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The Yucatan Peninsula is made up of three states: Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo. We've already talked about Campeche and Yucatan a little. But Cancun and what follows further south belongs to Quintana Roo, this state is already bathed by the Caribbean Sea. They pride themselves on being the safest state and the state with the highest economic growth.
In Cancun we feel a little closer to Europe: hotels, cafes, restaurants that we recognise. Even in people's lifestyle. The city is confusing to drive around but we spent two amazing days there following the planning of a Utopik wedding. We'll talk about that another day.
But it's not cities like this that make up Mexico and we quickly leave the city to do the entire coast. We left the Gulf of Mexico and entered the Caribbean Sea. And then we had a week.
There are several villages that line up along the coast. We start with Puerto Morelos, a fishing village that still retains its picturesque side. We slept in front of the beach in an exclusive place, a little away from the village. In the morning we went to have breakfast at a small bar with a lot of looks and we met David. Spanish, from Malaga who came to Mexico with a Cuban friend. There are two children here. He told us that arriving here was like taking a trip to the past. That in his head has the phrase his father always told him: there is no place to live like Spain. He likes being here because people live longer, enjoy more, but the problem of drug cartels has already reached this area, he says. A week ago they killed two. And the problem is not just for those who are in the drug world, the problem is that it is a mafia and they start demanding money from those who have businesses. That's how they killed Acapulco, once a luxury vacation spot in Mexico.
Two days later, we headed to Playa del Carmen. We didn't last longer than a lunch. Only tourism and as such exorbitant prices. We were tired from the heat and decided to stop before Tulum. We used the iOverlander app, which we talked about here, and we slept close to a beachfront hotel. The sea, with waves for the first time, rocked us! We woke up to torrential rain and headed to Tulum. We got to know a wonderful bar where we lingered over breakfast: Burritos Amor.
The rain didn't stop what was bothering us, it was Ivo's years. We thought about looking for a hostel to sleep in, but the prices weren't in line with our wallet. We decided to drive to our next destination: Bacalar, the lagoon of the seven colors.
We arrived as the sun was setting. We found a small hotel to sleep in, it was still raining. We didn't see anything. The next day we woke up to go to the vet with Duna for the usual check-up before crossing the border. We had a message from a German couple who are traveling and were also here in Bacalar.
We went for a late breakfast and shared stories and difficulties.
A trip to the vet followed, all was well with Duna and we went to the center of the village. We parked the mammoth and we can enjoy a place that is opening up for tourism. The amount of tourists that are here is incredible. Lots of backpackers, some overlanders. There are still no gift shops, no Starbucks, or mcDonalds. It's all very small, beautiful, picturesque and authentic.
We approached the lagoon at dusk and saw two of the seven colors. A canoe trip is arranged for the following day. It's the rainy season and between the sun's rays every now and then a huge waterspout falls.
Bacalar had this ability to surprise us. It was a great way out before the Belize border. It's a small village, with a lot of backpackers, people who moved here and opened their businesses with more sustainable policies. We had a wonderful veggie burger at Mango y Chile for lunch and made friends with an Italian couple. All this combined with trips to Lagoa, walks in the center of the village and then, at the weekend, the long-awaited Mexican wedding!
We almost didn't bring the Pirate with us. The Pirate is a dog whose owner abandoned him here and that every day visits the cafes and restaurants where the owner used to go. He saw us with Duna and decided to follow us everywhere. He went with us to shops, cafes, people thought it was ours. We gave him food and after his belly was full he went looking for other tourists to ask for more food!! This Pirate is very smart.
