You Better Belize It!

 It's hard to believe that we have finally left Mexico after 98 days there! 

March 18- This is not an emergency

Last night we thought someone was scoping us out with flashlights at about 11pm, but it was just some guys getting their boat in the water for some night fishing. We did confirm with them that it was okay for us to camp where we were since Belize doesn’t really have any campgrounds.  It seems we will be boondocking most of the time here. 

 In the morning we woke up still not believing that 24 hours ago we were convinced it would be days before we would be able to enter Belize, yet here we were in Belize.  We toured the Lamanai Archaeological site and enjoyed seeing the different temples.  The mask temple was really cool, and although the actual faces were reconstructions of what was found in the early 1900s, they did show a glimpse into Mayan culture we had not seen previously. The High temple (the tallest of the temples at the site) cannot be climbed but was awe-inspiring to look at.
The Jaguar Temple was memorable because as we approached it we were greeted by the familiar screams of howler monkeys but this time we could see them, not just hear them.  We were partly convinced they didn’t like Rupert wandering around and we were once again happy our dog is deaf, although we did have some concern for his safety. We guarded Rupert as he walked right under the trees with the monkeys without any inkling about why we were so close to him and watching the trees. 

After climbing the temple Paul could hear voices, he quickly realized that it was from his phone.  Wondering how and who he accidentally phoned he pulled his phone out of his pocket and learned the answers to one of the questions.  He had accidentally called, 112, the Belizean version of 911.  In shock, he quickly hung up.  Well, Canadian PSA’s started to run through his head, and after another minute thought it best to phone the emergency number back.  Thank god that Belize is an English speaking country.  Either way Paul spoke very quickly and the woman on the line almost seemed confused leaving Paul to just keep saying “this is not an emergency”  “ I phoned a minute ago by accident, but there is no emergency”.  She thanked us and thankfully we didn’t see emergency services rushing to the ruins.

A couple interesting things we learned while exploring the ruins are: the reason why the steps are so steep at these temples was that they were only climbed by priests, high-ranking officials and their assistants and that they were climbed by people on their hands and knees to show respect for the gods;  we also learned once again how horrible the Spanish where to local indigenous people (the Mayans) and the last Mayan city that is similar to the ruins you see today only fell in the mid-1600s. 

After climbing and exploring we made the decision to skip Belize City and return to it near the end of our time in Belize.  We decided that we would drive to the southernmost part of the country towards Punta Gorda and start our exploration of Belize by slowly making our way back north, then west, since we have to cross at the western border to get to Guatemala. We stopped for lunch to eat the traditional stewed meat and rice and beans for lunch (delicious) and planned our time in Belize (thanks to many recommendations from locals).

After a long day of driving, we finally arrived at Rio Blanco, a National Park known for its waterfall where we had read you can camp.  We looked everywhere for a park attendant to pay our entrance and ask about camping but no one was around so we thought maybe we wouldn’t have to pay.
We went to the waterfall but saw mostly a trickle.  With the water levels being low the waterfall left a lot to be desired.
Paul walked across the suspension bridge too!

We returned to the van and cooked some dinner; dinner was almost cooked (burgers were halfway cooked) when a man approached us saying his friend worked at the park and we would need to ask him for permission to camp which involved leaving the campground and driving to the next village over.  We also had to do this NOW, meaning we threw everything in the van, including our half-cooked meat and headed to town, it seems we talked to half the town before the park attendant ran up the road saying, of course, we could camp and for us to return to the campground where he will talk to us later.

As some may remember, we have one big rule for this trip, do not to drive after dark so we though he would come before dark, but he didn’t.  

We cooked dinner, organized the van and were about to head to bed when suddenly someone opened the park gate.  The attendant started wasting our time trying to sell us knick knacks, and making us move to a “better spot” on a huge hill.  Finally, after an hour he informs us that we had to pay $20 bz each to enter the park and he then wanted $30 bz each for camping ($100 bz=$50usd!).  This was probably the most expensive campsite on our trip thus far.  We should have said no, we should have done a lot of things, but we were polite Canadians during the whole interaction and since it was dark we agreed to pay. He must have noticed we were a little shocked by the price because he did give us a special deal, lowering the price to $80bz. We only had $90bz to give so he said he would bring change tomorrow.  

The facilities at this camping spot left a lot to be desired.  There were no flush toilet or showers, he had run out of water some time ago and hadn’t ordered new water to arrive.  Lucky for us we did sleep really well though, so that was a huge bonus. The air was crisp and below 30 degrees, so it was a nice break from the heat.

March 19- Do we like Belize?

We waited until 10 am for the man to bring change but then decided to leave. He had said he would want to give us a tour of the park the night before but we figured we’d have to pay or tip for that so we figured he can keep our $10. Our opinion of the previous night had also soured so we were concerned we may say something that we shouldn’t.

 While our first afternoon/morning in Belize were great we are not sure if we are enjoying Belize.  Everything we attempted to do today didn’t work out or was way too expensive.

The first stop was Punta Gorda where everything was closed, we later learned that Sunday is not the day to go to that town.  We read the whole region was known for chocolate so we tried to go to a number of chocolate factories and stores only to learn that everything wasn’t just closed in Punta Gorda on a Sunday everything in the whole District (their state/provinces) was closed.  The only thing that was open was the gas station where gas costed 12.83 BZ/gallon (almost $6.50 USD/gallon), or roughly $2.25 CAD a litre (close to Artic Circle prices).

Caution: Tapirs!

The next district we entered had spice farms which had tours and spices to purchase.  The spices were pepper and other “normal” spices you’d see in your pantry.  The spice tour would have cost us almost $50 USD and included no tasting or samples.  The spices themselves were laughably expensive with a small baggy of black pepper (enough for a few meals) costing almost double digits in Canadian currency.

During the drive we spent most of our time talking about our first impressions and oddities we had noticed while in Belize.   Although close to Mexico the country felt totally different. 
        1. As mentioned there are no campgrounds so we would be camping in parking lots during our time here. 
        2. There are very few people doing what we are doing here.  In Mexico, the US, and Canada we saw many foreign plated campers, but here, pretty much zero. 
        3. The buildings are totally different, they are made of wood and are typically up on stilts. What we’d imagine buildings in Jamaica would look like (however we have not been there so we could be totally wrong).  

        4. Speaking of Jamaica, it seems Belize borrows a lot of its laws and rules from Jamaica which has

led to them having lots of rules and lots of bureaucracy.  Some of these rules may make sense for an island nation, but for a country like Belize we think they hurt the country more then they help.  For instance, the amount of paperwork to bring an animal in the country (even temporarily as a tourist) and they don’t seem to import any sizable amount of food.
        5. They import very little meat or vegetables even though domestically they can’t seem to produce enough leaving all grocery stores looking like it is early Covid days.  Vegetables are non existent and what food is available is quite expensive (close to US prices).   
        6. Technically everything is in US prices with the Belizean dollar at a 2:1 ratio with the US dollar, i.e 2 Belizean = 1 US.  The national currency and the US currency are used interchangeably. 
      7. No beer is allowed in the country except their national beer brands (even though Heineken owns the national brewery you can get Belikin or Landshark).   

        8. Final note of interest, although the official language is English we barely understand what Belizean people are saying when they are talking amongst each other.   The language is a mix of English/Spanish/Creole/Rastafarian with words from each language used within one sentence.  We truly believe everyone here is multilingual.

