Bus to Merida, Parting Ways with Kelly

The long bus ride took Kelly and I to Merida, we'd slept mostly the whole way after having gone without sleep due to our escape from potential kidnapping rapists. We gave Karina a call when we pulled into the bus station, our host in Merida, she gave us directions that we passed on to a taxi driver.

The driver got a bit lost on the way, but at last we were meeting Karina in her driveway as her and her friend David welcomed us in. She offered us much needed beers straight away, we found a seat on the couch and sipped away. We told them the whole story of our adventure through farmland from the sketchy traffickers, at first it seemed so ridiculous to them they thought it was a joke.

Kelly got a shower first, I followed shortly after, our legs were caked in dirt and we smelled a bit like a swamp. Karina planned to go out drinking with David, Kelly wasn't up for anything other than sleep, so I hung back with her. We did go out a few blocks for some nachos, but we quickly drifted to sleep, her on the short couch and me on a deflated air mattress.

In the morning we all woke up slowly. The four of us dropped off a load of laundry at a place down the street and then got to driving. Karina and David took us to a breakfast spot they liked where we got some sort of fish sandwiches and cokes. We then drove around getting a tour of the downtown for a bit, shortly after grabbing our laundry and heading back to Karina's.

We threw everything in the dryer and were out the door again heading for the beach, Kelly and I still hadn't been to a beach in Mexico. The place was absolutely packed, from the beach to the water to the streets nearby, people were everywhere. Karina brought her dogs and stuck with them, but Kelly and I headed straight for the water. It was the nicest water either of us had ever been in, an ocean so warm and perfect. We popped out back to the beach for a minute to find some beers waiting for us, we cracked them open and headed back for the water, sipping beer in the warm blue water.

Back home we all got some showers in, then were headed out again towards downtown. We walked around the central square for a bit, Karina ran off to meet up with a friend somewhere. David took Kelly and I to a museum loaded with paintings depicting Yucatan history. We met back up with Karina and headed for a fancy restaurant, some of their friends met us there too. We enjoyed some pizza and not-quite-habanero peppers, Yucatan was known for these, but apparently we got some sub-par ones, not too hot.

Karina headed to work early in the morning, David to the airport for a flight to Mexico City, both were gone when we woke up. Kelly and I headed to the mall in search for an ATM, she was out of money, but hoping that her folks had loaded some cash into her account. They hadn't, but she was sure they would soon.

Armed with her credit card, we headed to the food court to fill our bellies. As we walked by the chineese food places they prodded samples on toothpicks in our direction. After walking by 4 or 5 of them we'd had a nice little appetizer meal. The cheap pizza place took credit cards, so that's what we got.

Next Kelly picked up some movie tickets to kill some time until her account was loaded, we got some milk shakes while we waited for showtime, then sat and talked for a bit. The movie was awful, but in the way we could laugh about how terrible it was during the whole thing, and there were only 4 or 5 other people in the theater. A cheesy movie about a girl falling for an older guy, Kelly's idea, I could have gone for GI Joe.

Sure enough, there was money in her account after the movie and she pulled some out of the ATM. We headed downtown on the bus in search of internet, we found it quickly and sat for a bit checking messages and arranging hosts in various parts of Mexico. I was leaning towards Cancun, Kelly was thinking she'd opt for a bus towards Chiapis.

We bused back towards Karina's place, stopping for nachos first at the same place from before. Being our last night together on this Mexico trip, beer made the most sense. We picked up a few 40's at the Oxxo and walked back to Karina's, she was in the driveway when we got there ready to head out to a work party. She was happy to see us, Kelly had dropped her phone in the toilet at the mall and it wasn't working anymore, so Karina wasn't able to get in touch with us. She let us in and took off into the night.

We had the beers open quickly, Kelly checked online for buses headed to Chiapis, I took a look at the road to Cancun with the intention of hitchhiking in the morning. Kelly put in the only movie she could find, Twighlight, another cheesy bad movie, this one about vampires. We drank our beers and played cards with this in the background, the night got fairly sloppy until we were both passed out.

Karina popped in our room in the morning to say goodbye, she looked fresh and was off to work, Kelly never woke up, but I said goodbye and thanks. A while later we both woke up and got to showering, then we were out the door. We both walked to the Oxxo to return the bottles, I kept the money from that which was about 17 pesos, just over a dollar. We had a quick meal next door and then headed for the main road.

At the corner we parted ways, Kelly towards downtown and eventually the bus station, me towards the freeway bound for Cancun. The hitchhiking incident from days ago had scared her off the style of travel, maybe for good, but I knew better, either way it meant for now that our Mexican stories would split off here.