Goodbye SF - Hola Mexico y Belize

After a bit of a hectic departure (we had planned extremely well, except for finding myself at the airport 1 hour before our flight wearing my mom's watch which is not the best thing to wear for 2 months traveling) culminating in my dad driving to SFO and me dashing back and forth through security - thanks to our pal, Shelly, the goddess of security - we made it to Playa del Carmen by sundown.

Our hotel was overbooked, and as it was Easter weekend and all of Mexico was seemingly vacationing in Playa, we were lucky that Barrio Latino went ahead and booked our room at Aqualuna, an even nicer hotel. This was a welcome mishap! Air conditioning, comfy bed, and even a "relax center" - not too shabby. Playa was a nice place to start the trip - a change from the Mexico that Balen and I have experienced before in that the ratio of Mexican tourists to foreigners was about 1:1. We would recommend it. We stayed 2 nights and got up at the crack of dawn to begin our rather long trip to Belize.

We opted to take 1 bus to Chetumal, Mexico and then a water taxi to Ambergris Caye (pronounced "key") - a FUNKY little town on an atoll (woo!) known for diving, golf cart transportation, and partying. We intended to take the 6:00 pm taxi that same day on to Caye Caulker, but found upon arrival that it didn't exist. So, Caye Ambergris it would be for the night. We were quickly whooshed away to Ruby's Hotel, a hostel on the beach with 2 fans (yes!) and a sweet deck overlooking the ocean. The only downside was the bumping Reggaeton beat eminating from next door, which lasted well into the night. We were warned, and it wasn't too bad.

The highlight of our short time here was the ride on the water taxi (rather bumpy, with lots of babies who miraculously handled the bumps better than I did), a huge and delicious shrimp burrito and papusas (doughy goodness filled with beans, cheese, and chicken), and of course, fresh fruit milkshakes.

This place is fun, but we're off to Caye Caulker today (assuming we can find a boat to take us) in search of some quieter beach time and snorkeling on Belize's barrier reef.