Our long day of driving and disappointments lead us to Placencia, a place that many people recommended to us where we found a glimmer of hope for the next few days in Belize, we found a free camp spot beside the ocean which is one of the most beautiful spots we had had on our trip.  It was on a “public beach” where overnight parking was at least tolerated and due to all the properties near it being vacation homes with their own beachfront it was totally unused.  We spent the rest of the day resting and relaxing and getting ourselves out of the funk we have been feeling about Belize. Sitting by the ocean and swinging in a hammock definitely helps, especially when there’s a cool ocean breeze.

March 20- B3 (Best Beer in Belize or Belize, Beaches, Beers)

We spent the morning drinking coffee and watching the ocean.  We had to do some work around the van, mostly reorganizing since we needed to get laundry done and implementing some proposed changes to how we store our cutlery and utensils in the back of the van.  We went from storing it horizontally to storing it vertically opening up a new storage space and giving us a new container to store the dog’s food in. 

Organizing the van!

The drive to the community of Placencia was around 20 minutes down the Placencia peninsula.  Generalizing, there are three communities on the peninsula, the southern most community, Placencia is a tourist town and jumping off point for many water based tours and water taxis to small islands. The houses and shops show wealth and investment (both internationally and domestically).  The community is a collection of mansions (vacation homes) built on the ocean.  The middle community is Seine Bight, a traditional Garifuna community, full of locals living in traditional run down dwellings with no sign of investment from the government of Belize.  It makes us wonder for the future of Belize as it tries to attract and cater to Americans and Canadians.

When we were finally ready we drove into town which started our day of exploring Placencia.  We had dropped off our laundry meaning we had 6 hours to kill before we could pick it up which we filled by wandering around the village, doing some shopping, getting some photocopies of important documents required for future border crossings, buying some vegetables and then finding a place for lunch.  Our search ended up bringing us into an area of Placencia away from the tourist shops and bars where we saw lots of locals all going into a restaurant, and decided to follow and enjoyed some of the best protein of our entire trip.  Paul ordered fried fish, and Kendra ordered chicken, both were out of this world! Both were also served with beans and rice and fried plantain!  

We made our way back to Placencia and hoped to grab a drink at the “famous’ Big Titty Rum Bar, but alas it was closed, so we picked the next closest bar and had a drink while watching the water.  

There was also a craft brewery in Placencia and we hadn’t been to a craft brewery since Baja so decided to head to a different bar.  This brewery, Hobb’s brewing, for some reason had some of the best craft beer we have had on this trip.  The beer was amazing and our favourites were the Vanilla Stout and the Toucan Mango Hefeweizen.  It was so refreshing to have great craft beer after our time in Mexico. The prices were Belize prices but we thought we were worth it.  We did get some food but, well let's just say they should stick to what they know.

Finally, it was time to pick up the laundry where once again we were shocked by Belizean prices, it cost $30 USD, compared to the $14 USD we were paying in Mexico (and the $20 USD we were paying in the USA). But we were thankful for clean clothes.

We spent the evening back at our killer camping spot on the ocean watching a storm roll in.

March 21 – Learning to enjoy Belize

We woke up and once again enjoyed our campsite.  We were in no rush to leave and before we knew it, it was the afternoon.  The next community we were going to was Hopkins, a sleepy laid back coastal town that is a favourite of backpackers.  The nice thing about this town is that a restaurant on the beach allows camping at it for $5 bz per person.

We decided to do what we did in our early 20s in backpacker towns, grab a bunch of drinks, sit in a social area and talk to each other and whoever walks by.  The place of choice was on the beach and the people we talked with ended up just being Belizean people.  We shared some wine and some stories and suddenly the sun had set.

We walked the streets of Hopkins looking for a restaurant for dinner (the restaurant we were camping at was closed) and once again found a spot with locals.  We ate a delicious dinner and ended the night watching a movie in the van.

March 22 – We can’t Belize it

After so many great meals in restaurants and so little quality and well priced food at supermarkets we decided to go for breakfast.  Unfortunately, our luck had run out and our breakfast was pretty bad.  Our eggs tasted like they were poured from a carton and in general, it was very plain.  Kendra ordered some orange juice which was from concentrate (we have become so used to freshly squeezed in Mexico) and Paul’s coffee was terrible.  Also, there are no free refills in Belize, so even though the coffee comes from a pot and coffee maker, if they refill the cup they’re adding another cup of coffee to your bill.

We made our way to Dangriga, another Garifuna community that once again showcased the disparity between different communities in Belize.

Just outside of Dangriga is the factory that makes Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce.  When we arrived, we were asked if we wanted a tour and were pleasantly surprised at the cost, for $10 usd we got a tour, got to taste every product they made (16 hot sauces, 11 Jams, 2 steak sauces, 1 marinade and 2 wines).  

We enjoyed the tour, it was really interesting how hot sauces are made, and how spicy the area in the factory gets when they are grinding habanero peppers (Kendra couldn’t stop coughing, but our guide coughed occasionally too).  Hot sauce starts as three ingredients, peppers, vinegar and sugar which sits in a vat for 2 years before different fruits or spices are added to give the hot sauce its specific flavour.  After the tasting we definitely spent a small fortune on hot sauces and jams.


 Next stop was Billy Barquedier National Park where we hiked to a waterfall, and we enjoyed a nice swim before a Christian High School on a Mission Trip descended to the waterfall.  We had thoroughly enjoyed our time in the natural pool at the base of the waterfall, but it was time to go.  There was one other hike in the park to an

 observation tower, but we were told good luck and be careful on the hike and at the observation tower.  We thought it couldn’t be that tough, we were wrong.  The hike was more like a grind, a hike straight up the mountain in 30 degree heat with lots of humidity.  Every pore was sweating, every muscle was screaming but the views were worth it.

We had only a couple more stops for the day and both were food related.  We hadn’t really eaten much since our bland breakfast, for lunch we had eaten hot sauce, but the tour guide did recommend a tamale place on the north of Billy Barquedier National Park close to where others had recommended we stop for ice cream.  

Before we knew it we had a quart of amazing natural ice cream and two delicious Bertha’s tamales (sorry Mexico but these were better than the ones we had in Chiapas). 


We can’t Belize it, we started this trip unsure if we would find enjoyment in Belize and now have some great days under our belt.  

March 23 – Rupert needs a day off

Rupert not complaining...

Rupert had a rough night.  We try to be good dog owners but sometimes we forget Rupert’s age and push him a little too hard.  Our hike yesterday was tough for us, for him it must have been brutal.  We thought he would be fine since it was only a couple kilometres return, but it was 300 meters in elevation change in over 30 degree heat.  He was extremely sore and was panting incredibly hard.  Our concern for Rupert grew in the morning when he wasn’t opening up his left eye (he did stick his head in a hole full of spider webs yesterday, so maybe it’s a bug bite?). 

We started googling symptoms and decided that today we would allow Rupert a bit of a day off and that we would take him to the vet tomorrow (or today if his symptoms worsen [he wasn’t panting nearly as much]).  Rupert needed a day off and we wanted to make sure he got it. We decided we wouldn’t drive anywhere new today and ensure the van was very breezy and cool for him while we explore the national park. Thankfully the area was much cooler than other areas we had been to in Belize and there was lots of places with shade.

We slept in the parking lot of St. Herman Blue Hole National Park meaning we were awoken by tour groups preparing for their tour of the area.  Lucky for us we weren’t on any tour company’s timeline so we could start whenever and go where ever.  St. Herman Cave is one of the main attractions in the park and once we noticed the tour groups had left it we entered the cave meaning we had the place to ourselves.  We did have our handlamps but after getting deep in the cave turned them off to experience true darkness.  It is amazing how your mind plays tricks on you in the dark.  The cave had a river running through it which you can tube down for $50 usd per person.  We debated doing it, but thought to save our money.

