Playa del Carmen to Ocean Springs

We had a late flight to catch, around 3:30, so we went out for one last breakfast in PDC and enjoyed a morning walk. Afterwards, we took an ADO bus to Cancun, checked in for our flight, hung around Starbucks for an hour or so, and talked about the last week and what to expect for our next trip. While drinking coffee, Eric's new job called him to schedule him for July. Now we could finally make definite plans. We had a schedule to work with, and planned a date to reunite with our bike. Goodbye Mexico, we'll see you soon!

Chilequiles

 For lunch Eric and I hit the food court in Atlanta. I ordered a pizza and Eric ordered 3 burgers and a medium fry. Turns out, his order was the same price as mine and I only ordered one slice of pizza.

Mahahual to Playa del Carmen

Not only were we saddened by the fact that we had to leave the beach, but we were dreading getting back on the bike in the heat by the time we checked out this morning. Nevertheless, we had a schedule to keep and that included dropping off the bike at a storage unit in Playa today. We decided a few weeks earlier that since we only had two months left of full time employment, and we had reached the bottom of Mexico, we would park the bike until we were ready to leave for our trip full time in July. This was kind of a bummer for us, but we knew that time would fly by and we'd be back before we knew it in July.

We drove back the same way we came down (since there is only one route to take) and this time stopped for lunch in Tulum. We hadn't had food in Tulum yet since 4 years ago, and were shocked to see some of the prices on the menu's. We chose a lunch special that came to about $3 something per person, and made it inside the restaurant just in time to avoid a light sun shower. 

 Saying goodbye to the beach..

 

 After lunch we stopped by Riviera Maya storage in PDC to make sure it was a place we would feel comfortable leaving our bike. It was off the highway and on a wide, dusty piece of property, so we were questionable about its safety. However, we met with Ted, the owner, and he assured us the bike would be just fine in the back. He showed us where the bike would be stored and the security around the lot. Actually, another BMW same year and type as ours had been parked there for some time as well. We made plans with Ted to store the bike for two months, paid him, and scheduled a pick up at our hotel later that afternoon. We were going to come back to leave it there after dropping off and organizing luggage, but Ted was going to PDC with his truck anyway. 

We checked into our hotel, showered after a long, sweaty day, organized our luggage, leaving behind things we didn't need for 2 months and packing things we did need to take home. Ted showed up about 2 hours later with a pick up truck and two small ramps and told us to drive it on up. We were a bit discouraged since we both had never driven up a skinny ramp before, but somehow, we got the bike up. Eric walked the bike up on the left side of the ramp while the bike was driven up the right. Ted stood behind the bike pushing, while I turned the throttle for gas on the right. Eric and I had little faith that the bike would make it up without falling, but again, somehow, it made it. 

Room

The ramps (remember Eric walks left, bike rides right, I turn gas to the right, and Ted walks the bike up from behind). Total redneck fashion. 

We waved goodbye to our bike and promised to see it again in 2 months.

As it was our last night in Mexico for a while, we decided to go out to eat, and then to a popular bar afterwards. We ate fish tacos and fried shrimp at a very reasonably priced beach side eatery, and then had a drink at Fusion, a beach side bar which had a band going and later a fire/dance show. 

 Ferry coming back from Cozumel. A swarm of people

 Its still busy in PDC even after Spring break is over

You can see Cozumel from PDC very well 

Bacalar to Mahahual

We slept well and woke up to a nice, free breakfast provided by our hostel consisting of coffee, juice, toast, nutella, cereal, yogurt and fruit. I took some pictures before heading out, and we continued our journey north again. We had one extra night to spare before we needed to be in Cancun for our flight in 2 days. Eric wanted to check out Mahahual and Xcalak today which was only about 65 miles away from Bacalar. The ride getting there was actually pretty dull as there wasn't too much to see along the way aside from your usual freeway trees, but once arriving into Mahahual the scenery got better. Mahahual is on the water, and is one of Mexico's newer tourist regions. Though a small village, it is also now one of Mexico's newest cruise ship destinations, and this you can certainly tell. We arrived mid week and early afternoon on a non cruise ship day. The sky was overcast and the wind was blowing pretty hard on the coast so I'm sure this didn't help, but the town seemed dreary and ghostly. Of course, I read before arrival that there was not much to see in this town so didn't expect much, but I also did not expect to see a Senor Frogs existing in the village at all, much less completely dead. If this village hadn't been known as a popular tourist town, I wouldn't think much of its lack of guests in the village, however it was strange to see a town like PDC with hardly anyone at all walking the streets.

