Central America 2017

January - February 2017
A 52-day adventure by Meaghan's Travels
  • 79footprints
  • 10countries
  • 52days
  • 446photos
  • 0videos
  • 40.8kkilometers
  • 35.2kkilometers
  • Arrived!

    January 2, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    So interesting flight sitting next to a very very very large man. He took up 1/4 of my space so that made it a very tight squeeze!
    He had two large plastic bags of food and pretty much ate the entire flight including the flight meals!
    He started off with three Macdonald burgers, fries and mcnuggets then had the airline lunch!
    Then after that meal he had two boxes of something fried with sauce!!
    When he wasn't eating he was drinking soft drink and he had bottles lined up on his tray.

    Anyway landed at 6am picked my hire car and off I went. Just did various shopping for trip. But it was tiring dealing with the traffic and concentrating on staying on the right side of the road after a sleepless flight!
    My budget motel 6 was great for the price though.

    Next day had a frantic morning looking for a citibank atm and figuring out where the petrol cap release was (well hidden as it turns out!) and trying to get to airport leaving plenty of checkin time for a US airport international flight - panic is an understatement!

    So off to Cancun!
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  • Day 1

    Cancun

    January 3, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Two hour wait after landing for my pre booked shuttle and most of that was standing in the heat outside in a tiny space! Chaotic! One poor girl fainted.
    Anyway after checking into my next budget hotel (another great hotel with killer air conditioning) just on the outskirts of the central district set off for some dinner - 5 hour flight left LA 9.30am and arrived 5.30pm so by now its dark and I am exhausted. Not much close by so hotel staff tell me the biggest mall in Cancun is a 10 minute walk.

    I set off. First mistake - I should have gone to bed and had chocolate for dinner. The heat! After 5 minutes I was dripping!
    Next I am basically walking down a freeway! There was a path but then it would turn into large grassed areas with rocks which I had to climb over! They didn't tell me I needed treking shoes and poles!

    Next I am walking next to bushes where I hear noises so I walk close to the road - then I see a man with plastic bags walk into the bushes. I walk faster.

    Then I see it - superama by Walmart! Don't judge me people I had to eat quickly and get back to the hotel! And the Mall was nowhere in sight and I had been walking 20 minutes. 10 minutes! Maybe if you are an olympian walker!
    So on a full stomach of the worst pizza I bolted back!

    And that was my day 2!
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  • Day 2

    Cancun lets try again!

    January 4, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Amazing breakfast included in the hotel stay which I paid for later! Oh well but it was good!

    My plan was to make it to a bank get some peso and then see the sights!

    I made it to the mall after a litre of water and just before I collapsed! As an added bonus my face was bright red and took an hour to return to normal!

    Then I pondered for some time. Do I walk to a bus station wait in the heat and then go to the hotel zone on the beach and walk the strip catching the local minibuses along the way?
    In my backpacking days the answer would have been of course! I agonised as I am meant to be travelling on a budget!
    No the heat is diabolical so I hire a taxi to drive me wait while I take my tourist snaps and head back to air conditioned safety in the mall!

    Cancun is good as a transport hub where you stay and do your day trips or if you just want to lay by a pool and party at night.

    The hotel strips had your usual high end shopping, malls and lots of bars and restaurants.

    Eventually got the standard Cancun shot taken by my cheerful taxi driver! You have to take that one second opportunity when it hits unless you want to queue for ages in the heat. Was the shot worth it? No!

    The internet access has been very hit and miss with my global sim. One night I woke up at 3.30am and it was working so away I went with my travel research for 25 mintues then it was gone!

    Later that day set off for Playa del Carmen where I will be based for 3 days. I opted for a taxi which I got a good price on - the heat the heat!!!
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  • Day 3

    One with the Dolphins!

    January 5, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Great day today!

    Caught a ferry to Cozumel and hired a car as only way to get around island.

    The best beach Punta Sur is right at the end where you can lay in a hammock gazing at a gorgeous beach with a margarita in hand!

    But the best part of the day was swimming with two dolphins, a sea lion and a mother and baby manatee. Wow!

    Had an hour with the sea lion with only four of us - such a beautiful animal. Got to cradle her and got a kiss!!

    The dolphins were incredible - did the dolphin on each side while you hold a fin and they drag you along and then each one pushes you up in the air so you actually stand up and do a big face plant at the end - fun!

    The best one was when an american women's bikini bottom slipped down but she managed to stay upright in the air while pulling it up! Well done to her I say!
    Just as good was the reaction of the six mormons from Utah who didn't know where to look!

    The manatees swim around following the cabbage leaves held by the trainer - they are incredible up close.

    Paid an exorbitant price for the photos and that was after I got them down by $40US with two prints thrown in! Tripadvisor is full of complaints about the cost. But I wanted those photos!!

    Which brings me to the rip off prices here in touristy Playa del Carmen! I wanted a cheap fan and was quoted from $15 to $64!!!!! As if!!

    Its just not worth shopping from the small shops as the bargaining in the heat is exhausting.

    Even though its touristy its a good place to base yourself and walking the main shopping street is fun looking at all the restaurants and goings on. Some of the bars have swings! Now thats a bar I can go with!

    Photos - the lovely Punta Sur with the hamocks!
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  • Day 3

    The most expensive photos in the world!!

    January 5, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Yes the first two photos are the two free prints I got because I have nice eyes! Yes this was the line I was given but hey I accepted it and bought those photos!!! The rest are on a disc and not too bad!! Here are some of them.Read more

  • Day 4

    Thank goodness for the turtles!

