Playa del Carmen and a Decision

I spent about 4 days in Playa del Carmen. My first two were awkward and lonely. It was difficult to break out of my shell. Upon my arrival, I quickly learned that most of the people at my hostel spoke only Spanish. Apparently Playa del Carmen is a vacation destination for many Mexicans as well as foreigners. As someone extremely new to the backpacker lifestyle and wanting to expand my knowledge, I was looking around to find other backpackers or English speakers like me and I was finding no one. On the plus side, my hostel had great WiFi, comfortable beds, and clean bathrooms. I decided to extend my stay by a day to figure out my next move. And on that third day, my experience changed completely. Some new people joined the hostel and they spoke English. A couple of them were traveling alone. A few of them were backpackers that were also traveling Central America in the same fashion as me. I had found my tribe! For the next two days, I became a part of it all. It was now easy to mix with the hostel, grab a meal or a beer with a group, and go to the beach with others. Finally, I did not feel alone in this journey. I could bounce ideas off of others and hear about their experiences. It was fantastic! Those two days gave me a taste of the community that I can find on the road and I was instantly hooked.

My time in Playa del Carmen also highlighted that my lack of Spanish is hindering my experience. Perhaps I will get to know a lot of English speakers, but what about non-English speakers and the locals? My entire trip is going to be limited if I do not make learning Spanish a priority. Since I started trip planning, I knew that I wanted to study Spanish in Guatemala. It’s a country known for its Spanish courses. Therefore, rather than spend more days in Mexico and Belize, I decided to bus directly to Guatemala and speed up the beginning of my language courses. There are a couple of cities that I want to visit prior to getting to the towns in which I will be studying, so I will have to rely on my limited Spanish vocabulary for a little while longer.

Now that I had decided to spend my time in Guatemala, I had to travel from Playa del Carmen to Guatemala. That is a story in itself. Look for that in my next post.