Chetumal & Bacalar
Our first days in Mexico are pretty dead
My son dreams of coming to Mexico, but where we are you can’t swim with the mangroves, the town is pretty quiet (apparently it has a lot of nightlife after 9 pm along the boulevard) and there no cactuses to be seen.
On our first day, we go out to lunch along the Boulevard. We enjoyed the walk, but the area is pretty dead – no people around.
As we walk the deserted boulevard, we see nightclub after night.
Most places are dead, but we find a place with music and people. 5 minutes after we sit down, the music stops and the people leave. I eat great food in silence. I go to pay, and the music starts.
It cracks me up there is no salt and pepper, yet there is hand sanitizer.
I’m uptight. I hate paying good money for a not so fabulous time.
It just feels all wrong here. But we make the best of what we had.
We walk along the boulevard and there are families enjoying the area.
We walk and walk.
There is little to no area to swim, as there are only mangroves.
Sometimes it smells a bit too.
Kids enjoy playing in the puddles, and this little one is adorable.
I love Mexican children, and remember from 30 years ago how cute they are!
We must have walked 5 km, and end up at Walmart.
I can’t believe they are selling guns here.
The next day we go to Balacar. We catch a collective / mini-van to the Red Cross hospital. Then we catch a combo taxi that holds 4 passengers and you share the fare for 30 Pesos per person. We arrive in town which is about 40 km out of Chetumal. The driver asks me where I want to go to “The lake of the 7 colors” I tell him. So he charges us another 15 Pesos to take us a few streets.
Well, there are no 7 colors today – the only color is grey, apart from the flooded restaurant floor partly submerged.
We are asked to pay 10 Pesos to go into the restaurant/complex which has one other table dining! – I decline and tell him we are paying to eat.
Explorason wants a swim, but it starts to rain.
He slips on the slimy floor and slides into the lake. We laugh as he gets his swim.
We don’t finish lunch. We feel flat. It is a dud day. We feel this is a bit of a dud town. Maybe with less rain, there would be more colors in the lake – others say it is lovely.
We walk up to explore the fort. There are nice places along the way – all closed.
It is closed. Now we are dripping with perspiration. We’ve both had enough.
We have a long hot wait for the other 2 people who will join us in the taxi. We get back to Red Cross and then taxi it to the bus terminal. Time to move into a place with some action.
We buy our tickets and then my son wants to visit Walmart again.
We walk a good 1 – 2 km down the road and are so hot and stuffed by the time we arrive.
He selects another of his Disney Cars he collects that are on sale for $5 each.
We taxi it back.
We go to collect our laundry and they can’t find it. After a search, we find a completely different name on the bag. But then it is an English name and they are Spanish. What can I say?!
I’ll be glad to leave Chetumal.
But then you need the not-so-exciting places to enjoy the good places, so I am well reminded!
- Are you a family that permanently travels around the world?
- What is your take on families that travel permanently?
- Have you visited Chetumal Mexico?
- How was the experience?
- What did you make of their culture?
- Do share your comments with us below.
