Mexico - the Caribbean Coast

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We take the trusty ADO bus from Merida at 8am to Cancun where we spend an hour (which is more than enough - the Benidorm of Mexico and full of testosterone charged American teenagers just out of school, we have yet to meet one traveller who has anything nice to say about the place!) and catch the 25min fast ferry to Isla Mujeres - a small island off the coast with a totally different feel - very Caribbean. It’s small, beautiful with lovely beaches where you can walk into the sea for about 50 metres & still not be up to your neck in water. The sea is crystal blue. People are friendly & you can pig out on sea food - slightly more expensive - or local stuff including cooked food from the cheap supermarket.

We check into the Poc Na hostel - we had pre-booked; just as well as all the double rooms were taken & many folks were disappointed. We meet a number of travellers we have seen since San Cristobal - we all seem to be doing the same route down to Tulum & then head off in different directions. It’s relatively cheap to go to Cuba from Cancun, one of our planned destinations, however after checking out the brochure at the local travel agents & talking to other travellers who had been there, we decide to give it a miss as we’d like to keep the romantic notion of Havana (locked in the ‘30s time zone - rather than the concrete high rise city it seems now!).

We indulge ourselves at the French Bistro who have a special offer of Lobster & shrimp (aka large prawns) with a glass of wine or cocktail for £10 - amazing value, and filleted sea grouper + trimmings + free wine for £4.50. What a treat! The weather is warm & the tan comes on fast - just as well as Sarah was complaining that we looked pale when we webcammed last weekend.
It’s more of the same for the next few days - beach/sun/white sand/cervezas - oh and cocktails! The Chela Queen does 1litre cocktails for £3! And when you’re in Mexico what can you do except have a Margarita. Another local speciality is ceviche - seafood marinated in lime and served mixed with onion & tomato. Really good. We also discover a great locals bar - Hemingways - which plays some great Mexican/Cuban music and for £1-50 you can get 2 beers and enough snacks - beef, pork & minced meat cooked in local spices with tortilla chips - to leave you not needing dinner! Back at the ranch, we watch Holland thrash France 4-1; it’s the only game of the European championships we’ve seen & only because one of our dutch travelling companions told us it was on live.

We take a snorkelling trip around the island which includes a BBQ lunch of sea fish cooked in achiote called Ti Kin Xi- awesome. We are the only foreigners on this small fishing boat with about 10 Mexicans - some local, some on a day trip from Cancun. The large family sort of befriend us which is just as well as the skipper & snorkelling guide don’t speak too much English. Mind you, neither do the family but sign language is a wonderful skill! The fish aren’t as colourful or as many as the Maldives but there are some beauties and this time we’re armed with the underwater camera to capture them - enjoy! M has a lovely surprise - messages from both the girls - it’s Fathers day & we didn’t have a clue.

We move onto Cozumel, a larger Mexican island in the Caribbean famous for it’s diving & snorkelling. After the return ferry trip to Cancun & an almost immediate bus connection to Playa de Carmen (which looks much nicer than Cancun) we hop on a fast Ferry to Cozumel. It’s warm but the heaven’s open later to cool things. C isn’t feeling too brill so we take it easy at our lovely hotel Pepita with air-con & telly. We are here largely to see if we can do our PADI certificates - we would have done in Isla de M where it’s cheaper but this apparently is the place to dive - so here we are.

The next three days are pretty hectic - scuba training all morning in the sea doing all sorts of wonderful exercises underwater and on the water surface, watching videos as part of the course, doing homework till late at night and finally doing exams can you believe it & we thought this was a holiday!! Any way we made it and definitely wouldn’t have made it without Hector our Mexican instructor from Deep Blue who was absolutely fabulous - Woo Woooooooo as Louise would say. We haven’t told her so it will be a surprise & we can dive with her in Belize. She’ll be with us in a weeks time. We’ve also spent a lot of time trying to plan her two weeks & book some nice places to stay and plenty for her to see & do. Anyway to celebrate we have a couple of cervezas & a fantastic fish & shrimps lunch at Las Palmas - suggested by Hector. One of the down sides of doing the course is having to keep away from all the lovely salsas & spicy Mexican food - so it’s been fruit salads for dinner & one beer each!

As we’ve been so tied up we have hardly seen anything else of this island other than San Miguel where all the cruise ships dock for the day with hordes of American tourists - this explains why we don’t have many pics of the place. The main draw for the “cruisers” seems to be the shops selling jewellery and intricate carved figurines in silver (which is big business all over Mexico) aswell as diamonds and tanzanite. Oh - and the smallest Hard Rock Café in the world (or so their sign says).