    January 6, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Awesome day today!

    My aim was to start early and drive to Akumal Beach to swim with giant turtles! As the bus tours turn up the sand gets kicked up and visability is not the best!

    The night before I had to walk all around town in the dreaded heat trying to find a rental car as its peak season at the moment. After about five attempts I finally got one then staggered back to hotel and collapsed!

    Next day I arrive at 7.30am to pick up the car and 45 minutes later I am off! Yes you have to allow abit of time in Mexico when renting a car! Everything is done in triplicate followed by lots of time on the computer. Then you sign contracts invoices and heaven knows what else. On some forms I was initialling twice and then signing and of course its all in spanish! And like the wise lawyer I am I signed it all!

    Then you do a detailed inspection of the car where every single scratch and dent is pointed out to you and then marked on a car map in triplicate. You then sign that. My map had so many markings I am not sure how they would notice a new scratch!

    So off I go........ to Walmart! Yes Walmart to buy cheap snorkle gear. Everywhere else is a rip off so this is where you go! If you hire all the time you end up paying the same and the hire stuff is the bare basics. Belize is meant to have some of the best snorkeling in the world. But more to lug around.

    So with my new pink snorkle gear, because females, even adult females, only want pink apparently, I finally set off.

    Mexican drivers. The worst. If you dare to make a turn you get honked. If you are not doing twice the speed limit they come up an inch behind you. And they hate letting you in! My god you have to be aggressive and fast! All of this is exhausting me!

    Arrive at the beach and set off. Just me in my costume with my snorkle gear - everything else in the car.
    First I get stopped and told my fins are illegal! So not wanting my new pink fins to be stolen I go back to the car. I will just point out its 35 degrees with 90% humidity.
    I make it back to the beach and start swimming out. After a while I get stopped by the turtle police and am told a life jacket is mandatory. So back I swim find a hire place, get the price then trek back to the car to get my money. These turtles had better be good I am thinking!

    Finally life jacket on I am swimming out to sea like there is no tomorrow!

    I swim up to groups as that is probably where the turtles are. After a while I finally spot one but there is so much sand it is hard to see. This might be it I am thinking sadly.

    I see people further out so I think even if I have to swim to the carribean to get into some clear water I'm doing it! I see a few in clear water with some other people around and then I swim out further.
    Thank god for the life jacket I am thinking as its choppy.
    Then I finally strike gold. A turtle all to myself in cystal clear water! Brilliant. If you watch long enough it will surface then go back down to keep on feeding. Its fascinating and I can't take my eyes off it! Its about a foot from me when it surfaces.

    I could have spent the whole day staring at them but I had cenotes to visit! Will cover them in my next entry!
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  • Day 5

    Cenote heaven!

    January 7, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    I am obsessed with the cenotes (limestone sinkholes where you can swim)!

    After the turtle swimming I visited three - Cristalino, Eden and Azul.

    Cristalino was the best. Very pretty setting with mainly families setting up base for the day. It was very relaxing and just fasinating snorkeling looking at all the rock formations and watching the fish.

    Then you can sit on the side and dangle your feet in watching the fish swim around them.

    Next was Eden which is very deep in parts and so diving is popular. Its amazing staring down unable to see the bottom in parts. This one had the best rock formations.

    Last one was Azul which was abit disappointing as its mostly quite shallow with the deep part reserved for jumpers. And the jumping is the main thing at this cenote so its loud as the crowd clap and cheer the jumpers and if a young child jumps off the crowd goes wild! Aby I bet MM would jump with a life jacket on! So this one had alot of families with young kids and then the young crowd who are there to jump.

    But it has nice paths where you can wander through the jungle and find a few quiet spots so it grew on me.

    The photos are all from the Azul cenote.
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  • Day 6

    Ocean views

    January 8, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    So after a busy few days today was my chill day and a chance to catch up on my blogging.
    Found a great place called Indigo Beach which was right on the beach - literally. My research told me that it had wi fi and the waiters left you alone - perfect!
    It was abit out of the centre so it was more chill.
    Alot of the places play loud club music during the day!

    You can see my table in the corner where I spent about five hours helped by a margarita and some authentic mexican nachos. But check out what I got when I ordered 'abit of fruit with some yogurt'! Servings are large here.
    You could even lay on a sunbed in this cafe.

    At one point it started raining and everyone disappeared so I had the place to myself. So nice sitting under cover right on the beach in the rain with a margarita!

    Walked back along the beach - the beach is receding as you can see and all of the cafes restaurants and hotels look like they are getting closer to the water!

    Finally a shot of me with my special heat/humidity hairstyle!
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  • Day 7

    Tulum Mexico and my first mayan ruins

    January 9, 2017 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Today we set off for Tulum. We had the morning in Playa del Carmen and my good intentions of getting up early and going for breakfast in a beach cafe didn’t eventuate as a sleep in was too tempting.

    Tulum as a town is nothing much and is set along the highway. Our hotel was near the town centre which is handy for the cheaper restaurants, atms, car and bike hire etc.

    The beach is about a five minute drive and is quite nice (as an Australian I am a tough marker!).

    So after we arrived I was quick to hire a bike and set off for the Tulum ruins which have a spectacular ocean setting. The rest of the photos are taken at the ruins and you can see my bike straight from the 1950s! The turquoise waters were stunning. I think the Maya occupants would have felt pretty good waking up there every day!
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