30. 6. Diving

• 

  Hola!

🇸🇮 Cozumel sodi med najboljše potapljaške destinacije Karibov, na povprečen dan v visoki sezoni se tu potaplja okoli 2500 ljudi! Ni bilo nobene dileme, da narediva vsaj par potopov, čeprav so cene res ameriške. Ima pa soseda od Cynthie tu kjer stanujeva svoj potapljaški center, tako da je bila organizacija enostavna, potopi pa res čudoviti – sicer brez znamenitega močnega toka, ampak vseeno z odlično vidljivostjo, čisti sami na vseh lokacijah, s krasnimi formacijami in pestrim podvodnim življenjem.

🇬🇧 Cozumel is among the top diving spots in the Caribbean and surely the most popular diving spot in Mexico. On a normal high season day, with all the cruiseships visiting, around 2500 people dive on the reef here! We didn’t think twice to take advantage of the empty island, and as Cynthia’s neigbour Marion (or Mariana, as she introduces herself in Spanish) has a diving company it was easy to organize. We had the boat to ourselves, and the reef as well, without the typical strong currents but with still excellent visibility. Marianna even took pictures so we felt completely spoilt by the service and amazing dives, with impressive formations and a lot of life underwater!

Merci Marion!

Advertisement

Five months

🇸🇮 Sva mislila, da niti slučajno ne bova rabila 180 dni vize, ki jo Mehika podeli tujcem ob vstopu. Pa morava ta teden na urad za tujce vprašat za podaljšanje, ker kot zgleda do konca julija še ne bova letela nikamor! Te dni uživava na Cozumelu, zato je malo lažje sprejemat to zmešano situacijo po svetu.

El Cielo

🇬🇧 We were sure that 180 days of tourist visa in Mexico will be more than enough, and what do you know – this week we have to ask for a prolongation at the immigration office because we won’t be able to fly anywhere yet in July! They say adventure is the willingness to accept an uncertain outcome. We’re enjoying Cozumel these days so it’s a lot easier to accept the madness of the situation around the world.

23.6. Cozumel

The colors of the Carribean

🇸🇮 Cozumel je največji mehiški otok, obdan s čudovitim karibskim morjem. Večina ljudi tu živi od križarskega turizma, v sezoni jih je čez dan tu parkiranih tudi do 12!! Maji so na tem otoku častili boginjo plodnosti Ixchel, njej posvečeni templji so privabili romarje in posebno romarke iz celotnega Yucatana.

Ko smo pripluli na otok s Chyntio, Christianom in psom Jaggerjem, smo prišli praktično v mesto duhov – vse turistične trgovine in bari zaprti, par lokalnih taco stojnic, odprlo pa je tudi nekaj beach klubov. Na polno smo uživali te dni skupaj, prevozili otok, pojedli kar je bilo odprtega in končno smo lahko šli na plažo. Redka priložnost izkusit Cozumel kot je nekoč bil, in kot skoraj nikoli ni, s plažami in morjem, ki so tri mesece počivali brez gromozanskih križark in tisočih turistov.

Road trip reflection

Brunch = normal mexican breakfast

Beach ful

Best Mojito on the island

Happy to be out and about

Cheers!

🇬🇧 Cozumel is the biggest Mexican island located in the Caribbean Sea, a popular cruise ship port with as many as 10 or 12 big cruiseships parked here during the day in high season! For the Maya, the island was sacred to the Moon Goddess Ixchel, and the temples here were a place of pilgrimage from all over the Yucatan peninsula, especially by women desiring fertility.

When we arrived with Cynthia, Chrystian and Jagger, the island was still pretty much shut down, with only a few restaurants and beach clubs open. That didn’s stop us from spending a few fun days trying all the food, going to the beach and playing La Loteria. We made the best out of the island as it once was, and as it almost never is: without thousands of tourists roaming around, the touristic shops closed, the beaches and sea recovered from the absence of humongous ships.

20. 6. Time to move!

Ready!

🇸🇮 Že nekaj tednov naju srbijo podplati, potovala bi pa se ta virus še kar ne umirja. Sva mislila še malo podaljšat stanovanje v Playi, ko pa naju Cynthia povabi na Cozumel za nekaj dni, se na hitro odločiva spakirat vse stvari in vrnit stanovanje. Super občutek, sploh ker potujeva z lokalci in lahko v miru odkrijeva, kako zgleda ta nova realnost.

Happy faces on the ferry

🇬🇧 We have been very eager to change environment, so when Cynthia invited us to Cozumel for a few days, we decided on a whim to pack our stuff, leave the apartmemt and pretend to be traveling again! It feels great to be on the move, with the added feeling of peace to be traveling with locals and discover what this new reality looks like.

Road trip

19. 6. Mariachi & pool party

Mariachi!

🇸🇮 En večer pred rojstnim dnevom smo se spontano družili ob pivu v Irish pubu, ko kar naenkrat izza vogala pride supina Mariachiev in mi začne pet! Hvala Cynthia za to darilo, super je doživet takšne tradicije iz prve roke. Naslednji dan pa pool party kot sem si ga zaželela: bazen, sonce, blazine, pivo in novi prijatelji. To je bila hkrati tudi najina poslovilna žurka, ker po treh mesecih zapuščava najino pribežališče v Playa del Carmen!

