Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Monday 7th of August
08.50 Good morning from Cancún and Hotel Kavia (https://hotelkaviacancun.com). A new week is here, the last one when we are in Mexico. A changed departure time for my train home in a weekcreates problems for my upcoming journey home.
09.24 I have rebooked my train ticket and will join Christer up north next Monday. My parents probably give me a ride from Sundsvall. The reason for the rebooking is railway problems with a railway embankment near Hudiksvall that collapsed after heavy rain. This leads to a bus trip between Söderhamn and Hudiksvall. Here in Cancún, we have just finished our bedside breakfasts.
10.19 Now we have to go out into real life here in Mexico. All the fuss about the rebooking of trains has caused me to lose focus.
10.37 After the room was checked by the staff, we were allowed to leave the hotel. On the way to the bus terminal we were offered a taxi to the airport and also a visit to a souvenir shop. We thought it was quite obvious that with our backpacks on our backs we were heading towards the bus terminal with big steps and neither intended to fly nor shop for souvenirs. It's hot in the waiting room at the ADO Terminal Centro bus terminal.
10.56 Everything is as it should be. We are in the pre-booked seats in a cool bus. Here a woman walks around offering something to eat and/or drink. No one marked our backpacks and we had to load them into the trunk ourselves.
11.21 We are on the road again. New places must be reached and new memories must be created there. We are traveling on road 307 in a southerly direction along the stretch of coast known as the Riviera Maya.
11.48 A white van just passed us. It is clearly more lush and green out there than at the beginning of the journey through Mexico.
16.15 I have again decided to buy white wine to take home to Sweden. In the Viva México souvenir shop they only had rum, mezcal and tequila. We did however purchase a small bottle of mezcal to share for the remainder of our stay in Mexico. Mezcal is significantly better than tequila in our opinion.
19.21 A guard here at the hotel has walked around taking photos. However, he has not taken pictures of the sun, but of various things here on the roof. Also, he has lit some lights. There seems to be some kind of routine that he has to do every session.
Tuesday 8th of August
Waiting at ADO Terminal Centro, Cancún.
We are leaving Cancún.
A short stop in Playa del Carmen.
Playa del Carmen, a city we didn´t have time to visit.
Peter has just moved into room 102.
The fans are hard at work inside Hotel MX Tulum.
Green surroundings around the hotel.
We have gone up to the roof of the hotel.
The entrance to Hotel MX Tulum.
Christer walks towards Tulum Ruina's restaurants and shops.
Cool and nice at Starbucks.
Waiting for the perfect man.
Viva México souvenir shop.
Tulum is a popular tourist destination.
Route 307 passes Tulum Ruinas.
An iguana wants to cross the road.
Today's sunset is beautiful but not perfect.
Christer on the hotel roof at sunset.
The sun has finished its job today.
Peter is having dinner at the restaurant El Habanero.
Evening at Hotel MX Tulum.
We have invested in a small bottle of mezcal.
08.18 There are a lot of eights right now. It is the 8th of August and it is eighteen minutes past eight. Today will be the first full day for us here in Tulum. There are plans for what we will do on this day as well.
08.57 We are ready to have breakfast, but I probably haven't really woken up yet. First we decided to have desayuno continental both of us. When the waitress comes, I suddenly change my mind and create confusion when Christer has to order in Spanish. The fancy breakfast place we had found based on good reviews was closed so we are back at the dinner restaurant El Habanero Ruinas. There aren't that many options to choose from around here. 09.29 We probably could have had more to eat for breakfast, although it wasn't terribly expensive. I guess we get what we pay for. 10.05 We prepare as best as we can for today's excursion to the Mayan ruins, Tulum Ruinas (https://tulumruins.net). One of the reasons why we chose to stay here, a bit from the city center, is to have both ruins and beaches at a suitable distance. It is a bit unclear right now where the payment is made. We'll have to look into the matter. 10.29 We have found the small house where we will buy a bracelet that will allow us to move freely in Parque Nacional Tulum where beaches and the archaeological site Zona Arqueologica de Tulum are located. 10.38 We are now in the ticket queue to pay the fee for the wristband. It is long to say the least and the heat is already wearing us down.
Return visit to El Habanero for breakfast.
The road to the ruins.
We have stepped into the Zona Arqueologica de Tulum.
Christer photographs a black iguana.
