Puerto Morales

Oh my god, I can not believe it! This is going to be our last destination and last blog on this trip. After 12 months and 1 week we have had our return tickets confirmed to fly from Cancun back to London. It feels weird writing this because travelling has become a way of life now and we did not even think about the daily stresses at home. Won't miss our bank balances being drained to nothing though but what's the point of money if you can't spend it or don't have enough time to spend it because you are working so hard. Life only happens once, as they say, and death is a certainty but I can honestly say we have definitely lived for the last year. It has not all been a bed of roses though as sometimes it does get hard and the constant moving on is exciting but also your senses become frazzled at the constantly changing scenarios and cultures. But it sure beats sitting at a desk 5 days a week though.
   So we decided for a beach resort to finish the trip with a bit of sand and sea. Playa del Carmen or Cancun we thought? But those mass tourism places don't really appeal to us being the non-package type so we opted for the town in between called Puerto Morelos. We splashed out on a bit of luxury as well and rented a posh apartment with a swimming pool. The apartment was stunning and had everything we could possibly want or need but we could not find it, so had to phone the owner to come and collect us as her directions were poor on the website.

Kathy searches for her favourite porn website to check the Internet is working at the apartment.

The trip from Valladolid took longer than we expected as there is no direct route so we had to go back to Tulum, up to Playa del Carmen to change for another bus to Cancun and jump off halfway. It ended up being a 5 hour journey when we thought it would be 2.5. A quick trip to the beer shop, (even though the owner had left us some dodgy looking wine and enough food to feed a family for a couple of days) and then back to cook some nosh in our own kitchen. You bet your bottom dollar there were no tacos or tortillas on the menu tonight.

I will have a 'P' please Bob.

   Next day we bummed around and relished in luxuries such as fresh coffee and porridge oats for breakfast while watching VH-1 play 80's and 90's hits. It is funny what you get used to when travelling, and T.V. is one thing I have not missed but Kathy has. Got to admit though I have managed to read a lot of books which is nice as at home I never get the time. I went down to the pool and had a swim and done a bit of sleeping in the sun. I then went and got Kathy and we caught a collectivo into town which was 36p each. In town we were disappointed with the beach and the sea. The beach was swamped in Sargasso grass and it stunk to high heaven as vast piles of it were rotting on the beach in the heat. The sea was looking a murky brown colour and looked like it was contaminated with sewage by the smell of it. In fact the smell was stomach churning and after a 10 minute beach walk we had to dive inland to escape the smell as the constant rotting fish smell was making Kathy feel nauseous. As the 2nd biggest barrier reef in the world was just a 100 metres off the beach we decided to look for a snorkeling trip with a few diving schools. One was particularly attentive to us so we booked with them for the next day as the weather forecast was good. We then went souvenir shopping but the prices were astronomical as we soon found out as the resort is packed with rich Americans pushing all the prices up as they don't mind being fleeced. Not buying anything, well nearly bought a t-shirt but decided it was not what we wanted after we agreed a price,.we then went to the swamps behind town to go and spot crocodiles where we were told they hanged out but did not find them. As the day was getting late we decided it was beer o'clock so went into a supermarket to get a few beers to be refused service because it was a Sunday. But undeterred we spotted someone on the street with beers so backtracked and found a small OXXO shop who had no qualms about selling us some cold ones. Backpackers 1, Religion 0. Surely it's the rite of man to have a beer on the sabbath day?

Nice white sand but nasty fishy smell.

   So we caught another colectivo in the morning to the dive shop to fetch our equipment and then walked down to the pier to wait for the boat. The dive shop recommended I put Vaseline on my beard to form a waterproof seal as sometimes the mask lets in water where it does not sit flush to my face. Unfortunately they had run out so the guide went down the chemist to get some more. It was a bit weird when he came back and announced to me and the other passengers that he could not get any Vaseline so we should do it without. Not sure what they were thinking but I know how it looked. We went out for 2 dives , each 45 minutes each and saw some amazing fish and loads of soft coral which was huge. The coral was really different to what we had seen in Asia which was mainly hard coral but this was soft so flowed in the current like trees in the wind.

