1500 kilometres, 16 days, 7 stops, 5 guys, 3 countries, and 1 van.

Hittin' the Road

We landed in Cancún just after sunset, exhausted from an 11-hour flight but still facing a two-hour drive inland to Valladolid. By the time we picked up our rental van and hit the road, it was dark and I was about to experience my first ever drive in Mexico, on the wrong side of the road and running on almost no sleep.

The highway out of Cancun stretched through the dark, hardly a car in sight. When we finally reached Valladolid, we discovered what would become my greatest enemies for the next two weeks of driving: potholes and massive speed bumps guarding every town, village or just a random collection of houses in the middle of nowhere. After the drive into Valladolid and dropping our bags off at the hostel, we decided to get our bearings the only way a group of Irish guys know how - walk around and look for an Irish bar.

We spent a total of 2 days in Valladolid to give us time to get our bearings, visit and swim in the cenotes the area is known for and finally when we were ready to go visit the nearby Wonder of the World - Chichén Itzá. Overall, Valladolid was a nice, authentic-feeling town to stop at. We met a few people in our short time here including a girl called Macy, who would continue with us right up until Caye Caulker, Belize as she toured south through the Americas.

A Mighty Wonder

Chichén Itzá was a spectacle right from the get-go, dodging the unlicensed parking vendors scattered in the middle of the road up to the official car park attempting to stop you and goad you into using their car park for a charge compared to the official, free car park (assuming you can get a space!). Once we met our tour guide and dropped off the 600 cigarettes my friends carried in their bags, we were on our way through the weirdly stringent security, with its weird rules prohibiting things like stuffed toys, and finally ready to explore the Mayan complex of Chichén Itzá.

The ruins themselves and specifically El Castillo, the central pyramid at the site, were awe-inspiring and that was before we were told the history of the Mayan people, the engineering of the pyramid to track the seasons and the sacrifices made honour the gods and plead for a boon for their people. It was fascinating to learn that the Mayan's didn't see sacrifices as something to grieve about but instead glorified it. It was one of their people's highest honours to be sacrificed - for a bountiful harvest, rain after prolonged dry spells, or victory in war - and often immortalised in carvings where they were seen to be smiling rather than sad.

Minor Excursions

As we continued westward towards our next stop Mérida, we stopped off at a quaint little place called Izamal known for its charming yellow buildings and for having one of the last climbable Mayan ruins in Yucatán. The ruins in Izamal are called the Pirámide Kinich Kak Moo which have definitely seen better days but provide a wonderful view of the small city, the yellow buildings and monastery as well as the wide, flat expanse of the surrounding area. Besides the ruins, there wasn't much else to see or do here so once we had a bite to eat, we were back on the road.

Finally getting to the city of Mérida was a bit of a shock after spending the last couple of days in or around smaller towns and then driving through the bustling streets with rush-hour traffic. We quickly got our van parked, bags offloaded at the hotel and made our way to the closest bar before the sun set. Here we spent a few hours listening to live music, ordering drink, bantering with the waiters, getting more drink, being cut off by the manager, sneakily ordering more drink until the place closed at 10pm. As we left the bar, one of the waiters suggested we join them and they will show us a local party that is happening, we just have to follow them 30 minutes outside of the city - no thanks! However, one of our friends took their offer, ignored our protests and left to go with them with one of the three hotel keys. While we hopped between the nightclub scene in Mérida, our friend lost his phone, got lost himself, camped out in a 24 hour pharmacy and was finally returned to us somewhat intact, minus his dignity, by the tourism police at 5am which left three of us to share a double bed that night. And so that was our eventful 16 hours in Mérida, we only planned to stay for a single night and left as early as possible, after hangovers and new phone purchases, to our next stop on the other side of the peninsula, back the way we came...

Lagoon Living

I will spare the details of the close to 5 hour drive south to Bacalar, our next stop on the journey for the following 2 nights. Although we only spent a little time here, this place has left a lasting impression with its genuine natural beauty and laidback vibes it provided, which we needed after the Mérida! Bacalar had a lot to offer on the lagoon though unbeknownst to us at the time was that they restrict commercial activity on the lagoon on Wednesdays to protect the local wildlife. However, luckily for us the lazy river, another of Bacalar's attractions, was still open which is what the name describes - a slow current river that you float down. Overall, I would say the lazy river was fine though it lost its appeal after the second go and we were ready to just chill with some beers after the third. I was going to include a picture of the lazy river but I feel it wouldn't do it much justice so just trust me that it was firmly fine.

