Tikal, Guatemala

I originally intended to visit Tikal on Sunday, giving it 1 day for the rain to pass and hopefully better weather. 

However the staff at RETPSA that sold the ticket said it would be better to do it on Saturday, as admission is free for locals on Sundays, and Tikal would be crowded.  They also mentioned, that the rain usually starts in the afternoon, and so I signed up for the 4.30am trip departure on Saturday. 

It poured heavily before I left the hostel in the wee hours of the mourning, and stopped momentarily as we walked towards the shuttle and started again on the 1.5hr drive towards Tikal. 

Fortunately, throughout the entire time we were on our Tikal tour, there wasn't any rain, and interestingly enough, the moment we hopped onto the shuttle to head back to our hostel, it started raining again. 

Someone must be looking out for me, as I also had fantastic weather on my snorkel trip in Caye Caulker, in between a couple days of downpour!

Border Crossing with Hurricane Otto

It started to rain again this morning, as I left Caye Caulker towards Flores. It wasn't a short downpour but torrential rain throughout the entire 1hr boat ride to Belize City and the 5.5 hour bus ride towards Flores.  Likely caused by the recent Hurricane Otto which hit Nicaragua and Costa Rica a couple days ago.

The direct bus from Belize City to Flores was ran by Mundo Maya company, and departed an hour later than scheduled.  It was a big bus, with only 1 other passenger and I!  I expected there to be more people. 

Despite the heavy downpour, we made good time and reached the border crossing in less than 3 hours, catching up with a smaller shuttle that left Belize City 45mins before we did.  A departure fee of USD20 had to be paid, before we could get to immigration. 

Day 62 – 64 : Caye Caulker, Belize

Caye Caulker, an island located in the Caribbean Sea, was the only place I visited in Belize. 

The ferry from Chetumal transits in San Pedro (the island made famous by Madonna in the song "La Isla Bonita") for immigration purposes before arriving in Caye Caulker. A supposedly 2hr journey, the entire journey took us about 4 hours, including immigration clearance. 

Yuma’s House, Caye Caulker

There are a number of hostels available on Caye Caulker, with many which had rather unfavourable reviews online.  Some even indicated had mouse droppings in the rooms, or had seen rats, to others complaining about bed bugs in various hostels. 

While searching for options to stay, I came across Yuma's House, which seemed to have only good and no bad reviews. It also mentioned that they are quickly fully booked, so I made it a point to send an email to the hostel to reserve a bed while I am there. 

The property is located just next to the San Pedro Belize Express water taxi terminal and had a very welcoming entrance with its brightly litted property, colourful painted walls and blue seats and swings and hammocks in the open area.

Day 62 : Chetumal Mayan Museum

Chetumal is the capital of Quintana Roo. It is also a point of entry into and out of Mexico by sea, from Belize. 

Although it's the capital, it's a very small town, with no major noteworthy attraction.

Day 61 : Bacalar

I had not heard of Bacalar prior to this trip.  However while travelling over the last few weeks in Mexico, the name came up a number of times with fellow travellers I had met along the way, with strong recommendations to visit.

Located about 40km from Chetumal and just a small detour from Calakmul to Chetumal, I decided to stay 1 night in Bacalar with time to explore in the morning before returning the car, and of course accompanied by Alex and Pau, whom had also expressed interest in visiting Bacalar after hearing numerous stories about the lake too. 

By the time we arrived at the hostel Magic Bacalar, it was already pitch dark and we were extremely exhausted. 

I woke up early in the morning with hopes to catch the sunrise. As it was cloudy, I had a dramatic view of the magnificent orange hues forming on the edges of the clouds, with the same shades reflected in the still lake.

Day 59 – 60 : 3 Strangers on a Road Trip to Calakmul

I had read good reviews about Calakmul, located in the middle of a jungle with all temples climbable and with little visitors. There's a good reason for the little crowd, since getting there wasn't easy without own transportation and tours were very expensive.