I love to impress Kathy with a show of my awesome super powers.

 We also saw barracudas and seahorses and loads of fish which we have never seen before including a tiger fish. There was huge fan corals and most of the reef was less than 2 metres deep so we got some excellent views. Snorkeling can be really exhausting so when we got back to the pier we headed back for a rest in the apartment then ventured out later for beers and souvenirs. Later we decided to have a sort out of our rucksacks to chuck away all the stuff we would not need anymore to take back to Blighty hopefully reduce the weight of them as the luggage maximum requirement is only 18kg each. It's amazing all the stuff you accumulate thinking it may come in useful at some point. We had some bad news where the airline had rescheduled their flight from a early afternoon take off to an early morning take off so we decided to book a hotel next to the airport as we needed to be at Cancun airport by 5.30am. Such is the joy of travelling.

Travelling can play hell with your weight.

Next day with the rucksacks a lot lighter and a pile of used backpacker accessories in the spare bedroom we took the collectivo to the main road and waited only 2 minutes before the ADO bus came heading to Cancun. We jumped off  just past the airport for our last stay of this marathon journey for hotel number 93 (or it could be 94 as we lost count) which turned out to be owned by a crazy German who liked a drink or 3. The room was ace though and had patio doors that opened onto the pool area and a beautiful garden. We booked our taxi for 5am then headed into town which was devoid of anything interesting or significant so bought some beers and headed back to poolside for a night cap and an early night. Tomorrow we would be on our way to England and back to normal boring everyday life. Game over!


Travelling conclusions

Except for Thailand ,India and Burma most of the world are grossly obese. Biggest culprits are U.S.A., Mexico and Philippines.
The Internet makes the world very small and easy place to navigate.
McDonald's and Starbucks are taking over the world apart from Belize.
Plastic pollution is becoming a huge problem and in Asia it is so bad that the sea is blanketed so much that you can't swim in it.
Mosquitoes don't ever give up and you won't ever avoid them.
You need to speak decent Spanish to travel central and south America.
Nepal was the cheapest country we visited. 
U.S.A was the dearest.
Don't believe hotel booking website photos. 
Complaining can get results but not always.
Legroom on Buses and planes in every country except Mexico does not exist.
Don't travel after Brexit if you are on a budget. 
Tripadvisor recommendations push prices up. 
Take more money than you think as you will always need more at some point.
Americans exaggerate a lot.
Chinese are mostly rude and loud. 
Burmese people were humble and polite. 
Travelling is addictive.

Valladolid and Chichen Itza

Another smooth ride on The ADO bus from Tulum to Valladolid which took 2 hours and was very comfortable and smooth. It dropped us off in the centre of town and we decided to walk to our next accommodation which was Casa Chi. It was a massive room but the owner was not there when we arrived so some grumpy old woman went and got a boy to come out, flap about a bit, ask a lot a questions about our booking which we could not translate and then left us sitting around worried that our booking was 'forgotton about' which would be an issue as they only had one room.

A typical around the world backpackers room. Marvel at the luxury and the ornate furnishings.

 The owner later turned up, a rotund beer swilling cackling man, who was friendly enough but did not speak any English so our conversations were short. This did not deter him as he insisted that we ventured out to the shops to buy more beers to welcome us but we declined  him as we did not want to have to sit with him out of politeness. Even though we told him we don't speak Spanish this did not stop him from waffling on to our blank expressions. This guy was desperate for a drinking buddy, we got the feeling his wife did not understand him. Later in the evening he showed up while we were in the communal area with some beers and insisted we took some which we did out of politeness. Then he proceeded to waffle away in Spanish to us so we just smiled and nodded until a French couple showed up so we took the beers to our room and palmed him off onto them. It was a very subtle and smooth manoeuvre.

This fat bloke wanted chicken pizza but all he got was Chichen Itza. Hard luck pal.