Next stop was the Inland Blue Hole which was about a 1.5 kilometer hike (one way) from the car park through the jungle.  We learned later that we could have driven this distance via the highway and would highly recommend everyone to do the same, but I guess we had to work off our litre of ice cream from last night.  When we arrived at the Blue Hole we had the place to ourselves meaning we could take all the pictures we want and truly enjoy the area. 

Much to Kendra’s annoyance there we numerous fish in the blue hole, many of them quite large and all with a habit of trying to bite us.  We assume they wanted to eat the dead skin off our body, but Kendra was not mentally prepared for the fish spa today.  Paul thought the fish were quite neat so allowed the fish to surround him.  One of them must have known that he has eaten lot of fish in his life so thought to get revenge and bit his nipple!  The fish and its bite were big enough to draw blood!!

We spent the afternoon and evening relaxing in the van with Rupert who spent most of the day sleeping. We got quite a treat for dinner however when we found (remembered) we had purchased jalapeno poppers from a specialty store in Dangriga that we needed to cook.  It was amazing being able to eat such a delicacy from the back of the van.  They were delicious!

March 24th – Making a tough decision

(sorry for no pictures, border crossing days are a bit stressful, and no photos are allowed at the borders, so it's a day where we don't take any cool photos, but we do end up in a new place!)

We feel like we are behind schedule so knew that we would be leaving Belize either today (Friday) or Monday.  Entering Guatemala on a weekend on the Belize/Guatemala border is a bad idea as you must go to the bank to pay your import fee for the vehicle and the banks are closed or have limited hours on the weekend; our research gave us conflicting open times so we didn’t want to risk it. We spent most of the morning working through pro’s and con’s but ultimately it was Kendra’s decision (it was her decision day).  In the end she decided that we would go to Guatemala today.

With the decision made we quickly gathered the necessary paperwork and made our way to the border.  We did make two quick stops, both in the capital city of Belmopan for water and to change our Belizean money into US dollars (this will be far easier to use and spend, especially in El Salvador the next next country which uses it as their official currency [after Bitcoin]).

It was surprisingly difficult to trade our Belizean currency for USD at the bank especially with everywhere in Belize using both currencies interchangeably.  To change at the bank required me to fill out THREE forms.  One form because I wasn’t a citizen/resident of Belize, a second form for the actual transaction and a third form because I didn’t have proof of onward travel.  To exchange Belizean dollars to USD you must be travelling but without a plane ticket I had to “promise’ by filling out a form that this money wouldn’t be used for our travels.  Humorously the teller (or customer service representative) I was getting the money from ran out of USD meaning she had to get some from another teller meaning that a fourth form was used for this transaction. 

The border was relatively quiet when we arrived at 10:45 am.  There were a lot of people there, but they were just trying to sell us the Guatemalan currency, the quetzal, a currency you can’t officially purchase in Belize.  We had read online that they sell it at a ridiculous exchange rate so we walked past them.  We had read that you can pay for everything after immigration by leaving your vehicle at the border and walking a kilometer or so to a bank.

Belize was still somewhat convoluted with us needing to line up at one place to pay our exit tax, then line up in another place to prove we paid our exit tax and get our passport stamped, then leave the border area that takes you to Guatemala and enter the other side of the border (where people coming from Guatemala go to enter into Belize) to cancel our temporary import permit.  Once all this was done we drove through the border stopping at one last person proving we had stood in all three lines and did the stuff.

Guatemala was far more straightforward.  First, we went through fumigation, where they actually fumigated our vehicle (unlike Belize who just made us pay for it).  Next, we had to pay for fumigation, which we could do by card or cash. Their machine was down and because we didn’t have cash they just “held” our vehicle (let us park outside their building, not blocking traffic) until we went to the bank.  Next was the dog where his paperwork was checked and we paid a small fee.  Somehow we can pay for this by credit card because their machine is working.

We then wandered over to immigration who without asking us anything or having us write anything down stamped our passports and motioned for us to move along.  

The last step was to get the TIP (Temporary Import Permit) for our vehicle where we ran into a small snag.  In Paul’s passport his name is Paul Gauthier, but on his driver’s license and on the registration he is Paul MARCEL Gauthier.  Well, this resulted in lots of questions, Paul explaining that middle names aren't really necessary all the time, and a supervisor having to come over, look at it, and nod his head.  With that nod we were good to go!

Paul then left to walk the kilometer into Guatemala to pay for the permit for the vehicle and get the cash while Kendra and Rupert waited patiently at the van for Rupert’s information to be formally entered into the system and for his pet passport/paperwork to receive their official stamp.  Although helpers and taxi drivers informed Paul that the bank is really far away and that he needs a taxi, he didn’t listen.  We had already read how close the bank is and that it is quite common for them to embellish the distance to the bank so they can make some quick money.

Paul returned sometime later with cash in hand and the TIP paid for.  We paid for our fumigation, returned to the vehicle and drove to Flores to complete the first-day tasks i.e get a SIM card for the phone and some food, and some gas.  After accomplishing the sim card, we got stuck trying to turn onto a one-way road that had a parade/university students protesting the government. Luckily there was a boy selling bread so we bought some bread to eat as we watched the university students and flatbed semi-trucks with posters and protesters go by.  We had to laugh at the situation we were in. We sat happily in our van eating bread purchased from a boy no older than 10 years old surrounded by people wearing full coverage face masks (KKK style but in blue and green and other colours), as people in the parade/protest chanted and yelled. 

The day ended with a celebratory meal of pizza and beer in a hotel room.  Tomorrow we go to Tikal, ruins made famous thanks to Star Wars Episode 4 (or they could be famous due to their cultural significance and sheer size and number of Mayan temples). Lucky for Rupert, the site is not dog friendly so he gets to relax in a hotel with Air Conditioning while we sweat through 38 degree heat while exploring the ancient Mayan city.

OVerall, we did end up enjoying Belize and all the sites it had to offer.  We didn't visit any of the islands since we are on a road trip and found our own pieces of paradise on the ocean, but have heard amazing things about snorkeling in the second-largest reef in the world.

Our Final Days in Mexico

That is right, as you can guess by the title we have left Mexico and are currently exploring Belize.  This blog post is about our final days exploring the "famous" 307 road in Chiapas Mexico which is full of Mayan Ruins and waterfalls as well as almost, potentially getting a fine and killing time due to government bureaucracy.  Excitingly the next blogs will all be country specific as our plan is to be in each country between here an Panama for roughly 2 weeks.  We are approaching the end of our time in Belize so we will hopefully have a new blog post coming out soon.  

March 12- You’ve been warned!

Before we tell you about our day I first need to tell you about an experience we had last night.  Along the way we have been helped by so many people and been offered a lot of advice that we usually try to follow.  Today we were finally able to pay it forward to two other travellers.  We met two girls (we assumed they were in their early 20’s) who were backpacking from Mexico to Guatemala. They seemed young and carefree last night as they had left a volunteer/free work exchange program that expected them to begin working 5 hours after they arrived (the nerve of some people! ) so they left it!  Importantly for us, is that it was the hostel that asked them to arrive by that day to start work; we think they were definitely in the wrong.  Anyway, we were not sure if we were impressed or shocked with their confidence to just leave when being told to do something, but that’s beside the point.  After leaving their volunteer/free work exchange program they got on a community bus known as a collectivo, they bought some camping things like a tent and hammock, some pasta and sauce, a string of solar powered lights and a white fuel camp stove. 

After Paul had heard them trying to barter with the camping price ($100 pesos per person for lakeside camping, with access to a palapa, flush toilets and hot showers [average rate for these sort of amenities is $150 pesos per person) he was curious how their night would go. We enjoyed watching them set up their tent for the first time and spending more time stringing up solar lights which they had just taken out of the box.

