Tulum

We pulled into Tulum at some ungoddly hour of the pre-morning and were usherred by a taxi driver to his recommendation of "the best and cheapest hostel in town."  After several minutes of knocking on doors and windows went unanswered, we headed for "Casa Del Sol," a hostel recommended to us by another traveller.  We rang the doorbell at 3am and were immediately answered and welcomed in by friendly hotel owner Carlos, who to our delight spoke fluent English (as our Spanish was incomprehensible after nearly 28 hours on buses).  He quickly settled us in to a very spacious and impeccably clean dorm with some of the most comfortable dorm beds I´ve encountered in my 6 months of travelling through Central America.

The next morning, at the mere mention of wanting a job at the hostel, Carlos became excited and told us that he would compensate us if we took some time to promote his hostel.  Having been recently opened, it was not yet in the guide books and business was quite slow.  We accepted the job immediately and spent some time each day rounding up backpackers from the bus stop, on the beach, in the bars, along the street, as well as emailing travel guides and other travelling sites about the accommodation.  The rest of our time in Tulum was mostly spent pacing the very touristy main street with shop owners all eagerly awaiting their next victim, and lying on the breathtaking Playa Paraiso (Paradise Beach).  Here the waters were glistening, radiant turquoise, the sand was silky smooth and white as snow, the tropical breezes were warm and the palm trees bowed towards the ocean.

One unlucky day I awoke with something that must have been dehydration and/or sunstroke.  I was in a state of complete dizziness and disorientation.  Anytime I stood up, moved my head, or even my eyes, I would be overcome with dizziness.  I was walking around like a drunk person for close to two and a half days.  Being horizontal or sitting extremely still were my only saving graces, so we spent two days with me lying beneath the shade of a palm tree on the beach, unable to do anything else.  Fortunately the aweful feeling eventually wore off and I was back to normal in time to be reunited with my parents.