Viva Mexico 2019 - Puerto Morelos/Cozumel

Jeep driving in Mexico!

I cannot believe how fast the 3 weeks went by and all of a sudden we were on our last stretch of the journey. As the last stop, I chose Puerto Morelos located between Cancún and Playa del Carmen it was supposed to still have the quiet charm of a fisher village and not as touristy as many of the other places along the coast.  That is not to mention that there are a good number of resorts right at the beach, but the village itself is not yet overrun and you can find good food, in the evening you find local artists at the market square showing their work and some food stands which sell local favorites.

Street Tacos at DK :) - great cocktails too!

View from our hotel in the morning :)

Puerto Morelos.

There were two things I still had on my list for this vacation: snorkeling the reef and visiting Cozumel.
I booked a snorkeling tour with Wet Set. They are very professional and all the equipment is excellent. The 4 of us had 2 guides to take us around. We saw plenty of big fish and nice corrals. The coast itself had an immense seaweed problem and swimming at the beach was not possible. Once the boat took us out to the reef we had clear waters and good view. We stopped at 2 locations for a good 45 min snorkel each. We loved it!

Seaweed Islands closing in!

Cozumel was the last full day trip. We took the ferry from Playa del Carmel rented a very, very old Jeep - no seatbelts, no rearview mirror - Island living :) and made a trip around the island. We stopped to do some of the beach snorkeling at the Skyreef. There is not as much fish variety or coral so close to the shore but still worth the stop :). We had some excellent coffee at Coz Coffee Roasting company before heading back to the ferry and that was it.

We will definitely be back to Mexico! We can highly recommend, renting a car and getting around to more off the beaten path locations - you will not be disappointed :)

Things you only see when driving around. Get your souvenirs at the side of the road.

Fresh fruit, juice in every village - you will not go hungry here. Look out for the speed bumps everywhere. This is something we needed to get used to. But in the end, it was a running joke :)

Speed bump and food!

Viva Mexico 2019 - Chetumal/Bacalar

The next stop in our itinerary was Chetumal. The drive down is rather long, so we decided to take a break at the lagoon Ocom. Not sure that I would drive there just to go there - for us it was on the way and we needed a break. We drove off the highway onto a pothole, sand and gravel street, following some weathered signs. We ended up on the lagoon, and we think that at some point this must have been a more touristy place, but now it looked more lost than anything. We were the only guests over lunchtime. After climbing the mirador and walking to the cenote, only Frank jumped in bc it was rather slippery, we ordered some fresh fish - and surprisingly, this meal was very, very good and fresh!

Lagoon in Ocom.

Walking to the cenote.

Fresh fish - pescado frito :)

And then finally we made it to Chetumal and once the sun started to set, we went out for a walk. It is nice to have that breeze from the ocean to make the heat more bearable. Chetumal does not have anything in terms of architecture or nice restored houses, but people know how to enjoy life. Many people are outside in the evenings doing sports, having food from the many food vendors, dancing in the parks, or just chatting on a bench near the sea - really wonderful.

Selfie in Chetumal.

Since there isn't much to do or see in Chetumal, I followed a recommendation and looked at nearby Bacalar. If you are in the region - YOU HAVE TO GO!!! It is an amazing place. I booked a morning kayak tour which included breakfast, a visit of the old fort and a swim in the cenote Azul. I found the tour on a webpage - only in Spanish and with a telephone number. A lot of the communication is done via WhatsApp, so I tried my luck. And so we got up early to drive to Bacalar and meet our tour guide, who also only spoke Spanish, at 6:30 am. It all worked out! We meet on time, jumped in their car and drove to the pier to get started. The water is warm and very pristine. It feels wonderful. We jumped in a couple of times.

Our guides car with the kayaks.

Mr. K enjoying the morning.

View from the fort to the lagoon.

After about 1.5 h of kayaking our guide took us out for breakfast - honestly, we would probably not have stopped at that place or given it a second glance if we would have been on our own - more like a very basic place, where I would feel strange and afraid to get a stomach bug, but it was fine! The food and coffee were good! After having had some food the tour took us to the fort in Bacalar which gives a short write up of the Yucatecan history and is a nice little stop. As another highlight, we drove to the Cenote Azul - this is a huge cenote, the water is so refreshing and we did swim for a long time.

In Chetumal, we also took the time to do some shopping. On our trip, we realized that we were very underdressed. The locals are always dressed well, and especially well on weekends and on special occasions. So it was time for a new skirt, shirt, and pants and we blended in a little better :) Next time, we decided, we will only pack one change of clothes for our journey and just get dressed there ;)

Shopping all done!

Food at "La Viagra Jarocha" - nice seafood!

On the next day, we did another little history tour and drove to nearby Kohunlich. A huge Mayan settlement in the jungle and since it is very far from most major touristy places, we again had it almost to ourselves.

And it was climbable.

Kohunlich is famous for these heads - 5 of them were stolen and most likely destroyed in the effort, the last ones are being restored. 

There are remains everywhere and the walk underneath the trees is very nice.

More housing to see.

After this jungle tour, we were craving water again. Frank had already researched a new place to check out on the Bacalar lagoon - Los Rapidos. It was amazing. Floating is great, the food was great - do not opt for the hamburgesa - only have fish dishes, these are really, really good - I loved the aguachile! I would go again, right now if I could.