• 

  Birthday tacos

• 

  Pool party

• 

  Chilling 🙂

• 

  Aguacate&tequila

• 

  Better together!

• 

🇬🇧 The night before my birthday we went for a few beers in the Irish pub, and Cynthia organized the most Mexican surprises of all: the Mariachi! We have been meeting many Mariachi around Mexico, offering to play a song or two, but we never knew what to ask for. It was so fun to experience this tradition, I felt honored! We continued the celebrations with an easygoing pool party, just the way I imagined: sun, pool, inflatables, beers, snacks and a few new friends. This was also our goodbye party, as we will be leaving our quarantine apartment tomorrow!

17. 6. La playa!

Hell yes

🇸🇮 Riviera Maya že sprejema turiste iz tujine, odpira hotele, restavracije in nekatere znamenitosti, kljub temu pa na presenečenje vseh ostajajo javne plaže zaprte. Ko je Rolando izvedel od sosedov, da se v Tulumu lahko pride na plažo skozi eno taquerio, se nas je hitro našlo nekaj navdušencev. Kakšna sreča po skoraj treh mesecih uživat na plaži, plavat in spit kakšno pivo. Tipično popoldansko druženje za mehiško družbo. Nevihta nas je pregnala domov nasmejane do ušes.

• 

  The secret passage

• 

  Playa & chela

• 

• 

• 

  Colors of the storm

🇬🇧 To everyone’s surprise, while hotels, restaurants and tour operators are reopening in Riviera Maya and accepting tourists, the public beaches remain close to visitors. In Playa the police is quite strict about it, but Rolando heard from neighbours that you can access the beach through a taqueria in Tulum, and damn were we eager to go. After almost three months, the simple pleasure of hanging out, swimming, playing beach tennis and sharing some beers was pure joy. The storm chased us home sunburned, salty and happy.

13. 6. Bike park

On our way

🇸🇮 Letos je takšno leto, da se je prva tropska nevihta pojavila še pred uradnim začetkom sezone hurikanov in povzročila kar nekaj škode tudi po Mehiki. Blizu Playe sva imela nagledan en bike park za po koncu karantene, in ko so objavili, da bo odprtje preloženo zaradi porušenih in zaraščenih trailov, sva jih kontaktirala – vsaj toliko iz želje pomagat kot iz obupa nad karanteno in celotno situacijo s potovanjem. Tako smo tri dni mačetali skozi traile v tropski vročini in se borili z roji neusmiljenih komarjev, po koncu pa smo lahko plavali na privat plaži, prava poslastica 🙂

• 

  Trails

• 

  Quaran-team

• 

  Machete man

• 

  The sweepers

• 

  Taming nature

• 

  Cenote swim

• 

  Beach trail

• 

  Coconuts

• 

  Cheers

• 

  The beach!

🇬🇧 The tropical storm Christobal opened the hurricane season extremely early this year, because this is how this year apparently works. It caused quite some damage on it’s way, and we saw that a local bike park we planned to visit had many of their trails blocked with fallen trees, unable to reopen. So we offered to help, eager to have something to do and a distraction from these endless weeks of quarantine. We spent three days in the forrest, macheting our ways through overgrown trails with local workers, clearing branches and being absolutely demolished by mosquitos in quantities no one has seen here before. It was hot and humid and tiring in the best possible way, with a fantastic reward of going to the private beach for a swim. Priceless.

Quarant-team

The joy of having fun neighbours down the hall to have a chat, share a beer and organize a spontaneous rooftop picnic. Some day we might look back and not remember how life saving this was in a time of quarantine, so here are some photos from different picnics to remember 🙂

Jordan, Miha, Chrys and Luis

BBQ

Cynthia, the salsas masterchef

Everyone

8. 6. The first bar opens

Piola is open!!

🇸🇮 Čeprav Mehika še ni dosegla vrhunca okužb, ekonomija ne zmore več stroge karantene. Zato Quintana Roo počasi začenja z odpiranjem storitev, z mislimi bolj na turiste kot domačine (tako javne plaže ostajajo zaprte, so se pa odprle marine, pa tudi privat plaže od hotelov in beach clubov). Prve restavracije so z omejeno kapaciteto odprle danes, pa smo šli nazdravit na Jordanov rojstni dan 🙂 čudno in zanimivo in krasno je bilo spet sedet za mizo po skoraj treh mesecih, naročit pivo in uživat.

Happy 🙂

🇬🇧 Mexico hasn’t reached the peak of infections yet, but the economy is taking a hard hit so Quintana Roo decided to start opening slowly, focusing on reviving tourism (public beaches are still closed, but private marinas and hotel beaches and beach clubes are opening). Some restaurants opened with a 1/3 capacity today, and we went for a beer on Jordan’s birthday. It was strange and interesting and fun to sit in a bar after almost three months. The beer tasted delicious!