Besides the gorgeous lagoon and natural environment around Bacalar, it is famous for another thing - the Yak Hostel Wednesday parties which attracts hundreds of backpackers and travellers in the area for one big bash which was worth being there for. The whole outdoor section of the hostel turned into an area to dance, play beer pong or drunk jenga, pet the stray dogs that have snuck their way in (shoutout to Lucas!) or just socialise - it was definitely a highlight of the trip and that is before we had the post-drink food in a random restaurant in the outskirts of Bacalar at 3am where we had some of the best guacamole I've ever tasted.

And before we knew it our time in Bacalar was over but not before we had a 7am boat tour of the lagoon that only 2 out of the 5 of us made! The chill, fresh air definitely helped with the hangover from the previous night before we embarked on the journey further south across the Mexican border and into Belize, specifically Belize City.

Sadly these were the best photos I got during our time in Bacalar. I really wish I could have captured more of the beauty of the lagoon so you're just going to have to trust me!

Almost Perfect, But Not Quite Yet

Our next stop was Caye Caulker, an island around 20 miles from Belize City, where we would stay for the next 3 nights. However, the journey there was a mixed bag of anxiety from all the things we had heard about the Mexico-Belize border and which ended up all being true. Before we could even approach the border crossing, we had to make sure we all filled out a travel declaration form for Belize (which were never asked for...) and then get our van biologically disinfected, which honestly looked like a complete farce and I'm still doubtful if it actually did anything beside it being a pretend eco-tax for crossing the border. Next we had to park the van and visit the booth with some border agents around it to get a temporary exit stamp from Mexico which involved being split up and entering this booth with the border agent who then demanded 800 pesos (~45 USD/ ~33GBP) cash each as an exit tax. Thankfully one of my friends was prepared for this to happen and informed us beforehand that this is likely to happen so after we stood our ground for nearly an hour, they finally "did us a favour" gave us our exit stamps for free.

Once we finished all the bureaucracy on the Mexican side, we were ready to repeat it again on the Belize side as we signed more forms declaring our entry and then to top it off vehicles entering the country require a special temporary insurance which must be acquired immediately upon entry and only available at the border. So after another hour of filling out various forms, we were finally on the road towards Belize City only to make it 30 minutes into the country and reach an armed police road checkpoint. We had the forms so after some quick back-and-forth, we were on the move again. To add to the things that were a minor inconvenience this day, we noticed our van started leaking some mysterious liquid while parked up and getting fuel. Our fear was that we were leaking coolant for the engine or AC refrigerant however, turned out it was just windscreen washer fluid which we decided to just ignore.

Perfection

After a bumpy drive to Belize City and an even bumpier boat to Caye Caulker, we were finally in paradise. I wish I could say that our agenda consisted of just chilling at the beach or pool with cocktails in hand and living the island life however, what we did get up to was absolutely worth it - a fly-by of the Great Blue Hole and snorkelling in the second largest coral reef in the world!

The flight over the Great Blue Hole was mesmerising, the sheer size of it and the dark blue water dominating the surroundings. The journey there matched it, with the ocean shifting between blues and greens as well as the atolls, islands and coral reefs we flew over . As part of the flyover, we also did some passes of a beached cargo ship which ran aground on the coral reef in 2005 and has been left there ever since which was pretty cool as you don't see that every day!

Our boat tour from Caye Caulker took us to three different snorkelling spots where we saw a ton of different sea life from coral fishes to creepy eels popping out of their coral houses, manta rays gliding effortlessly in the water and my personal favourite - a sea turtle living his best life and just eating! Besides the snorkelling, we also stopped to  feed, swim with and pet some friendly nurse sharks in Shark Ray Alley which was also just a surreal experience. This day certainly brings back fond memories looking back at it now even if one of us was sick as a dog for most of the time on the boat and that we all managed to scorch our backs because we forgot sunscreen washes off if you immediately get in the water after applying it... lesson learnt.

In between our fly-by and snorkelling, we gorged ourselves with the local delicacies like oil-drum-barbecued rotisserie chicken with rice that the bossmans were selling at the side of the street and were absolutely delicious. Moreover, something that rivals an Ulster fry was Caye Caulker's fry jack - a deep-fried puffy bread filled with bacon, sausages, beans and eggs - which was an incredibly greasy and filling breakfast which was indulged every morning.

A nice closing note about Caye Caulker is that they really take care of their stray animal population. The island runs a purely donation-driven charity that feeds, houses and provides the essentials like worming and vaccines to any dog or cat on the island regardless if they are stray or not. It was something very heart warming to see and something we need more of in this world.