  Next day we got an early start and caught the bus to Chichen Itza which took an hour so we arrived before the tour group crowds descended. They charged us to £10 entry fee which is not too bad considering it is now listed as one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. We walked around the sight for about 4 hours in the blistering heat which was energy sapping so we took it slow and easy. The sight isn't that big but the structures are huge so need a bit of time to appreciate. As the day wore on the crowds intensified, and selfies were being snapped at the rate of hundreds a minute. Some of the tour groups were huge. Overall though we were impressed as it was amazing to see these huge structures and even though we are not history buffs we appreciated the magnificent engineering that must of gone into the building of them and we particularly enjoyed the stories the guides told of all the bloodshed and sacrifices that went on to appease the gods. Luckily times have changed as all we have to do now is to walk into a church, kneel down and repent our sins and all is good again. Hooray for the evolution of man.

There is always time for shopping says Kathy.

 Worn out from the heat we went to catch the bus and could not be happier to see it pull up as we approached the bus stop (which was just a big tree). On board the air-con saved us from heatstroke and gave us a nice ride back to the hotel where on entry we were intercepted by jolly cackling beer swilling owner who invited us to share a beer with him.  Not being in the mood as we needed air-con and showers to cool off we made our excuses and slinked off into our room to leave him again deflated with no drinking buddies. We managed to avoid him most of the night but he cornered the French couple who luckily filled in on our behalf. (not sure if it was voluntary or not!)
   Next morning after avoiding our mate the Chuckle Brother we set off late to downtown for a cruise about the town which was very pleasing with a number of old colonial buildings, leafy town squares and cool colonnades to stroll. After lunch we headed to a local cenote called Zaci which had a £1.20 entry fee and a steep descent into a beautiful sinkhole which protruded into a cave half way and was filled with lovely blue water which was a nice sight after our hot morning town walkabout.

We just love sinkholes!

We stripped off and dived in as there is no easy descents into a sinkhole and had a nice swim about until our core temperatures were a wee bit lower then sat on the ridge in the sun to dry off. Once we dried off and took a couple of snaps we went back into town and asked the tourist info office on the main square where we could get a collectivo to another recommended cenote out of town. After waiting in the designated area given to us by  the tourist office it became apparent we had been given some duff info but luckily a local Mexican saw us mooching about looking grim. He spoke good English and told us where we should have been waiting. Funny enough as soon as we arrived there the taxi found us. We waited for another 2 passengers to fill the taxi up and then departed for the cenote. 5km later we hopped out only to be confronted by a shifty looking driver who decided to hike the price up. We declined his price hike and he got slightly perturbed at our brazen rebuff so followed us to the cenote ticket office to remonstrate with the staff there but they gave him no sympathy so he skulked off with his other passengers. The cenote itself, called X'kekken was awesome in location. It was an underground cavern pool with a small hole in the roof that allowed a small shaft of sunlight to beam down and light the centre of the pool. Also in the cave were bats and enormous tree roots from the ground above that hung down like jungle creepers that Tarzan would swing about on in the films. It was the coolest Indiana Jones type location we had been to.

We love underground cenotes as well!

 After a long cool swim about in the remarkably clear water which was full of black catfish we again had to find a taxi back and again it was another song and dance from the drivers association who decided they had to have a roadside meeting to decide if we were privileged enough to be given a ride into town. Eventually after a lot of tooing and froing and heavy negotiations they agreed to take us not back to our hotel which was nearer but to the centre of town instead. We agreed and just jumped out enroute when we passed close to our hotel. Why has everything got to be so difficult in life for such a simple request?  Back at the hotel we sneaked in past Mr chuckles into the room but later on he caught Kathy in the common area and would not release her from his non-stop chatter. I could hear Kathy struggling with her replies in Spanish from inside the room but I left her to sweat it out with him for a bit longer.  (I guess it was my sadistic streak coming through) Then I done the decent thing and went out to rescue her and help her with the dinner prep but Mr Chuckles would not let her escape so I ended up doing all the dinner myself. She eventually broke free when I declared dinner was ready to eat. He then drifted off after introducing the rest of his family to us in an awkward parade of nods,smiles and broken Spanish. We managed to avoid him for the rest of the night by holing up in our room but unfortunately the new guests who arrived did not have such a lucky escape and ended up being his new drinking buddies. Enough of this enticement we feel so tomorrow we up sticks and head for some more beach life at Puerto Morelos.

Woody Woodpecker gives us a beady eye.

