Changing a Routine

This morning I thought I would step out of my routine.  I generally waken early and do my things: a yoga class or writing with a coffee.  But today, I decided to ride my bike to a nearby cenote.  It felt good to break up my routine as I headed up the beach road on my rusty pink bike.  It wasn’t that early, just about 8. But the culture here isn’t an early one.  I had the road to myself and they were just opening the gate at the cenote as I arrived.  The gentleman opening was sleepy eyed but greeted me pleasantly.  He would make money for tortillas before it hit 9 am.  I paid him, having wrapped two bright 10 pesos coins in my towel. It used to be free and I missed that more than a little.

But I shook off the nostalgia and walked my bicycle through the campground to the water’s edge.  I was sweating already and knew the water would feel good.  The crispish morning air, at a “crisp” 80 or so degrees, was refreshing.  The water would be more so.  August had been a hot month, but the days had been getting cooler.  Mornings were probably the most comfortable time of the day for me. 

I put my toe in the water and looked up to see two ducks flying overhead.  “I think that is a good sign”, I said as I let my foot sink a little deeper into the clear cool water.  I wondered for just a moment about crocodiles.  I knew they slept in the heat of the day but I wondered what their custom was for the morning.  “They are probably sleeping off their nocturnal feasting”, I told myself as I piled my clothes on the dock that extended into the water and then just dove right in.  

It was heaven surrounding my body: cool, clear heaven. The water and the gentle coolness of it embraced me.  I came to the surface to look around.  It was only me and the manglers gently reaching their arms under the water.  There were a few orchids still in bloom, the flowers gently rising above the manglers, but mostly it was green and the blue of the sky above.  I swam further and started to play.  I practiced water ballet. I did summersaults and the back-stroke and turns and just about anything I wanted to.  No one would witness my madness. I did 4 dolphins back to back.  Those are the moves where you are on your back in the water and you arch your back and pull yourself around under the water in a circle.  Then you resurface and if you want, you can go back under and make a circle again.  I love them but after 4, I was lightheaded and a little dizzy.  So I just floated.  My ears under the water, the sun on my face, the only sound I heard was my own heart beat.  I was in heaven.  I was in Tulum.