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!

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  Birthday tacos

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  Pool party

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  Chilling 🙂

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  Aguacate&tequila

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  Better together!

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🇬🇧 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!

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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.

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  The secret passage

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  Playa & chela

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  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 🙂

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  Trails

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  Quaran-team

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  Machete man

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  The sweepers

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  Taming nature

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  Cenote swim

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  Beach trail

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  Coconuts

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  Cheers

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  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!

26. 5. Four months

Playa center, empty and under construction

🇸🇮 Trenutna statistika te čudne tekme, v kateri se bori virus proti vsem potovalnim načrtom, kaže 2 meseca potovanja in 2 meseca karantene. Upava, da kmalu začneva spet prištevat dneve svobodnega gibanja, pa čeprav v novi realnosti, kjer je skoraj bolj kot obleke uporabna kolekcija mask, ki visijo na vhodnih vratih in se peštajo v nahrbtnikih, da ja ne boš kje brez. Midva še vedno načrtujeva in meljeva možnosti, kaj se bo izcimilo iz tega bomo pa videli v prihodnjih mesecih. Če bo vse po sreči, se peti mesec potovanja javiva iz kakšne druge države, ali pa vsaj iz kakšne mehiške plaže!

First “meal out” in two months

🇬🇧 The statistics in this weird game of virus vs. traveling currently shows 2 months of traveling and 2 months of quarantine. We are hoping that sooner rather than later we start collecting days of free movement again (in a new reality, of course, one where masks are hanging on the doorknobs so as not to feel like a criminal on the streets). We’re still planning and discussing options, but what will come of this only time will tell. Hopefully on our 5th month of traveling we will be writing from another country, or at least from a Mexican beach!

Celebrating on our breezy balcony

22. 5. Rooftop picnic, guey

Human contact!

🇸🇮 Kakšen teden po tem, ko sva se vselila v stanovanje, sva gor na bazenu spoznala Cynthio in Christiana. Ampak v času stroge karantene smo se vsi v bloku držali bolj zase, zato nismo imeli priložnosti se bolj podružit. Do nekaj dni nazaj, ko sta naju povabila na piknik na strehi (še vedno smo v karanteni, ampak vsi imamo že počasi dovolj). Niti slučajno se ne zmrdujeva nad vsemi spletnimi druženji s prijatelji in družino v preteklih tednih (ker so naju resnično ohranjali pri zdravi pameti) ampak druženje v živo po tolkem času je res, res pasalo. Neštete debate o hrani, Mehiki, potovanjih. Vsi delajo v turizmu, vsi na čakanju, brez informacij, kaj bo ostalo od njihovih služb. Rolando in Eric sta že bila v Sloveniji (vsi bi z guštom spili kakšno Laško, v Mehiki smo še vedno bolj kot ne brez piva), Cynthia in Christian pa sta jeseni nameravala prepotovat Evropo. Virus na stran, super piknik in še enkrat se je izkazalo, da so Mehičani večinoma res prijazni, gostoljubni in zabavni.

Mexican style BBQ

🇬🇧 We’ve met Cynthia and Christian on the rooftop soon after we moved into the apartment, but everyone in the building kept to themselves in the past months so we didn’t have much chance to interact. Then the other day they invited us to join them and some friends on a picnic on the roof, and oh uau, not to diss all the online conversations with friends and family that kept us sane in the past weeks, but it felt incredible to hang out with people in real life, have a drink, laugh, talk about food and traveling and life. They all work in tourism here, living in uncertainty of what will be left of it in the new reality. Rolando and Eric have both been to Slovenia, loved Ljubljana and Laško beer. Cynthia and Christian were planning to travel in Europe for a few months this autumn, but will have to adapt their plans. The damn virus stopped us all in our tracks, but we are grateful to have met them, once again proving how fun and kind Mexican people are.

18. 5. Craft beer

Craft brewery.

🇸🇮 Skoraj dva meseca se že prestavljava tu med stanovanjem in bazenom, pa občasno do trgovine in po pico. Prej ali slej nas bodo spustili ven in velika verjetnost je, da nimava kondicije za hodit več kot 15 minut, kaj šele po tej vročini. Odločitev pade, teniske gor, štartava ob 13h v neznano, baje da je google maps pokazal neko lokalno pivovarno tam nekje. Po kakšnih 500 metrih Miha že dobi žulje, stopala niso več navajena na čevlje. Več kot uro hodiva in hiperventilirava po ne prav lepih cestah (zakaj bi imel pločnike, tukaj nihče ne hodi peš), ko se res materializira ena majhna pivovarna! Miha pravi, da ga kar same najdejo te stvari. Skozi okno nama gospa proda 6pack najlepših pločevink z res dobrim pivom – IPA, APA in Kölsch. Kar takoj vsak enega zguštirava 🙂 kljub žuljem in vročini greva kar lažje proti domu, dober trening!

