Enjoying Yucatan Peninsula! (15 dicembre 2015 to 3rd Jan
2016)
On December 15th: We packed up said good bye to
Izamal and continued to Rio Lagartos where all the Flamingos are staying for
the winter (well, not all of them ). The drive through the country site is not
as romantic as you would expect. The road is narrow and the trees are growing
well into the road which required us to stay in the middle and stop when
someone came towards us. The first 50KM took us more than an hour but we still
made it to Rio Lagartos for a late lunch right on the water in Rio Lagartos.
After we got lunch we continued to our final destination, the Biosfera park,
which was a place next to the sea and now it gets difficult… it’s where a huge
salt production (Salinas) was build, and the ponds are separated by dams. And we stayed on one of the dams. The water
is very shallow and the Flamingos have all the peace and lots of food there (salty
of course). The view was awesome and we wanted to stay for two days but…. The
mosquitos were hell so we enjoyed the evening and the next morning watching the
birds and left…. So sad the mosquitos can spoil anything these no good beasts.
Impressions from Rio Lagartos and the Flamingos:
On December 16th we went to Valladolid, to see
some more cenotes. The drive was fine and we arrived in the afternoon and went
to the Cenote http://ioverlander.com/places/293-suytun-cenotes
which was underground and very refreshing. We looked at another Cenote which
was in bad condition infested with what else then mosquitos so we did not swim
there and retuned to our camp site and went early to bed.
Suntun Cenote:
On December 17th we continued to Plata Xpu Ha
(Playa/ Tulum) http://mundo-chalio.jimdo.com/
. Driving in Yucatan is nice and easy so we arrived there in the afternoon were
we got greeted by the camp hosts Dierk and Vera. They showed us a nice place to
stay and we wanted to book for 3 days because we wanted to spend Christmas in
Chetumal but guess what … we liked it so much that we stayed for 10 days and enjoyed
the company of some awesome people ( snow birds and overlanders ) We had some
spare parts shipped to Playa del carmen and I got the opportunity to fix the
camper and grep some coconuts from the tree next to the camper so Steffi could
get her juice. It almost became a mass production that week. Other than that we
were just hanging out enjoying the beach which was unfortunately windy with a
lot of sea grass so snorkeling was not really possible which was a shame since
this is a really nice spot in Yucatan. We all went to a nice German restaurant
in playa Del Carmen and had the biggest “Schweinshaxen” that I ever ate….. Well
Steffi and I had one each and each one had over 2 kilo’s so we ate for 3 days J ….
Before we turned around Christmas was there. We all
organized a dinner together at the beach restaurant (Vera and Steffi did) and
had a great time together singing Christmas songs playing games or just talking
to each other. It was wonderful. Some of
us went to bed really late……. Of course Robert had to be one of them J
The next day was a lazy one and then it was time to
prepare our departure. We said good bye to our new friends and wish then all
the best and maybe we see each other again someday……
Playa Xpu-Ha
At Manne's Biergarten with the Schweinshaxn:
Christmas dinner:
On December 27th we took off to Tulum to the beaches
which are a road that is decent for 10km and then turns into a disaster but
first we ate in Tulum at a nice restaurant which I would say is famous for
fresh seafood. So afterwards we took this horrible dirt road which almost shook
the camper off our truck. You have to imagine this road did not have a place to
park or to camp so we were glad to find a place after 15km. Well it was a
military station on the beach on the way to Punta Allen, which had enough place
for us to park. We asked nicely and got permission to stay for the night. Of
course Steffi had to answer all kinds of questions during the evening and I
provided some well appreciated help like an electric pump and a place to charge
their phones because their generator was down. They were staying at a nice
beach but their job at night was nothing you would like to do.
Tulum Reserva Biosfera Sina Kan:
On December 28th we said good bye and
continued for a couple of kilometers to see the famous crocodile but unfortunately
he wasn’t there so we turned around and took this dreadful road back to Tulum
to go to our beloved restaurant, El Camello Jr., for some pulpo (octopus) and
continued down to Laguna Bacalar. The road was really nice. Art first we tried
to get to a camp ground ran by a German but the last 3km was full of trees
hanging into the road making it for us very difficult to pass to we called it a
day and continued to another campground next to a Ballenario which was very touristic.
http://ioverlander.com/places/10595-camping-bacalar
Balneario Magico, Bacalar:
On December 29th we went swimming early and packed
up to go to another balneario, Cocalitos, just 8km away which was much betterhttp://ioverlander.com/places/297-cocalitos-bacalar.
We stayed there for another night which was nice but it rained a lot. Oh one
more thing… I wanted to buy some beer and the beer truck who could not sell us
anything said it’s only 500m away to the next store … now for all you future Mexico
travelers out there … if a Mexican tells you a distance in meters not in
minutes …. Forget it….. and even in minutes it is questionable what horse or
vehicle he is referring to. Well our 500 meters ended up to be almost 2km. We
got what we wanted and relaxed the rest of the day.
Balnenario Cocalitos, Bacalar:
On December 30th: We left Laguna Bacalar and went
to Chetumal. We got some Diesel bought groceries and goodies for new year’s eve
and checked into the camp ground http://ioverlander.com/places/125-yax-ha-resort
right on the beach and met Lars and Dagmar with their Land cruiser. We also met
other nice people in this camp ground.
On December 31st: Time to celebrate and call
friends and family ( or at least send good wishes on Facebook J ) We had a late lunch
at the restaurant in the campground which I can’t recommend because Lars almost
choked to death from some dry meat. So we made sure ( all of us ) to use
alcoholic drinks to get the food down.
Success J
On January 2nd. We had an appointment at the
local Dodge dealer so our truck could get some fresh oil and a tune-up…. After
almost 4 hours we didn’t get the oil we wanted and they parked the rig in a
place that the way out damaged the camper…. Not badly but still a pain in the
ass. We returned to camp and called it a day. In the evening we had a nice BBQ
with our mew friends.
On January 3rd after a lazy morning and saying
good bye to Dagmar and Lars I started with the repairs. After finally finding a
tube of silicone that was not dried out I got to work and was even able to fix
the broken TV antenna so you could say it was a productive day. We went for
dinner to the restaurant next door and talked to some Snow birds from Michigan
who are traveling to Mexico for 24 years. I finished writing the blog and
prepared for the border crossing to Belize tomorrow.
Last days in Mexico at Yax-Ha Resort:
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