Never thought we´d still be in Mexico at this point...

Friends in Bacalar-- Gunnar, Jaqueliene, Jacqui, Leah, David, originally uploaded by sanuzbord.

Well, it´s not that we haven´t left Mexico, we did, yesterday. We just returned to Mexico today for a couple of reasons, but mainly just one. In classic David fashion I went and left my ATM card in the machine in Chetumal and we came back to see if we could get it, we´ll find out tomorrow and head back to Orangewalk, Belice tomorrow.


We never anticipated being in Mexico this long, but we purposely have avoided any detailed planning so that we may take advantage of all opportunities we come across, obviously we have had many, thus our current presence in Mexico.


So, a little about our stay in Bacalar...


We planned to stay only 2 days or so in Bacalar at Villas Ecotucan, but after we arrived there, checked out the digs and stayed there a day, we decided it was going to be a little longer, and just as before in Tixkokob we kept finding reasons to stay just a little longer. Villas Ecotucan is owned by a local man, Arturo who is married to a Canadian woman and they really like biking. For this reason they have opened Villas Ecotucan, right on the water of beautiful Laguna Bacalar, up for free camping to "real" bikers such as ourselves. It is run by a German"family", Jaqueliene, Gunnar, and Boy (the hunting dog), who all were very gracious hosts and good company. We were camping right near the water, making our dinners and buying our awesome breakfasts, cooked by Jaqueline, for M$20 ea. We stayed an entire week. Our days were absolutely packed with reading, swimming, journaling, card playing, it was tough to find time to rest in there.


On Valentines Day we met Jimmy and Jacqui from Portland, Oregon but now residents of Bacalar. After chatting with them for a bit they invited us to go out sailing later that afternoon. It´s tough to turn down an offer of sunset sailing so a couple of hours later we were crusing along in Laguna Bacalar. Promptly after Jimmy handed me the rudder, we stopped making any forward progress as I had run us aground. Luckily Laguna Bacalar´s bottom is all soft lime mud and no damage was done and a freindship was forged. We rode home in the dark for the first time since leaving the US and it was a little scary on the main highway. We weren´t sure whether our red blinking lights were a good thing, letting people know we were there, or whether they were advertizing, "Hey we´re gringos with money, come get us!!!" Thankgoodness for the bright moon beause we didn´t bring flashlights but we arrived "home" safe and sound.


We finally decided that a week of resting was enough and that Sunday was the day to move on, after the reggae party in Bacalar on Saturday, that is. As we were preparing to leave Villas Ecotucan we met Luis, a friend of Arturo´s, Jaqueliene and Gunnar´s (and Boy´s) who had biked up from Chetumal for the reggae paryt. Later that night we talked with Luis and decided that we would bike to Chetumal that the next day together. Luis asked if he might try my bike out, and I told him of course I would let him ride my bike, he had ridden up on a nice, light, mountain bike. The reggae party was fun and a good way to end our stay in Bacalar. Jaqueliene and Gunnar came as well as Jacqui (who had invited us to stay the night at their place for our departure in the morning.)


After Luis arrived in the morning we said goodbye to Jimmy, who wasn´t feeling to well with his earache. Jacqui accompanied us to Cenote Azul where we had a big breakfast before heading into what was to be our biggest headwind of the trip.


Overall we had a great time in Bacalar and as we left Leah and I both felt that we were leaving just as we had started to make some real friendships. Hopefully some day we will get back to Bacalar to see everyone again. We also want to thank everyone in Bacalar for your hospitality and sharing some time and energy with us, please know that it doesn´t go unappreciated.


So we headed off to Chetumal with Luis pedaling my bike and me on his. After a while, he wanted to pedal Leah´s bike th rest of the way. It was a fun but tough ride. We had planned to head to Belize that day but Luis invited us to stay the night at his house and leave for Belize the next day, of course we accepted. Luis was a gracious host and treated us to steaks and wine, both firsts since we arrived in Mexico. We really enjoyed our time with Luis.

Uh oh, the internet cafe is closing, time to stop the blog. Stay tuned for adventures with Manatees, machetes, barracudas, border crossings, and even our first "real" flat tire!!!