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!