  

Tulum

Another smooth transition from FCP to Tulum on ADO buses which took just over an hour. We walked from the bus station to the hotel called the Luna Maya and found a massive room, a huge comfy bed and a funky interior around a courtyard garden. When we went out to explore Tulum we noticed straight away that we had moved from Mexican Mexico to American Mexico. It was a tourist town and the main drag was choka block with swanky restaurants and gift shops which were cheek to jowl with each other. The feel of the place had changed from further south, it was geared towards the rich American market with vastly inflated hotel and eating place prices. We had some dinner at a Mexican local place where we were the only whitey's in there but Mexicans are not fazed by such encounters and take it all in their stride. No one even bats an eyelid in these parts. The food was cheap and filling but gave us bad farts all night so we had a giggle with 'drive by's' on the local plaza bench crowd.

"Say cheese"

  Next day was an early start to catch a collectivo which is a mini bus that acts as a short distance taxi come bus service to the Mayan ruins of Tulum .Here the crowds were out in force as we queued up to get our entry tickets to get into the site. Inside the ruins were not as spectacular as I had imagined in structure but the location on a cliff top over looking the deep blue Caribbean sea was indeed special. We also noted umpteen Iguanas here which seemed to be having a population explosion. They were everywhere and we even saw one being crushed to death by a snake.

Moving in for the kill.

Also there were Coati Mundis scavenging in the grounds which were a delight to watch when they appeared. There was a beach there as well where you could walk down to from the ruins via a walkway but it was so crowded with tourists that we gave it a miss. Also there seemed to be an issue with excessive sea grass build up which spoilt the ambiance of the beach. In fact it seemed that most of the north Yucatan is having a problem with it on their beaches and if it does not change soon than the beaches are going to be covered in the rotting away Sargasso seaweed which will affect tourism in a big way. The big crowds spoilt the nice feeling of Tulum as surprisingly it is a small site so you spent most of your time avoiding tour groups.

A Tulum bus shelter.

 Outside we messed about in the overpriced retail outlets, trying on Mexican hats for silly photos and Mucha Lucha masks which seem to be in all the shops. Not sure what you would do with it though back at home unless you liked being a gimp in your spare time.

Some of the Tulum souvenirs were very tongue in cheek

  Next day we wanted a beach day so jumped in a collectivo which we thought was heading to the beach 2km away but ended up speeding out of town on the freeway so we jumped out before we ended up in Playa Del Carmen. This was a big mistake as we were in the middle of nowhere so started walking in the direction of the beach where we came to a posh resort and tried to blag our way in but security were having none of it and told us to jog on. We did walk for about a 1km until we came to a cenote which looked cool and refreshing as we were having no luck  accessing the beach as it was all taken up with posh mansions with no way through. The owners of the cenote were asking a high entry fee and as there were no facilities inside, not even anywhere to sit, so we declined but opposite we found access to the beach.

A refreshing cenote to swim in.

 The sand was the usual sparkling white but again there was a sea grass problem. We found a clean bit and had a paddle about then laid on the beach in front of some empty beach side mansions surrounded by palm trees. We had the whole stretch of beach to ourselves. We tried to sneak back through the resort  again on the way back but security caught us and after trying to convince them to let us through they would not  budge so sent us back for the 2 km round trip to get to the road. We were not too happy about this so found a mansion that we suspected was unoccupied and hotailed in through their garden to the main road so we could catch a collectivo. Luckily they never had guard dogs so  we survived with all limbs intact but the mosquitoes had a good munch on us on the way through.

Robinson Crusoe's house modifications were going to plan.

 That night we again played menu roulette and ended up with a paradillo which also turned out nice but also had a pile of corn flour tortillas to accompany it. There is no escape from the tortillas.In Asia it was rice and noodles and here it was refried beans (which look like bad doggy turd) and those eponymous corn flour patties.
   An another early start next day which was easy considering the amount of noise in the hotel from 6am onwards. The only day we came to breakfast early and none of it was ready. We did our best to eat what we could find and headed down to the bus station to catch the early bus to Coba for some more Mayan ruins. Here it is different to Tulum as it is deep in the jungle and most of it is still overgrown giving it a real Indiana Jones feel. Here we saw trees growing out the sides of the ruins similar to what you see at Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The Coba pymarid.

