Latinoamérica 2017

December 2016 - September 2017
A 264-day adventure by About a girl who travels
  • 140footprints
  • 14countries
  • 264days
  • 636photos
  • 0videos
  • 26.4kkilometers
  • 11.3kkilometers
  • Day 1

    Good bye Germany

    December 28, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    So this is where it all begins!
    After one last night in cologne with my friend Alena she dropped me of at the airport. It was nice to get a personal good bye, thank you Lenchen :)
    The flight was long and due to the low cost there was no entertainment - which made it even longer. But I met a few other backpackers on the plane and as this was gonna be the start to my big adventure nothing could spoil my good mood!Read more

  • Day 2

    Cancun

    December 29, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Cancun is not as bad as i expected but I also didn't see much of it.
    I managed to check into my hostel without switching to english (ok, I didn't have to say much in spanish but at least I understood everything they said ;)). Then had an nice and authentical first dinner at a street food stall in parque las palapas - burrito con pollo - and a beer with some guys I met @ my hostel.
    After a good night of sleep I'm now enjoying a sweet breakfast of the roof top terrace of my hostel before heading to Tulum later.
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  • Day 3

    Tulum

    December 30, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Tulum was the right choice as the first proper stop of my trip. The hostel is nice and relaxed and the free bikes make it easy to get around.
    The first night I went out with a funny crowed of people from my hostel. We had tacos and beer (covered by paper tissue) on the street. The fun part was that we all put a lot of what we thought was guacamole on our tacos before trying it first ;)
    Later we went to a bar called "Batey" for mojitos and were surprised to find some really good life music there.
    I spend the next day on the beach to catch my first sunburn and get adjusted to my new way of life ;)
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  • Day 4

    Zona Arqueologica de Tulum

    December 31, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    I had been to the ruins before last time I was in Tulum 8 years ago. But as I remembered them being set at the coast really nicely I wanted to go back there anyway. Yesterday I took my time getting ready and having breakfast and when I made it to the entrance around 10:30 it was already really crowded. So I decided to get up early today to go to the ruins right around 8 and save breakfast for later.
    But when I woke up the rain was pouring heavily. I thought about just staying in bed but figured it might actually be good to go - as nobody else will get up early in the rain, right? And it turned out to be the right decision - I was almost by myself.
    Even though it was raining on and off the whole time the sun also came out. It was nice to see the ruins in another "more dramatic" setting than last time. And of course the sun and the rain came together for a nice rainbow.
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  • Day 4

    Feliz año en Tulum

    December 31, 2016 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    I was still hanging out at the hostel with a few people trying to figure out where to go for the night when the hostel stuff showed up asking us to join their New Years Dinner. One of the girls from the hostel had her family from Argentina come to Tulum - her mum, her aunt and her grandmother (they reminded me so much on the golden girls). We all sat together along one big table and got a nice home cooked dinner :)
    After we had finished our delicious meal and half a bottle of tequila with juice we got on our bikes to get down to the beach.
    Even though (or maybe because) we didn't find the big party down there it was a great experience to spend new years at the beach with a lot of stars and nice people!
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  • Day 6

    Bacalar

    January 2, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    When I got of the bus in Bacalar it felt like I had finally made it to mexico. Tulum was nice but still quite touristy. Just walking from the bus stop towards the hostel I already really liked the little town. But when I then caught the first glimpse of the lagoon, i was hooked.
    My hostel is situated right at the lagoon with it's own pier. I decided to extend my stay right away and just enjoyed my time...
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  • Day 7

    Bordercrossing to Belize

    January 3, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Usually getting around is quite easy when you are traveling. But sometimes it's just hard to find out how to get somewhere and you are not quite sure if you gonna make your way to wherever you wanna go.
    So today was one of these days where I would answer the question "Where are you going today?" over breakfast with "I will try to make my way to Belize...".

    I wanted to go to Caye Caulker. A small island just of the coast in Belize. I knew you could go to Belize City first by bus and then take a boat from there. But there was also one boat a day leaving from Chetumal in Mexico straight to the island. I had seen a sign for that in the bus station saying "buy you ticket here" when I got to Bacalar. But when I went back there yesterday to buy my ticket they only gave me a phone and the guy on the other end told me he would put down my name. But as he had asked me to be in Chetumal by 11 am (even though the boat was not leaving before 3 pm) it sounded like he wouldn't be able to actual hold my ticket without payment. But what was really weird about this call was the guy saying the ticket would be 200 pesos which is like 10 euros. Everywhere else it said tickets were $55. Another girl at the hostel who wanted to go a day later had gotten the same answer on the phone so maybe the guy was telling the truth?
    I wasn't quite sure about the whole thing but decided to go to Chetumal in the morning to see if I could find this guy and his cheap tickets and, if I couldn't make it on the boat, just go to Belize City and take it from there.

    I went to the bus station with Annarieke who I had met at my hostel and who wanted to go to Tulum with the 9 o'clock bus. There was supposed to be an hourly bus to Chetumal so 9 would be a good start to make it to my ticket before 11. It probably mean I would have a few hours to spare in Chetumal before getting on the boat but that should be fine, right?
    At the Busstation I found out there was no bus at 9 and I had to take the one at 10. Bus the bus was only supposed to take 35-40 minutes so nothing to worry about.
    When the bus arrived all the seats were taken but luckily the bus driver let me sit on the steps at the entrance so I didn't have to stand all the time.

