Abi's Deep Dive

July was the beginning of my Mexican adventure, and since then I have learnt so much, and seen some really beautiful places on work trips like Chinchorro. This weekend I had a few days off and had heard that a bestie was in town for one day only!! Car hire and Airbnb booked, I left work on Friday after lunch and started the journey to Mahahual. I was excited to have a few days to myself to explore somewhere new, but mostly just to see Catherine and Stu after 4 months of being away from friends and family. Mahahual is 200 miles south along a highway that runs fairly close to the construction of the Mayan train.

I’ve driven to Playa several times and went to Tulum when I was a volunteer here last year, the boat to Chinchorro left from Mahahual, but we didn’t have any time there to explore. This trip quickly took me through Playa, onto Tulum and then the road was pretty straight through the mangroves with no real communities to look at. In contrast to the few towns, the evidence of the Mayan train was everywhere. Huge articulated lorries clog the roads, delivering giant steel girders and other construction materials that also dwarf the materials I have seen used in construction before. Butterflies fly all over the road and I wonder if this is a symptom of the utter destruction of great swathes of mangrove taking place for the train. Along the highway there are regular lines of orange cones where people stand all day signalling with flags: keep going, slow down, stop….. risking life and limbs to stop cars so that the lorries can deliver or leave the different sites. Through the entrances that are cut through the mangroves you get a glimpse of the scale of the construction that is happening. Men in hard hats cling onto metal webbing that’s being moved into place, no obvious safety harnesses or other equipment that we would see in the UK. I wonder if this is another build that not only ravages the environment but also sacrifices many of the people who are perhaps so desperate for work that they sign up from all over the country.

I don’t stop on the journey down but miss the turning to Mahahual so have to wait for the next turn off to turn around, so including the time waiting to pick the car up (waiting for a Canadian couples payment of $14000 dollars to go through) and then grabbing my bag, I arrive hungry at the Airbnb 6 1/2 hours after leaving work.

Checked in, I go for a walk to buy water and other essentials (beer, tequila, coffee and milk). A taco bar just around the corner from my apartment seems busy, and the customers all look local so I stop there ready for some food before bed. Service is slow as the two guys working serve behind the bar as well as running the food. The guy who serves me speaks no English so I get to practice my still basic Spanish as he tells me what they have on the menu tonight. Chicken tacos and a beer seem like a good choice, I order and then read while I wait, listening to the chatter of a Friday night. A couple of beers later the tacos arrive with a hot sauce I am warned about, and are absolutely delicious!!!

Saturday I am up early. Catherine and Stu dock at 8 so I want to be at the port when they arrive to make the most of every minute with them. It rained over night and the walk to the port is parallel to the mangroves so it becomes a competition between my reflexes and the mosquitoes. Thankfully at the port the threat is less. I order some food from a street stall so that Stu and Catherine can have a little bite when they arrive, and with that I see Catherine’s bright yellow top as they come through the gate. Trying not to look like a complete loon I walk/ jog to give my friend the biggest hug. It is so lovely to see them both, and to chat face to face. The cruise they are on sounds insane and we chat as I go back for the food so they can have a little taste of Mexico.

Telling stories all the way we face the mosquitos to walk back to my apartment. Catherine brought me my makeup bag that I had left at home as well as a Christmas gift bag and an advent calendar, and a card from another friend with a painting of home (both are now up in my bedroom). Together we all walked through the puddles and into the town. Turns out the mosquitos liked Catherine the most! They told me tales of ship shenanigans and tattoos, and I told them about Mexican driving and work, diving and food. There was so much to catch up on but it suddenly didn’t matter, we just had a day together and that was the important bit. Mahahual has an esplanade, the Malecón, it runs alongside he beach and has shops, stalls, bars and restaurants. We walked along together, drugs being offered regularly to Stu in his tie dyed t-shirt!! Since being in Mexico I have never been offered any, despite being told that it’s standard, so it was quite a novelty. We stopped to get a beer and chilaquiles one of my favorite breakfast dishes, and tried to connect to the wifi so we could call the kids and then the rain came. It was as if the heavens opened and emptied. It rained so hard, the road flooded (terrible drainage), the ladies doing massage took shelter under their tents tying the sides down and covering everything with plastic bags. The bar which was open to the elements was soaked, water covered the floor so we were ushered into a downstairs store room and the staff brought down tables and chairs for everyone. A little girl who seemed to be the daughter of one of the massage ladies had a great time making faces at us all through the windows, I also had fun hiding behind the wall to make her jump and then chortle with laughter.

