When we got back to the hotel I was tired, dirty, a little sunburned and really glad to be home. There was no way I was walking the mile or so back to the park, and besides it was still too early to sleep, so I hit the internet café. As soon as I got on line, someone hit me up on Yahoo!Messenger. He hadn’t seen the pictures I’d sent of the baby sea turtles that crossed the road. He was nice and the conversation continued until he suggested we meet up at the Aquarium later. That was fine with me. I made it back to the park by 5pm and we headed out on one of the tram tours. The guide wasn’t there to start the tour, but since we had reserved he came by a few minutes later to sign our tickets. We had one girl in our group that was about 15 so I had mentioned to the guy ahead of time that there was a group of girls and we’d appreciate it if the guide could explain what he was doing as we went. The tram tour was pretty cool. We had a few narrations and learned that there are a few hundred different species of sea turtles that live in the area. Most of them are juvenile and don’t come this far north to the Baja peninsula. Once a year the females come to lay eggs. The baby sea turtles are born with flippers attached, so they must be in the water for about four to five years before they can swim independently. The guide even brought out a baby sea turtle to show us. They were adorable but one of them was a little freaked out by being held in such a small space. For some reason, she was really struggling and would flop her little legs out and keep trying to pull back in. We could see the bump from her shell, but it was so tiny we were all surprised it hadn’t yet hatched. We all loved watching her and she looked super cute. At one point she reached up with her front flippers and gently bit the guide, who immediately dropped her. Luckily she wasn’t hurt but he was shaking his head, probably wishing he had just dropped her into the water to begin with. We took a ferry back to town and dropped by the gift shop where I saw that the sea turtle trinkets I had seen the day before were still there. I only bought one thing, which was this lovely beach bag. I was too tired to do more shopping after the excitement of the day so we got back to the hotel to relax a little before heading back to the airport in the morning. Our flight out of Huatulco was in the early morning. We grabbed breakfast and went back to the hotel to check out. We packed up, said goodbye to our driver and the manager, and checked out. All together we had paid $150 pesos, which included the tour of the park, transportation to and from Huatulco, and lunch and drinks on the beach. It was an absolute bargain, and it was definitely worth it. After we got on the plane, I had a realisation. The beach wasn’t that far from the airport, or at least not as far as I’d realized. It was really close to Huatulco! I could have stayed in Huatulco! The other places I’d been on the trip were too far away to go back and forth everyday. It was really easy to see how I could have chosen a different travel goal for the trip, I just didn’t expect to like Huatulco so much! If I had chosen, I would have probably done just fine by flying from Huatulco to Cancun, which is even closer, or Huatulco to Acapulco. I’d been so worried about traveling, since this would have been my first time traveling alone. It just goes to show that you don’t need to get to the other side of the world to have an amazing experience. If I had gone to Huatulco, I would have had something to write home about. If you’re interested in hearing about what I did over the course of the weekend that I didn’t write about, or if you’d like some tips on traveling alone, I’d be happy to send a letter of introduction to whoever you’re traveling with. This was my first adventure with a group of people and I have to say I was extremely nervous going in. It took me a while to put my anxiety at ease. By the end of the weekend I was talking to my new friends so much I didn’t think about it as much. My partner picked me up in the morning and we drove through Cancun, listening to a podcast and singing to some of the tunes. When we hit the highway, traffic was light, but the speed was high enough to make for a fun time. The first point of interest on our way to the resort was lunch at a restaurant run by a family of chefs. They made absolutely delicious food and the meals were served family style, so we were all mixing it up. I ended up eating a little more than I normally do in a day. The second point of interest was a little stop at the local gas station, to look around. The family that owned the gas station (and the place next door) were both very nice people. My partner spent a few minutes talking with the father, who looked a little uncomfortable so I grabbed a few pics and asked to take a photo of the family. The owner of the first business, and his kids and parents were nice as well. The drive from the gas station to the resort was a few miles, but it was over an hour’s drive, on a bumpy road. There was still traffic, so we had to slow down quite a bit. It gave us a little bit more time to talk with each other. We stayed at Tikal Village and Resort, right on the beach. The resort was nice and the area felt very relaxing. We relaxed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon and went swimming in the warm ocean. There were a few people that were pretty much swimming with the whales, so they were pretty close to the shore. The dolphin were all over the place, too. I went snorkeling in the warm water and watched some of the fish while they swam by. That night we sat on the beach as the stars came out. We were all ready to get some sleep when a rooster went off and we didn’t get any more sleep after that. We got up and had breakfast at 7am, an hour earlier than expected. By this time, all of us were pretty hungry, so we headed out to find lunch. We found an Italian restaurant where I got a really filling bruschetta sandwich that would have made me feel a little guilty if it had been less filling. It ended up being a really