Cancun- Sept 16 2011

Sorry I haven't updated this recently, haven't had too much to talk about. A couple of weeks ago a little kitten wandered into the front area of the hostel and fell asleep behind the bar. He had a huge cut down his back that was infected, he was malnourished and for a while couldn't walk on his back leg. So we decided to try to help him out and gave him some food and tried to do what we could for the infection. About a week later he was still hanging around so we decided to name him Balam which means "jaguar" in Mayan. Since then the owner of the hostel has taken him to the vet and got him cleaned up and the wound stitched. He is now acting like a normal kitten and being an absolute terror. But he's adorable and seems to be quite content. 
On Wednesday we went snorkeling with whale sharks! It was amazing! It was about an hour long boat ride out from Cancun. Once we were out, we paired up and the guides would move to where the whale shark were swimming. We then jumped in and swam like hell to catch up to it and to keep up. We weren't allowed to touch them, but we were close enough that we could have. It was seriously awesome! There was one point where the whale shark had dove down but we kept up with it on the surface, and when it started coming back up it was right underneath me! My biggest regret is that I don't have an underwater camera so I have no pictures :(.
After swimming with the whale sharks, we went to a small reef and snorkeled for about half an hour. I saw some of the brightest fish I have ever seen and saw a star fish in the wild for the first time! We also saw dolphins on the ride out, and possibly a sting ray. The whole day was a lot of fun. 
Last night was Mexico's Independence Day. There was some activities going on at the hostel, like a pinata, but a friend and I decided to go out instead into the streets to see how locals celebrated. Unfortunately we were a little late and missed the big show but were able to experience the energy and excitement. There were tons of people gathered in the streets, and it seemed every little square or park had live music and dancing. They definitely get more excited about it then we do about Canada Day! 
Other than that I've just been hanging around the hostel relaxing, meeting people and doing the occasional beach trip. Hopefully I will have something interesting to write about this weekend though :). Toodles!