Working on my (Yuca)tan just because I can(cun)

Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico- Sadly, I have passed the halfway point of my time in the Mayan Riviera. So far, it has been a very worldly experience. I have gotten to know many of the people who consider themselves locals. This town is nicely separated from all the tourist trap resorts up the beach in Cancun. It had been interesting to say the least, to see the socio economic flow from outside of that spectrum. In fact, the Hotel Zone, which 99.5 % of the Americans who ¨go to Cancun¨ stay at is, from the actual city of Cancun a distant place, more than 3 km from the actual city. Approching the city, you can see the Hotel Zone way off in the distance. It is a place most Cancun residents simply never have a need to go to.

Several funny experiences. The other night, while visiting a downtown festival in Cancun´s El Centro, my party got caught up in a police raid and we found ourselves surrounded by police trucks and motor bikes screaming into megaphones with sirens blaring and M16´s stretched across their backs. Luckily, they were simply passing through and the dust settled leaving us all laughing...not sure as to what the hell just happened.

I have also recently discovered free diving, that is diving with only goggles and snorkel up to a depth of 20 feet. The best place to do this is below the pier here in P.M. because of the number of fish who congregate around the fishermen´s bait. The task of course is to retrieve things off the ocean floor. So far I have unearthed a sandal, some pvc pipe and a beer bottle.

Today, we are headed to a cenote, a freshwater cave, with my new friend Cynthia Castle. The jungles around this area are full of freshwater caves with clear water. Most of the best caves are not known to tourists but are open to the public. Cynthia, a relolcated cajun who now lives here, has kindly shown us around and taken us to many places we would not know about otherwise. She has a blog you should check out. Most intersting of course is the four months she spent living on the Baja of California in a palapa. (www.cynthiacastle.blogspot.com)

I will probably free dive today and take some pictures as well. If I ever find my camera chord I will upload some pictures onto the blog.

For the most part, every day is a new twist. Yesterday a squall blew in and blew billows of sand down the street tumbling trashcans and anything not ¨tide¨down. It nearly blew me off my rented bicycle. And truly, it does make you wonder what a Category 4 hurricane must be like.

And lastly, one sad/hilarous note. Jonathan and I set about in our most architectural state of mind to construct a post-modern sandcastle. We got halfway done on Wednesdayu night only to discover that on Thursday mornings they grate the beach with a tractor...dammit.

Este es la historia de me vida...