Sabancuy

We left Merida the next morning after breakfast and a little sightseeing. We had pretty fully recovered from our adventure in Valladolid the day before and Jana and I were looking forward to continuing on to Carmen. I had the movers arranged to come early the next day and I looking forward to continuing our travels without any more time restrictions or SLB related stress.

It was stepping out of the Cathedral in Merida that I received an email that suddenly changed all my plans. I had a job offer! I had taken the chance and flown up to Houston from Playa del Carmen the week before to interview on the off chance it might lead to something. Turns out I was exactly what they were looking for. I still had some negotiations to do, but an offer in hand less than a month after being laid off was a serious miracle given the times. They later told me they received around 750 applications for the position.

Job offer or no, we still had to head to Carmen and pack up my house. We said goodbye to Hugo and headed out, two American girls driving 385km to Ciudad del Carmen. We expected it to take about 4 1/2 hours with a stop or two. Instead we got stopped by the Campeche police at every damn road block on the way and the trip in it’s entirety took us almost 20 hours. 

At the first road block, they made us present our passports and visas along with the car registration info. My registration was terribly out of date and so I paid the ‘fee’ of 500MX ($35US at the time) that went directly into the pocket of the state policeman. On to the next stop. Once again, we had to present our passport and visas. At the previous stop I had just shown my FM3, as it’s my official Mexican state ID and proves I’m in the country legally. My passport doesn’t have a visa in it. This time I had to get out my passport even after explaining that my work visa was fine. I was already annoyed and so when they started telling me I had to pay a fee again, I got upset and yelled at them that I already paid a fee and they were only pulling us over because we were white. At that, they got defensive and finally let us go without an fees and a reassurance that they do not profile drivers. 

Valladolid

After almost 2 weeks in Playa del Carmen I wasn’t necessarily ready to leave, but my move was scheduled so I didn’t have much choice but to go back and let the movers in. I had spent the previous week with Jana and Hugo, both ex-SLB from Carmen. We were leaving Playa together, Jana planning to travel with me for the next month and Hugo just catching ride to Merida on his Mexico tour. 

We checked out of the Penthouse in Carmen and set out towards Chichen Itza, one of the most famous set of ruins in Mexico and one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It’s a ‘must see’ on the ruins of Mexico list and also happens to be well spaced between Playa del Carmen and Merida. Perfect placement for a day trip before staying in Merida for the night.

Happily we cruised along the paid road, which is expensive, but with less towns to slow down for and much better road conditions. We had just passed the sign announcing the next service station in 65km when the car started to shutter. We went along for another 5km or so, playing with the engine RPM, when it finally died. We drifted over the shoulder and popped the hood. Maybe it’s just low on oil? The check engine light WAS on. 

Travel Reflection - Playa

I know everyone is curious about how the travels have been going. I’ve been lucky to be able to stay in Mexico and travel with friends that are in the same situation. I’m going to write a series of posts about the travels. I’ll put up pictures. I’ll spend more time with the experiences I think are unique and fun and probably less time on things that are more common or can be better described in picture. Writing about travel is supposed to be fun to write and fun to read. If it’s not fun to write, I won’t bother with it. At this point I’m starting to write about experiences happening a few weeks ago and I’ll just break posts up according to how I feel tells a good story. Anyway. that’s the mechanics. Enjoy! 

Immediately after being laid off I booked a ticket back to Houston to see my family. Sometimes you just need some recovery time. I spent about 10 days in the US, traveled up to Arkansas to visit family there and then returned to Houston. I had the chance to make some decisions and get a rough plan together. I also brushed up my resume and applied to jobs, just as a long shot. 

I was hoping to come back to Carmen and pack my things up right away. However, as you’ll read along, you will see that travel has been a study in making plans and immediately having them changed. I learned that I needed to get quotes from different companies and then it would take another week to make estimates and another week for big blue to decide which company would actually do the move. Drat. Two more weeks in Carmen was not what I was excepting. I discussed with HR and finally determined I didn’t actually need to be in Carmen. I left the next afternoon. 

On some big changes...

I’m not sure how much you, my lovely audience (like 3 people and my parents) know about what’s going on right now with oil prices. I am sure everyone has noticed the drop in gas prices. On the other side of that drop is the layoffs. There’s been news stories about it, major service companies laying off thousands and thousands of people globally. While for most people this has been nothing more than a news story, for me it’s been my life for the past months. Watching friends leave, watching people have their lives change in a minute. It’s been difficult to witness, to say goodbye to so many friends and to stay behind in the environment of tension and fear. 

Two weeks ago it was my turn. Since I’ve been working in the office and I’m good at my job I was shielded from the first and second wave of lay offs. My superiors spent at least two months trying to transfer me to a location that could afford to keep me, but couldn’t find one. Most locations are trying to reduce staff, not increase it and my experience of only 7 months in the office didn’t help me. I’m very confident my boss did not want to lay me off and worked hard to fight for me. I’m not the first to leave and I already know that I’m not the last. Unfortunately this drop in prices will effect many, many more lives before things stabilize. 

For anyone wondering what comes next I can give a very general plan that changes about everyday. Big blue will be paying for to move my house of things back to Alaska or anywhere cheaper, which is like… anywhere in the US. Probably everything will end up in Houston in storage until I need it next. I’ve also been given a decent severance package and 3 months of free health care. The cost to break my lease should be covered, although that’s still being negotiated, something to be settled in this next week after everything is packed up.