Playa del Carmen, Mexico!
Trip Start
May 22, 2005
1
59
74
Trip End
Ongoing
Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Thursday, September 1, 2005
I grabbed my Lonely Planet and it mentioned that extensions are possible at IMN (Instituto Migracion Nacional) offices and that the procedure can take half an hour to 3 hours and costs 21 dollars. This isnīt even too bad (even though it is kind of a shame they did not want to put on 180 days in the first place, saving me 21 dollars) but the bad part is that they only want to extend it a few days (say 4 or so) before the visa runs out. Anyhow....at least I know it is possible to get an extension.
Anyhow...we arrived at Playa del Carmen late, had dinner, went to a bar to drink a bit and to bed after that.
Sept 2nd was a day to arrange things. First I arranged diving at a cenote (cavern) for the next day at 9:00...they would pick me up at the hotel.
Next I wanted to go to the migration office. I asked some guy for directions (he was working at a tour company) and we did the entire conversation in Spanish...so he asked me where I was from and I answered Holland. Then he asked me if I was interested in working in Mexico..and I said I was. He wanted to know which languages I spoke and told me to return after visiting the IMN office. He said I would need a working permit..but that it would not be a problem getting one.
So I headed for the IMN office....they gave me some papers to fill in and some instructions asking for copies of important documents. As well he told me that it was no use getting back until a few days until the visa would expire....
Anyhow...I returned to the guy....talked some more with him and he told me about a canopycompany that could use a guide. I went to the company itself to inform...but the person who could help me with it was not there. They told me to return the next day. I did not return....mainly because I want to find work in Mexico City..where I have friends living...and not far away in Playa del Carmen. Still....it is quite nice that this guy thought my Spanish was good enough for me to become a guide.
Spend quite some time on the internet uploading pictures..and as well went to a bookstore to change my book into 2 new ones for a price of just 3 pesos (25 cents USD). We went out again to the Blue Parrotbar. Had to say goodbye to some of my friends who would leave early the next day ;(
Sept 3rd....my cenotediving day!!! It was kind of disappointing...since the diving company did not show up at 9:00...in fact...they did not show up at all...at 9:30 I called them and did not get any good reply...so I went to their shop. To make a long story short...they use another company for the cenotediving...and that comapny had picked up some guy to go diving...but forgot about me. Of course I was pretty pissed off because of that and I left the dive shop to search for other dive shops that would still take me the same day. But I was out of luck.... Some guy on the beach (Tony) approached me on the beach because he heard that my dive was cancelled and said that he might know someone who would still do the dive...he called the guy..but alas that guy was going diving somewhere else. Anyhow...we started talking a bit and he dives as well as a freelance diver. I asked him if it would be possible to dive with him the same day...and that was possible. It would be the same price as at a dive shop...but today it would only be him and me diving! That has quite some extra value. We went to dive at a place called Tortugas. We saw 30 turtles in total during the 43 minute dive!!!! That is about 1 turtle even 1.5 minutes!!! That was quite awesome...as well saw a nurseshark...3 stingrays...octopus...and big tarponfish and tuna! It was an awesome dive. The next dive was at Barracuda...which was a little bit disappointing...I did see big crabs...and some muray eels...but it was so-so. In total was was quite happy though!!!
Next I went back to the dive place which did not show up. I managed to get a $5 USD discount for the next day (not much...but itīs something)...and this time they would not pick me up at the hotel (like previous time)..but for safety reasons I would go to the dive shop itself to get picked up.
The same night I said farewell to more friends from the GAP trip.
Sept 4th. Said goodbye to the last few people who remained ;( I am on my own again! Today, the cenotedive company did show up this time...and we went off to dive in the cenote (cavern). The dives were awesome....in the caves there is salt water at the bottom...and fresh water on top of that...so when the salt water would mix with the fresh water because of our movements...our view would become really fuzzy...it was a really strange effect. Also...then the salt-fresh water was not disturbed..it would be possible to see where the boundary between the fresh and salt water was. Pretty cool. As well there was a difference in temperature..the fresh water was 24 degrees Celsius....and the salt water 26 degrees....still...it felt like there was a way bigger difference.
The views were quite amazing as well...stalagmites and stalagtites everywhere and the water was crystalclear. Enjoyed the dive a lot.