Only some of the vast area has been excavated as the jungle is so dense it is difficult to get to. We hired a couple of bikes at the entrance to reduce the distance between the temples. The best one was a massive pyramid which you were allowed to climb. At the top, it jutted above the jungle tree line so afforded tremendous views of the landscape. It was really amusing watching people trying to get down the steep jagged stones by sliding down on their arses and lots of over weight Americans having a cardiac arrest half way up. We managed to see all the temples with the aid of the bikes in a couple of hours and loved the jungle pathways between the clearings. Back outside we were told a bus would be arriving at 12 to take us back to Tulum but after an hour and a half waiting in the heat with a no show from the bus we decided a taxi was in order for the 43km journey back  which we shared with another tourist to help with the wallet busting cost. Back at Tulum the heat had worn us out so we had a lazy afternoon, more tortillas for dinner (what a surprise!) later on and a subdued night as we had to pack for our next destination which was going to be Valladolid.

The view from the top a Coba pyramid.

Filipe Carillo Puerto

We had no issues with the trip from Bacalar to FCP with Mayab bus company. It took 1.5 hours on a very empty bus that had poor air-con but uneventful. It dropped us off in the middle of  the town at the bus station and as it was so hot we paid a Taxi the 80p he asked for to take us to the hotel which was not far but the sun was at its strongest and we are old and weak so took easy street. Funny enough the first taxi we approached was so drunk he could not remember where our hotel was as he made excuses with his glassy eyes and drooping eyelids, which  is quite a feat as there are only 3 hotels in town and ours was the biggest. I guess he don't like gringo money. Worryingly though he picked up another guy straight after us and had no hesitation taking him to his destination. Perhaps he was concerned about our safety as he was too drunk to drive properly. What a nice man!

Good church goers always like to bash the crap out of a Santa pinata in spring.

   The hotel was on the edge of town, called Turquesa Maya and was well appointed and the room was huge with a kitchenette area. The town, even though being the capital of the Yucatan Peninsular, was a small affair with not much going on. We walked into town in about 15 minutes, poked around the market which had a healthy trade in machetes and pinatas.We also grabbed lunch at a typical non-tourist greasy spoon that we spun the menu roulette and ordered 2 things we had no idea what is was as it was in Spanish and local food only but turned out pleasing. Now we know what Fundidos and Casadillas are. As you would expect they both contained corn flour tortillas which it is impossible to order anything without having a pile of tortillas accompany it.

The street art was impressive.

   We then found a HSBC bank which allowed us to make a larger than average withdrawal for cash with a small fee which was a nice surprise after all the hundreds of pounds we have had to pay in bank charges over the past year. That's one factor you never expect to budget for when you come away, especially when you take cards that charge no fee on the English side but the foreign banks don't mind charging you between 2.5% to over 5% to take out your own money. Last time we travelled we never paid a penny in withdrawal fees.

Typical church from ye old times.

   We then took a walk around the main square which was nice with a free museum which featured heavily on women's rude body parts and some Mayan history which also had a lot of women's 'bits' incorporated in the exhibits. Strange! There must be some very frustrated artists in this area. We then walked a couple of blocks to the main exhibit the town is famous for.....the Talking Cross. Here was an overgrown park which contained a wooden cross from the 18th century which as legend has it, 'spoke' to the towns folk to do battle with the local bad guys in government and 5 years later  after lots of people died they won. They hailed it as a miracle as you would being god fearing catholic but Kathy and I were more cynical so went to check it out. We both spoke to the cross in English and Spanish but I can report the cross was unresponsive at both attempts so have to conclude one of 2 things. The cross did not like atheists or someone locally has got a fertile imagination. After being so cruelly shunned by such a legendary symbol we skulked off to the shops and bought some goodies to munch and drink and retire to the hotel to escape the heat again.

Not the talkative type.

