Manage your reactions but do not suppress your emotions - yung pueblo

• Meeting Óscar again. Waking up in Cancún, sitting under the happy lime mural during sunrise, watching the cats on the roof and the city slowly waking up.
• Sharing a sweet and a savory breakfast dish.
• That barista in Holbox - she had a very cool style with magical tattoos: a spell book, bats, potions... Of course she was from CDMX like basically every cool Mexican I connected with during my time there. We talked about language apps and shared our sun/moon/rising signs. On top of that she served a killer Café Latte frío.
• In Holbox I also realised that I love those long, straight, overgrown sand paths that end in an ocean view. Sweet anticipation.
• Drinking while submerged in water. The shower, a pool, the sea. Such a luxurious feeling.
• Fresh passion fruit juice with lots of seeds. Tiny baby bananas. Fruit for breakfast. Coming back to Tulum, retracing my well-trodden paths.
• A morning swim to stretch my creaky back after lying still for too long. Ocean yoga - great to practice difficult asanas. If you fall you'll land very softly.
• Tacos and quesadillas, salsa verde, chipotle con mayonesa, Chiles Rellenos. Slim Pop palomitas. Salt and Lime on everything (weirdly enough also delicious in Peñafiel mineral water!)
• My macramé hammock with an ocean view.
• Walking through the water along the sandbank to our own private beach, carrying our backpacks on top of our heads.
• All the animals I'm not used to: pelicans, geckos, iguanas, stingrays, needlefish, calamari. I even saw a whale shark from up close.
• Snorkelling in Akumal. There were large sea turtles popping up their heads right next to me! Wonderful creatures.
• Lunch with Ellie and Elena from Nottingham, two charmingly positive travellers.
• Renting an electric bicycle in Tulum. Meeting the Barbels again - Zara, Andrea and Guilia, the Italians I've already rented a bike from in December. Cristian and Sabrina (more Italians) from Howlita were amazing, too!
• The Wim Hoff breathwork class at Holistika with Victor Goenka. Actually feeling the heat and the mind-expanding effects. Being able to hold my breath much longer. The ice bath afterwards. - and of course hanging out by the empty pool later.
• Befriending a little British boy, telling him the story of how I licked a green ant's butt in Australia and it tasted like lemon. Later I saw him trying to lick a regular Mexican ant - his mum probably hates me now.
• Tamarindos in full bloom. I love their feathery leaves.
• Locating the esoteric store in Cancún again. Buying two more tiny ranitas for Doris. A red and a green one - one for good luck and one for love.
• The vendor lady at a plant market in Oaxaca who told me everything about her geometric molds, clay mix and terrazzo flower pots. The elote lady who let me walk away with my food and bring over the money later. I love how friendly and easygoing many people are in this part of the world.
• An evening with Doris. Movies and dinner in bed. Fresh laundry smell.
• Walking through Oaxaca: murals and art everywhere. Artisanal kombucha and a pistachio smoothie. The amazing view from Cafe Monte, strolling through the markets.
• A woodcutting workshop at Subterráneos. The flow of creating something without a purpose and doing something with my hands without thinking much about it showed me once again how much I enjoy creative work. I need to make more space for that in my life.
• Sharing almost-Carbonara at an Italian cabaña restaurant somewhere in the Sierra Madre del Sur during the pouring rain. Playing Trivial Pursuit, ordering more naranjadas.
• The cabaña in the mountains: a hammock with a spectacular view of the valley. A hike: mushroom art everywhere, cats and puppies, the forest smell. Taking a bath together, shaving her. Trying to start a fire - failing, mostly. The wood was too moist. Unexpected food deliveries.
• We had a whole house to ourselves in La Boquilla with a view of the Pacific. The sound of the waves, hammocks on the roof, sorting my thoughts, planning the next weeks. A fresh breeze. Watching the lime green lizard trying to find its way down from the roof again. Watching You Got Mail in bed. Speaking along. How many times have I seen this movie...
• The upside of a tiny bathroom is being able to rest your forehead against the opposite wall while sitting on the toilet.
• Setting up office in my gorgeous balcony nook in Zipolite. Inspired, motivated, eager to create. Morning energy, fresh coffee, connecting with a few friends. Getting out my notebook for the first time. Writing down all the places I'd already visited. Applying stickers, carefully cutting out a quote from Octavia's Brood. Listening to Sam Harris musing about meditation. Keeping track of books and movies. Petting the two cats hanging out on the upper floor. I felt so at ease there.
• Holding each other after witnessing someone die in the Pacific just a few metres away. It could have been me. My hubris of swimming towards the waves instead of away from them the day before. My fearlessness had a sudden turning point. Humbled and afraid. Vowing to respect the water from then on.
• The laid back vibes in Zipolite. And the amazing French bakery.
• "We probably look like uber-lesbians right now", she said after I'd spotted a cat outside the window, let her in and all three of us were sitting in bed together.
• 4 elements, my home in Mazunte for ten days. Cooking my first meal on the road. Actually getting a bag of groceries. La Diosa Mystika (the resident cat). Meeting Tabata. A frightening thunderstorm at night. It was SO loud and rain sprayed into the room. Following the chicklets (which ended in a hen attack). So many huge butterflies I'd never seen before.
• My scooter - it feels so liberating every time I finally get a bike or scooter somewhere. Hair flowing in the wind, cooling down, a larger radius of movement.
• Dinner at Umami. Falafel bowl and raw maracuyá tarte.
• Chakra Flow yoga with Linda from the Netherlands. I dripped. All the time. And sitting up straight in the beginning was painful. But I'm always so grateful that I did it afterwards. The Indian Hatha class was extremely hard for me but somehow I made it through. Proud.
• Lying on top of Doris at the beach. A spectacular view. Kisses. Playing with sand, dragging each other through the water. Seeing the water sink into the sand after every wave.
• Our tearful goodbye. How she told me that I can always come home. That I have to take care of myself. When she gave me a crescent moon bracelet, the same as hers. One in silver, one gold.
• Dinner with Tabi. Talking about our lives, issues, learnings, views and signs. An abundance of delicious food (Chilaquiles!). Learning that I can actually have a profound conversation in Spanish!
• Punta Cometa during sunset. Climbing down the rocks, sitting on driftwood at the hidden beach. Admiring the older couple enjoying each other's company. Actually turning around and going back when I noticed I was lost because Doris' words were still in my head.
• Someone on horseback (!) at a bar, getting a drink and chatting with his earthbound friends.
• Breathwork. It actually works - it's so energising. I need to learn more about it!
• Brushing my teeth with a view. Trying to catch a glimpse of the sea, standing in the sunshine looking down the hill.
• A spontaneous job offer - Instituto Iguana wanted me to stay for a few weeks to teach the maestras English. In the end I declined (I didn't wanna work that early in my trip, didn't have access to any teaching materials and my flight to Cuba was nearing) but it made me realise how easily I could just stay somewhere and never go back.