Cozumel – 3-day Diary

Day 1

I arrived today to Cozumel from Isla Mujeres. At the exact time, I put my feet on the island, I was approaching the 48 hours of the dry-fasting mark. My new thing is to dry-fast the day before the actual day I am traveling and break my fast on the new destination. For some reason, it makes travel much more intense and exciting for me. I arrived by 5PM to the island. It took me about 25 minutes to find the place I was staying. I had only one idea in my head. Go swimming in the Caribbean Sea! I changed my clothes as fast as I could. I took my guitar and my dirty clothes with me. On my way to the beach, I dropped the dirty clothes to a family which does laundry for a living. I am all for the DIY, but for 11 pesos per kilo of professionally done laundry, it’s hard to resist to such service.

After dropping the laundry, I asked a store clerk working two blocks from the laundry place how could I get to the beach. The man told me that if I go the way he was pointing towards, I will eventually hit the beach in about 10 minutes. I was excited because I was previously revealed that the island is way more significant in size tha Isla Mujeres and the beautiful beaches are quite far away from my location. I started walking towards the direction indicated by the clerk, I disappointingly ended up where I had started my journey on the island. That basically mean at the port. My intention wasn’t to swim near the ferries and the cruisers.

Despite my disappointment, I decided to not give up and started to walk towards the south of the island along the coastline. Dozens of minutes of fast walking later, I saw a tiny little beach where some people were swimming, but the spot was not appealing to me at all. I kept walking. I soon ended in the same situation as in Cancun’s Hotel Zone and some parts of Isla Mujeres, where all the waterfronts are sort of privatized. The normal everyday citizen can just not have access to water. As I was walking, at the level of the municipality building, there was one spot which had access to water. There were some homeless looking and not homeless looking people near the water, enjoying the magnificent view on the Caribbean Sea. I decided to keep on walking. I walked for about 20 minutes and felt like nothing different was going to happen before a mile or two. I decided to go back to the waterfront near the municipality building.

Once I made it back to the exact same spot which had a public access to the sea, I was highly focused on the idea of swimming. I approached the rocks near the water. I saw a dad and his son swimming. They were all geared up with snorkel and tuba and foot protection. I wasn’t. As I stepped on the rocks, I could feel that the surface was made of sharp volcanic matter. It was challenging to walk on it even with the flip-flops, and barefoot I did not wanted to try. I was thinking about how I was going to get into the water. The eight-year oldish kid who came with his dad, just jump into the water in front of me with ease. He sort of showed me the way, so I did the same with my flip-flops on. The only downside was that it sucked big time to swim with the flip-flops. I got out of the water from a spot closer to shore, and I made my way back to where I had jumped earlier into the water. I cut my ankle with the rocks in the process. But the cut wasn’t big enough to stop me for another round. I needed to find a way to swim without the flip-flops, but at the same time to get out of the water without them could end up in a little bloody mess as far as my feet were concerned. I found a spot on the rock where I could leave the flip-flops and still be able to access them while I was still in the water. I also identified the most plane spot on the rocks to dive from. Even that most potentially comfortable surface was hurting my feet pretty bad. To the point that I could not perform a proper dive since any additional pressure would increase the pain. It must have been pretty funny to see me sort of jump into the water. From the outside one could think that I had a problem or I was terrified of jumping into the water. I have never seen rocks that sharp to walk on.

I must have stayed about an hour into the water. What I loved about swimming at that particular spot, was that the water would get pretty deep really fast. This deepness and the turquoise color of the water reminded me of the Egean sea of my native country. With my experience of different seas and lakes, nothing has beaten the Turkish Riviera in terms of appealing water to swim in, but we are definitely getting closer to that level with the Caribbean Sea.

The combination of me getting into the water and the over 48 hours dry-fast resulted in a situation where I was all amped up. I decided to go play the Black Sea Storm acoustic set in a nearby park located in front of the Municipal Building. I was feeling absolute wellness and extreme happiness. As I started to play, I noticed that the action of my guitar got really high. With the constant changes in temperature and the several hits the guitar took today during the trip to the island, the spacing between the guitar strings and fretboard augmented. If you play any string instrument, you would know that it adds an additional challenge to playing. Since I try to not believe in excuses, I always try to have the I gotta rock with what I have attitude. I also think that every challenging situation while playing is making me stronger as a player, so I try to embrace these types of circumstances.