Next day we attempted to go to an ecological park nearby that had a cool lake to swim in but the only way to get there is by taxi and we could not convince a taxi to take us there, wait for us for a few hours and then bring us back. Being in the middle of nowhere we did not want to be stranded so it was important that we had a homeward bound ride. I think the issue was the taxi driver did not want to drive 3km down a dirt road. Instead Daz went for a haircut (stop snickering at the back please) and visited our favourite fruitier who was so enamoured by our repeated visits that he decided to give half his stock away to us for free for whatever reason. I think he liked us asking him what all the stuff was called in Spanish.  We went to order a pizza to be delivered and suddenly the heavens opened and it really did come down on us. We struggled to get back to the hotel in the downpour and on the way Daz's trousers became so sodden that they fell down on the street so he had to hold them up and try to run at the same time. Back at the hotel we were treated to amazing light show from the storm that continued into the early hours. Our next destination is going to be Tulum.

A friendly welcome from the local market.

Lake Bacalar

A nice easy transition for us this time as we caught the midday ADO bus for the 1.5 hour journey to Bacalar Lake. This time the bus was packed out with people standing in the aisle and I was lucky enough to have a local Mexican with half his diner slopped down his rather large belly being rubbed in my face as he stood next to me in the aisle.. From the smell of it I think it was Taco sauce with a hint of pig manure and body odour. Hmmmm.....my favourito!

Kathy browsed in here to find 'something for the weekend'.

  At Bacalar the bus dropped us off on the main road so we walked into town to our hotel which was not far, maybe 1km but it turned out a bad idea as the heat was intense. With the added weight of the rucksacks we only just made it before we both expired with heat stroke in the middle of the road.
  Posada Casa Madrid was a cool place to stay with the necessary air-con, a terrace where we could hang a hammock and some deck chairs which doubled up as rocking chairs. Never seen that before!
  We walked into town after unpacking and explored to find it laid back and very agreeable if a little spread out and sparse as it was quite a small town. There was a lakeside fort which was pleasant and a pretty town square which is where we found a roadside stall selling tacos so tucked into a few of them for lunch. We took it easy on the hot sauce though as it was lethal and with the afternoon temperature in the high 30's it would not take much for us to totally overheat by running out of sweat. The day drifted on by and so did we ambling about but the heat was too much so we retired back to hammocks and air-con only to venture out for Burritos and beers for dinner on the square where we were treated to a fire juggling show while we ate.

More tacos.

   Next day was so hot by 8am that it scared us to leave the room but we knew the lake offered a cool swim so headed that way. The public bathing area was rammed with families being a Sunday so did not look inviting. So we walked another 10 minutes down the road and came to an ecological park where we paid our 12p entrance fee and had a beautiful access to the lake. Here we swam in the warm clear waters for a couple of hours until it was late enough in the day to go and buy our onward bus tickets from the ADO office. Dinner followed which was a Alambras which is like a plate of food and a pile of tacos (which are soft here, not crispy as in England) and you get a few bowls of condiments which contain limes, pickles, salsa and mouth burning sauces and make your own tacos. Very nice indeed.

Southend pier was in need of renovation.

  Next day we really thought we should make an effort and see the place and get some exercise as swinging in a hammock was becoming very obsessive. We left early for the 2 mile walk to the Azul cenote. This is a deep limestone hole which is feed by a natural spring. The day soon became hot,hot,hot and the walk labour some but we made it sweating profusely to the cenote. We paid our £1 entry fee and were rewarded by a stunning sight of beautiful clear water lake surrounded by uninterrupted jungle.

The azul cenote. 90 metres deep.

We stayed here for a few hours taking in lunch at the adjacent restaurant and then headed for the dreaded walk back to town but were distracted by a nice spot by the lake. We again paid our £1 entry fee and found it what was called Cocalitos where it had unusual mushroom type formations in the water that just about broke the surface. Very strange to look at but beautiful. The lake here was outstanding and we had never seen such a paradise. The water crystal clear with bright white beaches and in the middle they had swings. Photos can't do it justice with the different hues of blue in the reflection of the sun.

Rock formations or aliens?

 After a couple of hours we continued our walk back to town but again got distracted by a beer shop and a pier that extended into another great vista so done the decent thing a took sunset bevvies on the lake. Eventually we made it back to base and were too exhausted to go out for dinner but did make it back up to the main road for another Alambras and some more cold ones as it stays hot here into the night. In fact it's hot all night.

