Abi's Deep Dive

I am in Puerto Morelos!! Woo hoo!

After the crazy business of packing up my life while I worked my notice at Families in Grief, and saying goodbye to my friends and family, I was exhausted. The end goal had become a bit distant from my thoughts as there were so many other things filling my brain. Sitting at the airport watching the rain outside, clutching my Families in Grief Bear and my leaving cards, I felt so emotional, and just wondered if I was making the right decision. Home and family has always been so important to me and after moving to Devon I felt really settled, and made some incredible friends who I see a lot, leaving all of that was heart wrenching.

The flight was great, Bear had his own seat next to me and the cabin crew took great care of him, strapping him in when we had turbulence and bringing him drinks. I did a few Spanish lessons, watched a couple of films, and reflected on the journey I had had since I first visited Mexico last year.

I landed in Mexico and went to the carousel but couldn’t find my rucksack, which in Bristol had been loaded with special items due to the straps, another woman was looking for hers and it turned out all of those items just get dumped in a pile!! Luggage found, security and customs passed, I went through those magic doors to my new life……

First challenge was lugging my bags to find my pick up. The loveliest porter came to my rescue, loaded his trolley and off we went!! After 45 minutes of calling base and no-one answering I gave up and jumped in a taxi. It was 32 degrees, humid, and all I wanted was a shower!! I knew roughly where the hotel was, so got dropped in town and started to walk in the right direction. I had no data so was relying on the map I had looked at when I booked. Again, a local came to my rescue and carried one of my bags to Laylas Guesthouse smiling and welcoming me to Puerto Morelos.

As soon as I was on Wi Fi I got messages from Miguel the Program Manager: my taxi had been booked, then Miguel came back from a dive and had an email to say that they actually couldn’t make it. He apologised profusely and said that someone would be over to pick me up in a minute. I jumped in the shower, got dressed and went to meet my new work colleagues, and see Kayla and Miguel who I met last year, there were lots of hugs!! I was in work for an hour just to say hi then back to the hotel to go for food and get an early night. My first meal in Mexico tasted so good!!!