Mexico City

When we last wrote we were about to leave Belize and travel to San Miguel Allende, via Mexico City.  We are currently in Puerto Escondido.  I know, travel to Puerto Escondido was not next up in the loose plan but plans change.

We left Belize without incident.  We each paid our $25 US departure tax and enjoyed a smooth 80-minute crossing on a Water Jet passenger ferry.  We arrived in Chetumal, Mexico with clear memories of drug dogs, soldiers, automatic weapons, and having to each pay what we thought was a bogus departure tax of $30 US (cash only).  We expected a return visit by the soldiers and dogs but we didn’t expect to have to each pay the $30 US departure tax again, even though we just arrived.  As ridiculous as it sounds, we paid because it is hard to argue with well-armed tax collectors.

Ferry Across Chetumal Bay

We had to spend six hours in Chetumal waiting for our plane to Mexico City.  There wasn’t much to do.  After a bit of a bag-drag, we had a great shrimp taco lunch & beers in a place recommended by a porter in a hotel.  We were the only gringos in the place but it was packed with families enjoying Sunday brunch.

Shrimp Tacos - Each Prepared Differently

Long Wait at Airport

AirBus 350 - Great Planes Cheap Prices

We arrived in Mexico City just after dark.  We followed the advice from various travel forums about taxi use in the city.  The guidebooks warn travellers not to take cabs off the street for fear of crime.  We bought our taxi fare from one of the many authorized cabs in the airport.  We only paid $15 US from the airport to our city centre hotel.   As well, we only took hotel-organized cabs for travel within the city.  Taxi fares are very reasonable, especially in light of the Cancun experience.

Cathedral on the Zocalo

View From Our Window

We chose a hotel a little out of our usual price range but we wanted to be in the city’s core.  The Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico is an old, five-star palace located on the city’s main zocalo.  Our room overlooked the zocalo on one side and the pedestrian mall on the other.  The stained glass ceiling of the lobby and the excellent services were highlights of our stay.

Old School Elevator - Iron Gates

Night Time in Lobby

Glass Ceiling of Lobby

Mexico City and its 8.8 million inhabitants were not what we expected.  We will admit to being somewhat apprehensive.  We imagined a chaotic, overpopulated, smog filled, dirty place that was unsafe.  Certainly in the areas we visited, this was not the case.  Interestingly, we did notice that we only saw six other gringos during the entire day out touring.  We took a three-hour double decker open bus tour of the historic core, the financial district, and many upscale neighbourhoods.  The city is a mix of very new bold architecture and the very old. 

The city is on the cusp of spring and the green parks, boulevards, and tree-lined streets were too numerous to count.  Most of the impressive gardens had one or two flowers in bloom but in a week or so, the city will be awash in a riot of colour.  Many trees sported new lime green leafs in contrast to the year around dark green ones.

In terms of our safety, we asked the hotel staff if it was safe to roam around at night.  They told us the streets around the hotel were the safest in Mexico. Police cars with blue and red lights flashing are ubiquitous.  The lights are not used to send a message to others to pull over; they are there to purely announce police presence.  The streets are full of well-armed policeman.  We counted one policeman for every 10 meters of space on the pedestrian mall near our hotel.  While many police carry automatic weapons, others carry shotguns across their chests with the barrel facing up.  Since the average Mexican man is shorter than we are, it was disconcerting to be shoulder to shoulder with them in a crowd and have a gun barrel aimed directly at your face.

Suffice to say that two nights and one day were not enough to really see Mexico City.  We will be back, hopefully on this trip.  We discovered a two-hour guided bicycle tour offering and hope to do it on our next visit.

We are currently in Puerto Escondido because we are flexible in our travel plans.  We didn’t buy our tickets or commit to a hotel in our next planned stop at San Miguel de Allende.  As we began to make plans we discovered a great airfare to Puerto Escondido.  We found a flight for $2200 pesos on Tuesday while our tentative Friday flight was $6000 pesos.  We called our Puerto condo owner and got the okay to move into our monthly rental three days early.  San Miguel will have to wait until the end of the trip.

So here we are in Puerto Escondido.  Sister Rita and Brother-in-law Mike picked us up at the airport; we shopped at the local market, and are now settling into Mexican small town coastal life.

Family Reunion in Puerto Escondido

Sunset Bar Above Our Favourite Carrizalillo Beach

Sunset Viewed From Our Condo Roof in Puerto Escondido

Keys in the Cayes

We have enjoyed our stay in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize.  Ambergris Caye is only 40 kms in length and never more than 1.6 km wide.  San Pedro is also the only town on the island and is located at the southern end.  We never ventured further than 1 or 2 km either side of the village centre and only out about 1 km off shore to snorkel on the reef.  The Caye is protected by the Belize Barrier Reef, second in size only to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.  The waters surrounding the island are as smooth as lake waters.  The waters are also the clear “Caribbean blue” one expects but there are numerous dark patches due to grass growing on the shallow bottom.

