Final Days in Mexico

30 hours of driving flew by with the help of the Game of Thrones audiobook :) All that driving and Ned hasn’t even died yet! (Oh btw, spoiler- Ned dies).  We packed the drive into 3 days versus stretching it out over 6 so we could rest and relax for a few days in beautiful Bacalar! 

Laguna Bacalar is a fresh water lagoon close to the border of Belize and just about as far south on the Yucatan Peninsula you can go. It is fed by cenotes (which we’ll get into what those are in a bit :)) and the water is "cleaned" by large bacterial growths in the center of the lake as well as by the vast mangrove forests on the edges of the lagoons. Because the water is so clean it is extremely clear and because of the white sand bottom, the result is Caribbean blue water! We found a beautiful day use site that also allows overnight camping right on the water and stayed 3 nights doing yoga under the shady palapas, swimming, having access to toilets ;), and even showering daily! Felt good to relax and stretch out our cooped up bodies after that long drive.

Zach posted up at his diving spot.

Story Time: 

Those of you that know us well, know that we have spent the last 5 years traveling abroad over the Thanksgiving holiday. While living in San Francisco and not having family close by, we always ended up staying home for the holiday and traveling to see family for Christmas instead. But because those 2 free vacation days on Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after were always so tempting- we made a tradition of taking a 2 week vacation that would stretch over Thanksgiving week. So we’ve grown pretty accustomed to trading in turkey and stuffing for local dishes in places like Thailand, Vietnam, and Fiji. And about 3 years ago, we actually flew on Thanksgiving Day and ended up celebrating with pancakes on a layover from Panama in the Mexico City airport at 2am. This year, Thanksgiving fell right in the middle of our time in Bacalar, and we were so excited to be spending it in Mexico again! But this time a little less jet lagged and with a traditional meal- though I do LOVE me some pancakes. We found a nice restaurant in the town of Bacalar and had such an incredible dinner of grilled meats, vegetables, and piña coladas. We even day dreamed a little about spending a traditional Thanksgiving with family next year- the first since we’ve known each other.

 

Pretty excited about our Thanksgiving dinner.

Smoked meats and vegetables.

After our time in Bacalar, we were nice and relaxed as we started venturing up the coast to pick up Tyler at the Cancun airport! Tyler booked a beautiful Airbnb in Tulum with it’s own private pool and even enough room for us to stay in - thanks, Tyler! Over the next four days we spent some time at the beautiful beach clubs, doing yoga at our Airbnb, swimming in cenotes (I promise I will explain what these are eventually-but now’s not the time), and he even took us out for a SUPER fancy meal. We reciprocated by taking him out for tacos and tortas- more in our price range :) We loved having him with us for a few days and catching up on his very busy life. 

Tyler in his element.

Ordered ALL the tacos. 

Beautiful Tulum.

Enjoying a rare cocktail- thanks, Tyler!

Grand Cenote

Grand Cenote

Felt good to have a night out!

Once we dropped Tyler back off at the Cancun airport, we stuck around for a few days. We had sort of blown our budget a bit more than usual while he was in town so we opted for free camping for the next week. The good part is that free camping is available, safe, and in pretty much every location we wanted to go along the coast. The bad part is that they aren’t always the prettiest places. In Cancun for instance, we parked in a gravel parking lot across from a public beach and it STUNK because of the trash nearby. But the beach was BEAUTIFUL so it was worth it. In Puerto Morelos, we were kicked out of our beach front spot because some American tourists wanted the view they paid for and not our van- so selfish amiright?! I’m sure it had nothing to do with us showering outside of the van right in front of them. HA, whoops. And the reason we were sort of restricted to specific places along the Quintana Roo coast was because of Miles. He wasn’t allowed on pretty much any beach along the coast so we were really limited on where we could go with him. And while that sucked for us, and especially Miles, we totally get it. The beaches are considered nature reserves and we in no way want to compromise the land. SO, because of that we were led to the Chedraui parking lot in Tulum. 

Promising Miles we'll get him to a spot to swim REAL soon!

But before I get in to the parking lot night, let me explain cenotes since we stopped at a FREE one on the way. Cenotes are like sink holes that expose the ground water beneath them. The ground water being super clear and chilly- they are perfect for swimming in. Especially in the Yucatan heat. And because the only place they exist in the entire world is on the Yucatan peninsula- we wanted to soak in as many of them as we could before we left the area. The one we went to with Tyler cost about $10USD per person to use and was really well established with lockers, snorkeling equipment for rent, a nice lawn to lay out on, stairs to get into the pools, etc. A lot of the larger ones are established and therefore you must pay an entrance fee to them. However, some of them are relatively small and undeveloped- like the free ones we found on our way to sleep in the Chedraui parking lot. We found them  nestled into a neighborhood filled with locals and ex-pats and slid on into the cool pools with a few locals washing some clothes. Shortly after about 8 other people showed up- all travelers in vans! We got to talking and they said they were also sleeping at Chedraui so we met up that night and all cooked together, drank some beers, pulled out our camping chairs, made friends with the local police officer patrolling the lot, and swapped stories. Usually when we’re confined to a parking lot we keep to ourselves and stay in our van for the most part, but it felt so good to have a large group of us all on similar journeys and experiencing similar things and not feel like we needed to keep to ourselves for once. As far as grocery store parking lots go, that night was really as good as it gets.

Chedraui parking lot and 2 other groups out of the 6 that were there!

After a week of being confined to places Miles couldn’t really be or swim or explore, we were ready to get back somewhere where he didn’t have to be cooped up in the van. So back to Laguna Bacalar we went! Our first time there about 1.5 weeks prior, we met a Canadian who had a place in Buena Vista- still on the lagoon, but a smaller town a little further north & he recommended we come through on our way back down the coast. So like every invitation we have received on the road- we went! We stayed at the Balneario just next door to Paul’s property and ended up having an incredible few days. Not only did Paul’s family sort of take us in for a couple days- feeding us, letting us swim up at their dock, offering paddle boards or kayaks, getting to know one another, etc. We also were sort of taken in by the caretaker of the Balneario, Javier. He invited us to have coffee with him in the morning, beers in the afternoon, drove us around the area for a tour and spoke to us about his plans for his land, and even took us to a local party being held in the name of Guadelupe. The fiesta occurs on December 12th and we were fed a traditional Mayan dish, Relleno Negro- a turkey dish roasted with chiles in the ground & served with homemade tortillas, it was fantastic! 

Family Photo on the dock.

Miles was loving the weather.

Paul's dock.

Paul's mom's version of shashuka.

Mas tacos.

After Tulum there were no more hot showers, so the warm lagoon served well for shaving my legs!

Also, the swing I was sitting on may or may not have beat Zach up.

Being back on the lagoon was the perfect way to close out our time in Mexico, as much as we didn’t want to leave! But we still have A LOT to see coming up and are super excited for our next stop- Guatemala!  

So I’ll close with my final thoughts on Mexico:

• The landscape is diverse and beautiful. 
• The food is delicious and SO varied. Tacos in Baja are different from Quintana Roo and Tortas range from something resembling a cheeseburger to a French style baguette. 
• The people are incredibly welcoming and kind. 
• The dangers that everyone worries about (read: cartels & montezuma’s revenge) aren’t what should be making the headlines. It’s the TOPES. Someone in my Pan-American Travelers Facebook group referred to them as terrorist bumps in the road and I couldn’t agree more! 
• If you haven’t been to Mexico, go. Book a flight, get in your car, experience it for yourself. It’s magical.