Down and Out in Tulum-pt 2

Down and Out in Tulum—part 2

I committed the cardinal sin of overland travel, never travel at night, especially when it´s a shorter trip. Still, gettting to ADO bus terminal was only a quick over-packed mini-van ride from the docks and the next bus was less than half an hour away. I used this time to try calling and making resis at the cabanas or The Weary Traveler. Once again, with a booth, I was having trouble with my sausage appendages.

¨Umm, for some reason I can´t seem to dial any numbers correct in this country!¨ Yeah I was getting a little annoyed. I´d asked for the telephones, but they were outside the terminal, then they were cards only, then when I crossed to the OXXO, like a 7-11, the woman NOT working saw me come in with larger than a 10-year-old backpack, and she ignored me. You know the deal, I´ve got three years seniority over this Little girl at the register and I´ve earned the right to look through customers, or simply walk away like the joint´s on fire.

I get this. I don´t get upset until she tries to be helpful after the other girl was helping me. Yet, like many who only observe and never really plunge in until it´s fun, she was screwing everything up.

¨All I want is a card to use in one of those booths over there. I told her it was a Long Distance call, to Tulum, yet you (Ms. Congeniality) keep showing me cards for International Long Distance.¨

¨If you want to call Tulum, there are cabinas over there,¨ the first young lady finally told me. Yet, she did one of those vague, ¨por allá¨s. That glib backward wave of the hand which could be left, across the street or next door.

After crossing back toward the terminal, another taxi driver told me it was literally next door to the OXXO girls.

Regardless, no answer at either place, so once I arrived, wouldn´t you know it, The Weary Traveler is full to capacity, ¨but we have a single a few blocks from here at triple the price...oh and there´s no AC, only a fan.¨

¨Thanks, I tried calling last night and e-mailing but I couldn´t get through on either site.¨

"Did you dial 01?"

The long walk passed all these lighter tourists eating pizza, sucking down iced drinks and cold Dos XX with those beads of sweat on the side. It´s funny how the senses really kick in when you have no idea how you´re going to eat if you´re going to spend every cent on an over-priced, hotter cell....I mean room.

Every place I get to is either full or like 500 Pesos, or $39. That´s $14 more than I paid at the most expensive place in Cuba!

¨Where´s the park,¨ I asked the attendant at the Internet Café after e-mailing for some emergency cash, yet again.

Maybe loaning Devin that $31 was a mistake.

Maybe I could´ve forgone that $34 massage.

Maybe this country should move into the AMEX world, because everyone who wanted to take me to 300 pesos places would only take cash or Visa/Mastercard. It’s everywhere you want to be…

I was prepared to sleep out the night, guarding my valuables for a few muggy, mosquito hours before the heat became too much. Little did I know much more was in those crazy cards in this incredibly unpredictable deck I´ve been given.

So, I was walking to a few more places and I find the Kukulcan Hotel with a family of three (el niño was sleeping on the bench), watching the desk. Their lowest place is $21 and I have a little more than that.

¨No, gracías, no tengo mucho plata, necesito uno mas barato,¨ I said, apologetically walking away.

¨We have a hammock,¨ Cynthia says.

¨Outside, great. How much?¨

They look at each other over their finished dinner and try to process a fool willing to stay a night in a hammock. Hell, that´s where they´re sleeping, right?

¨It´s inside a room, with a fan,¨ Diego says.

¨There´s nothing else in there. We’re still fixing that room up.¨

¨How much?¨ I´m curious now.

¨200 pesos,¨ Cynthia says.

¨I´ll take it.¨

¨You should see it first,¨ Diego gets the key from his wife and up we go.

¨Seriously, I´ll have more money in a day or so, can you go down 170 ($13 US), por va?¨

¨OK.¨

Alone in the room I´m thankful, yet, at the same time, lonely. Wondering, if I was traveling with others this money thing would NEVER happen! Someone would´ve read the part about no AMEX, another who had actually BEEN to Cuba would´ve warned me about bringing the right amount of cash ON HAND and perhaps another would´ve talked to someone who´d just returned and advised us to BRING MEXICAN PESOS rather than dollars. Yet, you can´t make this shit up. Traveling alone also leads to some very special connections, as Pierre Henrí kept saying, ¨This is just the way this was supposed to happen.¨

It wasn´t until much later on, at the Tulum ruins that I learned Kukulcan was the God of Winds—and I was riding a bit of a high warm breeze at the moment, though it was all ¨supposed to happen¨ just the way it did. There was only one problem, the club several doors down and across the street was blasting their tunes and I remember thinking, Great, that´s gonna keep me up all night long.