La vida es fácil
After having been a gypsy for around 2 years, I had felt like I wanted to slow down for a few months now and stay somewhere longer than a week. Also the desire to establish myself in Mexico long-term was still very much active.
So the first and hardest decision for me was to decide that I won’t follow my friends to the next company event in Amsterdam and finally start making financially sound decisions in order not to end up in Germany for a few months yet again.
I absolutely love those events that have led me halfway around the globe since March last year and although I had qualified for the event ticket including travel allowance it didn’t seem to make sense at this point to fly over to Europe just for one day.
Completely against the trend I decided to go back to the Riviera Maya and check out the last place on my list, Playa del Carmen. I had been to Tulum and Cancún several times but Playa was still missing.
There is a saying around Playa del Carmen, which goes: Playa o te adopta o te aborta.
‘Playa either adopts you or aborts you'. Little did I know that this saying existed in the first place and neither that I would experience it hands on in my first night in town…
I had booked an airbnb for a whole month this time so I could slow down a bit and wouldn’t have to worry where to go next week.
When I arrived at the central bus station I took a taxi straight to the airbnb and just a short while after checking in to my new home, I noticed that my hand luggage was missing.
That little backpack pretty much contained everything of value that I own – my gold, my brand new MacBook Pro, important documents etc. whereas the suitcase I had still with me only contained my clothing and some souvenirs from my previous travels.
Needless to say that I was shocked. I didn’t even have my phone charger with me and was very close to running out of battery.
I ran around the neighbourhood like a headless chicken for at least an hour, stopping random taxis and asking the drivers how to get back an item that was lost in a taxi. The unanimous answer was pretty much: “If you don’t know the taxi number, you’re fucked!”
My first thought was obviously: “Why the fuck is this happening to me??”
But then I remembered that it is always about the quality of the questions we ask ourselves and that there is something to be learned from every difficult situation and so I decided to ask a better question!
“What is this situation trying to teach me?”
And boy, the universe does not delay… As I was walking along the avenue, looking to my right, I noticed a large sign inside a little burrito shop that read: “La vida es fácil“ (Life is easy).
I stopped for a second to think about what the easiest option would be and then took another taxi back to the central bus station where I simply asked the boss. I roughly described the car and the driver and a few minutes later he arrived and I had all my stuff back!
Life can indeed be easy!
Sitting at the beach with a can of beer the same night, putting my feet in the warm caribbean waters, it already dawned on that I had been adopted… ME ADOPTÓ!