When the rain slowed we headed further down the road. We wanted to find reliable wifi so that Catherine could call home and I could say hello to everyone. A man with a tattooed face wearing a leather jacket and board shorts took a shine to Stu and we ended up in his bar. Stu and I ordered margaritas and they came in the giant glasses that they come in here. I was saying how reasonable the prices of food and drinks are here as we enjoyed the cocktail and chatted on FaceTime to Barbara and the kids. Turns out men with facial tattoos and leather jackets can’t be trusted!! We were charged about 4 times the usual prices and frogmarched to a shop that accepted card. When I was chatting to people in Mahahual the next day they said that is standard for the days that cruise ships dock. Apparently the menus all disappear and pricing becomes fluid and they only want to be paid in cash.

Our time almost up we headed back towards the port and stopped at a little restaurant around the corner from my Airbnb. This place was thankfully not affected by the cruises and we had a whole bbq chicken with a stack of tortillas, some rice and pasta for 200 pesos. It was BYO too so I popped to the shop to get beers and coke. We met a lovely dog there called Coco who was quite happy to be stroked and fed chicken skin! We all missed Ludo. The day had passed so quickly, more hugs and Stu and Catherine jumped into a taxi to go back to the port leaving me with fat tears disguised by the rain. I hid from the weather in my apartment that night, listening to thunder and the splashing as cars drove past. The rain was relentless but by the next morning the sun had come out.

Takata is a dive shop that GVI have partnered with and our divemaster candidates can choose to finish their training in the shop rather than on base with us. We have two DMC’s there at the moment and another guy who is doing his instructors course. I booked in for the afternoon there, loaded my kit into the car and headed down to see if I could catch up with any of our volunteers. They were all there and it was so nice to see them! Gracie and James are now both qualified Divemasters so I was able to dive with Gracie. We had two dives together from the boat, visibility wasn’t great for the first dive, but I haven’t been anywhere other than the sites that we go to on base so it was really good to see somewhere different. The second site the visibility was better and I was in invertebrate heaven, we saw tiger tail sea cucumbers, Pederson cleaner shrimps, Queen conch and more, and a baby trunkfish that was about 2 inches long and looks like a bubble! The sun was out and being on a boat on a day off felt wonderful. I missed our fabulous Captain Hilario though as the Captain on this day was hitting the battery terminals with a lump of wood when he couldn’t get the engine to start prompting much rolling of eyes from the dive team. Gracie told me that the normal captain they have has no problems but that she too misses Hilario. Driving away from the dive shop I felt so content. A couple of days off and seeing Catherine and Stu had been wonderful. Windows down. music on I soaked up the beautiful view.

Showered and starving I was looking forward to a pizza. There is a place around the corner from the airbnb that is apparently one of the best restaurants in Mahahual but it was closed so I met Gracie, James and Pim back at the taco bar instead. There were no complaints from me, I was happy to eat there again. There is a tequileria attached to the taco bar and they offered me a tasting, so in the interest of making the most of all opportunities offered to me I said yes! The tequila came with different salt which complimented each tequila.

Worm salt went with the joven (young) tequila, coriander salt with the reposado (rested) and vanilla with the anejo (old). Delicious! There were also three tequila liqueurs: coffee, peach and almond. The anejo won for me but with the high price tag I was content with just the taste! I went back to the airbnb worn out and smiling after a really fabulous weekend.

Mahaual I will be back!