Tulum Ruinas is home to an entire army of iguanas.
This is where I live!
11.00 As I said, the queue was only to pay the fee to the national park. After a while, a girl went around selling wristbands to everyone in line, which sped up the process. Now a walk follows and then perhaps more queuing?
11.10 Going to the air conditioned ticket booth was fine and the payment was just fine. Now we are ready to step into the ancient Mayan city of Tulum, which was located directly by the sea. 11.14 Just inside the gate that serves as the entrance to the area, we have partly sat down to rest, but we have also photographed and filmed the large iguanas that live here. The big iguanas are everywhere here. Everywhere you look, you see one. 11.41 Photos have been taken of the house by the cenote (water hole) and the Templo del Dios del Viento (Temple of the Wind God). The sun is burning mercilessly and there are plenty of tourists on the move everywhere in the area. It's a shame that sun, heat and sweating so often make you lose focus when you're going to experience historical places in hot countries. 11.58 As I said, there are plenty of tourists, heat and lizards/iguanas here. Here in Mexico we have heard Spanish, French, English, German and Dutch spoken. We haven't heard much of the Nordic languages. Where are the Finns and Icelandic tourists? We are currently sitting and resting and have a large lizard next to us in the sand. 12.15 We have stood by the sea and enjoyed the beautiful view. Imagine if you could experience what it looked like here when the city was active in the 16th century. Playita Tortuga beach is closed because turtles usually lay their eggs here. 12.19 We have seen El Castillo and Templo del la Serie Inicial. Soon we will be done with the visit here. We can't stay any longer if we're not going to be completely scorched by the sun. It is +36°C in the shade today and blue skies. 12.49 The area is left after a walk through a cool forest and we have sat down on a green-turquoise bench in the shade to cool off. The closest will be some kind of lunch.
Casa Halach Uinik, Tulum Ruinas.
Templo del Dios del Viento, Tulum Ruinas.
The sun is baking over historic land.
Someone who didn't have to pay the entry fee.
Peter and a lizard rest for a while.
Christer takes a break near Playita Tortuga.
13.14 The collapsed railway embankment in Hälsingland delays the journey home by two hours. I probably won't be home in time for work next Tuesday. This may change if something works out. Now, in any case, it will be lunch at the restaurant Don Cafeto, which is opposite the souvenir shop we visited yesterday.
14.38 The lunch (spaghetti bolognese) was a bit expensive, but it was good. We especially appreciated the ice-cold lemonade after all the sweating and accompanying need for fluids. You can expect higher prices in tourist areas. The journey home is probably not quite over for me. It can work out. We'll see. 16.03 After a hot day of sightseeing, it's a good idea not to do much for a few hours. Although we'll get something more done today, we hope. 17.01 The clothes we washed dry perfectly on our balcony. Warm winds and temperatures become a perfect natural drying cabinet. 18.30 Tonight's and tomorrow's plans work perfectly on paper. How it turns out in real life remains to be seen. 18.53 The idea was to take the elevator up to the roof to admire the evening's sunset. Before we got to the elevator door, it opened and four guests stepped out. We stepped in and pressed R for the Roof. The elevator didn't go up but down to floor 1, the entrance floor and the door opened. Then it closed again and the elevator took us up to the roof. What did it help? We don't get to see any sunset. It's cloudy again on the horizon.
Ruins from the Mexican Middle Ages.
Christer by the Caribbean Sea.
The Mayan city of Tulum was beautifully located by the sea.
Peter is having lunch at Don Cafeto.
The sun has done its job this day.
Peter at Rincón del Jaguar.
19.05 I didn't take any new photos of the cloudy horizon. Christer, on the other hand, made a few attempts. The guard we saw yesterday has been walking around this evening as well, taking cards and turning on lights. What a great job he has.
19.11 Enough time on the roof. New tactic, we go to dinner. To get some variety, we have decided to walk into Tulum town, a walk of about two kilometers one way. 19.22 It's not the most pleasant walk in the world to walk on the side of the road on a large highway, but we make our way forward efficiently and it's easy to walk here. 19.56 At the restaurant Rincón del Jaguar, I have ordered an expensive Patito IPA beer and a Hamburguesa Hawaiiana. Christer has ordered the local dish Quesabirria and will drink Bohemia beer. A wall-mounted TV shows how the various dishes at the restaurant are prepared. 20.28 My dish and beer were good, but in any case, in terms of food, Christer won. It was so good that we even skipped the coffee. 21.30 The dinner price was perfectly OK. We have come to the conclusion that what makes the prices rise here in Mexico are extra expenses such as tip and the coffee after the meal. After a customary OXXO stop with breakfast purchases, we then went home the same way we came. 23.13 It has been a quiet and cool evening in the room. We watch CNN. Soon we will try drinking mezcal again. One of the news that has reached us is that the average temperature on earth during July has been the highest ever measured. It definitely felt that way to us today.