We looked at a hotel we had planned to possibly stay at and chatted with a couple of gringos that were waiting on a ride to Xcalak while there. They offered for us to stay at their guest house on the beach in Xcalak, but we told them we would wait to see what the town looked like before making a decision. We never saw them again, but it was nice of them to offer. When leaving the hotel in Mahahual, a biker yelled down from his balcony in Spanish for us to come up for a drink later. He was on one of the 4 BMW's we saw parked in the parking lot.

We drove through Mahahual, which isn't very big, and then made our way over to Xcalak. Xcalak was only 30-40 minutes away from Mahahual and we got there by taking a backway paved road instead of the beach dirt and sand road that would be more scenic. Along the way we dodged a few iguanas warming themselves in the road. As it turns out, iguanas are not that bright. They walk right in front of you and no matter which way you turn to dodge them they seem to want to follow your tires. Thankfully we didn't hit any along the way.

Xcalak is an even smaller, much more quaint fishing village placed very close to the border of Belize. If you continued straight down south from Xcalak, you would drive straight to Ambergris Caye. However, there is no road connecting the two countries together as there is a channel of water and a Marine base. We drove around Xcalak taking pictures and stopped to get some lunch and reassess what our plans would be.

Breakfast

Hostel host snuggles with his dog

Pulling out of our hostel

 Xcalak above and below.. a dirt road town. Sleepy but quaint. Good town to be in if looking to spend a few quiet evenings on the water.

 More iguana passing

 Lunch rest stop

 Fish

 Fish

 Who knows why there are 6+ waiters here in the first place with only 2 guests, but they are all happy sitting in the corner together, not talking at all, on their cell phones.

Eric and I found a deal on Hotels.com at the same hotel we checked out earlier in Mahahual, so we finish lunch and start heading back that way. We figured even if the town was a ghost town, at least we could spend the rest of the day on the beach relaxing.

Before checking in, we drove around town more and see that yes, indeed there is not much going on in Mahahual. We took advantage of this shot since there was no traffic in the road.

After checking into our extremely nice, maybe best of yet hotel room of this trip for only 49 bucks, we changed into our bathing suits and went out for a swim.

Roof top view

View of Senor Frogs. I guess they must be closed on the days that the cruise ship is not in town. For those of you who have never heard of Senior Frogs, they are a restaurant comparative to Margaritaville

Room

Taking advantage of the day beds outside. We've never been in one before because we are too cheap to pay the extra 5-10 dollars for day use. Here, they are included in the hotel price.

BMW we parked next to outside. There were 4 all together, and all had Mexican plates

After the beach we went to the roof top hot tub for a swim. The hot tub was pretty small, and there were already 5people in there. We decided to wait for them to get out, but then realized they were the guys on the bikes downstairs so we chatted with them for a bit, and they invited us in the jacuzzi with them. We talked bikes and travels with them for about an hour. They are in a bike club of 60+ and travel very often throughout the year. They had been to many of the places we have been in the last 5 months and more.

After the jacuzzi we went for a walk before eating. I wanted to check out the beach strip at night time. Actually, I am glad we did because it changed my whole opinion of Mahahual. During the day, and when there is a cruise ship in town, I can see a lot of potential for the town. Its small, but just big enough for the cruise shippers to spread out and enjoy themselves. There are many beach side palapa style restaurants to go to and many cheap, relaxing bars to go to as well. When we passed by these places they were all closed, but they each had plastic chairs stacked up for service the next day and signs that said "100 pesos for 10 beers" or 1 dollar a beer at others. The feel is something like what you would see in Bali, but much less crowded.

We used our camping cookware in our hotel bathroom. Probably not the best idea with denatured alcohol in a hotel room, but we had done it before so we knew it would be safe. I'm sure this wouldn't be acceptable to the hotel staff, but what they don't know won't hurt them!

More Ramen noodles! This time with a balcony view