When it grew dark they approached us because their white fuel and burner seemed to be leaking, it wasn’t they just had the gas in the ON position. We showed them how it worked.  We offered them the table in the palapa we were using to cook their dinner.  It became very obvious that these girls had never cooked anything before as they struggled to boil water and cook noodles Kendra let them know some hints such as don’t overfill the pot with water, and when to add the sauce.

We do remember what we were like in our early 20’s and in that moment realized we need to take this time to properly apologize to those we encountered in those trips! We are so sorry, we were so naïve.  But I guess we still can be (see our post about Sinaloa) and we are still learning as we go, but we were probably young and dumb living off hopes and dreams appearing just how these girls appeared to us. 

Now to get back to the start of the day.  Paul felt that it was his duty as a responsible travelling adult to let the two new backpackers (who didn’t have a proper backpack only countless reusable grocery bags). We were in the southern part of the state of Chiapas. A state known for its culture, nature, and roadblocks due to unrest between the government and local indigenous groups.  There is sort of a defined tourist route where those travelling by tuktuk or collectivo go, and these girls were not near it. With this advice they asked Paul what they should do next and he said go back to Comitan, where they had come from and continue on the more tourist track to Guatemala. Backpacking is one thing, but backpacking without a way to secure your things in rural and remote areas with limited resources is something we do not think would have been good for these girls.

So after saying our good byes and wishing them luck we left the campsite, which was probably for the best because a group of people were setting up for some sort of party 50 meters away from where we had slept.  We got back onto the 307 highway and drove towards Guacamayas. As we drove we reminisced about our time as 20 year olds and just how young people in their early 20s seem. We think of them often and wonder if they ever made it to Guatemala (we were a 10 minute walk away from the border at that campsite, but it’s a border with no checkpoint so they could not actually cross into Guatemala because they would need an exit stamp from Mexico and an entry stamp into Guatemala.)

As we drove to our next campsite we realized how fortunate we had been in Chiapas, we did not encounter any roadblocks as we drove, but we definitely saw communities that could set up a road block and shut down the highway with just one chain. 

Our campsite was in the extremely small community of Guacamayas, an area know for it’s guacamayas (birds) and monkeys.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the campsite, which we had to ourselves since 4 vehicles had left earlier in the day.  We got to see some beautiful red macaws (aka guacamayas) and we were “serenaded” by the howler monkeys.  We had been warned about the howler monkeys and how terrifying the sound can be if you don’t know what it is, and we were thankful for this warning because it is a sound to behold!

 

March 13- Feeling Ruined

After being awoken by howler monkey screams and toucans dropping tree things from the tree we parked under, we were ready to explore something new. We headed towards Frontera Corozal to catch a boat to the Yaxchilan ruins.  These Mayan ruins are unique because they are only accessible by boat. 

Weather in this area is hot, with the temperature forecasted to reach 38 degrees Celsius, but we decided to go to these ruins as everyone in the community we asked said we could bring our dog.  Sometime we do leave Rupert in the van if we can park in the shade, and put up winder covers and have the running the fan for airflow, but leaving him for a few hours with such hot temperatures was out of the question.

We found where to buy tickets, (and once again confirmed dogs were allowed) then paid for one of our most expensive excursions of this trip (but it was worth it).  After a short 30 minute boat ride we arrived to find out that the boat ride was dog friendly but the ruins are not (in fairness, Paul did only ask if the dog could go in the boat since that it easier to ask in Spanish then try to pronounce the name of the Mayan ruin). We found a shady spot to tie Rupert up, gave him a bowl of water and he looked at us helplessly as we left him to go exploring. 

These ruins were so unique located in the jungle and being multiple stories tall.  They weren’t like the traditional Mayan ruins you see that are pyramid shaped, ,there were even ruins you could enter and explore.   It was definitely worth the trip. Our permit to the park allowed us to explore for 2 hours, and boy was it a sweaty two hours. We had read recommendation online to show up early in the morning so you have the place to yourself, but if you want to be like us, show up in the heat of the day around 12:30 and you will also have the place to yourself because it is insanely hot!!!

After reuniting with Rupert and rehydrating on the boat ride back we decided we would make our way to our campspot for the night.  We had been told by a few people about a waterfall in the community of Profesor Roberto Barrios (yes real name of the town) that was a must do.

When we arrived it was still dusk, but a storm was on the horizon so we decided to explore the water falls.  We didn’t end up swimming in them since there was active lightning, but the pool were definitely inviting.

As we settled in for the night the sky was filled with lightning but more interestingly the ground and trees were lighting up with fireflies.  We have been in thunder and rainstorms before but this lightning was constant.  It was amazing to see the rain come down in a solid sheet with the lightning flashing, and we realized how lucky we feel to not be in a tent or a soft sided camper.

 

March 14- Your dog can go in the refrigerator!

We had a few decisions to make and today we decided to cut something that had been recommended to us.  The day was already feeling like 30 degrees at 9 am, so we made our way towards Palenque to get some groceries, gas and water before a long travel day. There is a Mayan ruin near Palenque that is supposed to be beautiful, but we were feeling like we had enjoyed the ruins we had seen and felt like it was time to cover some ground.

Our first stop in Palenque was the market, some how we even got a prime parking spot outside of the market (even though we think the parking attendant may not have believed us that we did indeed want to shop at the market).  We only had 25 minutes so we quickly bought some vegetables, meat, egg, and bread. Then it was time to hit the road.

We ended up covering about 500 kms today from south of Palenque to the city of Chetumal.  We started in the state of Chiapas, crossed into the state of Tabasco for a short while, then the state of Campeche and ended in the state of Quintana Roo.  We did pass a very unique town where we decided to stop and take picture with the town sign.

The drive was uneventful until we crossed into the Campeche border.  We usually use the iOverlander app to check recent reviews of military and police check points so we are prepared, but we knew we were driving no matter what today so we did not do our research before.  Just past the Campeche border there was a police checkpoint, where people have recently had trouble when traveling with a dog. This is one of those instances where our ignorance probably kept us less stressed about the whole interaction. 

The police flagged us over and checked our TIP(vehicle temporary import permit) and Paul’s driver’s license, and then asked us about a box for our dog.  We have read that in some Mexico states dogs must be restrained in a vehicle, and that larger dogs must be in a crate. Rupert is secured but only with a tether in the back of the van so he cannot distract us while driving. We have read most people are given tickets for not having their dog secured in the states closer to the US border, but it turns out that Campeche state also has that rule, with one exception, according to the officers, the dog MUST be in a crate.

Paul was polite with the police, opened the doors for them to look at our vehicle and they checked everything out; however, they continued to ask about a box for our dog.  Paul continued to explain to them (in Spanish) that he was secured and showed them that Rupert could not come to the front of the vehicle.  When Paul opened our trunk, which is where our kitchen is and opened the fridge, one of the police officers stated in Spanish that our dog could go in the refrigerator.  Paul laughed, the police officers laughed, and then we were free to go, no ticket but we were given a warning.

There was no corruption or bribes requested.  We apologized for not following their law and left saying we would stop in a town to buy one (none of the towns we passed had dog crates for sale and next thing we knew we were out of that state).

We did read iOverlander reviews after, and wow people with dogs have had lots of issue at that state border.  Most were fined an unbelievable 4000 pesos (which was significantly dropped if not forgotten about if people said they would only pay at the police station).  We have been told that when interacting with police Mexico there is a few best practices, be polite i.e. use Usted not Tu when conjugating verbs (both mean You, but one is more respectful), speak Spanish and laugh at their jokes.  The last one seems to be key.  We followed these rules and seemed to be fine.

