December 2021 – Playa Del Carmen, MX

A happy-accident-glad-I-didn’t-bail story.

I somehow matched with the gold miner on Tinder the day after I arrived in Playa Del Carmen.

Somehow? You may say… “ma’am, you clearly know how Tinder works by now”.

The “Accidental” part comes in the form of not doing my due height check diligence (ie: where does he come up in a door frame, next to a car, in a group of other men, etc) AND, far worse than him being short…

He

had

a

picture

with

a

.

.

.

fish.

A FISH.

Yes, I was months in to this new found International Tinderella dating everyone glory and loosening requirements and being open minded, but A FISH pic… damn, I still had SOME standards.

Before I could unmatch the shorty fisherman, he sent a message: You look fun, and I fit ‘friend’ criteria.

Yes, my limited Tinder profile says height requirements for ‘dating potential’ and no requirement for ‘cool new friends’.

*I know that is the same as a man saying “no fat chicks”, which as a fat chick, I appreciate and swipity swipity left and keep it moving, I am not for you, and you are not for me

Moving on…

I started chatting with the gold miner and he was HILARIOUS, probably one of the most entertaining people I had every started an online convo with.

He was on his first ever solo travel trip and was regretting staying at an all inclusive since he was having a tough time meeting people and wanted a more authentic experience.

Having spent a week in PDC the previous year, I was clearly very well qualified to provide an authentic experience.

We agreed to meet the following day on 5th Ave and do a little exploring.

He texted me the next afternoon and said he had gotten “in to town” (so Canadian) a bit early and would walk around until I was ready.

About an hour later I told him to drop a pin and I’d meet him. He said he would be “the big guy, sweating to death, under a tree”.

As I approached, he was, in fact; a big guy… sitting on the curb… under a tree… drenched in sweat.

Bem-vindo ao México!

What he had not mentioned in his description, was the lime green PLAYA DEL CARMEN tank top he was wearing, which of course I had to call out immediately.

Apparently, booking a last minute trip to Mexico, from northern Canada, in December, leaves very minimal options for purchasing summer attire and the only “big guy” options upon arrival were at the souvenir shops.

Once I stopped laughing (empathetically, of course) I took him to the knock off shops where we were able to find some “Nike” (backwards swoop) tanks that fit the bill, and the gold miner.

Fresh faux tank in place, we headed to a mezcal bar I had been dying to try.

Mezcal cocktails turned in to a walk down 5th Ave, then dinner, more cocktails, and smoking a joint on the beach I procured from a waiter.

We talked about everything from our recent breakups that subsequently lead to us being in the same place at the same time, his desire to travel more but feeling guilty as he is the primary care taker of his father since his mother died. We talked about sex and dating and relationships and family and societal pressures all of the things that instant uninhabited connections bring to the surface.

We cried.

And then laughed about our crying.

He walked me back to my hotel then headed back to his resort.

We made plans to meet up in two days for day drinking, exploring and a night at the strip club.

We met up as planned. A tequila tasting turned in to happy hour, turned in to dinner, turned in to dancing down the street with a troupe, turned in to singing 90s songs while sitting in swings at a bar (after the weight limit was thoroughly confirmed), turned in to the gold miner joing a group of fire dancers, turned in to never making it to the strip club because we thought double bulldogs were a GREAT idea.

Our plans to walk out to a breakfast place the next morning, before he flew out, never happened because we were both too tired. We said our goodbyes via text and promised to keep in touch.

We exchanged a few texts here and there for a couple of months then things naturally dropped off.

When I returned to playa del Carmen several months later, I passed the tree I found him under (en route to meet Zaddy K ) and I sent him a pic and said “I hope you are great”.

He responded “I am! And I know you are too.”

I was, and I believe he was too.