Adamant on visiting the site, I decided to rent a car for 2 days and was prepared to go on my own, staying a night each in Zoh Laguna and Bacalar. 

It would had cost me close to S$200 for the car and gas if I had done it alone. By luck, I managed to get 2 more people whom I hardly knew to join, just the day before I was due to travel to Chetumal to pick up the car. 

First was Pau from Spain, a chance encounter as he happened to share a table with me at a local taco place. We had a random conversation regarding each others travel plans, and when he heard of my plans to Calakmul, he expressed interest on joining the road trip, and immediately bought the bus ticket from Tulum to Chetumal for the next day. Pau didn't speak much English, so I am proud of myself for explaining in Spanish!

The second person was Alex, a Venezuelan guy, whom works as a volunteer at the Weary Traveller Hostel where I was staying. He heard about my plans when I first arrived into the hostel, but was only keen to join and split cost only if there were more than 2 people.

Day 56 – 58 : Tulum

Located about 1 hour from Playa del Carmen is Tulum, which could be referred to the town of Tulum, the Tulum Ruins or the beaches of Tulum. 

I had spent 3 days in Tulum, and stayed in the Town Centre.  It was a small undeveloped village dotted with some restaurants on the main road, with no signs of any famous fast food burger joints, a total opposite of Playa del Carmen.  This gives it a very laid back feel, with it being a rather sleepy town during the day, with slightly more activity in the night. 

The most beautiful beach in Tulum is El Paraiso, located about 10mins drive from the town centre.  It spots beautiful white sand beach with very clear water. Being way less busy than the beaches in Playa del Carmen, it was a more pleasant beach to laze down and sunbathe with more personal space.

Day 53 – 55 : Playa del Carmen

3 days in Playa del Carmen had gone by so fast! I had originally intended to spent a day visiting Cancun and Cozumel just to see how it looks like, but never got the time to do it.

It was also very expensive to go to Cozumel just for a day trip, with a return ferry ticket costing USD70.
I also heard Cancun is more populated than Playa del Carmen, and unlike Playa del Carmen where the beach is easily accessible by walking from the town, one needs to take a Collectivo from Cancun town centre to the beach, and thus skipped the idea for Cancun too. 

Playa del Carmen is filled with constantly new apartments coming up in the city centre, with the main touristy street called 5th Avenue, which is lined with numerous gift shops, restaurants and travel centres. 



From 5th Avenue, one can easily access the beach.  Soft white sand beach, with clear water.  However, I personally felt that the main Playa del Carmen beach is too crowded and didn’t really like it.

Day 50 – 52 : Valladolid

Valladolid is located in the Yucatan region, between Merida and Cancun. 

A very small town, there isn’t too much to do within the city itself. 

I wasn’t in Valladolid for the city, but rather to use it as a base point to visit the infamous Chichen Itza. 

It is also closely located to Ek Balam Archaeological site, as well as a few famous Cenotes, such as Cenote Ik Kil and San Lorenzo Oxman.  There is even a Cenote in the centre of the town, which looked really big and nice, but I had my fill of Cenotes for the day when I went to check it out.

There were always groups of people dancing in the different plazas when I walked around, possibly because it was a Friday evening. 

I did however had the best crepe in my life, from a store vendor located in Parque Francisco Canton – Crepe with Nutella and Strawberries… Heavenly!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 52 : Ek Balam

Ek Balam is located about 30 mins by collectivo from Valladolid.  Again, I was shocked at the entrance fee, not as high as Chichen Itza, but still a slap on the wrist with a state fee of MXP127, on top of the “standard” MXP 65 entrance fee. 

There wasn’t much crowd at this site, since most of the attention goes to Chichen Itza, but there were still a couple tour groups that came through while I was there. 

The excavated area of Ek Balam is rather small, and could be easily covered in 40mins, with almost every monument climbable.