Alright guys, another week has gone by and SO much has happened. After a while it gets hard to remember what happened on what day and in what order everything went down. Does it really matter? I don’t think so. As long as I get to tell you all about the highlights of my week.
The Cenote
On Sunday I joined the IDC guys to the cenote. My mind was blown. Not in a sissy way where you say “omg this is so cool”, but in way where you know you’re gonna talk about it for a long time. You know, talk about it until people are really annoyed because you keep telling the same story, but you can’t seem to stop because it was AMAZING.
So, for those who don’t know what a cenote is, google it. Or wikipedia. Wikipedia knows everything.
When you want to become an instructor, you have to practice, right? That’s what we did on sunday. Well, not me. I was in charge or “audiovisual”. To be clear: I took pictures. Because yes, as a divemaster one of my duties is taking pictures of instuctors-in-training. Who else is gonna do it.
The first 30 minutes we went on a fundive. No pressure, no duties, just enjoy the moment. And – excuse my language – HOLY SHIT. As you can see in the pictures, there’s natural light in the entire cenote. It’s not as dark as a cave and it’s not as light as open water. Look at the pictures. It look cool right?
After our 30 minutes of fun, the real work began. The guys practiced all sorts of instructor scenarios, from all different courses, and I took pictures and watched. It was a nice experience to see what the IDC is all about. Maybe I’ll become an instructor after all. I could give you a very detailed explanation about all the skills and all the exercises, but let’s keep it fun. Enjoy the pictures guys. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
The Surprise
On monday I went to the shop like every other day. Lily was there (I assisted on her open water and advanced course), and said “Hi” to her, like always. So she gives me an incredible smile and says “I have a surprise for you”. People who know me, will know how awkward I got after that. Surprises always make me weird, like I don’t know what to say or do. Where should I put my arms? How should I tilt my head? Am I walking like a normal human being? AM I STILL BREATHING? All sorts of things.
So we go into the shop, and Elena is there, having an amazingly creepy smile on her face and banging her hands together like the toy monkey inside Homer Simpson’s head. She turns around and hands me over a pair of brand new orange fins. Turns out Lily arranged for a new pair of orange fins to be ordered, and gave them to me as a gift. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? What kind of amazing, awesome, generous person does that? Well, Lily apparently.
After the big reveal I got even more awkward. I cried a little. I cried a lot inside, but I didn’t want to damage my image. So I haven’t found Fin, but I got a brand new pair of Fins. Now I have 3!!!!
This is the most crazy and best thing ever. I never expected to make such a difference in any kind of dive experience. Where can I sign up for the instructor course?
Friends
At the beginning of the week, P.O. told me I was gonna have a new friend. Like, excusez-moi, do I look like I need more friends? DO I NOT LOOK LIKEABLE TO YOU OR SOMETHING??? Turns out he meant there was a new Divemaster coming in, Wil.
Being nice as I am, I adopted Wil and invited him to our epic mealtime cookout (read more below). I think it’s safe to say P.O. was right, I do have a new friend. And I needed a new friend. People at the hostel are leaving, people at the diveshop are leaving. Everybody’s leaving. EVEN STAFFMEMBERS ARE LEAVING ME BEHIND. I’m outstaying everybody at the hostel. Eric, one of the staffmembers that left, even left me all his kitchen stuff. I now have salt and pepper. It’s a really moving gesture.
Smashed Potato Meal
Gian, Miguel and I decided to cook a meal. After a lot of discussion and going back and forth between “mac and cheese” and “smashed potatoes”, Miguel won. So, we had a smashed potato wondel meal. And, like I said, I’d just adopted Wil, so he was there too. I don’t think four people have EVER eaten that much food in a single night. We had meat and veggies and smashed potatoes. It was heaven.
Since all of us are really into the diving thing, we discussed diving over dinner. It might be hard to see, but Gian is showing you a shark they saw. Apparently they got really close and he got a little scared. Baby Gian Gian got a wittle scawed.
Sharks
A looooot of sharkdives for us this week. We even got to go twice in one day. It was like a shark party! Not such a party on the first dive though. Or maybe it was, but no one was invited except for us. There were almost no sharks. At the end there was one that followed us, which was pretty cool. He acted like the kid that’s not invited but shows up anyway and outstays everybody at the party and helps to clean up and never leaves so eventually you just accept that he’s living at your house now.
On the second dive, the entire school was invited. There were sharks everywhere. It’s hard to explain when you weren’t there. The feeling of being surrounded by these amazing animals can’t be put into world. What happens at the party, stays at the party. Well except these pictures ….
Weirdos
To make my week even better, my two roomies and I skyped. It was 45 minutes of laughing, being weird and telling eachother to upgrade personal hygiene. I won’t go into detail, but look at those faces. How can you not miss those guys? It’s only been a month, but damn, I miss our little house.
Oh, did I mention Ellen doesn’t even read my blog? HOW DARE SHE CALL HERSELF A FRIEND?? Since she doesn’t read it anyway, she won’t mind me posting a couple of her best headshots.
Fiesta
Tonight we’re all going out for a drink because there’s three brand new instructors in our team! Congrats to Vale, Gian and Miguel Sombrero on passing their exams! Two fingers in the nose, right? (#makethatthecatwise)
I was gonna take monday off, but then there’s a shipwreck dive. I couldn’t miss that. So no days off for me. And the plan was to go all out tonight, but since I’m going diving in the morning, let’s keep it on the downlow. I’ll get you some pictures next week, don’t worry!
The End
I realize there’s a lot of pictures this week and not a lot of words. I’m not even sorry. I’m starting to get a little tired so my brain isn’t functioning as it should. Not sure it’s ever functioning as it should, but it’s definitely slower than usual.
Write you soon guys
Fi
Far Away Fi 