why I itch everywhere

It is not a secret, I prefer to travel alone. Among other things, if you travel alone you do not need to worry about the needs/wants of others. So, when I decided to join to fellow back packers on a trip to Tulum I was hesitant of the experience. The day we went to leave Isla Mujeres came and the others were slow to get going, we didn't leave the island until 230pm and I was worried about finding a hotel/hostel before dark in Tulum. I tried to relax said to myself, "Hillary you are in the Caribbean you need to chill out and move at a Caribbean pace."

When we finally board the boat back to Cancun I went on the roof deck to get some sun and some perspective. My travel buddies, Monigue (from Australia) and Itamar(from Israel) went inside the boat; where they met a local man who offered to drive all 3 of us from the boat dock to the bus station. I am nervous about taking rides from strangers but since I was with two others decided to go for it. The guy turned out to be really cool and the owner/builder of several hotels and clubs in the Cancun area. Found the only bus leaving in the next 3 hours for Tulum and got on board. When the bus arrived in Tulum we took a collective taxi to a place Itamar had heard about, it was getting dark.

The Lobo Inn, was a low quality hostel with an even lower price tag. But since it was getting late and we thought, we were miles from other options we decided to stay there for the night. After we had checked in, we started to discover just how many problems this place had. First, the bathroom situation was a disaster! The bathroom for the 8 bed dorm we were staying in was broken, so we had to go upstairs to the 16 bed dorm or across a mosquito filled courtyard to the 6 bed dorm to use one of those. The bathroom in the 6 bed dorm was very dirty, filled with bugs and had a clogged toilet! The 16 bed dorm bathroom was very dirty and very strange, it had two toilets in 2ft x 2ft stalls, if you closed to door a reasonable size person would not fit inside with the toilet and be able to use it. The showers were more or less the same. When we attempted to sleep we noticed the room had several mosquitoes after attempting to kill a few, I gave up and went to sleep. In the morning we agreed to look for new accommodations.

On the way to the ruins, we passed a few other budget hotels and Monigue (who had already seen the ruins) offered to check them out, while Itamar and I went to see the site. Tulum was beautiful. Monique met up with us at the entrance and suggested El Crucero, a budget hotel with a clean and functioning bathroom, I thought it would be an improvement. After switching hotels we head to the beach. The sand was so fine it got everywhere, nonetheless I loved sitting on the sand and watching people kite-surf, I even had a Pina Colada. Finally, back at the hotel I showered and felt relatively clean for the first time in days.

That night, I fell asleep very early but woke up to a familiar and upsetting sound, mosquitoes! Everywhere! There must have been 30 in our room. I could hear them making high-pitched whining sounds as they passed by my head. They were all around me and as I would discover taking turns feasting on all of us. I wrapped my self in my blankets, to get some protection and attempted to sleep. In the morning, everyone in the room was covered in bites. I itch everywhere! I have at least 20 screaming red spots from that night in the hotel. I was ready to leave Tulum and the mosquitoes.