My last full day of my G Adventures Mayan Encounter Tour was a free day. I had already been to Playa Del Carmen before, and so wanted to see Chichen Itza as I had missed that on my last trip. The problem was, many of my tour-mates had already seen it earlier in their own trips. So I was the only one who wanted to go. No problem! My tour guide arranged for me to join a day trip to see it. And both she and I explained to that tour company that I needed to be back by 5PM so I could meet my G Adventures group for the final farewell dinner! I had a grand time seeing a stormy Chichen Itza with few people, before heading to Ik Kil Cenote.
But I started to worry when we visited the city of Valladolid, as I knew we still had over an hour (at best) of driving time since Chichen Itza is so far away. And I became more agitated as our van hit traffic near Tulum. As we neared Playa Del Carmen 30 minutes late, the driver started to speed insanely as we all held onto dear life. We passed other people’s hotels, instead speeding faster and faster. And then suddenly they stopped, it was so dark and I was so dizzy I didn’t recognize my hotel, and the driver hopped out and helped me out of the van. I ran up to my room to find no one there, I dropped of my things, and then headed to the front desk.
I asked the man if he knew where my group went. He didn’t speak English. I tried with broken Spanish to ask for directions, still he didn’t know. I asked how long they left, he didn’t understand that. I asked if they had left a note. No he said. After 20 minutes of trying everything, I was sad and pissed at the same time. Surely my group leader with G Adventures wouldn’t have forgotten me! I didn’t want to spend my last night alone, especially since I knew everyone would go out drinking so I wouldn’t see anyone if I couldn’t find them. I started to cry a bit, then suddenly the man had a light bulb go off. “No directions, just this!” He said, as he handed me a note. I was too stunned that I just grabbed it and ran.
Thankfully I have a great sense of direction, and the G Adventures leader knew that. She told me to go to the same place we had eaten the night before, but to then go a few blocks over and a few blocks to the left. I ran in the dark and made it to the restaurant just as my group was getting seated out on the beach. Out of breath I sat down next to my roommate, startling her. “Have you been here the whole time!?” She asked. Nope, I’m just fast when I’m late!
Finally found the group on the beach!
I was glad to make it!
Travel Missteps is an every-other week series on how sometimes part of the journey is making mistakes and getting lost.
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