Signature Long Boat Docks

San Pedro is so small that the main mode of travel is golf cart.  Despite being a former British Colony (British Honduras), travel is on the right hand side of the road.  Roads are either landscape tiles or potholes inter spaced with small patches of gravel.  Tropic Air has an airstrip in the centre of the town and is serviced by 4-seaters from the mainland.

Hanging Around the Gas Pumps

Heavy Hauler - Ambergris Style

Saturday Afternoon Rush Hour

Note the Town Motto (Lower Left)

Travel Tip:  Most places are near enough to walk but torrential rains or heavy luggage may cause you to use a taxi.  Our experience tells us that there are some taxi drivers willing to rip you off.  We paid a taxi $57 Belize ($23.50 US), to go to the Palapa Bar, 2 kms north of town.  The cost included $6 US for a toll across a 30-meter bridge.  We met an honest driver the next day and he showed us a laminated fare list every taxi is supposed to carry, display, and follow.  The ride should have been $15 US and the driver should have absorbed the tolls (each way). Live and Learn.

Despite having only two sunny days, the experience still had many highlights.  Our hotel, Corona Del Mar, was older, a little tired, but the rooms were large, clean, and the beach was just outside the door.  Complimentary rum punch was served between noon and 6:30 pm.  The Crazy Canuck Bar was next door and if you like to start drinking before noon, you will have lots of company.  The meals were great everywhere we went and the seafood was exceptional.  When given the opportunity to eat octopus, crab, scampi-shrimp, grouper, conch, and lobster, Deborah said "to hell with her seafood allergies" and dove in.  Suffice to say, she is no longer allergic to seafood.  The town centre is old, not particularly well kept but full of activity with many bars sporting live music.  Jerry Jeff Walker (Gringo in Belize) was in town but his concerts were sold out.

Steps From the Door

The Corona Del Mar

Our Hotel Pool

We Ate Our Lunches on our Deck

Great Place to Drink in the Afternoon (or Morning)

Wednesday Afternoon Drop In Pickin

Fish (Snapper) and Chips - Caye Style

Fish Tacos

Lobster Risotto

Afternoon Beers at CC Bar

Oldies Dancing - Finished by 6 pm.

Small World Stuff:  As we were leaving Tulum on the bus, Deborah noticed a couple (Kathy & Cal) with Canadian flags on their luggage.  After some small talk we found that they were from Nelson, B.C.  Kathy had just retired and they were on a two-month trip to Tulum and Ambergris Caye.  We spoke again at the ferry dock in Chetumal.  It turned out that Cal and Kathy had lived in Kamloops from 1979 to 1985.  We told them we lived there from 1978 to 1985.  Cal looked at Deborah and said he though he recognized her.  It turned out they worked in the same offices with B.C. Forestry, back in the day. We exchanged emails and agreed to meet for dinner and drinks later on the island. Over a few drinks, we discovered their niece’s “significant other” played rugby on Canada’s National team with our son Bryn.  In fact, we had met Luke in Victoria while visiting our son.  They are a great couple and lots of fun to spend time with. We promised to keep in touch.  Small World.

Kathy, Cal, Deborah, George - Cal's Birthday

Certainly the foremost highlight for us was snorkelling on the reef. Our first stop was at the edge of the reef.  I can only describe the experience as what I would imagine it would be like to swim in the tropical fish tank at the Vancouver Aquarium.  At all times we were surrounded by amazing varieties of colourful fish. We saw green turtles and a somewhat rare Spotted Eagle Ray as well.  After about 40 minutes in the first spot we moved to a second to swim with the Rays and Sharks.  Fishermen dumping fish guts in the selected spot have created the area over many years. The Rays and the Nurse Sharks swim into the area as soon as they hear the motors of the tour boats.  Although Nurse sharks are harmless, it is still a little eerie to jump into the clear water with 6 to 8 foot sharks near enough to touch (if you like that sort of thing). A fabulous experience and well worth the $40 US fee each.

Picked Up by Afri At our Hotel Dock

Shark Feeding Time

Tuff Enuff Tours

Sharks Found Us Before We Found Them

Storm Coming In

We check out early tomorrow morning for the 80-minute fast ferry back to Chetumal, Mexico.  We have a flight later in the day to Mexico City.