Over 48 hour of dry-fasting, a day of traveling, an hour of swimming, having soft fingertips due to staying in the water, super high action on the guitar, the wind blowing, dogs barking, kids rolling with electric toy cars on the concrete. None of these elements stopped me from performing my daily set. I did it, and I was almost euphoric while doing it. Probably it was not my best performance musically, but I definitely put one more challenging situation playing live under my belt. When you gotta rock you gotta rock. I think that’s the beauty of it.

Once it got dark, I went to a nearby grocery store. Since no fresh coconut sellers were going to be around at that time of the night, I decided to break my fast with some packaged coconut water. It’s definitely not the same experience, but I had enormous pleasure at drinking them. I got a total of 6 bottles. There was a promotion on this new brand, and I got two bottles for free. I had plans of eating that night, but I was so content with my day that I decided to keep fasting with coconut water only, until the next day. What I have been experiencing lately is that when I nourish myself with great experiences as I did today, I don’t need food as nourishment. I feel excellent, happy, and fulfilled at all levels without food being involved.

Day 2

It was a good initiative of mine to extend my fast with the coconut water after more than 48 hours of dry-fasting. I went to bed at 1:00 AM woke up at 6:00 AM wholly refreshed ready to play some more guitar and explore the island. I went for a jog right after waking up. It felt like it was already 30 degrees Celsius /86 F hot outside. The sun was gently coming up. I went to the port. I felt fortunate to live even for a few days near the water. After my whole workout, yoga, Tibetan rite routine, I took my guitar and my swimming bag with me and headed out. I walked a couple of blocks from where I currently live, I discovered that there was a farmer’s market. I did not know that. It was the best surprise I could have imagined. This is my favorite type of situations when traveling. Having access to a market which sells fresh produce nearby changes everything for the better for me. Especially in Mexico. Usually, fruits are sweet and tasty here. I got some coconut water, fresh with meat. I got 2 small mangos, 1 small mamey, and some already peeled and diced papaya. It was great to break my fast with all this good stuff. Although I am wondering if sugar and carbs aren’t messing up all the ketosis I had been building during the fasting period. One thing is certain. After eating all that fruit, the magic of the mental clarity due to the fast was at 80% gone. That said I was still full of energy wanting to do a lot of things on the same day.

It was a hot and humid day with some big clouds in the air. I wanted to play swim and visit the island as much as I could. I started by playing the Black Sea Storm acoustic set in the park near the municipality. This is also where I got to swim jump into the water from the sharp rocks the day before. There were two benches I could choose from to play my set. One was under the shade, but it was full of bird shit coming from the threes above. The second one was free of dried up fecal matter, but there was no shade.

I chose the second option and put my ass on the clean and sunny bench. I started playing my acoustic set. There were very few people out and the ones who were out, they did not care at all about my music. After playing the entire song set, I worked on the moments of the repertoire I did not perform as good as I would have liked to. After the review and improvement session, I decided to practice the guitar. Something I had not done in ages. For the past decade, I’ve been only picking up a guitar or a bass to create new material or run my set. I don’t know why today I wanted to practice the way I used to when I was teenager, with the metronome, try to challenge myself with different rhythms and try to keep everything in the pocket as much as possible.

The travel, fasting, the sea, the sun, and playing seemed to rejuvenate me, I think. At times I’ve been having flashbacks of when I was 15 listening to metal. For the past nine years or so I’ve been using the guitar to create and express myself instead of the bass. Since my very first rock instrument was the electric guitar at the age of 14, it feels a little bit like I am picking up where I left it off as a guitar player. I did have access to a bass guitar early on in my teens since with my very first band we could not find a bass player, and we were three guitar players. So I would switch from guitar to the bass from song to song. At the age of 18, I decided to completely dedicate myself to the bass until 2009. Daniel, my boss at the time started to lend me his guitars and this is when I started to use them with Black Sea Storm.

I’ve been playing a lot of guitar for Black Sea Storm for the past decade so I could write new songs, but mentally during that period, I’ve never considered myself a guitar player. I was using the instrument so I can keep producing music and continue my rock n’ roll journey independently of other musicians. As of now I still don’t think I am a guitar player, but since I am traveling alone and I am taking my guitar everywhere I go, the guitar has become something more than just an instrument to record songs. It’s my closest companion on this adventure. It truly completes the experience of traveling. I can move, observe, feel and express myself. It is a blessing to be in that position of completeness.