Peter's burger reaches a considerable height.
Quesabirria con consomé, Christer's delicious dinner.
Wednesday 9th of August
08.53 We have slept another night at Hotel MX Tulum and we are updating ourselves on the latest news from home. There is no chance or possibility that the railway outside Hudiksvall will be complete for the journey home. I'll probably sleep one night in Christer's apartment. First, however, we must keep traveling on this side of the Atlantic.
09.19 I have now rebooked my ticket so that I will come home on Tuesday. 10.32 In order to get something sensible done, give the cleaning staff a chance to clean the room, get a little sunburn and probably something more, we have left the room and gone up to the roof where there is a small pool and nice sunbeds. Today we plan to swim in the pool on the roof in the morning and visit the beach in the afternoon. This day is dedicated to taking it easy and enjoying yourself before the end of the journey takes place. 11.32 After a while of sunbathing and reading our books, we will now visit the pool for a while. There is a lovely pool right at the edge of the hotel's roof. You can sit in the water and study the traffic on the country road outside the hotel. 11.53 Swimming in the pool cools off nicely in the hot sun. Now I'm going to read some more and dry off. Christer soon follows my example. 13.11 Having dried off, we are now back in the cool and freshly cleaned room. It's time for a little shower before we head out for lunch. We don't want to smell like chlorine for the rest of the day.
A quiet morning on the hotel roof.
Christer is testing the hotel´s rooftop pool.
Holiday feeling in Tulum.
A return to Don Cafeto for lunch.
On the way to the sea.
Playa Santa Fe, Tulum.
14.41 After more time in the room, we left the hotel and crossed the road over the footbridge near our hotel. Once across the road we bought water at 7 Eleven. Now today's lunch is ordered at Don Cafeto, the same restaurant we visited for yesterday's lunch.
16.09 After ordering coffee with the food, we paid the small fee for the bracelet to the national park and headed for the beach. At this time of day there was no queue at all to pay. Almost at the sea, we witnessed a small accident. A man backed ever so slowly his car into a taxi. It was probably mostly his bumper that took a beating. Now we are sitting on a log at Playa Santa Fe and looking out over a seaweed-covered beach. It is sargassum seaweed that appears in large quantities during certain times of the year and sabotages the otherwise perfect white beaches. Sargasso seaweed occurs in warm waters, especially in the Caribbean and the coasts of tropical America. From there, the seaweed is carried by currents to the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the seaweed sabotages all plans to swim in the sea in a pleasant way. 16.45 After a bath or at least a foot bath, it's time to head home again. It feels sad to visit such beautiful beaches without having swimmed in the sea, but what can we do? The hotel's beaches are cleared of the brown seaweed, but here on the public beach there are drifts of it everywhere. 17.25 On the way home, our path was quickly crossed by a small mammal with a long tail. I don't know what animal it was. 17.49 A search on the internet has taught us that what we saw was probably a coati. We have seen coatis before, for example at the Iguazú Falls in Brazil and in Guatemala. 18.43 It's time for a third and final attempt to capture the sunset in a good way from the hotel roof. After that, it starts to be time to go shopping and also have dinner.
Peter on a log at Playa Santa Fe.
Sargassum seaweed in large quantities on the beach.
The beach is perfect but not close to the water.
Dusk on the hotel roof.
Christer dines for the second night in a row at Rincón del Jaguar.
Peter is eating camarones al ajo (garlic shrimp).
19.34 The guard, he with the camera, appeared on the roof again. Does he confirm where he has been through all the photos? Speaking of photos, we didn't get much of the sunset today either. Now it's time for a dinner walk without backpacks and the travel journal. They can stay at home because we will go shopping after dinner. Sometimes you are not allowed in if you have a bag or backpack with you.
