Sex, Travel and The Pandemic

Going Broke, Volunteering, and the Backpacking Lifestyle

For the rest of the month of August I had to live a quiet and simple life without all the expenses that accompanied a grandeur one.

If my ex-girlfriend wasn't going to get me to go home, my bank account would have done the trick.

While talking to Alejandro I learned about a little website called World Packers which provided a list of volunteer opportunities for travelers. Without much hesitation and money to spare, I made an account and sent out applications. After a few days I managed to land a volunteer job at a very small and hippy hostel in downtown Tulum called Xkeken Hostel. There wasn't much going on at the hostel, compared to the always lively hostel I stayed at in Cancun.

This was a good thing as it afforded me the opportunity to save more money and live a more frugal lifestyle. While in Tulum I ate at only the cheapest restaurants aka street food, and I bought groceries. That was a first here in Mexico. Did you know you could save a ton of money by switching to groceries?

My job at the hostel was to check in guests and to ensure that their stay was perfect. I would show them to their rooms and give them a tour of the accommodation. I'd show them the bikes and how they could rent them, the kitchen, the common area and I also let them know the rules of the hostel. It was a rather simple job. The most difficult part of it was remembering to put every single thing into the system. If someone rented a towel, a padlock, or a bike all at the same time I had to put it all into the system. I was also the person to come to if you had any questions or problems at the hostel or wanted some information about Tulum.

I wasn't too busy most days. The guests weren't wild and up to no good like at the hostel in Cancun. They were calm and peaceful, preferring to spend their days riding around Tulum on their bikes and taking dips in the many cenotes around. I would often join them on my days off. A lot of the people who I checked in were quite new to Mexico and the backpacking lifestyle. They looked so cute and innocent standing in front of me at the desk with their huge backpacks, boots and wide-brimmed hats. Everyone always starts off so organized with plans and days scheduled for everything. The backpacking lifestyle quickly knocks that habit out of them. Because in backpacking, things usually never go according to plan. You may miss that bus due to traffic, or you get a stomach bug from the water or you meet people who make you change your plans entirely. Backpacking is all about being spontaneous. I personally didn't expect to be working at the reception of a hostel, but there I was, working at the reception of a hostel.

I was still able to fit in work amidst the travel. I would be lying if I said it was easy. The most difficult part of being a digital nomad was finding time to sit down for a few hours to work while you are surrounded by vacationers only wanting to have fun. This was especially a problem in Cancun. I was one of the only people who had to work while on vacation. When everyone wanted to go to the beach I'd have to bail on them for work. However, I rarely did bail, opting to skip out on work. As expected, my work suffered because of it. I was still able to maintain my income enough to sustain my travels. I worked a bit more in Tulum while I volunteered at the hostel. I barely had anything to do most times I was on shift so I'd spend my down time writing and posting articles on Facebook.

There were other people who worked at the hostel as well. There was an Argentinian girl named Becca who would spend most of her days smoking weed and bathing in the sun. There was also a girl from Spain named Stella who was a bit more on the creative side of things. She would paint murals and lay on the beach. Then there was the Portuguese guy named Rody. He was an interesting character of sorts. He sort of had an obsession with the naked body and would post artistic shots of himself in the nude on his website. He was also a professional yogi who made a living in Tulum teaching the art of yoga and meditation. They were a cool and interesting bunch and I grew to like them over time. Then again, I didn't really have a choice but to like them, being around them all the time.