Our last morning is a bit frenetic - checked out at 8am - call to Romi to wish her happy birthday - answerphone only so message left. Panic stations; Louise has a new job offer & needs to talk - we have a dive trip at 8.30. Managed to briefly chat to L & said take the new job and go for it. We go off to do 2 dives as certified divers now!!! The first is called Colombia - we go to 70 feet and see a lovely turtle swimming by. The next dive ½ hour later is in 50 feet - loads more fish including 2 sharks, a huge moray eel, loads of big fish including Grouper & some colourful ones. Not quite the Maldives but it’s good to be able to get in close - though a bit too close to the sharks for C!!

Go out to El Fish with Hector to celebrate with a few beers - we get great local food thrown in for free - the best Guacamole we have had in Mexico, shrimp soup, octopus salad, pork in different styles, frijoles & tacos - 6 beers & all this for £6 inc tip. We say hastaluego to Hector & rush to catch the ferry to Playa - on the way buying some new US Divers snorkelling gear for Belize.

We decide to go to Playa Del Carmen for a couple of nights to get in some sunshine as they have better beaches than Cozumel and then move on to Tulum. The Casa Toucan hotel we’ve booked is really cool - like a place in a tropical forest with a pool (which we try out after all our rushing about) & hammocks everywhere. It’s 2 blocks from the main drag so is quiet & where everything is cheaper & has a very relaxed feel. It’s 82 degrees & lovely. PdC as we refer to it is a nice tourist seaside place - like Spain but with the Mexican & American twists. Most of the visitors are from the US. There are two main streets and a long beach over 2 big bays. The loveliest building and definitely worth a mention is the local church, very Mexican, modern and with a view to die for looking out of the altar window out to sea. Weddings are big in Mexico and the place was covered in white flowers for a wedding later in the day. It’s ok to spend a few days here - Sarah & Louise might quite like it.

There is a Wal Mart here so we stock up with all sorts - including a lovely paella lunch with fantastic spare ribs. Later we treat ourselves to a lovely seafood dinner for two at Las Brisas - octopus, shrimp, calamari & fish washed down with - you guessed it some beers! After a long hot sunny pm on the beach the next day - despite the weather forecast saying it was going to be cloudy - we find some local street stalls that do a mean steak & spicey pork wraps with the usual Mexican trimmings - awesome - 8 for £3.

We make our way to Tulum next - its by the sea, has picturesque Mayan ruins & is closer to the border stop into Belize so we decide to spend a couple of days at the Lobo Inn which is half way between the town centre & the ruins/beach. It has air con - need it here - & bikes for free to get around + a big breakfast included in the rate. The first day was 2 large banana & chocolate pancakes - C is in heaven!!! The Inn is good value but it is by the main road & can be noisy if you have a private room at the front - we were lucky to be given one at the back - also for those who get bitten by mossies etc - this is a high risk area so come armed with Deet & you’ll have no problem. The kitchen & amenities are great - we eat in all 3 nights with very chilled cervezas & a BBQ each day - chicken & pork - went down well with some Mexican wine - all of £3.50 for the bottle of red and quite drinkable too!
We have a lot of fruit for breakfasts & lunch - Mexico is blessed with all variety of fruit including lovely mangos ( Satish - nearly a good as the Alphonsos from India) & water melon with lime - to die for in this heat. A great discovery here is LALA brand mango yogurt drink - just like an Indian Lassi - we enjoy quite a few of them chilled.

The Tulum Mayan ruins are not as architecturally brilliant as some of the others we’ve seen but its location by the sea makes it something special - we didn’t expect a lot but left very impressed and go straight to the beach nearby. You can access a cut off section of the beach from the ruins but it’s swamped with day trippers from Playa del Carmen - so give it a miss & 5 mins down the road is a Guest house which rents cabanas by the sea - the beach here is much better & quieter with miles of turquoise sea & white sands. There are also a few folks camping on the beach.
And so we come to our final night in Mexico (other than the night en route to Argentina when we have a stopover in Mexico City), staying in Chetumal close to the Belize border. Hostel Chetumal is run by a lovely lady called Lilia who is very helpful and speaks good English.

We eat locally then hit the sack for an early start to catch the bus to Belize City and await Louise’s arrival. It’s been a long time and we’re really looking forward to seeing her again……….

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Comments

[sarah blake]

how brown are you dad???? x
you are more tan than the locals michael! sooo brown! xx