Clearwater and floating galore!

And with that, it was almost already over only one stop left in our journey. Keep reading Puerto Morelos and Cozumel.

Viva Mexico 2019 - Ek Balam

From Mérida, our journey continued to Valladolid. We stayed at a very old Hacienda in the middle of the jungle. We just shared the space with the animals roaming around. Since I was knocked out for a day, the boys played some pool and enjoyed themselves while I fuelled up on Coke and dry bread. Luckily the next day I was up and running again and we did a day trip to Ek Balam. This is one of the many Mayan sites, and again climbable ruins :)

Our jungle retreat.

Church in Valladolid.

Ek Balam.

Great details.

Amazing constructs.

Let's talk about history.

Close to Ek Balam is a great cenote. You can either walk or let someone paddle you there on a trike or, like we did, rent some bikes. The cenote is about 2 km from the ruins and you can rent the bikes right at the entrance. If it is not crowded you can try to haggle with them, we paid in total 350 pesos less bc we chose to bike and all 3 boys took the adventure package with zip lining, rappelling, and special jumping options.

Mr. K on the way down.

Help is close!

Jumping off the Tarzan rope.

All 3 boys jumping in at the same time.

And biking back.

We highly recommend doing a tour through the ruins of Ek Balam and swimming in the cenote afterward. Valladolid is very close to Chichen Itza as well, so you could do that too. But we decided to only do Ek Balam in the hope of fewer tourist and this worked out well for us. We had a strange moment on the parking lot, where a bunch of teens surrounded us and asked that we pay them to watch the car. We decided to tell them they would get something afterward if nothing happens to the car. Frank paid them 10 pesos before we left - I don't think something would happen there, either way, it is a small lot and always people around.

Before leaving Valladolid for Chetumal we stopped at the cemetery.  Cemeteries are very interesting here, bc each grave seems to have a little house and they are as colorful as the real houses in the town.

Walking through the cemetery.

Viva Mexico 2019 - Mérida day trips

We did two trips from Mérida. One to Uxmal and one to Celestún. Uxmal is one of the world heritage sites and some parts are very well restored, also we could climb things :)

Uxmal.

NIce details restored.

It was big!

Climbing stairs again.

View from the top.

Palace.

After the ruins, we were ready for a cooldown. The best husband had done some research and took us offroad, a couple of miles through the jungle to end up in front of a gate to pay some 50 pesos per person to jump into a hole ;)

Relatively smooth sac-be. I realize that this picture does not give the road any credit bc it was rough at times...

The walk down the hole.

Cenote :) - clear water and soooooo refreshing

Our second day-trip brought us to Celestún. The place is famous for its flamingos and besides that, there isn't much. There is a large place to rent a boat right at the entrance of Celestún claiming they do eco-tours to see the flamingos - we did not go with them but instead parked the car near the city center and beach, walked down to the beach and we hired a local to ship us to see the flamingos. I would never walk to the beach anywhere to pay some guy - in advance - 2000 pesos or in fact anything, to take me somewhere. But the best husband had done some research on the internet - so it must be safe ;). And, in fact, it was. The guide was knowledgeable and if our Spanish would have been better we would have learned more. - So learning more Spanish ended on our check-list. And trusting the flow and just go with your gut works out :)
As for the eco-tours, they have the same boats than the guys at the beach and do the same tour - so we are not sure what the eco stands for. The fuel is the same they put in the boats :/ But they do have a counter where you can pay and probably get a receipt.

Anyhow, we saw flamingos!!! They are awesome!!! The tour also included a short ride through a natural mangrove channel and a short swim in a cenote.

Mr. K with our "fixer" in the back - some guy who spoke English and did the transaction on the beach with the fisherman who only spoke Spanish.

Lots of amazing flamingos.

And more pink birds.

The mangroves.

After the swim.

Viva Mexico 2019 - Mérida

And then we made it - Mérida was home to us for an entire week. The only thing we had planned and booked in advance was a market and cooking tour through traveling spoon, the rest would just unfold, we thought. During the week we stayed in an airbnb, there are many nice places in Mérida and I would just recommend that you book a place with a pool- that is such a relief in the heat and fun to jump into after a hot day.
So, of course, we did lots of walking in town. Mérida is very colorful, lots of restoration still needs to be done but many houses are just beautiful to look at and often times the front hides a little oasis in the backyard.

Colorful buildings 1.

Colorful buildings 2.

Market.

Tortilla station.

Spices and co.

Getting ready to cook.

Daniel explains the traditional way of working with some Yucatecan spices.

Mr. K making empanadas.

Our meal and drinks :) so delicious! 

Let's talk backyard oasis

In the Mayan museum.

Mayan museum.

Piñata paradise :) - street close the market place :)

Mérida is a great place to stay. The local tourist office organizes free events and tours every night of the week for everyone to enjoy. We saw a Mayan ball game in which they play the ball with their hip and try to get through a ring almost as high as a basketball hoop. In a second version, they are tossing a burning ball through the hoop and everybody was cheering the players on in the end. We also saw some dance and music performance. The events are loved by locals as well as tourist and strolling through the town at night is amazing. It is brimming with life and music and the temperature is just right :). Also, Mérida is an excellent basis for day trips. Read, the next post to see where we went.