After one of our longest days of driving so far we arrived in Chetumal, where we camped beside a beautiful blue lake.

It was at this point we realized that Rupert must be approved by the Belizean government to enter the country or we would face a huge $400 fine (still unsure if it was a $400 USD fine or a $400 Bz fine [which is equivalent to $200 USD).  Regardless it was not a fine we wanted to get.  We sat down and filled out a permit for Belize and hoped the permit would arrive quickly. Unfortunately the automated response informed us that it would take a MINIMUM of 5 business days to be processed.  We slept 8 kms from the border with Belize but it felt so far away do to this minimum proessing time.  We have some time to kill luckily we had some errands to run.

March 15- Lo siento, mi telefono habla Ingles.

Since we now have 7 days (5 full business days) to wait on a permit for Rupert to enter Belize, it was time to do what we like to call “blow the budget and get ‘stuff’ done”. The brakes on the van had been squeaking since we entered Mexico, so we ordered some new brake pads.  Our tires seemed to have no grip and after confirming with a third party we knew we needed new ones, so we bought new tires and had them installed.

Belize requies a lot of paperwork for dogs even after getting permission by the government through the permitting program meaning we had to get Rupert a health certificate for entering Belize and get a health declaration letter written by the vet.  Yup it is a real hassle to get a dog into Belize.

We also bought some new shelf rollers since it’s only a matter of time until one breaks (Paul had noticed one of the roller brackets breaking when we were in Baja, so now was the time to get a replacement part for when it actually breaks and some new screws to reinforce the broken bracket in the hopes it will last a little bit longer). There is a joke with people living in vans that something is broken and any point in time. Today was our day to fix things and get ready for the coming weeks in Belize and Guatemala.

 We went to the brake and clutch mechanic and he figured the squeaking sound was because of our brake pads so he was trying to quickly explain how to get to the store to buy new ones. An interesting thing in Mexico is how mechanics work you bring your own parts to the mechanic and they install it.  The mechanic was explaining to Paul where to buy the new brake pads, but he was struggling to find the location on Google maps since we were in an unfamiliar city.  The mechanic asked to see the phone and immediately tried to use speech to text.  Paul’s phone didn’t understand anything making the mechanic very confused.  Paul apologized and said Lo siento, mi telefono habla Ingles. i.e the phone only speaks English.  He laughed and sent us on an adventure to find the store. We found a store that seemed to be the one the mechanic recommended.  They had brakes but Paul thought it was the wrong brakes, so the store said they would order in the brakes as a special order.  Only issue is that if they were not the correct brakes we could not return them. They said the brakes would be there tomorrow.

Since we had already blown the budget we headed to Walmart to pick up some celebratory drinks and pay for one of the most expensive campsites we have stayed at.  For $25 CAD we camped on the light blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, with the sea breeze in our hair, and a drink in our hand at the campsites pool. We could not complain about the amenities of this campsite and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The only surprise was the mandatory 20% tip added on to our bar tab, which we were told by others is something done in the state of Quintana Roo. This was the first time in Mexico that the tip was already calculated and mandated on the bill.

After an evening by the pool and knowing we accomplished a lot today, we were able to relax.

March 16- Waiting!

We awoke to an email this morning that Rupert’s entry permit had not been approved (yet) but that we would need to fill out an additional form to bring in his special dog food. Frustratingly the email did not have a copy of this form nor could we find it only.  After a quick email back to the Belizian Permit offier we crossed our fingers we would get it soon. Thankfully within a few hours we received the food permit we quickly filled it out and submitted it (thank god Paul has a program to edit PDF’s and digitally sign them or this process would have involved finding a printer and a scanner).

Rupert is lucky we love him since we have had to fill out 2 permits for him (and 0 paperwork for us)! A few hours after submitting his food permit we got confirmation that his food is allowed to enter Belize (with a $50 Belizean processing fee and a $20 Belizean import fee). It’s still to be determined if Rupert will be allowed in, but his food can come with us.

We spent the day relaxing/waiting at the campsite planning out our next move. At 3:00 we got the call that our brakes were in and we brought them to the mechanic only to find out they were the wrong type (which we couldn’t return because they were special order 😐). Luckily there was a friendly taxi driver who drove Paul back to the brake shop and got the correct ones. The brakes were installed, but the brakes still squeaked.  We left and were told to come back tomorrow and they would see what they can do.

March 17- Let’s go!

Our original plan for the day was to get some water and some groceries, return to the brake shop then head towards Bacalar.  We had a plan and were excited to execute it.  With a holiday on Monday in Mexico, we knew that we would mot likely be crossing into Belize on Tuesday, as long as Rupert’s permit came in, since we needed to make sure all government agencies on the Mexican side of the border would be open for us to be stamped out and cancel our TIP.  We had a rough plan of what we were going to do until Tuesday when an email arrived saying that Rupert’s permit had been approved.

We usually give ourselves a full day to cross borders just in case of any issues, but we decided today was going to be the day we crossed in Belize.  We loaded up the van, had the squeaky brakes checked thoroughly and we were assured our brakes are fine, just dusty and dirty.  The mechanic cleaned them up and the squeak was gone, but were told that the squeak would return and that that is fine.

Next we stopped to get the date moved forward for Rupert’s health certificate, since we were entering Belize before we initially anticipated. Finally, Paul went back to an orthodontist because his retainer became uncemented again.  This time the orthodontist thought it was best to remove the piece of wire that had lived in Paul’s mouth for 17+ years, and gave Paul the friendly reminder to floss and then we were on our way. 

We stopped before the border to whip up a quick lunch omelette using up all of our eggs, dairy, and vegetables since those aren’t allowed into Belize. We arrived to the Mexican border where we turned in our FMM cards (we also learned the 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper they give you as a governmental receipt also needs to be turned in).  We had been warned to have the “receipt” with your FMM so we had our printed receipt, but they needed the full sized paper one, which we had miraculously kept (if not you have to pay close to $600 pesos/person to be reissued it- which is the cost of a new FMM). This is a well known “soft scam” at this border; anyone who has left Mexico usually just gives the FMM back and/or spends a few minutes trying to find a person to give it to.  It is crazy they want this paper as proof we paid as we wouldn’t have the FMM if we hadn’t paid.

Another “fun” part of today was returning our TIP. Depending on how the Peso is doing we should be getting a refund of close to $400 usd. We did encounter a minor hiccup when they went to look at our VIN near the driver’s side under the windshield where part of our vin was obscured from when our windshield was poorly replaced a few years ago (thanks Regency Chrysler in Quesne) and a piece of glass fell down where the VIN was located.  When we got a new windshield before we left the VIN obstructed by the glass came off when the glass when it was removed. Luckily the VIN is on the driver’s door. Since this wasn’t an issue when we got our TIP in Mexico we are a bit baffled why it is an issue when we are leaving; however, we do wonder if this issue with haunt us in the future.

After being stamped out of Mexico we were ready to enter Belize.  We paid the fee to be fumigated, even though they did do anything then asked if we wanted help crossing the border “because sometimes the border people can be slow, so they can help speed them up”.  We declined.

We parked entered immigration and filled out more paperwork for us to enter Belize and before we knew it our passports were stamped. Next it was time for Rupert to shine we entered the BAHA office where Rupert would be given his landing document and his vaccination and health status would be checked. The BAHA man was not ready to let the dogs out (get it, like the song) and wasn’t thrilled that the vet had used a digital signature. He eventually accepted the health certificate and charged us the $50 bz + $20 bz for Rupert and $50 bz +$20 bz for Rupert’s food.. He said he wasn’t aware of Rupert’s food being available for purchase in Belize and he hadn’t heard of that specific one before, so it was probably a good thing we bought the special food and filled out the permit. Who knows if he was telling the truth or pulling our legs, but we had all the documents signed and stamped and he said our dog can go anywhere in Belize- we may have to test him on that.

