Centro

This is my last post from Mexico 🇲🇽 I am travelling further through Central America from now on since I am flying out of Panama City in the beginning of February.
In the little more than one month in Mexico, I have gathered some really nice memories that I would not want to miss. And
Bacalar - my last destination here - just added further to that. 😊
I came here a few days ago from Tulum. The first days were a bit rainy but my last day here was just perfect.

When I arrived in my hostel (the Guarumbo), I met many Germans there. Fabian from Berlin was working there as a volunteer. Paul and Harry from Stuttgart had just started their 6 month long journey in Mexico 🇲🇽 after finishing university. Nadine and Kathrin from Augsburg were in the final stages of their 3 weeks long vacation. The hostel had 12 beds in total and at least half of these beds were occupied by Germans 😅
On Wednesday, there was not much going on. That weekday is usually the day were no boats drive on the lagoon of Bacalar. And in the morning it was cloudy ☁️ and sometimes rainy 🌧️ anyways. So, Nadine, Kathrin and I only walked to the tiny city centre and the public beach. It was still warm. So, I took a dip in the crystal clear water to freshen up. Afterwards we went to the restaurant “La Playita” (located directly at the lagoon) and spend the majority of the afternoon there - chilling, swimming 🏊 and enjoying our time. They had nice food and drinks which were also affordable. And also the sun ☀️ came out for a little bit when we were there. Later it was raining heavily again so that we had to move away from our cozy beach loungers to a more sheltered area of the restaurant. The weather wasn’t getting much better afterwards but at least it stopped raining. Therefore, I left the place at 5 pm to pick up my laundry and to gather some info for my onward travel to Guatemala 🇬🇹 - Nadine and Kathrin stayed a little longer.
In the evening I simply joined Paul, Harry and Fabian as well as Till (from Hamburg) to drink some beers 🍻 at our hostel.

On the next day I went to eat some really good breakfast at “Madre Masa” and spent the morning with organising my sailing trip ⛵️ to the San Blas islands for the end of January. The weather was still a bit cloudy but already way better than the day before. Towards lunch time the sky really cleared up. So, I could finally go on my 2-3 hour boat trip through the lagoon - the main reason why I came here. 😎
The lagoon/lake is fed by an underground river system turning into 7 cenotes and flows some 2 or 3 km downstream into the Caribbean Sea. I was pretty lucky with my tour since there were only three of us in the beginning: Dany and Emily - a really nice couple from France 🇫🇷 - as well as me. Our captain drove us to the Pirate Bay on one end of the lagoon where we went swimming in the incredibly turquoise water - I found it even more impressive when I learned that this is fresh water! 😮
Actually only 25 minutes were planned for this stop but our captain decided to go back and to pick up 10 more people. We could enjoy the lagoon in the meantime. 😊 In fact, we had more than an hour in this beautiful place until the captain picked us up again and people from the new group also had their chance to test the waters. 💦 Our captain drove us to the “Cenote Negro” afterwards which is (according to our guide) 150m deep - one of the deepest I have heard of so far. We were not allowed to go swimming 🏊 though because of currents that would suck us down into the cylindrical body 🕳️ of the cenote. The next cenote we visited - the Cenote Esmeralda - was not so dangerous. It was “only” 50 meters deep, cone-shaped and also a place with some nice looking buildings among many palm trees and a very relaxing atmosphere. For a second I was thinking “if I would buy an apartment anywhere in the world, it would probably be here”. 😎
Of course, we went swimming in the lushly green water again - 30 minutes and this time there were no delays. 😅 Then we went to see the only fresh water Stromatolites (biogenic sedimentary rocks that are formed by sediment particles or dissolved substances from the metabolism of microorganisms) in the world as well as Birds island 🦅 (where birds come each year to give birth to their offspring). We ended our trip in the Pirate Bay again - the place where we started - and had yet another 30 minutes of swimming and exploring there. I watched over the shoulder of Emily who was testing her drone. 🤖 So, I was able to see the video footage she was recording with it. The area looked even more stunning from above. She offered to send me a link with the videos once she is back in France. If I get hold of the footage then I will post one video here. 😊
In the evening I met Simon from the Netherlands in my hostel. He has just arrived that day but was planning to continue to travel to Guatemala 🇬🇹 on the next day - like me. The day before, I had found the company “Alianza Bacalar” near the ADO bus station that does the entire transfer from Bacalar to Guatemala including the boarder crossings in and out of Belize 🇧🇿 I shared my information with him as well as Paul and Harry (since they also wanted to go). Now we will be all on the same bus to Flores. 😅Read more