One hell of a swingers party here.

  The following day we slept in as we had exhausted ourselves from the hot walk the day before. We sauntered the morning away doing some washing as our clothes were becoming smelly quickly with the constant sweating. Yuk! More tacos for lunch followed, then a walk down to the public bathing area which was free and also commanded one of the best spots on the lake view wise. There was a nice pier which projected into the lake to afford some excellent swimming opportunities. After a few hours here we again hit the beer shop for our sunset pier beers.

Ever seen water so beautiful?

 That night we seeked out a pizza as tacos and burritos were getting a bit tiresome. We even had a fire show from a couple of street performers. Back at the hotel we squared up our bill which for once was less than we expected to pay which was a nice surprise. Not a lot of adventures here in Bacalar as it was such a nice easy going straightforward kind of place and we really enjoyed just kicking back doing nothing but tomorrow we are off to our next destination which is a wild card as it is not a tourist destination so maybe we will witness what the real Mexico is like or just get too far out of our depth as usual in Felippe Carillo Puerto.

The streets had lots of very good street art to look at.

Mahahaul, Mexico

After our quick pitstop at Chetumel we jumped on the ADO bus 2nd class to Mahahaul which took 2.5 hours and cost £3.50 each. First thing we noticed was how comfy the seats were, that the air-con actually worked, the driver had a neat uniform and didn't drive like he was in the Cannonball Run films. Also the roads did not have big bomb craters in them so the journey was most pleasant even enjoyable at a push. It's funny what you get used to.

Now our budget was being squeezed we had to downgrade our accommodation options. 

  The bus dropped us off in the middle of town which was a bonus as it was less than 5 minutes walk to our hostel Jardin Mahahaul. Here we had a nice room overlooking the gardens that seemed to be jammed packed with all types of lizards scampering about. There were a few hammocks scattered about which is always pleasing and a small kitchen to rustle up some quick munchies.We always do a for fun check list when we arrive at a new hotel or hostel just to make sure it is culturally authentic and not to corporate.  Here it is.....

The lizard garden at the hostel.

  Stray barking dogs into the early hours.....check.
  Unfinished construction work starting loudly at the crack of dawn.....check
  Annoying loud guest in the room next door who likes to move furniture in the early hours....check
  Loud bar/disco/restaurant blasting base heavy EDM until 4am ....check.
  Heavy loud traffic whizzing past your window all night blasting horns and with no exhaust
   pipe....check.
   Gangs of drunk locals hanging around outside your window until the early hours shouting       loudly....check.
   All good here then! Sleeping is for wimps anyway.

The supermodel contest was into the final candidates.

Luckily, the accommodation here was peaceful with only the slight annoyance of some hefty woman and her lardy husband who insisted on mustling in on the kitchen at every opportunity to cook huge meals and give out 'I will kill you if you touch that frying pan' looks at every other guest!
After unpacking we went to explore the town which did not take long as it was tiny. It had a lovely walk way spanning the length of the beach which was probably the whitest sand with the clearest sea on our travels so far. And it was all fringed with lots of palm trees swaying in the breeze supplying lots of cool shady retreats right up to the sea front. And best of all it was out of season so we had the place to ourselves bar a few hardy souls who did not have proper jobs. There was not much to do here except to kick back and enjoy the sand and sea. So we did. Sun loungers sit in the crystal clear water and waiters bring you beers for a £1 each or whatever you desire.

Lizard king.

 We spent most of our time on these sun loungers reading some books we borrowed from the hostel and ordering drinks. Well, there is nothing else to do. We did take some bikes out one afternoon to the local lighthouse to check out the huge cruise ships that dock on the other side of the bay but the bikes were in poor condition with no brakes and Kathy described hers as so painful she named it Fanny Breaker. I was not so bothered as my family jewels were still numb from being smashed by the broken saddle in Belmopan.

Fanny breaker in action.

We spent the rest of the days talking to the dudes at the hostel and eating tacos, enchiladas,burritos and heaps of guacamole and nachos which we overindulged in as they sure know how to make a mean guacamole here.

