Decompression Stop
So, I know that most of you got this email from Steve, but I thought it would make a good entry for my blog too. You all know what a decompression stop is? Well, if you don`t, let me explain because I am now living in one! Anyway, we learned about decompression stops when we did all the Scuba stuff. When you spend lots of time underwater, especially at depths past 70 feet, you can built up a lot of nitrogen bubbles in your blood. In order to get rid of them and keep you living and breathing and healthy, you are sometimes recommended to do a “decompression stop” before surfacing, to give your body time to work the nitrogen out of your blood stream (and sometimes, when you go really deep for really long, you absolutely have to do a stop or decompression illness is headed your way!!!!) Well, we have decided that, although we didn`t require a decompression stop before returning to the States, we accidentally found one in Mexico. And you know, I think it is a good thing!
It is strange. Every time I have come to Mexico to visit from the States, I always had the same thoughts that most Americans do: a third world country, not too developed, missing a lot of normal things from back home (unless you`re in Cancun or Acapulco or another essentially American tourist destination). However, having come from South America, Mexico seems like the most luxurious place in the world! We have only been here for 2 or 3 days now, but I can`t get over how much more developed and “civilized” it is here in comparison to where we have been. There is cereal in the grocery store, public bathrooms at the ruins that have more than one stall and no pee on the floor (not to mention soap by the sinks), beggers are few and far between, and the streets are pleasant and considerably more safe to walk around at night. And did I mention the buses have air conditioning?!! Am I living in disillusionment or what? I don`t mean to sound like I am complaining at all about South America, because that is definitely not my point: I love them both. It is just weird when I compare the two areas. And, unknowingly, I think that Steve and I did a good thing by deciding to come and travel here for a month before coming home. We both knew we would experience serious culture shock when we got back to the States, but I never expected the shock to be as huge when we arrived in Mexico!!! So, I guess that is what we mean by decompression stop. We travelled to SA for 7 months and lived in a world that is as opposite from our own as one can get: I`d say that is like making a 20 minute dive to 85 feet. Well, instead of shooting straight up to the surface and having to deal with the pains of acclimatizing, we chose to come to Mexico and let some of our nitrogen melt out for awhile….so maybe then the surface won`t be so painful when we finally get back home.
On another, less-philosophical note, we went to visit the ruins of Chichen Itza today. Very cool, although Machu Picchu was still more impressive to me. The big main temple thing in the middle was by far my favorite, but unfortunately, no one is allowed to climb on it. We did, however, find some open, deserted tunnels into a few of the buildings, and since they weren`t marked off like other things, we figured that meant we could go exploring. And, lucky for us, Steve had his headlamp! (Cause otherwise the tunnels were pitch black) None of them really went anywhere, but it was cool to run around (or walk really slowly cause I had no idea what was actually in there) like Indiana Jones and think about how cool it would be to be the people who discovered these ruins for the first time. When we were in one of them, we shone the lamp on the wall and saw that there was a few big spiders and weird looking bug things crawling all over….that, of course, reminded me of the Goonies and their little adventure. I`m all about adventure these days. By the way, who wants to go to Africa with me?
Going to go swimming in a cenote tomorrow, so that`ll be cool. Maybe I`ll go find some buried treasure…
0 评论: