cancun & returning

A peaceful sunday evening. As old as this makes me sound, I enjoy these few hours were everything seems to just slow down . . . . With the frenzy of activities taking place on the weekend, this is one of the few times I can relax, reflect, and to return to my determinations.

These days I'm so caught up doing this or that, and I often find it difficult to step back and get a sense of what kind of history I am creating for myself. Is this the kind of person I want to be? Or even more fundamentally, what kind of person do I want to be? Ikeda Sensei often asked himself these questions, but he was also an individual of action, based on succeeding in his mentor's foosteps. I too also want to become a person fighting to fulfill his mission.

I think that is one essential factor in living a regret-free life. There are of course times when all of us will think, "why did I do that?" or "what the heck was I thinking?", but more and more I realize the importance consistently moving forward to create meaning and value of our conduct. To dedicate oneself to a mission, and to a mission that is worth dedicating one's life towards - is something that I think on this Sunday evening.

But before I forget - Cancun was amazing! I really enjoyed myself despite traveling with my parents. Actually, I think my parents invited me because they would just have a better time with me there. I initially felt bad for mooching off this chance to go to a beach but, I now understand that if I wasn't there, my parents probably would have gotten arguments or spend unnecessary time debating things over the course of the weekend.

In any case, day 1 was probably the most enjoyable because it was the initial and most dramatic change in setting. Instead of going straight to Cancun, we visited Cozumel  first, and spent our night in a youth hostel (yes, with my parents) owned and run by a Japanese woman. It was really fun because I got to spend time with 6 or 7 other 20-something-year old guys and gals. It almost felt like I was in Japan, except surrounded by amazing beaches.

That first day, we spent walking the streets of Cozumel, which were so genuine and real. I really felt like, well, that people were living there. I saw people walking, shopping, riding their mopeds - just daily life. Many of these clay-type buildings were made in a way where there is just an opening - no doors, which gave me a sense of openness and community. Cozumel was just so plain and beautiful.

The hostel we stayed at.

There were literally only three gas stations in downtown Cozumel. This was after waiting  ~20 min.

There are many of these fruit stands. Who does this anymore in America?!

That same day, we also took a drive with a jeep around the island, which was really the most simple kind of fun I've experienced in a while. The drive was about an hour long, and we stopped in a few locations en route. The two lane road around the island is made in a way where there are no traffic lights, and you can cruise at 80-90mph. It was confusing at times, though, because there are certain "stops" you can make to get on that part of the beach, but the road unnecessarily splits at those places. My dad took the wrong one once, and the road just abruptly stopped. Fortunately he was going on about 50-60 mph, so when he hit the brakes, we didn't die ... The beaches on the island were small enough to make it feel comfortable. That said, there were also a good number of beach hotels, but of course they were not anything in comparison to the ones in Cancun.

Honestly, this beach was enough for me.

Of course they could afford to have their stores wide open like that because of the weather.

Downtown Cozumel, which is more just like a harbor boulevard.

Some random stop we made near the downtown Cozumel.

One of my favorite pictures of the Harbor off of Cozumel.

One of my other favorite pictures. To the left is the supermarket (the backside of the market you see in the picture below) we got all our fruits and other randomness at while staying at the hostel, and to the right you can see these food stands. How peaceful is this place?!

Day two, like all the other days, was really fun. We spent most of this day checking out from our hostel and making the voyage to Cancun, but before we did that, we spent our morning Diving! By the way, everything from here on out we did as a part of a tour group, but because of some of weather circumstances in Japan, the rest of the tour group, which should have numbered about 10-12 people, had their flights from Japan cancelled. So all the activities became part of a private tour for our family! The tour guide was really cool, a guy in his thirties that makes his living with a few of his buddies doing these tours in Cancun. He also lives in Cancun, which makes everything that much nicer. (Btw, we found out on our last day that, while we were diving, he got a report that his second son was born).

Anyway, the diving felt so natural to me, almost like I did it before. But the feeling was amazing nevertheless!  Unfortunately my mom had some problems with her ears (apparently many people do when they dive), so she could only go down about 3-4 meters into the water. On the other hand, my dad was able to dive down deep with me, but he's completely out of shape, so he was struggling down there...

My mom from above, since she couldn't dive all the way down with us.

 Before departing for Cancun, we also ate a nice outdoor restaurant in downtown Cozumel. I ended up ordering a Pina Colada as my side and as usual, I was tipsy after this baby drink. Ah, the woes of being a Kunimoto. My health karma stayed with me in Mexico (and back to Baltimore ... as I will explain in another post).

What?

Then finally, we arrived in Cancun.  At some nice 5-start resort, which was a huge change from the youth hostel we were staying at in Cozumel.  After some research, that place wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. It was an all-inclusive hotel, which means that the multiples bars, fancy restaurants, spas, pools, and all the other amenities were a part of the package price. And that price was around 200 a night. All said and done, that's not too bad! Of course we were so packed with activities that we never were able to take advantage of any of those amenities. Instead, we ended up eating at the family buffet hahaha.

We also had some guy at the front desk that was learning japanese, around my age, and was really happy to be able to speak to use and practice what he was learning from his tutor. In fact, he would be talking with us so long that there be a long line behind us. I felt kind of bad ... except not, because he ended up upgrading us to an awesome room the second to highest floor overlooking the beach. I think this is probably a good place to mention, however, that as much as I enjoyed my time with my parents, this place it meant to be visited with a significant other ...

The next day, we woke up early in the morning to go check out the ruins. To be honest, I don't remember the history behind it all because I was just taking it all in. Or rather, I was too tired to use my brain. I just remember that many of the earlier sophisticated civilizations began here, including the Aztecs and Mayas. One of the crazy things I learned was that the Mayas perceived large heads as beautiful. So what they ended up doing was something similar to Chinese foot binding. Early on a child's life, the Mayas would bind the heads of the baby to make elongate the head, to make it look like an alien's. It was kind of disturbing. How far people will go to make them seem beautiful.

OMG we had Tacos stuffed with this meat. I had four of them because they were so tasty.

What are Mafias?

After the ruins, we ventured off to these .... places. I don't know how to explain what they are, except that they are spots where trees were hit by lightning. As a result of the lightning, the ground literally broke apart and a hole was created. In these places, though, there were natural underground springs, which are now used for light swimming. It was really, really nice.

I now realize that this post is getting too long, so I'll try to sum up the rest of the trip here. That night, my parents and I decided to chill on the beach near the hotel, but of course by that time it was 9 or 10pm. We packed our day with too many activities and never go to enjoy what people most often go to Cancun for. In any case, the following day, when we were supposed to leave, my mom had planned to have us to wake boarding or parasailing, but like always, she tried to plan too much and we didn't have enough time to do it :)

Okay, tired of writing. The end.