14th Oct. 2016
We have the grand choice of one boat a day – and 7am departure at that – for our transfer back to Mexico. Even that is a 100% increase over our initial fear that it was one every other day. In addition, LP is full of warnings of the slow bureaucracy both when leaving Belize and also when entering Mexico – and the need to hand over cash at both stages. Based on our experience entering Belize, we are resigned to a slow start to the day.
At least there is a coffee machine in our room and we were able to buy some currant buns yesterday evening. So, we are able to have something approximating to breakfast before we head off. We know the route and you can’t really get lost on the island and so we’re soon at the departure jetty – the first ones there – and we sit around waiting for more folk to arrive and to be able to board the boat (more speedboat than ferry).
The first surprise that we had was when a half a dozen (primary) schoolkids – complete with individual iPads – get on the boat. Perhaps there is an international school on San Pedro – the neighbouring island and our first stop. Certainly the kids didn’t act as if anything unusual was happening. As we are about to cast off, a slightly older boy starts pulling up the boat’s fenders and securing the hatch. We think this a little odd but then work out that he is essentially the ‘cabin boy’!
At San Pedro, we all have to disembark – as we’d been warned by LP – to clear Belize immigration and to change boat. Looking back, we see that the skipper is no older than 30. Getting old, Dave! You’re getting old!
Clearing immigration was less slow than expected, but a bit more expensive. Still the immigration official offered to change the remainder of our Belize dollars into pesos. I’m sure that she didn’t personally profit from the transaction. No, no, I’m quite sure! At least it was convenient (& we didn’t have much to change).
From San Pedro to Chetumal in Mexico took about 90mins on a slightly larger boat with a slight more professional crew. On docking, we are herded into the immigration hut, told to put our daypacks in a long straight line and sit down whilst a sniffer dog has a good nose around. Border officials aren’t known for their sense of humour but this lot were a really miserable crowd. No smiles or response to our “Buenos dias”. As for the chap travelling by himself but with a Mexican wife – as he kept telling the immigration officer – who didn’t want to fill in the immigration form or pay the £16 entry fee. Well, he – literally – got nowhere at all.
Our hotel is about a mile back from the dock along the main Avenida de los Heroes – appropriately enough, at each junction on this street is a statue of someone (presumably) heroic. These statues along with the obelisk memorial at the bottom of the street in the Plaza de las Banderas distract us from the heat of the day as we walk up in full travel-mode – backpack and daypack balancing each other out.
Looking at Lonely Planet over lunch as we plan out our afternoon, it seems that we’ve already covered the major sights down by the seafront but the good news is that top of LP’s list of things to see is the Museo de la Cultura Maya, which, coincidentally, is pretty much opposite our hotel. This turns out to be rather a find, particularly after our visits to Mayan sites as it contains models of some of the buildings at Tikal, Chichen Itza (technically Aztec rather than Mayan) and other sites. It is a modern museum set on 3 floors with the middle floor representing this world; the ground floor the underworld (but fortunately not 9 levels!); and the top floor the heavens. It was more revision than learning new things, but it did help join together some of the things we had previously learned and there were interactive displays on Mayan numbers and dates. Even better, it helped us to feel not quite so old!