushed tomorrow I will shave in the morning. It isn't absolutely critical but probably be nice to.
I think I may have put sliced fried? nogal on the tacos at the park last night and tonight BTW.
The views off the roof terrace are nothing special btw, even when you leer over the bamboo fencing. That should have been peer, but the typo amuses me. But hey, roof terraces are always cool and while it is the a bit muggy there is at least a slight breeze.
It was fairly pleasant in the park afaicr, albeit my hands were sticky after the marquesita and then the tacos. And it didn't help that cos of ss shirt I had put mosquito repellent on so when I sucked my fingers I got that along with the leftover sugar.
2257 just been down to get clamato and also to turn ac on in room. Austrian guy going into i assume dorm as I came back, said hi, he seemed V quiet, perhaps shy or maybe tired or maybe thinks i am a weirdo. :-)
I got a Pepsi black along with the two beers at Oxford tonight, I will have it tomorrow (can always take it out when I go at 11), although using card for small purchases seems fine (eg buying the 30ish peso 710ml corona at circle k on card, I did ask if it was OK) I figured buying the Pepsi now would save using cash or a tiny card purchase tomorrow even if i didn't want it tonight.
I could maybe see myself doing another trip in autumn-ish but well have to see what is going on elsewhere in my life, and it is undeniable that especially if it is longish and if it is in the greyer more depressing late autumn/early winter time it does kind of mean I am always for 4-6 months near continuously (except for Christmas back in UK) which while sort of cool is also kind of disruptive to other stuff I want to do.
It is a way off yet and I will just keep an eye open for cheap flights and see what happens. It may turn out to be practical to do eg a month on early-ish autumn cheaply because of a good flight deal and that might work out as a nice compromise.
Just looked it up online - I really need a better offline app, kudos to devs for the one I do have but I really miss the old pre-AI offline linguee dictionary - and palapa is a palm shelter/roof, and is probably quite a Mexican word. Off top of my head I am not sure if it actually has palm roofs but it is possible, and it may just be historical now wrt that park, but I do have photos to check. Should have looked it up earlier and I dkd try using offline app but as I say I need a better one and mine didn't have it.
Oh, some random stuff on looking that up reminds me that someone did actually use the word "bougie" while talking to me (not about me, and maybe not about herself - I think but not sure it was Holly at San Cris hostel her last night), first time I had actually heard it used for real.
When I was saying about feeling comfortable maybe getting the bus into the centre and walking to a hotel somewhere vaguely like this area on a future trip, I did mean if I landed at like 7 or 8 o'clock at night, it probably would be okay, okay, yeah, you've got the full pack, so a bit more risky and you'd always have that new country fresh off the boat nerves, but honestly I think it probably would be okay, at least the way it seems at the moment, you know, maybe it seems I'd go downhill of course but right now I think it would be fine though obviously always *some* risk. Maybe not at 3am or whatever but then again tbh it feels so kind of dead round here at night that it really might be OK, though of course I haven't been on the streets after 10.
2320 I am vaguely dreading return to UK in the sense of having to eg deal with council and hoping there is no shitty post waiting (so little has been redirected I am worried there has been a glitch, though I dont get much anyway). But notwithstanding the fact things aren't necessarily great there is plenty of political shit here too, it is just easier to shrug my shoulders a bit when I am just a tourist. And it will also be nice to get back and get on working towards various goals with renewed energy and definitely not procrastinating and being lazy and watching junk on yt as I used to. ;-) and as I say there is the possibility of another trip of some sort later in the year.
2324 some woman bustling on and off terrace, I think it might be staff but I haven't had a good look at her and despite my best intentions and having not done too badly overall I never did really manage to get that much better at remembering faces on the basis of seeing them and interacting with them briefly. I didn't speak to her or her to me but if she is staff and we already said hi tonight that would be totally normal.
I have photos but one of the electric Cars at the park yesterday had a bear and a little girl design on. not sure if it's bear in the big blue house, probably not. I'm not obviously well up on these things. unfortunately the way the transfer had been applied to one side of the car the pink handle on the door looks just like she has a Pinocchio style nose. I did take some photos of it but I'm just mentioning it explicitly so as to accompany the photos. on the other side of the car it looks fine, just on that one side of the car it does have happened to be a Pinocchio nose. I don't know if these transfers are official and you know the cars were bought like that or the operators just applied these different transfers themselves to give the cars different designs. I don't think that car was there tonight, maybe it was broken or worn out, maybe there's different people operating them, maybe I just didn't see it but it did look like it was different toy cars there tonight. Same style of thing but different cars.
Oh, and if I didn't already say, I think there's two kind of different sorts of cars, one for the relatively older children and one for the smaller kids (toddlers?). the smaller cars i think they can be driven but they also have remote control because like last night I saw one little girl in a car and she was like zigzagging left and right and she clearly didn't have her hands on the wheel and I'm wondering, well are there like foot pedals to steer as well? And I assume based on what I saw later, not with that girl, I saw other kids in those littler cars and the parent was walking alongside them with remote control so essentially the kids are just sitting in a giant remote control car while the parent drives it. I think there is the option for the kid to drive it if they want to, i don't know how you switch between the two or if both sets of controls work simultaneously but I thought that was quite interesting.
Not feeling super relaxed with this last beer (clamato), it is fine but not meditative as such etc. Just me out here on terrace fwiw. Nearly finished beer anyway and will move to bed then. Being up 8 is probably even too early, given I just want to shower and shave before breakfast at 9.
2337 There is some sense which it would have been nice if I still had another month of the trip but I think because I've been heading for home for the last week or two so to speak I've got myself into position where I'm now expecting to go home and that oh it's a shame I didn't make the trip longer feeling has kind of somewhat receded and as I've said before the reasons for doing the shorter trip (at least the two main ones) are still and completely valid and so it still does make sense to be going home anyway. I'm sorry to be leaving but at the same time I've got myself into position now where I've been heading back for so long but it's yeah I'm going back and there's no major "it should have been longer" feeling, it's just vaguely sad to be leaving but not specifically related to the Trip length.
And if I didn't already say of course one of my aspirations when I get back is to spend more time working on my Spanish and trying to get lots of input to use the jargon and especially like colloquial and you know different countries input from native speakers talking about themselves you know easier said than done and all that but for what it's worth
The P7 battery is down to 8% and it actually charged to 100% for a calibration overnight but it has had like 7 hours of screen time and I've been using the camera a lot which burns the battery and I don't think it's indicative of a problem and it'll be fine. I've said it to charge to 100% (instead of the usual 80% limit) again tonight so it's ready for the flight, fingers crossed. Although I should be able to top it up at various points on route EG I hope there'll be some sort of charging points at the airport. The 06 on the whole seems to have been behaving quite well, yeah it has done that crash once in a while but not too much and I had a feeling the battery was on the way out a little bit when I was back at home but on the whole, I mean most of the time I've left it in the hostel but I have taken it out and about, it hasn't let me down in a surprising way so reasonably pleased with that. I suspect before the next trip I will be replacing the 06 but we'll see how it goes and I'm not rushing into that because obviously the longer you wait, the cheaper any given phone gets.
Okay I've finished the Clamato so let's go clean my teeth and go to bed. Not too bad a day overall, slightly anticlimactic night. I might have hoped to almost work up is a little over the top but you know feel a little more cheery or drunk or melancholy ish about leaving tonight but it's fine. you know I don't feel bad, I'm not pleased I'm leaving, will be nice to go home, not looking forward to all the airport crap but you know I feel broadly speaking okay. and as I say there were a couple of nice little bits today so not complaining.
2359 bed.
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