The guitar has been helping me in a lot of different ways. I’ve been playing in all sorts of urban situations, which is I believe making me stronger as a performing musician. I also noticed that people are bothering me less when I have the guitar on my back. A lesser amount of people are approaching me trying to sell me something. If you’re a musician, people probably think that you do not have much means, and you probably don’t have money for what they want to sell to you.

I had the crazy goal to make it to the southern tip of the island by foot. It was a very optimistic goal I realized it later on. Cozumel, as an island is pretty big. I still managed to walk for hours. Lucky the situation of the hotels monopolizing the waterfront diminished as I headed south. I was able to swim in three different spots. On my way back I had the last swimming session where the municipality and the sharp rocks are. It may be my favorite spot so far. It once again reminded me of swimming in the Turkish part of the Egean Sea.

I had two other meals after the fruit session. It must have been at least a couple of years that I had not eaten three meals in one day. I am guessing that after the 60 hour fasting period, my body needed some fuel in terms of food. Tomorrow I am thinking of fasting the entire day and explore the island. I think I am going to have to invest in some cab rides. I believe I have done as much as I could by foot, and there is still so much more to discover on this island.

Day 3

My goal on this last day on the island; explore it as much as possible. Although I’ve been having a great time so far in Cozumel, I have to admit that by foot I’ve only explored a mere 5% of it. For some reason, I find riding a cab to go to places very unromantic. I am a walker, and I usually use public transportation if where I am going is not at walking distance. I also like the convenience and the social aspect of UBER at times. On this island, there is no proper public transportation or UBER. Paying a cab ride appears to be as the only option except for renting a vehicle if I want to explore beyond what I can do on foot.

My initial idea was to go on the other side of the island to Playa Chen Rio. After talking to a cab driver, I found out that the rates were way beyond my budget to go to the other side of the island or the southern tip. It is incredible to me that moving around on the island would cost way more than getting on the island itself. The driver told me that he could give me ride to a beach called Playa Azul not too far from downtown. As an argument to convince me, he also said that it was a clean and lovely beach. The price for that actual ride was more in a price range I could afford.

Playa Azul indeed was excellent for many reasons. The cleanest water I’ve seen in Mexico so far. The structure around the beach looked like a resort, but I was told by the cab driver that it was a public beach. Nobody pressured me to buy something to eat or drink. There was a right mix of people going from locals, nationals, Latin American travelers, and visitors from the rest of the world. The beach wasn’t crowded, and the overall vibe was amiable and down to earth. There was a security guard at the entrance. He denied some people, but somehow, he let me in. After refueling my need for seawater, sand, and sun, I was itching for playing my guitar. I left the beach premises and started heading north.

A perfect opportunity to play presented itself to me. The municipality had built high-quality picnic tables with a roof for cab drivers, or for people waiting for taxis. It was the ideal setup not only to play my guitar under the shade but also to record since I could put my mini tripod on the picnic table and get a decent shot of me playing. On top of it, the whole area was relatively quiet, so I did not need to yell out of my lungs to sing. I did a good number of recordings and a session with the metronome.

Practicing with the metronome It’s my new old thing now. While practicing with it, I try to remain creative. I think there is nothing worse than practicing a musical instrument the way you would do fitness. AIthough even with fitness one could argue that you got to put the intention in it and not only perform the movement mechanically. For a good practice with the metronome, I am a believer that the musician’s ear and creativity have to remain involved at all times while playing. If not doing so maybe one could gain skills such as dexterity and remain in the pocket more rapidly, but from my experience, I would argue that it will kill creativity.

After an hour and a half playing the guitar and singing, I decided to go even further north to see what I could find. I walked for half an hour, at one point and the road got really desolate. There were some signs saying not to go any further. There was absolutely nobody around. I was a little bit disappointed to not being able to explore the island the way I usually explore new places. I decided to head back to the Playa Azul for a second beach session.

The second time around as well the security guy let me in. I did several rounds of swimming and drying up under the sun. I knew in the back of my head that I may not be able to find water that clean to swim in for a while. I am planning on going to Tulum next, but there is a huge algae problem over there. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to swim. After Tulum I am going to end my journey in the Mayan Riviera because it’s beyond my means financially and to be able to play in public has been disastrous so far. On the streets, no one seems to care and to get shows it has not been good. After Tulum, it will be time for me to head inland of the Yucatan peninsula.