I.I.VIII.III – Cancún: Day Four To Six
CANCÚN
I.I.VIII.III – DAY FOUR TO SIX
30/08/22 – 01/09/22
I spent the rest of days in Cancún doing the touristy, ‘must-do’ things. Whilst my original intention was to try and go off the beaten track, I figured things wouldn’t be as touristy if they weren’t cool. Much can be said about that but so far my philosophy seemed to work, with everything I did turning out to be quite the adventure.
Like that catamaran trip to the island of Isla Mujeres. To me, there’s nothing quite like being out on the open sea asI course over the waves, feeling like a pirate or a corsair. Of course, there was much more to it. Like the snorkelling we’d be doing in the pristine Caribbean surrounding us. In all my years of travelling I had never done snorkelling tours before, something which changed soon after visiting this island. From the first time seeing coral to the first time seeing countless species of fish, a turtle and a stingray, I can say it easily became one of my favourite things to do when travelling!
Then we got to the island. Named after a bunch of statues dedicated to Ixchel; the Mayan deity of the moon, fertility, medicine and happiness, this jewel has some of the nicest beaches I had ever been to. Beautiful, yes, but also crowded and noisy – a compromise that would often have me wondering why on earth I joined such tours in the first place. After much walking along the coast, however, I did manage to find a patch that wasn’t inundated by tourists – right by the time a tropical storm broke out. Luckily, by that point, swimming during a torrential downpour had become somewhat routine.
The tour to Holbox island was yet another highlight, though it wasn’t the tropical heaven itself that left us in awe. On our way there we made stops at cenote Yahalau; a pool of azure crystalline water surrounded by the jungle, Isla Pasión; an honest to god tropical island like the ones advertised on travel brochures, and, my favourite stop, Yum Balam; a natural reserve consisting of a large stretch of wetlands that’s inhabited by hundreds of species; from whale sharks to flamingos, from jaguars to tapirs!
There, we only had an hour to spend, which is nowhere close to how much time I would’ve wanted in order to explore the area. However, that gave us ample time to roam around a vast patch of ankle-deep waters with tiny islands of sand that are all occupied by thousands of piping plovers and red knots, amongst other birds. Truly a spectacular view, seeing patches of pure, white sand interspersed with tiny pools of crystal-clear water reflecting the blue of the sky and the turquoise horizon at the very back, with hundreds of birds clustering around each other and flying away as a unit the second you step close to them.
Having said that, the MVP wasn’t a feathered one this time round. As I was walking aimlessly over the shallow waters, I stumbled upon a shield-like structure that was ineffectually hidden under a thin layer of sand. The second I saw it, I could hardly believe my eyes. One of my favourite animals – one that I had been wanting to set my eyes on ever since I had been a kid. A horseshoe crab!
These critters are actually arthropods whose predominant feature is a hard, plate-like carapace covering their entire body, a long, pointy tail they used to move around and bury themselves in the sand, and an underside which would give nightmares to most. Another cool fact about these real-life Kabuto is that their blood contains certain types of cells, called amoebocytes, which produce a chemical that can be used to detect bacterial endotoxins – the compounds responsible for causing illness. This discovery led to them being harvested in huge amounts, usually releasing them back in the wild after the extraction process. Most survive, depending on the amount of stress exerted, but females subjected to this process have been known to spawn less. Thankfully, this is being phased out as new technology allows the use of an artificially created compound to serve the same purpose.
Just seeing one of them made my entire holiday! It also made me forget all about my disappointment when I heard that the sand of Holbox glows at night, something I wouldn’t get to see as I’d only be there for the day! This, I was told, is a phenomenon called bioluminescence which arises when certain types of plankton are disturbed by a wave breaking in the water. So, so cool!
Oh and I can’t forget about the pink lake of Las Coloradas which owes its colour to certain pigments produced by the microorganisms inhabiting the overly saline water. And Rio Lagartos, a lake that is home to a variety of flora and fauna amongst which we got to see monkeys, feed crocodiles, and… Drum roll… Flamingos! So, so many adventures in so, so little time!
One Caveat...
Much can be said about the city’s surroundings and wonders, though the city itself is arguably my least favourite place in Mexico.
Nevertheless, I still owe it to that city that I had this one epiphany. It might be due to its overly plastic, fake façade that serves to please all the spoiled, bougie tourists and all their Instagram followers. The same tourists who pay exorbitant amounts of money just so they can chill at their resort and go clubbing at night and then go back home having checked off Mexico from their travel bucket list. I apologise for spewing such venomous words and being judgemental but it’s just something I could never, ever understand. Maybe cause I can do all those things back home and so in a way, I’m privileged. But I think it was another thing that made me realise I wasn’t truly using my time wisely. Right around the time I visited Cancún, I was reading the book The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara.
I had watched the movie eons ago when it had come out and I remember being quite moved by it – but that was a different time. I was younger and inspired though I might have been, it was nothing more than a nice movie. Now, much like young Che, I was a doctor who found himself travelling through Latin America. Much unlike him, I wasn’t doing it on a rusty old motorbike. On my very worst days, I’d be riding on a derelict bus that would look like a death-trap but would function properly nonetheless. By that point in time, I never had to camp out in the desert or needed to rely on the kindness of strangers for a roof over my head and food on my table. I mean sure, one could argue that I was allowing myself the luxury of… well, luxury, because I had worked my ass off for two years and I was now reaping all that I had sowed. True, but also, in a way, by reading Che’s book, I felt as if we were doing the same journey but taking the easy way out – that I was missing out on a lot of stuff.
Mostly, it was the connecting with people. So far in my travels, I had visited all kinds of wonderful places. Places I never thought I’d get to see. Places I never thought could even exist! But most of them I’d visit on tours. And tours, especially in touristy places like Cancún, are not unlike a conveyer belt in a factory. They pick you up, take you here and there, explain a couple of things, drag you to a tourist trap or two and then drop you off, waiting for the next batch. You also get to meet tons of other tourists, meaning you don’t quite mingle with the locals apart from the guide. I can’t say I haven’t enjoyed tours though. Hell, I got to see more places than I could have otherwise this way.
But that’s the thing. It didn’t feel like that was enough. All along I’d been interested in the history of the places I’d visit. The ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Incas, the Mayans. I had learnt so much about them and about so many other great civilisations. But in doing that, I’ had missed out on something equally as important – the present. I had failed to ask the more important questions. How’s the country doing now? Are its people thriving? And what about education and health and economy?
I had seen hundreds of homeless people in my travels in Mexico thus far, spoken to dozens of unemployed people trying to find a job, families complaining about education, healthcare, water and food scarcity. But these were things I just stumbled upon. I wasn’t playing an active part in my education, in immersing myself in the country’s culture. Could I experience that on such a tight schedule? Or would that have to take second place if I wanted to see as much stuff as I wanted to see?