Deadlines and Free Times

As much as I like taking my time when I'm traveling, I seem to tend towards traveling quickly. When I've got a deadline to meet, it forces me even more to be efficient in how I travel: choosing my destinations wisely, using my time in each city effectively, planning ahead a little bit to make sure I have everything figured out and can hit the ground running when I arrive.

For 5 weeks I'd been aiming for being in Playa del Carmen on the 10th of November to meet a friend flying in, and that was my deadline pushing me continuously as I traveled. Suddenly, I arrived in Playa del Carmen and there was no more deadline. In fact, I found myself with an abundance of time, and not much distance left to cover in Mexico. It turns out I have a little bit of trouble handling that.

Pastels and Pyramids

After spending three days in Palenque (the longest I'd spent anywhere on the trip with two healthy feet), it was time to move. I was meeting a friend in Playa del Carmen on the tenth, and I woke up on the eighth, five hundred miles away, with a few things I wanted to see in between. So I plotted two stops, and started riding.

Unofficial Palenque

My first day in Palenque I'd planned on spending an hour in the ruins, but ended up spending most of the day wandering around the jungle and the ruins both. So I thought I'd seen most of what there was to see - but with a little bit of luck involved, I ended up getting to hear the unofficial side of things as well.

Don't Go Chasing

Leaving the cool mountain air of San Cristóbal behind, I made (tire) tracks down the mountain and into the jungle. After a stop in Ocosingo for a ridiculously good quesadilla (steak, quesilla from Oaxaca, pineapple, peppers, and lettuce: 30 pesos), the temperature quickly started to rise and the humidity rose with it.

I'd made my way down out of the mountains once again, this time into the jungle.

San Cristobal

After climbing my way up the curvy road to a cool 7,200 feet, I pulled into San Cristóbal de la Casas to meet up with Nancy, whom I'd met at the hostel in Oaxaca. She lived in San Cristóbal for six months a few years ago as part of a medical internship, so she was eager to return and I was eager to have a guide for the city.

It was refreshing to treat my visit to a city more like I would if I lived there and had a few days of free time, rather than as a tourist.

Detours

 After the bummer of a stop that was Tuxtla Gutierrez, I headed off towards San Cristobal. Only I knew that I wouldn't really be able to check in to any hotels until the afternoon, and it was only an hour drive on the tollway (or half an hour more to avoid the tolls), and decided I would take a detour instead.

And what a beautiful detour it was.

Rest Days

One of the things about traveling is that I really want to enjoy every last second of my time. Alright, fair enough, those of you who know me and are currently laughing - maybe it's not just when I travel. The last few years in San Diego were quite the whirlwind of activities and plans and sports and concerts and whatever else I could fit in.

One thing I struggle with - both with travel and with my daily life - is  being able to just take some time to rest.