The prettiest beer, and tasty too!

🇬🇧 It’s been way too long since we’ve worn shoes and walked any kind of distance. Moving between the apartment, pool, local store and occasionally the pizza place nearby is hardly keeping us in shape for when they eventually let us out, and much less in this heat. So we decide to test our legs and find what seemed like a craft brewery on google maps, about an hour away. It’s brutally hot at 1pm and in about 500m Miha already has blisters, our feet not used to shoes anymore! We keep going, walk mostly on roads (why build sidewalks of nobody walks here), stop for some agua fresca on the way, and eventually stand in front of the Akumal brewery, that against all odds is open! They sell us cold beers through the window and we shamelessly enjoy one right there, on the sidewalk. We might walk more often in the coming weeks 🙂

12. 5. Laundry

Scrubba and our apparently all-gray clothes

🇸🇮 Med bolj uporabnimi stvarmi, ki so pri pakiranju dobile mesto v najinih nahrbtnikih, je sigurno prenosni pralni stroj. Saj skoraj povsod obstajajo poceni in zelo hitre pralnice, ampak v resnici redko nabereva za celo vrečo umazanih stvari, ker imava vse skupaj za nekaj dni robe in sproti že nekaj rabiš. Mene je misel na pranje in splakovanje perila pod tekočo vodo v bog-ve-kakšnih kopalnicah preganjala že dolgo preden sva štartala. Zgleda, da nisem edina, ker je nekdo nekje izumil Scrubba, potujoči pralni stroj! Vodotesna vreča, iz notranje strani opremljena s silikonskimi bunkicami, v katero namečeš perilo, prašek, vodo, zapreš, skozi ventil spustiš zrak in gneteš. Splakneš, daš sušit. Ču-do-vi-to. Vem ja, marsikomu se bo zdelo to navdušenje na meji norosti. Delno mogoče je, ker ta karantena že res dolgo traja. Ampak pejte v umivalnik prat perilo na roke dva tedna pa mi potem povejte, če še vedno ne razumete? 🙂

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  Magic in action.

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  Tina, Scubba and lovely floor tiles in Puebla.

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  DIY everything when traveling.

🇬🇧 Back in 2019, the idea of washing our clothes in bathroom sinks for so long was driving me mad. Of course, there are cheap and fast laundry services everywhere, but when you pack so little you only have clothes for a few days and before you gather a bag for laundry, you already need something out of it and there you are, bathroom sink. It turns out, someone with a similar problem thought of a genious solution – Scrubba, the world’s smallest washing machine. It’s like a dry bag but with silicone buds inside. You chuck in the clothes, washing detergent and water, let out the air through the valve, and you scrub! Rinse, hang to dry. Ta-daa. Genious. And yes I am aware this level of excitement over a washing bag might be excessive. But go and wash your clothes in the bathroom sink for two weeks, and then tell me you still don’t understand 🙂

4. 5. Beerless

Beer hunt

🇸🇮 Pred par dnevi sva v eni od Facebook skupin zasledila, da v Mehiki zmanjkuje piva. Ah ne, ni mogoče, eno je dat ljudi v karanteno, drugo je pa Mehičanom vzet pivi. Za vsak slučaj sva šla v trgovino (ker enako slabo je Slovenca pustit brez!) in res, police prazne, nobenega nacionalnega piva nikjer. Sva nabrala par mehiških craft piv, pa malo Tuborga, pa Estrella Galicia. Tu v Mehiki ni bilo drame s toaletnim papirjem, niti s kvasom, je pa zdaj s pivom. Pod najinim balkonom je mini market in že dva dni ne mine par minut, brez da bi se kdo ustavil “Hay cerveza?”, izmenjal informacije s sotrpini in se odpeljal naprej v lov. Zdaj naju plakat “NO HAY CERVEZA” prijazno opominja, da je treba vsak (mali) pirček še kako zguštirat.

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  Shopping separately

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  Our catch

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  No hay cerveza 😦

🇬🇧 Some days ago we came across a FB post stating Mexico is running out of beer. Impossible, who would think of closing Mexicans in quarantine for two months and taking away their beloved cerveza? We didn’t want to risk it so we went around, it turns out finding any Mexican national beer is as unlikely as buying toilet paper was in other countries a few weeks ago. They closed all breweries in March and we apparently drank Mexico dry. We found some craft and imported beers, but the search in town is real. The store below our balcony has been a hotspot of people stopping, consulting each other and driving to the next potential supplier. Now a “NO HAY CERVEZA” sign is reminding us that every small beer in our posession is a treasure.