Saturday, January 7, began with us waking up at Blancaneaux Lodge. They had held a party with Belizean cuisine and a Marimba band Friday night--good times, but everyone was moving slow the next morning.
I worked during the morning while Rhea went to visit friends at Moonracer. I waited for her before lunch, and shouldn't have--she had so much fun there she came back too late. We quickly checked out and drove down the Georgeville road. Rhea stopped for snacks at the junction with the San Antonio road:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
Once on the Western highway, we went west to Central Farm to visit friends at the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic.
Delightful people, and we stayed too long. We left at 4 pm, had to return our Jimny to Budget in Belize City by 5 pm, and buy our bus tickets before they sold out for the 7 pm bus to Mexico.
We made excellent time east on the Western Highway but of course our mission was impossible. We pulled into the driveway at Cheers and used their telephone to call ahead to Budget, saying we were running late. No time for food, but I did buy a 2012 Belikin calendar as gift for a friend.
The manager of Budget in Belize City had patiently waited for us despite having to get to a child's birthday party.
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
He even drove us to Novelo's in his own car when he could easily have told us to call a taxi. Great service.
At Novelo's bus station, we went inside to find the ADO ticket counter:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
The agent, Alice, had sold all her allotment of tickets. She did not have a computer, but she helpfully used her cell phone to call other ADO agents in Orange Walk and Corozal to determine if they had unsold tickets she could sell to us. That was the case so she sold us our two tickets for BZD19 each. I paid with two 20s and asked if I could give the dollar coins to her two daughters who had to spend Saturday night at Novelo's with their mom. Smiles all around.
We had an hour, and had not eaten lunch. I left Rhea with the luggage and went out to see what food I could find in Belize City after dark on a Saturday night. There was a hot dog stand, but it was crowded. The convenience stores were open only through those little cage windows which are off-putting to me. Across the canal I found a Chinese restaurant open. I ordered take-out dishes. Enormous portions, cooked fresh after ordering. Very little money. I carried the sack back to Novelo's were we ate the tasty food and chatted with our fellow passengers. We also used the Novelo's bathroom to change into clean clothes for the overnight bus ride to Mexico.
Right on time the bus to Merida left and then it was our turn to board the bus to Cancun:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
and then take our seats:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
The huge bus made its amazing passage out of Belize City in the dark and onto the Northern Highway. The same lame movie, American with Spanish subtitles, that we were shown on the way down was played. This time I knew to press the mute button on the speaker above us. I tried to sleep and was out by the time we got to Ladyville. The bus pulled in at Orangewalk but no one boarded. The bus was less than half full. Back to sleep. The bus also pulled into Corazol and again no one boarded. I stayed awake this time as I knew we were almost to the border.
At the border, we got out but left our luggage on the bus and walked through the Belize immigration office. There was a departure tax of BZD37.50. We expected this despite not having been alerted by Alice at the Novelo's bus station in Belize City. The couple behind us, Germans, were not prepared. They had no Belizean, Mexican or U.S. currency--only Euros and credit cards. This caused some problems. At 10 pm there were obviously no banks open. The Germans were eventually allowed to pay the tax in Euros. Advice: have the Belizean currency set aside for the departure tax.
While we were all in line, the bus went through to meet us on the other side. The crossing took a while for all the passengers. The passengers chatted. The Germans had spent a week on Caye Caulker and loved it. We boarded the big bus again for the very short trip (100 meters) to Mexico. This time we got off with our luggage. Lined up at the same counter where we had entered Mexico late in 2011 (blog entry here). No attempt to get bribes this time. They handed us the FMM form to complete, which we had thoughtfully packed a pen for:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
With the new FMM form in hand, we went through Mexican immigration with no problems at all. Dragged luggage across a parking lot to customs. There, we all lined up for the fun "red light/green light" game. The young tourist couple in front of us got the red light. They set their bags on the counter and had to open them for the customs officer. He made a cursory search and waved them on. I pressed the button and we got the green light. Smiles! I playfully told the young couple in front of us, "we won!" and the Mexican customs man smiled at the feeble joke and waved us through.
The bus had again moved ahead to wait for us. It was parked along a road with several open restaurants:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
that had delicious-smelling Mexican food. The bus passengers chatted with each other.
After we were all through customs, we boarded the bus yet again and fell asleep.
Note on bus temperatures: there have been many complaints about the ADO bus being too cold. It was not on this trip. The driver must have heard the complaints as he diligently cycled the AC off and on all night to keep the temperature comfortable. Well done, ADO!
We were awoken again in Bacalar. We had to get off the bus and stand on line in the middle of the night to pay the rest of our bus fare. No idea why this was done here, vs. in Belize City, or even at the border. Poorly done, ADO!
Back on, then northward over the excellent highway. Pulled into Tulum but no one got off the bus there.
We got to Playa del Carmen about 3 am. We were tired and wanted to sleep. But where? We had been given suggestions for motels near the ADO Terminal Alterna. I left Rhea with the luggage and set out on foot to find them. No luck. I did see many drunk gringo/gringa tourists staggering out of night clubs. But every hotel was closed to all except guests who had already registered. I spent over an hour walking around Playa.
Eventually I gave up and went back to the Terminal Alterna and did my best to doze on the benches:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
which was NOT comfortable given my back surgery in September.
When the sun came up, I walked to a hotel that had had a particularly helpful night watchman. Confirmed room availability and early check-in and found a taxi. We arrived at the Sian Kaan by 7:30 am and were in our room by 8 am. Nice room. Great location--half block from beach! We promptly went to sleep.
Later in the morning, we went down to the beach. It is a broad white-sand beach. Very crowded but we found a spot sheltered from the chilly wind where we could doze some more.
View to the south, showing the ferry arriving from Cozumel:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
View to the north, showing a SCUBA dive boat coming back from a morning dive trip:
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| From Rhea Belize 2012 |
We spent the rest of Sunday dozing on the beach and walking up and down 5th avenue in Playa. Many shops. Rhea bought me a nice hat but that was the extent of our shopping. Nice city; we may visit again.
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