11/4/2014

I’m sitting on the terrace of the Hostel Paakal in Chetumal, MX. It is a gorgeous evening. There is a busy road down below and the sounds of cars and motorcycles drift up. We are in the midst of a city. Just a few hours ago we left the village of Bacalar. Bacalar is an amazing place and I wish we had stayed a little longer. We woke up in the Hotel America and walked to breakfast. The streets are quiet there and the traffic moves slowly. The sun beats down stronger as we move nearer the equator. Walking in its full glare is a memorable experience. Finding a little shade makes all the difference. We ate at a nice little restaurante next to a hostel on the plaza. I had some fresh fruit, yogurt, and granola. A cup of coffee washed it down. The other day I forgot to drink coffee and got a headache in the afternoon from going without. I try to keep up with my coffee now.

We headed over to the Fuerte San Felipe and wandered around in its bastions for a while. Lake Bacalar is long and thin. Remember a beautiful picture of the Caribbean sea. It has the best colors of the caribbean sea in a freshwater lake. It is surrounded by palm tree and green reeds. The Maya named it Bakalal which means something like the place of reeds. The lake is called the lake of 7 colors because of all the shades of blue and green there.  A south wind was making waves, there were a few boats bobbing at anchor, and long docks. Jill took many pictures and apparently I took none. The Maya formed a town there at a trading intersection.  The Spanish built the fort after they conquered the Maya in the area. There was a museum in the garrison building with lots of displays and interpretations explaining all this. They also addressed some of the pirates in the area, a sure crowd pleaser. I walked up some stairs to the watchtower. The view of the lake from there can’t be beat.

We made our way down to the public beach, where for 10 pesos you can swim all day. It really isn’t a beach. There is a large lawn and a low seawall. The water laps over the wall in some spots. There is a restaurant there as well. We jumped into the inviting water where a few families were splashing around. Swimming there was amazing. The water was so bright and I could open my eyes to see things around me. I swam around and around in the clear water.

We dragged ourselves away from the water to go check out of our hotel. For lunch we tried walking to a nearby cenote that was supposed to have a restaurant. All we found was some sort of school. We met some Germans who were wandering around as well. We directed them to the hostel where we ate breakfast. They said they were heading to Belize in a couple days so we may see them again. We were getting hungry. We decided against going to the beach for lunch and walked up to El Maison restaurant. We didn’t know much about it, the map said it was economical. When we arrived, there was no menu; the only decision was chicken or pork. Not too worry the waitress brought a special plate for Jill with mushrooms, onions, and peppers. For an appetizer we were brought some spaghetti, only my second pasta dish in Mexico. All of it was delicious. The total bill equaled $8.90 US.

Walking to the bus stone I saw a man mowing his lawn with a machete. We bought some tickets to Chetumal for a bus at 4:30, so we were caught off guard when the Chetumal bus arrived at 4 PM. The Yucatan has some good bus service. We hopped on and rode into Chetumal. The bus took us to a different station than we thought it would. We passed the hostel and just walked back to it. We walked back to the Belize bound bus station and then stopped at a convenience store to get some supper supplies and had the first of what could be a long line of beans and tortillas. The Belize bus leaves at 7 AM.