Often times when I stay in hostels I meet friends quite quickly. Whether it be on a walking tour around the city, or over a couple cold suds in the common area, I always manage to meet some interesting souls with whom I can explore my temporary city. I've been extremely fortunate to be able to do this in many cities all over the world, but I've never felt so lucky as I did when stating at Massiosare hostel in Mexico City.
On day one I met many people and we all enjoyed exploring the city together for a few days, but I met two dudes who really changed the course of my travel for the better. Andrew and Abraham are two work friends who were enjoying their time off of long-term contract work by drinking, dancing, and eating their way through Mexico city. After spending a few days with them in the city, they suggested that I join them in renting a car and heading towards the beach of tourist loving Acapulco and later to tourist free Chacahua. A road trip through Mexico with new friends?? Yes please! It's pretty much all my solo travelling self could hope for.
After spending the night before drinking too many beers, dancing with strangers, and staying out until 3:30 am, I was sure we wouldn't make it to the rental shop to pick up the car on time.
Day One
Turns out that the boys stayed out even later once I went back to my hostel- putting away tacos and caguamas at Abe's family taqueria until the sun started to come up. Needless to say I was surprised when we managed to picked up our bright white VW Jetta at 10:30 am the next day. Needless to say I was nervous to be in the car with a driver who had gotten so little sleep the night before. Much to my surprise though, Abe did a wonderful job driving out of Mexico city and into the mountains on the way to the beach. Fueled by energy drinks and dance music coming out of the speakers on blast, he got tired 3 hours into the drive and handed the wheel off to Andrew for the remainder of the trip. I honestly thought that he did a wonderful job on the roads too. The cop that clocked him going 40 over the speed limit though, not so much. Lucky for me and my lack of Spanish speaking skills, Abraham used his charm to work our 5000 peso ticket down to a mere 200. Fewf. I can now check bribing a Mexican cop off the list of things that have happened in my life that I never wanted to happen.
A few hours later we arrived in Acapulco to Abe's family's vacation house in a gated community with a lovely and extremely necessary swimming pool. Having been in winter in Korea, followed by winter in Newfoundland, I had forgotten what hot felt like. Thanks Acapulco. The heat was unbelievable and my new friends couldn't get over how quickly they sweat through their shirts. We put away a few caguamas before heading towards the locals beach for dinner.
Day one of the road trip was a success- we made it alive, in time, and with a few unexpected surprises along the way.
Day Two
Acapulco in my mind means beach. So, what else are you expecting right now? We woke up at a decent hour and emerged from our pleasantly air conditioned rooms to pack up and head towards the beach. We brought our cooler full of litre suds, towels, and barely clothed bodies to the locals beach in the city. Abe quickly rented two boards for the day and I laughed my ass off when I remembered just how inexperienced I am with ocean waves.
I managed to roll into shore with my shorts filled with sand a few times before giving up and reclaiming my comfortable throne on the beach under an umbrella. I was convinced to get an in-chair massage by a local lady while the boys swam. Guess I can check 'getting a massage on the beach while listening to BTS on blast' off my list too. We enjoyed a full day here back in forth from the waves to the beer. I was in my glee.
Abe then drove us through the mountainous roads to the main city. We took a pit stop for some dope pictures.
Yeah, those are my boys. I know. Don't get jealous. It's hard, but try your best.
We picked up Andrew's friend Gloria from the airport that night and grabbed some more tacos before heading back to our welcoming air conditioned home.
Day Three
Chacahua baby! We packed up our stuff and got ready for the 4+ hour drive along to coast to a hidden gem known by few. With the music on blast, the cooler re-filled with caguamas, and our bodies sporting even less clothing, we were on our way. No police stopped us this time thankfully (though the boys certainly weren't abiding by the speed limit). We turned off the main highway and continued along a dirt road for about 15kms when we saw 3 hitchhiking surfers looking to head to the same beach as us. Would you think it is possible to fit 7 people and 2 surf boards in a VW Jetta? It is. Abe was happy to volunteer to sit in the window and hold on to everything.
Looks proud, doesn't he? Probably was slightly influenced by the suds we'd put away just prior. Also safe to say our bright white Jetta was getting into the spirit of a road trip and now was just as dirty as all of it's passengers.
All 7 of us made it to the last stop where we would be leaving the car, took only the essentials for the next couple days and hopped into a little motor boat across the lagoon. Abe had been there before with his cousins so he was in search of the hostel he had loved so much when he was there last time. I don't even know the name. Actually, I'm not sure it even had a name. But it was the last one on the beach and it was as rustic and inviting as you can imagine. The owners greeted everyone with a big hug and kiss on the cheek as most guests were returning for a second stay. This is the kind of place that people stay for weeks (and months) on end. We got there just a bit too late in the day, so all of the rooms were booked but we were happy enough to rent a few tents on the beach.
I truly had never felt more like a backpacker than I did here. Sleeping in tents on the beach, using an open air bucket shower, and drinking suds to cool off at any point of the day because in Chacahua, time means nothing. I lived for 3 days in my bathing suit, swim shorts, and floral cover ups. It was the definition of ultimate relaxation.
Day Four
We woke up with the sun (duh, hard not to sleeping in a tent), and Abe was keen to get out and rent a surf board for a few hours before the mid-day heat wave. I wandered down the beach to watch him among all the other early-bird surfers. What a way to greet the morning! The restaurants along the beach were just opening up, I spotted some people doing yoga, and a few others partaking in a morning joint.
After filling our bellies with delicious homemade Mexican breakfast, we were off to find our main man who was going to bring us on a day boat tour through the mangroves and around the lagoon. We caught some crabs, got hit in the head with vines, and took in the beauty of the waters. Our driver brought us to the open area so the boys could go for a swim (and so that he could smoke his joint).
Happy boys swimming with their caguama within reach.
It was such a fun day on the water drinking suds! As you can imagine I got a wild sunburn on my thighs and belly, and was made fun of by the locals for the next few days.
We hopped off the boat, cooler in tow, and wandered around the town in hopes of finding something to fill our bellies with.
A bit of downtime later we got ready to head out for part two of our lagoon tour, a night view of the bioluminessence. We also managed to go on a great night cause there was lightening to keep us entertained as well. The sky would light up fully every few seconds and each crack seemed to be even more impressive than the one prior. Nature is cool.
I was too nervous to jump into the dark waters of the lagoon at night, but I was happy to watch the boys flailing their limbs to bring the bioluminessence to life. It 100% tops what I saw in Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. If seeing this sort of thing is on your bucketlist, skip Thailand and come to Mexico instead. Actually, if anything about Thailand ( other than temples and Thai food) appeals to you, consider Mexico instead. It's closer and just as impressive.
The four of us got carried away telling stories and making up a scary movie plot about the Caguama Mama of the Chacahua lagoon. Movie release date TBD. Stay tuned.
We had some more adventures around Chacahua, but mostly just took in some sunshine. The next day we headed back to Acapulco for a night stop and tried our best to check out some of the nightlife but being a Wednesday night we didn't have much luck. With that we headed back to Mexico city on the road that I was sure would either make me poo my pants or give me a heart attack (luckily it was neither).
I couldn't have asked for a more adventurous, relaxing but still yet funfilled time than was given to me by Andrew, Abe, and Gloria. For a group of strangers, we got along perfectly on a 5 day road trip in Mexico. I was nervous bringing the car back to the rental shop, as she had seen some dirt roads, a few more broken caguamas, and even more sweaty passengers. Thanks for the fun, ya babes. Hopefully our paths cross again for more adventures.
-안녕!
Sasha