Kali Mera! My wife (Manoli) and I (J.C.) are on our way to Greece and the Greek Islands. Taking the 6am flight out of Pensacola for Atlanta, then Philadelphia, and finally Athens. I'll try to make an entry every day, with some interesting photos. Feel free to communicate. See ya in a month...almost... read more

Since I didn't convince Manoli to do another tour, the ruins of Uxmal, today was pretty much a chill and do nothing day. First we went further downtown to the main market, where they had dozens and dozens of booths selling meat, fruit, vegetables, handicrafts and anything else you can imagine. Next, we decided to head uptown to the ritzy district and check out the local Wal-Mart. Very different in both appearance and products from the stores back in the U.S. We bought a bunch of local fruit; papaya, mango, watermelon, cantelope, oranges, pineapple, and a strange guanabana. We also got two types of local cheeses and bread. The manchego cheese was almost goopy by the time we returned to the hostel and the gonela or somesuch as very sharp and pretty much inedible. We ... read more

We left our hotel and boarded the 7:45 ADO bus to Merida. The 1st Class tickets cost just over $20 US each. Although a direct route with no stops, the trip took a boring 4 hours. When we arrived at the Merida station, we got directions to our hostel and decided it was better to pay the $3.00 cost of a taxi than to drag our luggage 14 blocks. Arriving at our hostel, Hostal Nomadas, we checked in, paid our bill of fifty some dollars for the 3 nights and deposited our luggage in our room. After getting the lowdown on hammocks (supposedly Merida is THE best place to get one), we headed out. We made the mistake of stopping at a hammock shop before going to the recommended place and had to listen to ... read more

We packed up and caught a boat at 10am to Belize City to reboard our Tucan bus for the trip to Bacalar, Mexico. Crossing the border into Mexico was a bit more involved than usual. It cost $37.50 BZ ($17.25US) each to leave Belize and nothing to enter Mexico. We had to show our own passports, fill out declarations forms, and carry all our luggage across for the entry into Mexico. Our hotel, Hotel Laguna, was only 30 or 40 minutes from the border and just outside Bacalar, right on the lake. The hotel is really cool and should be rated higher than the 2 or 3 stars, but apparently lacks some of the upkeep requirements such as paint, etc. We got a nice room with a balcony overlooking the lake, nicely tiled bath, but ... read more

Sorry for the delay here, but using the internet at Caye Caulker costs 5 or 6 dollars US per hour! We'd booked the snorkelling trip for 10:30am, so we found a couple cups of coffee and chilled til about 10am. Armed with sunscreen, bathing suits, flippers, mask, and snorkel, we boarded Carlos's boat. After a short, bumpy 15 minute ride, we slowed down cause Carlos spotted a manatee. We donned our gear and dropped overboard. Although it was pretty deep, the water was crystal clear. Within minutes, we spotted a manatee and on approaching it, found two more. Such awesome creatures! We swam near them for quite a while, watching them frolic a bit and generally drift about. When two of them wnet to the bottom to "sleep", we got back on the boat to ... read more