Next we got our temporary import permit for the van which made Paul excited because it is a stamp in Paul’s passport meaning he now has 2 more stamps than I do (one from May to the USA and now an additional vehicle stamp for Belize). After paying for the van to enter we were ready to have a final inspection.  They looked at our paperwork and the border people let us through. We were happy to be in Belize, but we probably could have brought all the vegetables and eggs and cheese that we ate for lunch in as they didn’t inspect anything.  They must have known we were honest people.

Finally, we drove for 3 seconds across the road from the border to get vehicle insurance.  We got 2 weeks worth and knew we were now ready to explore.

We plan on and usually give ourselves a full day for border crossings because after we cross the border there is always things to do.  We needed groceries, a new phone SIM card, and take out some cash in the local currency.  We did a quick stop in the city of Corozal but the town seemed really sketchy and we couldn’t find anything we were looking for so drove to the town of Orange Walk where we did find everything we needed.  We then drove towards Indian Church during this drive we left the main highway and entered Mennonite country.  For some reason a non insignificant percentage of the Belizean population are white Mennonites.

They were riding their one horse powered carts full of people or coconuts. It was a stark difference from what we anticipated Belize being like, but it was refreshing to see something new.  We camped on New River Lake outside of the Lamanai Mayan Ruins and cracked open a beer (well one beer had cracked itself open on a speed bump along the way, but we had others to enjoy).

We were so excited, tomorrow we would explore a new country!

Travelling from Puebla to Oaxaca

The last couple weeks have been about exploring central Mexico while trying to find moments to rest and relaxation on the coast.  This blog we encountered protests and earthquakes as well local distilleries we probably won't forget.  We decided to go to Chiapas after so many positive recommendations and realized the humidity hits differently in the jungles of Mexico.
 

February 28^th – OVERTIRED

Like so many places in the world there seemed to be political changes in Mexico.  The Government of Mexico had just changed the rules related to electoral law resulting in less funding for local election offices who operate and oversee polling stations causing protests throughout the country.  Unfortunately, for us, the protest seemed to happen near our campground and started around 11pm, lasting until almost 6am.  We slept incredibly poorly, but we had plans that we didn’t want to delay, we wanted to visit the city of Puebla.

Our first stop of the day was the church of Santa Maria. A locally built church just south of Cholula with the entire inside adorned in gold. From the outside the church looks like many others we had seen, but inside it was opulent and extravagant.

Puebla was explained to us as the city that makes a great weekend trip from Mexico City.  We were told it a cute city with lots of charm.  Well, we don’t know what people’s definition of cute is but a big city is probably not what we would have defined as cute.  However, their El Centro definitely was.  The drive in was a bit crazy with many vehicles cutting us off and honking in our general direction, who knows if they were honking at us.  We were so happy to find a parking spot only to fight with an app we were forced to use to try to pay for that parking.  After 10 minutes we gave up and paid a real person who was patrolling a parking lot for a hotel.

Puebla reminded us of Barcelona, although Puebla is not on the water, it does have its own distinct flavour with huge pedestrian only roads, cafes and tons of stuff to do. 

We started with visiting a part of the city known as the Alley of the Frogs (Callejon de los Sopos) known for its colonial architecture and brightly coloured buildings, originally named due to the number of frogs that would appear when it rained.  From there we walked to the Artisan Market and the art market before heading to the Main square to explore the Cathedral and walked Calle de 5 de Mayo.  This road was a pedestrian only road that we could have explored and walked for hours with so many little business, restaurants and cafes leading right to a large market.  This market was massive with many vendors yelling at us to buy their produce with long lines of people desperate to do so.  We purchased some Mamay, a fruit we thought we hadn’t had before, but turns out the flavours brought Paul right back to his time in Cuba. It is like the texture of an avocado with the flavour of a papaya.

We returned to Cholula over tired which meant one thing, WE WERE GOING OUT!  We had heard of a trendy container city full of bars in Cholula and decided to get a Didi (Mexican Uber) there for some drinks and food.  Well, it was closed, well almost, there was one bar opened that served us the WORST NACHOS WE HAVE EVER HAD!  Quick side note, this was also the first time we had seen Nachos on any menu so decided to get them, nachos aren’t really a “thing” in Mexico.  Usually, nacho chips are served as chilaquiles which are drenched in red or green sauce and sprinkled with cheese. After an okay drink and terrible nachos, we somehow ended up at a jazz bar which offered homemade pizzas and cold beer.  We listened to live Jazz until we couldn’t keep our eyes open then went back to the campground to finally have a good night sleep. Another side note is that Didi worked for us this time and Kendra was not suspended from it!

 

March 1^st – Historical Bad Omens

We slept well!!  There were not protests or crazy sounds to keep us awake so we were able to start our day of touring “on time”. 

Today we decided to explore the town of Cholula, specifically its archaeological site.  It is a massive pyramid, larger than the pyramids in Egypt, however most of it is still underground.  Cholula is defined by a massive hill in the middle of town with a church on top.  We learned that this is not actually a hill but a pyramid with lots of dirt on top of it making a mound.  Archeologists are still exploring the ruins but only portions of it have been uncovered.  They have found temples and buildings from 200 AD and alters from 600 AD where children were sacrificed because it was believed that children could ask the god Tlaloc for water for their community during time of drought.  Since the community of Cholula has been inhabited for so long (it is one of the longest continuously inhabited cities in the entire world) different group have used this site for different purposes.  Originally, similar to Teotihuacan, it was a major city of commerce, but when Teotihuacan fell it was no longer as strategically important.  Its importance grew as different groups rose to power in the area and new alliances were formed, but the pyramids slowly disappeared as wind pushed more and more dirt onto it.  When the Spanish invaded they saw anyone at the pyramids as a cultist so decided to place a cross on top of the dirt on top of the pyramids which quickly was struck by lighting.  Undeterred the Spanish placed another cross, which was again struck by lighting.  Finally, they decided to build a church on top of the mound, which was destroyed by an earthquake.  There is a church on top of the hill, but it was built with pieces of the pyramids, and although it is still there, there is an active volcano that you can see in the distance, so who knows, maybe it will be gone soon.  If you are wondering if the Spanish did anything else in the town, they did, they killed thousands of people after calling a meeting with various indigenous and local groups.  We are learning why the Mexican history always showcases the Spanish as evil.

We decided to make our way to Oaxaca which we knew would be a long day.  Although it was only 350 kilometres, google informed us it would take us almost 6 hours.  Google was correct.  By the time we arrived into Oaxaca city we were exhausted.  We went to an RV park located very close to the city, set up our awning and cooked a delicious steak and potatoes dinner with a side of peas (all purchased fresh at Cholula’s municipal market) before relaxing for the evening.

We would be lying if the night ended without the van doing some rocking.  We were awoken around 11pm by an earthquake, the second one of the trip.  Paul jumped out the van convinced someone was playing a trick on us as it felt like people were on both sides of the van rocking it.  Thankfully (?) a quick google search let us know that it was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake just off the coast of the state of Chiapas; relatively close to our location.  After the rocking stopped we went back to bed.

 

March 2^nd – Drinking Ancestral Mezcal

We had been told of a ‘must do’ attraction in the Oaxaca City area and that this “must do” had the added benefit of going through areas known for it’s Mezcal.  Tequila is a type of Mezcal, but really where the two differ is in how they are prepared, more on this later.

