Spent the whole day just biking around the highway almost crashed....

We took a train to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which, if I'm being honest, was exactly what was advertised: a tower that leans. The real reason I enjoyed the trip was that I had recently bought a DSLR and spent most of the day experimenting with it. My sister and I took turns photographing each other from every possible angle. By the time we were done, we had far more photos than memories of the tower itself. The problem came later. After sunset, our phones were nearly dead. Mine was hanging on at around 3%, and we still had to get back to the hostel. I suggested getting a cab, but my sister was determined not to waste money on one. So we walked. The route felt endless. The streets were empty, the road was dark, and every time I checked the battery percentage I became a little more nervous. We were relying on the last few percent of an aging iPhone to get us home. Luckily, those final percent were enough. We made it back safely. The next day we found ourselves in a similar situation. This time, I didn't argue. We took the cab.

The cenote itself was beautiful—clear freshwater, a central platform, and exactly the kind of place people come to photograph. We weren't planning to stay long. Before entering, everyone has to shower. I'd already done that, but because it was raining and I was completely soaked, the staff thought I'd just come from the bathroom and skipped the shower entirely. So I had to do it again. I walked back to the open showers, soaped up in the rain, rinsed off, and returned. Only then did they hand me the life jacket and let me in. The cenote wasn't the most spectacular one I've visited, but that's not what I remember. What I remember is standing in the rain, proving to a stranger that I had, in fact, taken a shower.