I am feeling better than I have in years. I am able to carry a fully loaded back pack with no back pain, hike a volcano, trudge up steps the height of my forearm of seventy-storey Mayan temples and explore several square kilometre sites with people half my age.
At 49, my health and strength - my life force - is returning, and I am thankful for this trip to mark this shift as I approach the fifth decade of my life.
Hope returns as I see a future ahead. Life in Toronto is opening up these opportunities for me.
My travel group consists of 10 travellers and one guide, Matt. The age ranges from 20 to 49, with a pretty even mix - 4 in their 20s, 3 in their 30s and 3 in their 40s. (5 Canadians, 1 American, 1 each from South Africa, Australia, England and Germany).
There is one married couple and everyone else is travelling solo. The mood is mature and relatively quiet. Though Suzie, the 20-year-old is highly entertaining, telling of her exploits working at the Ann Summers (sex) shop. Several of us are here to see the ruins, which is great for me.
Today I tried snorkelling for the first time. Unfortunately the weather is not great - cloudy and cool. But I braved this anyway, by myself, sticking the plastic tube of the snorkelling mask in my mouth and sucking up my first mouthful of very salty water. After about three tries I had the hang of it and saw my first fish. I swam with the fish and it was truly wondrous. I saw only one other after that - you had to pay big money to be taken out to the coral reef where the action was - but I was more than satisfied. Up until then, I thought I'd missed the boat on this. It just goes to show, it's never too late to try something new. My motto for this trip is, if the opportunity arises, try it!
Some of us also visited the ruins of Tulum. This is a cute site right alongside the ocean - a gorgeous setting. Unfortunately the tour we signed up for got us to the site at its most crowded. It really detracted from the experience. I would encourage anyone to find a different option and get there first thing in the morning - it is truly a lovely place.
After Tulum we took a brief trip to the Cenotes. These are caves with water inside that on a hot day would be truly refreshing to swim in. People like to snorkel here too, but it was a bit chilly so most of us opted not to. This was the last place I saw my brand new pink raincoat that I had bought from MEC especially for the trip. I put it down only to realize later and it was too late - someone had picked it up. Which just goes to show, don't take new stuff when travelling - use the old stuff you don't mind losing!
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