Bugs, bandages and byes - week 2 in Pez Maya
Hola crocodillos locos!
So here we are at the end of our second week and we are all now officially certified PADI Open Water divers (at least) – woo hoo! Needless to say the weather has improved hugely since last week; glorious sunshine, clear blue skies, calm seas – in short, perfect diving conditions, although the temperature can drop quickly at night. We were forced to send a blanket-seeking expedition into Tulum, so most of us are now proud owners of brightly coloured, super warm Mexican blankets (at a fair price, thanks to some excellent bargaining by Sarah).
Sadly it’s now also perfect weather for those pesky biting insects and the mozzies and sand flies have been out in force every evening this week; we’ve all been mercilessly savaged and we’re running low on insect repellent. An interesting side-effect of the bug attacks is that we all seem to be showering less often. The bucket showers are taken outside and no-one is willing to offer their naked bodies to the mozzies as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Generally we shower only when the accumulated layers of bug spray, sun screen, sea salt and sand have reached at least ½ inch thick – and then we do it very quickly!!!
Given the amount of blood we’re all losing to the biting bugs it’s fortunate that we received our Emergency First Response training this week; given by Sam, Luke and Laura it was very entertaining, and very eventful. By the end of the session Ralph (pronounced Raiph – don’t get it wrong, he’s a sensitive lad) had fallen off a wall onto a spike and crushed Oksana, and Greg went drink-driving, knocking over Sarah and Fern. They all survived but sadly Bob didn’t make it, despite our best efforts (though this could have been because he has no arms or legs and is made of rubber).
We have quickly become accustomed to the wildlife here at Pez Maya – none of us bat an eyelid at the iguanas that sidle into the huts as we sleep, the spiders that could easily cover the palm of our hands or the sharks that feed in the mouth of the lagoon. However, the lucky few who were taken on a tour of the mangroves this week were mightily impressed by the manatees – the rest of us are now eagerly awaiting our turns to go! There have also been close up underwater sightings of a nurse shark and a moray eel to add to our ever-growing list of impressive creatures we’ve spotted.
As we mentioned last week everyone has been very enthusiastic in the kitchen – unfortunately this resulted in us running out of rice, potatoes, olive oil, honey and flour! We’ll have to be more conservative with our meals from now on….
As time goes on we have to start saying goodbye to people, and we’ve already had three departures. Happily, though, two of them will be returning; our lovely intern Rhi will be back in a fortnight and Jen has PROMISED she will come back to us from Arizona – we’re holding you to it Jen! We miss you both guys.
Well, that’s all our news – until next week manten la fe y sera grande!
Sadly it’s now also perfect weather for those pesky biting insects and the mozzies and sand flies have been out in force every evening this week; we’ve all been mercilessly savaged and we’re running low on insect repellent. An interesting side-effect of the bug attacks is that we all seem to be showering less often. The bucket showers are taken outside and no-one is willing to offer their naked bodies to the mozzies as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Generally we shower only when the accumulated layers of bug spray, sun screen, sea salt and sand have reached at least ½ inch thick – and then we do it very quickly!!!
Given the amount of blood we’re all losing to the biting bugs it’s fortunate that we received our Emergency First Response training this week; given by Sam, Luke and Laura it was very entertaining, and very eventful. By the end of the session Ralph (pronounced Raiph – don’t get it wrong, he’s a sensitive lad) had fallen off a wall onto a spike and crushed Oksana, and Greg went drink-driving, knocking over Sarah and Fern. They all survived but sadly Bob didn’t make it, despite our best efforts (though this could have been because he has no arms or legs and is made of rubber).We have quickly become accustomed to the wildlife here at Pez Maya – none of us bat an eyelid at the iguanas that sidle into the huts as we sleep, the spiders that could easily cover the palm of our hands or the sharks that feed in the mouth of the lagoon. However, the lucky few who were taken on a tour of the mangroves this week were mightily impressed by the manatees – the rest of us are now eagerly awaiting our turns to go! There have also been close up underwater sightings of a nurse shark and a moray eel to add to our ever-growing list of impressive creatures we’ve spotted.
As we mentioned last week everyone has been very enthusiastic in the kitchen – unfortunately this resulted in us running out of rice, potatoes, olive oil, honey and flour! We’ll have to be more conservative with our meals from now on….As time goes on we have to start saying goodbye to people, and we’ve already had three departures. Happily, though, two of them will be returning; our lovely intern Rhi will be back in a fortnight and Jen has PROMISED she will come back to us from Arizona – we’re holding you to it Jen! We miss you both guys.
Well, that’s all our news – until next week manten la fe y sera grande!
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