Hitchhiking To Guatamala Part 15
Tensions rising on the peninsula
I sat with Lo on the bus to Cancun. Windy sat a few rows behind us with Anna. Throughout the day they’d had a few more terse sounding exchanges in German. It was clear they weren’t getting along too well. My money had run tight again, and Windy’s as well. I dutifully ate my spicy peanut mix and figured things would work out. Windy was a pretty easy going guy normally but especially so with the very charming and pretty Anna giving him attention. He was in too good of a mood to worry about money.
We arrived in Cancun and I pulled him aside. “Hey man, can you cover our share of the hotel room for tonight? And then I’ve got about $40 left to get through the next two days until we fly home. I’ll go get us some more groceries.”
“Fuck man. I’m gonna have to dip into my school money.”
“I’ll borrow money from someone as soon as we get back to pay you back however much that is, like right away. And then I’ll get you the $100 you loaned me within the next month, and I owe you a couple of lunches.”
“And a lot of beers.”
“Hella beers.”
“Alright man.” he said. I could tell he was annoyed.
We arrived in Cancun and it was the loudest, most obnoxious place I’d ever seen. I once lived next door to a fraternity. Cancun during spring break felt like one of their frat parties expanded to encompass a whole city. There were young Americans vomiting, shouting, fighting everywhere while spending incredible amounts of money. The legal drinking age, when they bothered checking ID, was 18 and most of the revelers appeared to be between 18 and 21.
We were standing on a street corner looking lost. A taxi pulled over “You need help finding the party Seniors and Senioritas?” the driver asked in a heavy Mexican accent.
“Yeah, not so much. Hey is there a part of Cancun that is mellower and less of a party?”
“Oh, you want old Cancun.” he answered, his accent turned down considerably. “Old Cancun is where the Mexican tourists come when they visit Cancun. It’s got some nice restaurants and maybe some live music. You will like it.”
“Okay, how much to take us there?”
“Fifty dollars.”
“Ha. No way. We didn’t pay that much to get here from Chichen Itza. Can we get normal non-spring breaker prices? We’re not quite drunk enough to pay you fifty dollars.”
“Maybe not, but everyone else is. Sorry, friend, that’s what I get paid during spring break. Go to that bus stop right there, you see it? The R2 bus will be there in just minutes.”
The bus cost us about fifty cents each in American money. Shortly after we got on the bus a very loud American in a basketball jersey started yelling “Amigo. Yo, Amigo stop the bus. This is where we wanted to go man. This is the party zone. Stop Amigo. Yo el stop the autobus.”
“I can not stop here. I’ll let you out at the next stop. Sit down please.” The driver said in perfect english.
“Yo hablo engles. I am about to vomit.”
The driver stopped and opened the door. The American vomited out the open door. His friends cheered. The driver calmly shut the door. “Sit down please.” and drove them to the next stop. All of the young Americans but us got off the bus. I asked the driver in English if he could let us know when we got to Old Town, please. “I will let you know.”
We got off the bus and found a quiet restaurant. “Sorry, but we’re about out of money. We’ll have to limit ourselves to a beer and some chips and salsa.” I told our German friends before we went in.
“This is no problem. We are also running low.” Lo said.
“Let me buy you dinner.” Anna volunteered. “And tequila.”
Lo said something under her breath to Anna in German. It did not sound friendly.
“We are the best.” Anna said as she walked into the restaurant and grabbed us a table. Anna ordered four beers, chips and salsa and guacamole for the table, and told us to pick something off the menu.
“It’s okay. We’ve got spicy peanut mix, and I saw a little store a block back. I’m going to get some more avocado.” I said.
“Oh my god am I tired of avocado.” Windy laughed, trying to ease the obvious tension.
“You like fish. I will order for us fish. And for Lo. Fish.”
Lo replied in German.
“You don’t have to eat fish then. Me and Windy will have fish.” Anna waved the server over and ordered food and a round of tequila which brought more German from Lo. “Speak English for our friends. I think we are rude if we talk German in front of them when they do not speak German.”
“Hey you want to hear a joke?” I asked. “What do you call someone who speaks two languages.”
“Please not the joke.” Windy begged.
