Mexico-Belize

A little apprehensive with the unknown and at the same time excited that it’s finally happening. The flight to Cancun via Mexico City went well with plenty of time for the connection especially with the extra bit added in to collect baggage and re-check it in. I must have been travelling for at least 36 hours by the time I arrived in the hostel in Cancun. I was ready for shower and bed, and get ready for the Chichén Itzá tour early the next morning.

I was exhausted by the time I finish the tour and it was time to collect my backpack and head over to the bus station to catch the bus to Tulum. I’m skipping Playa del Carmen since Tulum is not far off and is probably quieter. Lucky the hostel in Tulum is not far from the bus station I arrived in. So, rest day in Tulum and says the person who can’t quite sit still.

Tulum was indeed quiet, just a main street with the beach about four kilometres away. My right shoulder was still hurting pretty badly from the climb in West Virginia, so I decided to walk my way to recovery. On the way to the beach, I came across these random signs that states, ‘IF NOT’ ‘NOW’ ‘WHEN’ and I grinned, remembering the reason why I was standing there. Total walking distance for the rest day was about eleven kilometres, from the main street to the beach then along the beach to the archeological site and back.

It was time to leave Mexico the next day, heading to Caye Caulker via San Pedro, Belize. Early morning bus then boat over to the islands. This will be the first time for this trip where I’ll be crossing border over land rather flying, it was a breeze. Phew!

In Caye Caulker, everything is on island time apparently. Don’t ask me what exactly that is but I just noticed that life is slower and a tad more chilled than normal, which is great since I was still on city mode especially the week before I left for this trip.

Snorkelling trip with nurse sharks and sting rays is on the itinerary with the added tour to a seahorse farm and feeding tarpon (check out the video on my Instagram 😱) big fish! Here, I met the lovely Kesta from Florida works in education and Melissa from Ecuador living in London doing her PhD at Oxford. We hung out for the rest of the day after the snorkelling tour at the Split (the place where apparently the island was split in two by a hurricane Hattie in 1961 but…well, you can believe what you want to believe) and had dinner together.

Remember to factor in some waiting time, never go to dinner when you’re hungry. It’s island time, the food will be serve when it’s ready to be serve. The street food was delicious albeit a bit oily, pupusa and fryjack. Try it if you’re there and be careful of their salsa/sauce if you’re not used to spicy condiments, it will blow your head off.

It was almost too short for both Mexico and Belize but I’m ready to move on to Guatemala. The idea with Central America is to sample the places then make plans to come back to places that I would like to explore a bit more. I would definitely like to explore more of Mexico, perhaps come back with friends for climbing instead.

From Caye Caulker, it was boat then bus ride to Flores, Guatemala. Nature here I come!!!