¡Vamos a la Mexico!

The first stop on our voyage was in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  There our plan was to complete a six month internship with Dressel Divers in exchange for a free PADI Instructor’s certification.  Dressel Divers is a large dive operation with numerous branches, all attached to big all-inclusive resorts, mostly Iberostars.  We were told by a seemingly nice enough guy on Skype that the internship went like this:  Free stay in an apartment that may or may not have A/C, have a nice short walk to work showing up around 8:30, get a couple of dives in a day, spend a little bit of time in the pool showing people how great diving was, eat some good food in the hotel, gain experience as a Divemaster leading dives, and continuously working towards the Instructors Development Course (IDC).   Sounds nice, yeah?!

Ashley and I landed in Cancun, Mexico at 9:30 p.m. on July 31^st. We got a pretty good deal on airline tickets -- $300 round trip from Kansas City with Delta.  Our return flight was scheduled for September 27^th, just a quick few day trip back home for my sister’s wedding in Iowa before resuming the internship back in Mexico.  Anyways, after collecting our extremely excessive amounts of luggage, we made our way outside of the airport terminal to find our way to Playa del Carmen.  One thing that is quickly discovered about Mexico’s tourist areas is that the business people LOVE to harass you -- trying to talk you into using their service or buy their product, usually starting at an obnoxiously higher price than they will actually take.  At the airport these people consist of taxi and shuttle bus drivers.  The thing is no matter how much you barter with these people, they will still be way more expensive then taking the ADO bus.  So sift through all the incredibly annoying people trying to pull you into their vehicle and take the bus.  The ADO bus cost 114 pesos, around $10US depending on the exchange rate.  It runs from 10ish in the morning to 10:30ish at night, leaving at least once every hour.  The bus is also very nice.  They are comfortable, clean, safe, play movies (in Spanish of course), and perhaps most importantly they all have air conditioning.  If you are planning on taking longer trips around Mexico, I would highly recommend the ADO bus system.

 After the hour bus ride to Playa del Carmen, which consisted of me convincing Ashley that both us and our luggage were safe on the bus, we arrived at the main bus station on the famous Avenida 5.  I knew the place we were staying was only three blocks from the bus stop, so I managed to talk Ashley into walking rather than taking a Taxi.  I think the walk instantly calmed any concerns about our safety.  It was nearly midnight on a Tuesday and the streets were packed with locals and tourists alike.  They were all out eating, shopping, and of course drinking.  Before too long we arrived at our “apartment,” which turned out to be Casa Tucan Hotel.  Our permanent room wasn’t available until the next night, so we had to pay for a night in a different room.  Let me tell you this room scared the shit out of Ashley.  It was a tiny (maybe 15’ x 20’), one bedroom room with a thatch grass roof, tiny little bathroom, one screen window and that is pretty much it.  I tend to be slightly more optimistic than most, including Ashley, who as soon as the door closed behind us had second thoughts about everything we had just signed up for.  I knew this wasn’t our place for good, and had high hopes for improvement the next day.  We went for a late night walk down to the beach three blocks away to relax and wind down, looking back on our long day of traveling and nervously wondering what the next few days and months had in store for us.