Cancún and Valladolid

So Cancún kinda sucks. It kinda felt like just a piece of the USA transported down South. There's not much to do other than go to the beach (most of which has been claimed by big resorts) or pay $80USD to go out to big tacky night clubs. Just wasn't feeling it to be honest. 

"Come play beer pong" 

 

That's how I was feeling. 

Buuuuuut now I'm in a town called Valladolid which is really cute with a bunch of pastel coloured colonial buildings and it actually feels like I'm in Mexico and I like it here. 

Caught my first Mexican bus here. Was pretty easy. Opted to walk to the hostel from the bus station here rather than spend money on a taxi. It was midday and I had my increasingly heavy pack on but since the streets are numbered (ie calle 37, calle 38 etc) I figured it'd be easy to find the hostel and close by. No. Not easy. I started at Calle 41.. Had to get to Calle 38. Easy, 3 blocks! No. Next block was Calle 39... Okay... Then Calle 37... Huh?? Ok.. I know it's on Calle 38 between Calle 43 and Calle 45... Maybe I'll find 43 and 45 and then Calle 38 will magically appear. No. Walked around in circles. Between 37 and 39 I stopped and asked a guy in my budding Spanish, "where is Calle 38?!?"

 "Calle 38??" he says, "I don't know... Calle 38.. *confused face*... Hey dude.. Where's Calle 38??"

"Ummm. Just keep going that way"

"That way? straight?"

"yep. That way" ***

***loose translation 

Well no, it was not that way. I didn't believe that Calle 38 came after Calle 37 and 39 so I just jumped in a taxi (more than half an hour after I first started walking). Turns out that all the odd streets run one way, and all the even streets run the other way. But could I figure that out? No sir. 

My hostel here is rather cute. I'm sitting in a rocking chair on my front porch writing this. 

Today another girl from the hostel (Megan) and I went to Chichen Itza. Except instead of having to catch a bus, we caught a lift with two Mexican guys staying at our hostel that had rented a car. Winner. They didn't give off any rapey vibes so I figured it'd be fine. We got there just as it opened and before the hoards of tour buses arrived. Walked around all the ruins. Was pretty cool. Then we drove to another cenote for a swim and then drove home. This is sounding really brief but I'm not sure what else to write other than it was a fun day!

Off to Merida tomorrow, the biggest city in the Yucatan.