The must do attraction was a petrified waterfall with various pools that overlooked a canyon.  It was easy to tell that anyone who wanted to upload some sweet shots to Instagram had to go here.  This meant that there would be tour buses of people coming from Oaxaca city all with the aim to take pictures of themselves and share it to their followers.  We knew we had to arrive before them so we could take all those pictures without sharing the space with others.

Only one small tour bus arrived before us so we were able to enjoy the pools and the views while taking a few pictures.  Once the larger buses started to arrive we positioned ourselves in an upper pool to people watch every person take “THE PICTURE” while politely asking others to move out of “their” picture.  Here’s our picture at the coveted spot!

After we got bored of this we decided to do the hike to the base of the waterfall, it was a great hike and the petrified waterfall reminded us of falls we had seen in Yellowstone National Park.  We encountered one pretty big issue though; it was very hot.  Rupert stopped walking while we were still walking down to the waterfall meaning that Paul got to carry him the rest of the way down and all the way back up in his backpack.  Again, this wouldn’t be an issue if it wasn’t over 30 degrees. 

The hike was worth it but we were so happy to be done and back into the air conditioning of the van.  As we left the town Paul’s eye caught a hand drawn blue sign stating that a place down a dirt alleyway made and sold “Ancestral” Mezcal.  So many places said they sold Artisanal Mezcal, or just Mezcal, but we had never seen Ancestral. 

The place looked a bit sketchy, but a woman changing over her laundry with a baby on her hip beckoned us in.  She explained in Spanish how her Mezcal was made with the Agave leaves being pounded by hand then burnt below the ground and distilled in vats.  It honestly looked like they made the Mezcal the same way they did generations ago.  The Mezcal was good, but we were unsure if it was “good” or not as we didn’t have anything to compare it with.  We purchased a couple bottles, which cost way more then we thought but we enjoyed our experience with the woman and she did try very hard to show us how Mezcal was made.  She also was EXTREMELY generous with the Mezcal sampling, especially after hiking up a mountain in the heat. 

After spending a small fortune on a few bottles of Mezcal the woman recommended another road to take to leave the area as it had beautiful views, it was a dirt road up a mountain, but it was worth it and had some nice views.

We made a stop in a town called Tecutlan known for its rugs (hoping to find blankets for some reason) and didn’t find anything we fell in love with meaning we only had one more stop for the night, another Mezcal place.  We wanted to go to one of the big tourists Mezcal places to taste theirs and compare it to our experience earlier in the day.  One of the biggest in Don Agave Mezcal which didn’t give us the time of day for some reasons, probably because we weren’t on a proper tour.  Lucky for us the Mezcal place beside them did want our money and showed us all their Mezcal.  Once again we spent a small fortune on some of their best to do a side by side tasting. 

We went to bed relatively late comparing Mezcal and making friends and asking them to try compare our Mezcals.  We were happy that everyone’s favourite was the one purchased from a woman folding her laundry in a sketchy sort of place (aka her backyard).

 

March 3^rd – Not falling in Love

So many people told us that they loved Oaxaca City and we were excited to share that love.  Unfortunately, we left feeling that we had missed something.  We arrived and with great luck were able to find free parking close to the historic part of the city.

We started our journey walking through the neighbourhoods specifically known for their colourful buildings, namely Jalatlaco then wandered right into the heart of El Centro and their pedestrian walkway known as Calle Macedonio Alcala which we had hoped would be like Puebla, but unfortunately was directly in the sun with no trees to offer shade.  There was also no cafes or restaurants instead they were replaced with white tourists and people trying to sell tours.  We had hoped to enjoy this area for the same reasons we enjoyed Puebla but forgot that we can’t expect the same things or experiences in different cities. 

We then headed to the Municipal Market and the Artists Market.  At the Municipal Market we tried some of the local foods of Oaxaca, which were fine, and Kendra purchased as shirt.

We kept on walking and seeing some neat stuff but nothing that was making us want to stop and explore more.  We eventually ended up in Plaza de la Danza, which Paul referred to as Ice Cream Plaza because it was full of ice cream vendors which has become our guilty please; to overindulge in ice cream. 

Our last stop was a restaurant that served Mole, specifically 7 types of Moles that Oaxaca is known for which is made with chilli peppers, chocolate, and almost countless spices (it is often made with 20 or more ingredients).  It is very much a touristy must do if you see yourself as a bit of a foodie.  It was full of Mexican tourists wanting a taste of Oaxaca.  Surprisingly this very fancy restaurant (known as Los Pocos) let Rupert in and we were able to enjoy the Moles.  They all tasted very different but a couple of them just weren’t for us. We enjoyed 5/7, some were just not right for our palates. However, a few were to die for!

Oaxaca being a big city did allow us to pick up a few things that we were concerned about, namely Rupert’s food which if you don’t know the dog requires a special hydrolyzed protein food that not even the street dogs in Mexico want to eat.

We ended the day looking at a tree with the largest diameter in the world, although the Americans refute this.  It is in Santa Maria del Tule, a cute town that would have been great to eat dinner in, but after spending so much on Mezcal the day before we decided to cook dinner in the van.

 

March 4^th – Returning to the Coast

According to Google we had 250 kilometres to drive, google also informed us that this drive would take us over 7 hours. 

The drive was beautiful but exhausting with more curves and altitude changes than any road we have ever driven meaning we always had to be aware.  We did break up the day a bit with on stop in a Municipal Market to buy meat and vegetables in Ejutla de Crespo where we got a ton of looks, I don’t think very many foreigners come here. 

Our final stop was Pulma Hidalgo a town high in the mountains that people had recommended for its coffee.  Lots of coffee consumed in Oaxaca and lots of coffee which says is from Oaxaca is from this region so we thought to check it out.   It was such a cute town with cafes and chocolate shops everywhere (another thing the area was known for).  We were surprised how friendly the town as we were offered free chocolate while exploring form a woman outside of the village hall.

We knew that we should only choose one café to have a cup of coffee as it was already almost 5 pm so we settled on one with a smiling old man sitting reading the paper.  Turns out he only watched the shop but he recommended what we should buy while he called the owner to come brew us some coffee.

We sat talking and enjoying a great cup of coffee, wanting to stop for the night and go to other cafés in the morning but we are a month behind schedule and we were looking forward to seeing the ocean again so we continued on to the Huatulco area and an RV park with a Quesnel connection. 

An RV Park near the ocean is owned by a couple of Canadians who are the in-laws of a person from Quesnel whose sister works at Cariboo Pulp (Hi Joelle, thanks for the recommendation!!).

We arrived just before sunset after a very long day of driving and decided to sit and actually watch sunset before pulling into the RV park.  This was a great way to celebrate completing a long day of driving.

 

March 5^th – Rest and Relaxation

It feels like we have been go go go since leaving Puerta Vallarta so we decided to not leave the campground.  The place had everything we needed, namely a pool and beer for sale so we took full advantage and recharged our batteries.

 

March 6^th – Not ready to go

We had a slow morning which turned into a slow afternoon socializing with other campers and trying to get used the heat and more specifically the humidity. 

We did eventually leave the campground and went to the beach within the Bay of San Agustin for some snorkeling, but with the sand being very hot on our feet (as well as Rupert’s paws) we didn’t stay very long.  We were actually quite happy we didn't stay too long as the owner of the RV park ended up showing us a bunch of artifacts from the local Zacotecs that he had uncovered while building the campground.   Definitely quite the experience to hold some of these artifacts in our hands.

We finished our time in the Oaxaca coast watching sunset one final time with some friends we had made.  After sharing some beers, we walked back to the campground where another Italian couple generously made us a delicious Carbonara.

