Cancun - first stop in Mexico

NO PHOTOS SORRY - if only the robbers hadn't taken our camera!!

Sunday 14th October – San Pedro – Cancun

Today was yet another long travel day as we wanted to get from San Pedro (Belize) to Cancun (Mexico) which was going to take us most of the day. Our first leg was taking the 8am speed boat back to Belize City, in the rain, although we took refuge in the little bit of shelter the boat offered. For our next leg we booked a bus and to our horror it was San Juan travel that operated the only service. As we had no other option, we ended up having to take this bus up to Mexico. It was really annoying as not only did we not want to travel with them, we had to wait about an hour for the supposed 10.30am bus to show up, so Leigh in the meantime booked our accommodation in Cancun.

When the mini bus arrived it was soon apparent that it had been over booked (we would expect nothing less from San Juan!) and about 3 couples who had bought genuine tickets were left on the side walk as the bus departed extremely full and 1 hour late! We travelled through hurricane ravaged country side in Belize and also areas that had experience some heavy flooding. Funnily enough the 4 of us were all still anxious whenever the van slowed down or when people where standing or crossing the road. The bus ride was also really uncomfortable due to the over crowding and went rather slowly with no comfort stops at all. We finally made it to the Mexican border at around 4.30pm. After sorting out all the documentation we made our way into our last country of our Latin American experience. The last problem we encountered was all our luggage had been removed from the van so in another torrential downpour the driver had to pack them back on the top of the roof and came back into the van totally drenched. From the border city it wasn't too long until we arrived at the ADO bus terminal to catch a coach up to Cancun. Although the bus ride was a long one, it wasn't too bad and we arrived into Cancun before midnight, so checked straight into our hotel before heading out for takeaways. To Leigh's delight the tacos from the local vendors were not only cheap but simply delicious so he decided to try a few varieties.

Monday 15th October – Cancun

After 5 months of avoiding bugs and insects etc in our hostels, Leigh woke up to a massive cockroach running across his chest and after paying almost nothing in a lot of places we have stayed at, we were horrified to find this in a place that we had paid $50US!

After the early morning fright, we headed to the internet to find out about credit cards and cameras etc. Jo finally got hold of HSBC who advised the credit card had already been dispatched and was waiting for her at the Fed Ex branch in Cancun. This was amazing news for us as finally we have a card back albeit an emergency credit card with no pin, but nevertheless a credit card to use! We then headed over to the 100% Natural cafe for Brunch which is so yummy. All the food tastes totally organic and we even got free bread and tasty rolls, which we kept asking for more of! After brunch we headed to the Fed Ex branch and were so relieved the credit card was actually there waiting for us. After all this excitement we decided to find another cheaper hotel on our walk home, but the hostel was booked out so we ended up going back to our hotel and negotiating a cheaper rate which worked! We were all getting a bit bored of the admin work so decided to go shopping to replace all the items that got stolen. We caught a cab down to one of the largest shopping malls, but were all disappointed with the selection. Not only was it expensive but there was nothing there we really wanted. So we jumped in another cab to Plaza de Americas which was much better. The boys found the camera they wanted, although didn't buy as it is so much cheaper to buy on the internet, Alex found a pair of jeans, Jo found a pair of Havianas and sunglasses and poor Leigh got nothing! Later on that evening we decided to go back to 100% Natural for dinner as brunch was so good. Dinner certainly did not disappoint, it was again very fresh, full of veges and so yummy! We headed to bed around midnight after planning our next day.