Getting There: Is a Cheap Plane Ticket worth Four Grueling Days of Bus Travel?

Most tourists fly into Belize City, but I was able to save over $200 in airfare by getting discount tickets to Cancun, Mexico and then taking a bus to Belize.  I spent very little time there, just dinner and a margarita and a free night at a nice hotel on the return trip, and that was fine with me. Cancun has posh resorts and beautiful beaches, but I have no interest in the Spring Break party crowd.

Logistics: 

Buses run every few hours south from Cancun to the state capitol, Chetumal, on the border with Belize. If you spring for a first class bus (US$20), you get air-conditioning (bring a sweater), a movie dubbed into Spanish (bring earplugs), and six hours of sleep (bring a pillow).  At the border, you take a taxi to Corozal, Belize where you can catch a puddle jumper ($40, ½ hour) or water taxi ($22, 2 hours) to the islands. 

I was able to save over $200 in airfare by getting discount tickets to Cancun and bussing to Belize.

Sure, a lot of travel, but it all would have been fine if not for three hours of mechanical delays at Chicago O’Hare and a missed connection in Mexico City. I got in so late that the customs officials had gone home—nobody stamped my passport. I use a calling card to check my voice mail, found a message from Ian and Matt explaining our contingency plan, and put my Spanish to work explaining to the taxi driver how to get me to the rendezvous point. “I need to get to Hostel Tulum.  No it’s not in Tulum, it’s on Tulum Avenue in Cancun.  You’ve never heard of it?  No I don’t have a phone number or an address, I was just told to meet my buddies there.  Sure, we’ll just drive along Tulum Avenue and find it.  I think Matt said to drive toward the McDonald’s and turn right at the bank.  I have no idea what it looks like.  Don’t worry about it; just let me off at the bus station.” I would have set out on foot but I was scared of the feral dogs and too tired to ask for directions. By the time I met Ian and Matt at the Cancun bus station, it was 4AM and I’d been awake for 24 hours. They were little better off, having caught two hours of sleep at the hostel and a lot of bedbug bites.

The trip back was far worse, at least for Ian and me.   The San Juan bus company has a supposedly non-stop luxury bus from El Remate, Guatemala to Chetumal, Mexico via Belize City that supposedly takes 7 hours. Actually, it took 10 hours, with stops every hour or so to adjust the loose baggage on the roof. Also, it wasn’t really a luxury bus. It was crowded, there was no A/C, no stops for food, and no way to recline your seat.  Border crossings were particularly harrowing, as we’d run out of money and weren’t sure we’d have enough to cover the exit fees and bribes. Somehow, we made it home safely. But I’m getting ahead of myself. On to Belize!