We often feel that we are doing this trip incorrectly, with many saying we should stay in one place longer and we often wonder if they are correct.  Every time we do we are able to make connections and are able to relax, but we seem to see a lot less and we love exploring and seeing new things.  We just wish we had more time to do this more often.

The day ended and continued into the early morning hours of the next day with a couple of beers and talking.  The last few days definitely made us mentally able to continue the trip.

 

March 7^th – Dear god the humidity

In general, we try to do everything that is recommended to us, but one place we have been very hesitant to visit is the state of Chiapas. 

There are stories of illegal roadblocks, corruption and violence against tourists in this state, but with no government of Canada warning and so many positive things shared by other travellers who have recently been there, we decided to nervously set the compass to Chiapas. 

The drive was short in kilometers but long in time, but eventually we did arrive in the state of Chiapas.  Our first stop was in a supermarket in the city of Arriaga and then we drove to Puerto Arista a coastal town that is trying to be a domestic tourist hotspot and a common last or first stop in Mexico before crossing the Mexico Guatemala border.  It was evident that this is a poorer state with many Mexicans referring to the people of Chiapas as peasants. 

The coast was unbearably humid, a humidity neither of us had ever experienced.  We didn’t explore the town that much due to the humidity instead opting to just sit on the beach and watch the waves of the ocean.

It was very difficult to get to sleep, and even after we did we were awoken around 1am as the humidity was even worse due to an impending rain storm.  Thankfully the torrential downpour at 2am cooled off everything and we were able to get back to sleep.

 

March 8^th – Boating through emblems

We left the coast for the mountains hoping to escape the humidity to the capital city of Tuxtla Gutierrez which had recently built a Christ the Redeemer statue larger than the one is Brazil so obviously we had to check it out.  It was big, but left something to be desired.  We had hoped it would provide views of the city as well, but all the doors to the outside of the upper levels were locked.

On the way back to town we stopped for Tamales, which surprisingly, after almost 3 months in Mexico we had never tried.  I don’t know if it was the ones we purchased but they were not good.  The shrimp tamale had full unshelled shrimp inside and the mystery meat one we had tasted like it was made with a mystery meat. 

The city and its neighbouring Puebla Magico Chiapas de Corzo are known for the Canyon Sumidero which pictures of it instill a thought of “where is that” or “I need to see this”. 

The cheapest way to see the canyon is to show up at a boat dock pay a bit of money and hope that 13 other people show up to take you by boat through the canyon.  The boat will not run with less than 15 people.  After about an hour a tour company for French tourists showed up so we got a bilingual tour of the canyon, just none of the languages were English.

The canyon was something to behold and well worth the money and time waiting for another 13 people to show up.  We even learned that the emblem for the state of Chiapas is the canyon that we had boated through.

We ended up camping in the parking lot of the boat launch as for a couple bucks the night watchman would keep an eye on us and allow us to stay in the area.

 

March 9^th – Reaching one of our first top picks

Long ago when we were first talking about this trip Paul was told about the city San Cristobal de las Casas and he marked it on his google maps.  We don’t know where we had heard about it or from who but assumed we wouldn’t actually visit it because it was in Chiapas.  Today we would actually see the city.

We woke up early and went to the Puebla Magico, Chiapas de Corzo, for some breakfast/smoothies and then jumped in the van to drive the short 60 kilometres, which only took around an hour. 

We arrived with no issues and drove straight to a viewpoint of the city; it was nothing special so we drove the incredibly narrow streets to a campground close to the historic downtown.  We arrived so early that we had the entire day to explore San Cristobal so that is exactly what we did.

The town reminded us of San Miguel de Allende but with far less tourists and more “regular people” who are not dependent on tourist dollars.  The town itself, and the whole state of Chiapas for that matter, is mostly indigenous people to Mexico, so the whole place had a mix of Mexican, Indigenous and Spanish influence meaning it felt quite unique. 

We explored and took pictures for hours until our legs were exhausted and it was time to return to the campground.  During our adventure we saw beautiful church’s, Spanish monuments, grand plazas, markets including a souvenir market with shirts, shoes and souvenirs you actually wanted to purchase.   Humorously the souvenir market, which was located at one of the large churches in San Cristobal reminded Paul of the bible story where “Jesus lost his shit”.  Kendra had no idea what Paul was talking about until he showed her the story of the Cleansing of the Temple and the various pictures of Jesus flipping tables at a market in a church.

We see why so many people come here and end up staying far longer than they initially planned.  We seriously thought about being those people.

 

March 10^th - A religious experience

After a woman from Belgium said we should see the town of Chamula, Kendra had read a lot about this community just north of San Cristobal known for their religious syncretism- where two religions come together to make a hybrid religion. Those involved in the church believe all the saints are actual brothers and sisters of Jesus and as they would traditionally pray to different deities to help them, they pray to different saints.  They also bring animals to the church for sacrificing in front of the statues of the saints, so there is definitely a blending of Christianity and traditional Mayan rituals.

Our first stop in the town was the cemetery where different crosses marking graves meant different things, white for babies, green/blue for children and black for adults.  We had read people may be buried on top of each other meaning grave plots will often have multiple crosses and pine branches adorn each grave.  The church at the graveyard, which lacked a roof, was a marker of the Spanish’s failed attempt to convert the locals to Catholicism.

The San Juan Bautista church was quite an empowering religious experience.  We were forbidden to take pictures within it ($4200 peso fine if you do, plus who knows what the local people and the saints and deities would do to you as well), but when entering you are first greeted by the smell of warm pine needles, with countless candles on either side of the building.  There are no pews or anywhere to sit, instead the ground is covered with pine needles which people will push aside to sit on the ground and light candles letting the wax melt and get stuck on the floor.  People would sit with their animal sacrifice or prayer beads praying to saints showcased in display cases on the walls.  There is no Jesus on a cross, instead where Jesus typical is in a church is the patron saint of the church Juan Bautista.  The whole place is chaotic and impossible to look away from.  Each parishioner or grouping of parishioners is actively involved in something meaning there is a lot to look at and a lot happening all around the church.

We grabbed a few things from the open air market in the town which surprised quite a few locals who were just used to tourists gawking at them as they purchased fruit and vegetables, or uniquely to this market live chicken.

We left the town and drove straight to a waterfall which was recommended to us.  Once again it wasn’t technically far away, but due to rush-hour traffic in San Cristobal and busy roads in communities further south we arrived late to the waterfall.  The waterfall was quite a hike to see so we decided not to see it tonight.  This was fine as the parking lot for the waterfall doubled as a campground.

 

March 11^th – El Chiflon

The waterfall at El Chiflon is known to be busy and it was a Saturday so we wanted to start the hike up to the waterfall as soon as we woke up.  By around 9am we were walking, which turned into hiking.  The parking lot is at the base of a river and the top view point is around a 400 meter change in elevation.

There were multiple viewpoints, but the best one was of the Bride’s Veil Fall portion of the water fall and because we got there early we had the view point to ourselves. 

We did decide to see the upper portion of the waterfalls which was grueling but gave us nice views of the valley.  We are not sure it was truly worth the sweat to reach the highest waterfall, but we were glad we did it.

After returning to our favourite viewpoint, we decided to purchase a drink, (because there was a store that was opened that sold beer at around11am) and sit and watch the falls while we tried to slow our hearts and stop sweating.

After seeing the waterfall, we drove to Montebello Lakes National Park right on the Mexico Guatemala border.  It is unbelievable to think that we are so close to another country after being in Mexico for so long. 

This area is almost cold at around 20 degrees after being exposed to heat for so long, but it looks exactly like Canada, beautiful clear lakes and diverse forests.  It really reminded us of Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan.  We even decided to get a camping spot right on the lake and watched the sun slowly set beyond the hills.