Talcum powder for sand.

One observation we have noticed about central America and especially Mexico is that it does not matter how poor you are, how ramshackle your wood cabin on stilts is, how many disassembled cars you have in your front yard or how many flea bitten stray dogs your kids may play with, you can always afford a bad ass mega boom speaker system and the electricity to run it all full volume all day. You gotta get your priorities right!
Well I think we have had enough of this pleasing backwater coastal town now, so we asked about a bus at the local shop and ended up buying 2 tickets for tomorrow for Bacalar which is going to be our next destination. 

  

Chetumel, Mexico (Belize to Mexico border crossing)

It was a leisurely morning when we got up late, had breakfast and packed up the rucksacks which are starting to look a bit worse for wear lately. We could have got an early boat to Belize City but you have to obey the rules on Caye Caulker and 'take it easy' which we were happy to comply with. Another moody sky today which threatened rain later but the boat trip was dry for the 45 minute crossing. At the boat terminal we haggled with a tour agent for some cheaper bus tickets to Chetumel in Mexico. We were considering the chicken bus but details were so vague on how to get there and timings were non existent. I dare say there are plenty of buses going north from here if we had gone to the bus terminal but decided again to take the easy option and book a tourist shuttle even though it was extremely overpriced at £16 each for a 4 hour journey. The bus was unsurprisingly half full when we departed which is not surprising considering the charge so we all had a double seat each to spread out. The bus made decent time until we hit the border where we had to pay a $20 departure fee each to get our exit stamp. Next it was a 2 mile no man land's drive to the Mexico immigration which is where the fun began. The present rules are that if you stay for less than 7 days than entry is free. But if you stay longer than you have to buy an immigration card which set us back $31 each. A very expensive day. The rest of the bus had to wait for us as it was a complicated procedure to obtain this tourist card and everybody else on the bus were lightweight 7 day flying out of Cancun types so did not have to pay the fee. As it goes we were not to upset as we are planning to stay for about a month so it is cheaper than what it cost us for visas travelling around Asia. One thing though was that we were not very popular when we returned from the immigration process to the rest of the group as some of them had bus connections to Cancun that night and we had taken so long to process our documents that they were going to miss their connections.

In search of those dreamy beaches of Mexico.

  Of course, the bus dropped us in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Chetumel but said we could have a free beer for our troubles which funny enough got them off the hook somewhat. We needed a taxi to get into town but had no money so had to get ripped off extremely by the bus driver for some local Peso's to pay a taxi. There was a guy hanging around the entrance who was a taxi driver decided as he was the only one there to rip us off for a ride into town. I tried to negotiate with him but the slimy toad had dollar signs in his eyes. Now I was getting miffed at being ripped off all the time as money seemed to be flying out my wallet at a rate I had no control over so I stepped into the road, flagged a taxi down and in my worst Spanish got him to agree a fee half of what Mr slimy toad wanted. He got the hump, jumped into his taxi a wheel spun off. Good riddance amigo!
  We arrived at the hotel which was pleasant enough and went into town, not bothering to unpack.  Money was quickly obtained with no hassle and dinner was ordered from a restaurant which the owner surprisingly spoke English having a relative in Liverpool and the food was cheap and top notch. That surprised us. We retired back to the hotel and grabbed some beers and to our delight they had a smart t.v. so were able to watch Netflix which had a interesting series called 'Strange Things' which was like a Goonies type thing. We watched a couple of episodes then retired for the night.
  Next day after a surprising good included breakfast we hit the town to withdraw more money and exchange up our remaining Belizian Dollars which proved difficult as the banks were not interested and had to use a shady hole in the wall type place that basically screwed us over with their commission and rate. Next was a phone SIM that we got from Moviestar as they were the first shop we came across but had a deal for unlimited data, calls and text for £8 for the month so took that.
  Then we had to rush back to pack before check out time, hail a roadside taxi to take us to the bus station to catch a bus to Mahahaul which there was only 3 buses a day but we could not believe  it when they said one was leaving in 10 minutes. About time we had some luck. Next stop Mahahaul for some beach time.