Saturday, February 22:
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On our last day in Mexico, we took the bus from Playa Del Carmen to Cancun and checked our luggage into storage at the bus station. We walked along the street looking for a book store since I was very close to the end of the only book I brought with me. I hadn't thought about all of the reading I'd do on buses while we were there. We didn't find anything, so we headed to the Mexican marketplace. Jason wanted to buy some pieces of pottery and I wanted a few small gifts for friends. While we were in the marketplace, it again started to rain, but it was nice and cooling rain. We continued to wander around the shops. I bought a small embroidered purse from a Mayan woman who was wearing the traditional long skirt and embroidered white shirt. She and the other women there were very friendly, and made me feel less like a tourist. After making our purchases, we headed back downtown for dinner and more bookstore hunting. I finally found a bookstore which sold a few English paperbacks. I bought one which ended up being too short for the plane ride, but at least I'd found something. We ate at a little restaurant on the main street and watched people passing by. Both Jason and I were becoming nostalgic in regards to our trip. It would have been nice to stay longer. We went to the bus station to get our belongings and hail a taxi to the airport. While we were in the cab, the driver asked us if we spoke Spanish, and we said just a little. For the next 20 minutes, we spoke with Julio about where we were from, and how long he'd lived in Cancun. I told him that it's been about 8 years since I studied Spanish, and he told me that I spoke correctly. He joked a little about how most Americans don't try to speak the language and that Canadians are worse because they're even farther away. We had a fun conversation with him. He was really nice to us, and told us to have a good trip home. We gave him a pretty good tip, and went into the airport. After we checked our luggage and stepped up to the security area, I realized my wallet was missing. I ran around the airport looking for it and asking personnel whether they had seen it. I then resigned myself to having lost it sometime after dinner, and went to the gate. About a half hour later, Jason and I were both paged to the ticket counter and told to go to the arrivals area. Julio was standing outside the doorway with my wallet, concerned that I wouldn't be able to go home without my ID. A passenger had found the wallet in the backseat and he drove the 20 minutes to the airport to return it to me. I thought that was about the nicest end to a trip I could have, that someone would be so generous to go out of his way to help me. It makes me want to go back there, and makes me wish there was something equally nice I could do for Julio. The next 15 hours or so were spent on airplanes or in airports, which was not terribly fun. We had a 6.5 hour layover in Mexico city at 1 in the morning, which I would try to avoid if I could. We returned home tired, but with many fond memories of Mexico. Now I'll just have to daydream about going back... |