“It’s a good time for a joke I think.”
“Yes, I would like to hear a joke. Oh, here’s our shots. Zum whol!” Anna said as she tossed back her shot. Lo drank her shot and put the glass down hard. “Another round please.” Anna said to the server.
I told my joke. Lo said “I get it.” matter of factly.
Anna said, “Ha. It is funny. Americans are funny with their funny backpacks and their talking only English.”
“Well, perhaps they don’t have a friend whose money they can spend to buy nice backpacks and go on trips.”
Anna now replied in German.
“I thought you wanted to be polite to our guests.” Lo said.
“Yes, that is good. Windy, Loyal, we are having a fight because I am not being Lo’s good little doggy even though she has money and I am out of money.”
“More like good little Froggy.” Lo said.
“And why with the Frog and Toad. What are you talking about!”
“Oh, remember my t-shirt, the kids book? Well, I am like Frog and Windy is like Toad. I was telling Lo this last night.” I clumsily tried to explain.
“I’m not Toad!” Windy said.
“No, dude. It’s not bad. Frog and Toad are both great. Frog is a big goof though and Toad is more responsible. It’s a compliment. I meant it as a compliment.”
“It’s not a compliment. Everybody likes Frog best. Frog is fun. Toad is stuffy and worries.”
“No, everyone loves both of them. Frog and Toad are friends. It’s about their friendship. They’re both wonderful. You’re wonderful.”
“I am not a frog you toad!” Anna yelled, and it was suddenly clear that she was very drunk. The server came over and asked if everything was okay.
“Yes, yes. I’m sorry. Everything is good.” Windy assured him. “She just needs to get some food in her. We’ve been traveling all day.”
“I think Anna might have been more comfortable if we stayed in the party zone with the Spring Breakers.” Lo said.
Anna responded with a lot of German words.
“Okay, I don’t think that’s helping. Let’s try to take things down a bit. Let’s have some food and hey, Frog and Toad Are Friends! Friends, that’s the important part. They’re friends. Let’s try to remember we’re all friends, and we’re in Mexico and we spent the day climbing pyramids. That was some fun. We made some great memories.” I pleaded.
We ate in silence and nursed our beers slowly so that there would be no awkwardness about ordering another round. We asked the server if he knew of a hostel or an inexpensive hotel nearby and he recommended a place on the next block over behind the restaurant.
We walked to the market I’d seen and bought some bottled water and I got more avocados, oranges, and dried fruit. Old Cancun was quiet and pretty. Many of the restaurants and cafes had strings of white lights hung over the patios and sidewalks like they do in the states when they want to look Parisian. I pointed out the lights and that this trend was apparently international. I asked if the little white lights were as popular in Germany and I otherwise chattered nonstop, both out of nervousness and to put distance between us and the harsh words that had spoken earlier.
We got a room. Windy put it on a card and Lo gave him cash for their half. Again there were two beds. Windy and Anna claimed one without it being discussed. Lo looked at me and I shrugged. She changed into her rainbow pajamas and I slept in my clothes again with my travel blanket. I missed my hammock. I woke up when Anna went to the bathroom to throw up. Lo tended to her, and after some time brought her back to the bed she was sharing with Windy.
Lo climbed back into our bed and we fell asleep back to back again. I woke up to the smell of coffee. Anna and Windy had gone to the hotel lobby and brought back coffees for all of us. It was instant and it was hot and strong and it tasted great with one packet of white sugar mixed in. I peeled oranges for breakfast.
“Let’s go back to the party.” Anna said. “I want to see it in the sun.”
We agreed. I asked everyone how they were feeling but Anna picked up that I was mostly asking her. “I am fine. I threw up last night and this morning I feel great.”
“I don’t think hangovers exist here.” I told her. “We’re testing the theory out and so far we have failed to achieve a hung over state south of the tropic of Cancer.”
“Perhaps tonight we will make hangovers.” she said.
“I think we made a good enough effort last night.” Lo said.
“Oh Lo, please let's have fun.” Anna replied. She added “Thank you for taking care of me when I was being sick last night.”
“You’re welcome. I love you, Anna.”
“I love you too, Toad.”