    We got to the first big bus station in Chetumal just before 11 but I had seen there was another one closer to the ferry. I managed to ask the bus driver if this was the final stop or if there was another one and was really proud when he understood what I wanted and told me to stay on the bus for the next stop.
    When I got of at the final stop I had a look around but couldn't see any sign for ferry tickets being sold here so I decided to head to the ferry terminal. Probably I gonna meet my guy there. I thought about walking but a guy I had talked to on the bus asked if I wanted to share a taxi. It was already after 11 so better hurry up.
    Down at the ferry terminal I could only make out the normal ferry ticket office with the big sign saying $55. Where was this guy? He had given me his number so I called him. He answered and could even remember me from the day before. Unfortunately he told me his stand was at the bus station! I must have missed it. But he might have cheaper tickets and I had some time to spare anyway. So i walked back to the Busstation for about 10-15 minutes. At least I saw a bit of the town and even found a place were I could sit down later for lunch while waiting on the bus. When I made it to the bus station I still couldn't see his stand. I called him again just to find out that he was at the other bus station. The big one out of the center where I had stopped first.

    After talking to 3 different collectivo drivers (collectivo are mini vans functioning as the public bus system around town. They are easy to use in a small town like Tulum where you have only one street with 2 directions. But it gets more complicated in bigger towns like this one) I found the right one who brought me back to my first stop in Chetumal. When I walked in I could see the blue stand right away and was greeted by a guy with a big smile saying: "It's you, isn't it?".
    2 guys standing beside him looked pretty disappointed to see me. As it turned out there were only 2 seats left and the guy had told them that he had promised me to hold the ticket. I was really relieved to find out that i got one of last 2 ticket but when I asked how much I owed him he said 1100 pesos. $55.

    The moment you figure out you spend over 1 hour getting around town from bus station to bus station to ferry terminal and back and forward again just to find out that you could have gotten your ticket for the same price right away is usually a point for a breakdown. But when I had made it back to the boat terminal and was sitting on the pier with a beer in my hand and the view over the blue ocean i had to laugh. It was already 1:30 by now and they were gonna start immigration and check in around 2. This was not the way I planned to spend my spare time in Chetumal but it was still fun :)

    After this adventure the whole bordercrossing by boat went pretty easy. Even though it was pretty funny. For example we had to put down our handluggage in 2 rows on the floor for customs to check it. But the dog was much more interested in other stuff than our luggage. When we got to San Pedros (our first stop in Belize before Caye Caulker) we had to form a line according to a number they had written on a post-it and put on our passports at check in 3 hours earlier.

    And after a long day of traveling I had finally made it to Caye Caulker!
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  • Day 8

    Caye Caulker

    January 4, 2017 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I had somehow expected Caye Caulker would be smaller and probably less touristy but I was still struck by it's colorful houses and nice little outlets along the beach.
    It's a place to chill and relax and definitely a place for party. I had met Anneliese from England on the boat from Chetumal and together we had a great time here.
    We stayed at Bella's Backpackers (the first night I actually stayed in a hammock on there patio as everything else was booked) which, with it's laid back vibe, was the perfect home on this island.
    We went on a snorkeling trip to the reef and swam with nurse sharks and sting rays.
    The typical night would start with sneaking into Dirty Mc Nastys (another hostel) to get some of their free rum punch and end at the sports bar where everybody on this island ended up. Which means you would meet everybody here who you had met during the day. One night we even made it to the Reggae Bar - the club where everybody goes once the sports bar shuts down.
    I stayed for 3 nights and figured after just being at the coast so far it was time to head inland now...
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  • Day 11

    San Ignacio & Actun Tunichil Muknal

    January 7, 2017 in Belize ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I had decided to make only 2 stops in Belize on my way to Guatemala. San Ignacio should be a good contrast to the Beach & Party Island Caye Caulker.
    I took the boat to get to Belize City which I had decided to skip as a full day stop. Just the 15 minutes walking from the boat to the bus station proofed me right. Belize City is just another City and even during the day it felt pretty sketchy.
    After the fancy ADO Busses in Mexico i actually enjoyed getting on the local bus to San Ignacio. For shorter trips they are really ok and you get to learn more about the country and the people on a local bus.

    The first surprise in San Ignacio was to meet Dinesha again. A girl I had met in Caye Caulker under some weird circumstances. Let's say... even though we are complete opposites - we seem to attract the same type of guy ;)
    Anyway it was nice to meet her again to actually get to know her and laugh a lot about this strange night in Caye Caulker.

    San Ignacio is the starting point to some tours you can take to the caves in the area. Even though I'm not a big fan of guided tours I should take the chance to see Actun Tunichil Muknal - an ancient Maya Site in an three-mile-long cave.

    You are not allowed to bring a camera (we got some pictures from the agency afterwards) and as you have to swim to get into the cave you actually just go in your swimsuit and watershoes. You have to swim and climb trough an amazing landscape of stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave in complete darkness with the only light coming from your groups headlamps till you reach the main chamber where you find tons on relicts like old pots and the skeletons of the sacrificed mayan people! It's incredible they are not taking away that stuff to put it in some museum.

    On the way out of the cave we were by ourselves with just our group of 7 people. Our guide made us turn of our lights and let us walk through the waistdeep water in complete darkness (you really couldn't see anything).

    This tour was so worth its money. Definitely recommended!
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