On The Road Again

Leaving Caye Caulker was a tragedy in itself for the short time we were there so as we approached the our parked van in Belize City we got a welcoming surprise - a flat tyre because our silly driver (me) didn't see the rebar sticking out of the ground when originally parking the van. After an hour of faffing about in the scorching heat, a kindly Belizean man, with more scar marks than years I've been alive, was able to assist in jacking up the van fully and replaced our wheel for us. In return for his kindness, we gave him $80 USD which was more than fair; but when he requested we follow him to a tyre repair shop, that's when we got a little too sketched out and fully expecting to drive into some sort of stick-up, so waited for him to just get bored and book the opposite way. While the whole tyre changing debacle was going on, a woman parked behind us ended up just backing into us as if we needed anything else to really over-stimulate us during this whole situation.

Once we had our spare tyre fully inflated, we began the 2 hour drive to San Ignacio where we return the regular scheduled programming of Mayan ruins and culture with a day trip to Tikal, Guatemala and visiting the Actun Tunichil Muknal caves.

San Ignacio

Our days in San Ignacio albeit short were jam packed with tours which were conveniently handled through our AirBnB host Terry who runs a local touring company 'Cayo Inland Expeditions' which I highly recommend after doing the Tikal and ATM cave tours with them.

Tikal

Although we had already been to a few Mayan ruins already, Tikal provided a more authentic experience overall with it being in the middle of a jungle and so much of the site still covered in vines, moss, and grass. Some of the view points really showed this off when you reached the top and could see a few of the ruins stick out over the jungle canopy as a sign of what once lay here.

The whole jungle environment was fascinating with the diverse range of animals we saw and heard starting with the drive into the Tikal complex where we saw a jaguar scurry across the road and into the tree line. Then as we moved through dirt paths howler monkeys that could be heard from miles away and every now and then be seen climbing some of the ruins. Last but not least, I got to see a wild toucan perched in the tree with its massive beak.

Xunantunich

On the way back from the ATM cave, we had the option of stopping off at Xunantunich, another Mayan ruin outside of San Ignacio. This offered a more refined experience similar to Chichén Itzá which also had a main pyramid called El Castillo.

The Home Stretch

After San Ignacio, we had just two stops left before our trip was done - Tulum then Cancún. However, first we had to embark on our longest drive yet as well as crossing back over the Mexico-Belize border. This time at the border, we just had to stand in a 45 minute queue to go through before being let back into Mexico. Our drive took us past Bacalar where we fought the temptation to just skip our days in Tulum and instead stay another few nights in the Yak Hostel. Alas, we continued north towards Tulum, driving through small towns and on wide highways up the east coast of Quintana Roo making our way slowly back to where we started 13 days earlier.

Tulum

We came into Tulum with high hopes of being able to drink and party now that we had exhausted all the planned excursions and activities. Not long after dropping our bags off, we were split into teams - competing to make the best guacamole while also trying to drink the most tequila - spoiler: all of us lost. Our night continued socialising at the party hostel, playing drinking games that involved spinning a wheel and performing whatever dare it landed on for a free shot or three (I had to jump in the pool…), before finally ending with a club crawl.

After that, things slowed down. We had another full day and night in Tulum, but compared to the first, not much happened for most of us as we just spent our time lounging at the hostel and enjoying the last stretch of the trip. We left Tulum for our last stop, Cancún, only to have the fright of our lives when we could hear this terrible scraping noise from the van and thinking our van is broke just before we drop it off! Thankfully, it was found that a plastic bin (that I might have driven over when parking the van, though I refute this) was stuck underneath, oops!

Cancún

After a short interrogation when dropping off the van about the destroyed tyre (which definitely happened in Mexico and not Belize *wink*) and the mysterious liquid now just dripping from the van (which was totally news to us *wink*), we were on our way to our apartment in Cancún.

Arriving at the apartment brought the final mishap of the trip - our Airbnb host hadn't informed the building staff about our booking, so they couldn't check us in. To make matters worse, the host wasn't answering for the first hour. Once everything was finally resolved, we found the apartment left much to be desired, but it had the essentials and sufficed for two nights.

Our time in Cancún could be easily glossed over as there wasn't a ton to do and after 15 days of travelling together, we were somewhat done. However, we did do one of the things Cancún is known for - Coco Bongos! I wouldn't really call Coco Bongos a club, because if you aren't a woman you won't get the invite to the middle platform to dance. However, it did provide decent entertainment and free, though pretty disgusting, drinks for $100 entry! Making sure we drank them dry like fish and that we got our moneys worth, we left at around 4am to finish the night eating some of the worst tacos with the spiciest sauce ever.

Closing Note

This road trip is definitely up there with my favourite trips - both because of the things we did and saw but also the company. I feel Mexico gets a bad rep but I never once was concerned for my safety (male privilege helps with that, I know) and the food was up there with the best. However, Belize stole my heart in ways I didn't expect when we first left Gatwick heading for Cancún on the 1st March. The people were some of the nicest we met, the history of the land was fascinating and the country as a whole was just really lovely, especially Caye Caulker - a place I would love to go back to.