22.21 With brisk steps we walked towards the appointed and planned dinner restaurant, La Coqueta. It turned out not to be what we hoped for. It was just an outdoor restaurant with dim lighting and hardly any free tables. Instead, we returned to yesterday's restaurant, Rincón del Jaguar. There sat a flock of the people who fear the silence, Americans. At times, they even managed to drown the speaker music with their voices. In any case, the food was good. Before we went home, we did some shopping at the Súper Aki supermarket. There I finally got hold of a white wine that I had to buy. Now we are at home to pack up this day as well. That's right, on the way home we saw a snake on the sidewalk. It could have been a coral snake or one of the harmless copies of coral snakes. It is rare that we see a snake in the wild on the trips and in the dark it was difficult to have a sure identification of the fast reptile. 23.03 CNN reports that Fernando Villavicencio, one of the candidates in the upcoming presidential election in Ecuador, has been shot dead in Quito. The murderer was also shot dead. 23.51 Tonight we tried something local as we drank our evening beers. The craft beer, Tulum Lager, was a happy and good surprise. The flavours as if echoed in the mouth.
Thursday 10th of August
08.30 After a cool shower, not voluntary cool, I will now start packing my things again. Today will be the very last bus trip here in Mexico. As usual, we go with the company ADO. There are probably no other options in this part of the country.
09.35 After a simple breakfast in the room, brushing the teeth and unpacking what we have unpacked during the stay here at Hotel MX Tulum is now underway. The hotel has been really good but it would have been even better if it had a real restaurant. Now you can only get coffee and some accessories. We can blame it on the fact that the hotel is new and just started. 10.39 At check-out I had forgotten the room number for the moment but it worked out. Now we will take a taxi to the bus terminal inside Tulum city. We found the taxi at a taxi stand on the other side of the highway. The driver only wants 50 pesos for the trip. 10.50 Arriving at the ADO Terminal de Autobuses Tulum, the driver suddenly wanted 250 pesos. Did I hear wrong the first time or did he say it wrong? We paid. He probably used the same trick as the taxi driver in Tunisia last year, pretending to have said the wrong thing or implying that we heard wrong. We have ourselves to blame for not ordering the taxi directly from the hotel. We had probably gotten used to honest taxi drivers earlier during the trip. A man, another tourist, just asked Christer about the brand of his backpack. Did he think Christer's backpack was looking good? 11.02 There is a lack of space for buses at Tulum's bus terminal. Our arriving bus did not get a place to stop and parked behind the other buses. The ADO bus is cool and shows movies, just like before, just like it should be. 12.28 After rolling on in peace and quiet to the south, we have now made a stop. 13.17 Comfortable buses are excellent means of transport. It's not as good as cool trains but better than cramped minibuses. We have just stopped in the town of Bacalar and dropped off some of our fellow passengers. 14.12 They may be comfortable taking the bus but now the end of this bus journey is approaching.
The last morning at Hotel MX Tulum.
Hotel Caribe Princess, Chetumal.
It is important to be ready for most events.
A coffee break at Restaurante Ventolera.
Chetumal is located by the sea.
Some sporty guys jogged by.
14.48 There was a vehicle change at ADO's bus terminal in Chetumal. We changed from a bus to a taxi. Does this driver keep the promised price?
15.05 The happy enthusiastic taxi gentleman kept the price at 50 pesos and drove us at high speed to the Hotel Caribe Princess. He didn't care much about stopping at red lights. We are now booked in room 205 but do not yet know the WiFi code. Chetumal is as far as you can go in eastern Mexico. We are a short distance from the Belize border. The city is curiously the administrative capital of the state of Quintana Roo, even though tourist resorts such as Cancún and Playa del Carmen are significantly larger. There are 230,394 inhabitants living in Chetumal. 15.16 Christer has been down to the reception and photographed a sign with the WiFi code. Good! Now we have contact with the outside world again. 16.14 In the café section of Restaurante Ventolera at the hotel TRYO by Wyndham, I ordered coffee and muffins in broken Spanish. The coffee is allegedly from Starbucks. 16.49 The waves collide with the rocks. If we look out over the sea, we can somehow see the destination of tomorrow, Belize. 17.04 On our walk along the Malecón de Chetumal down towards the port, we have been overtaken by a group of guys in orange shirts with numbers on the back. Now that we know how to get to the boat tomorrow morning and have seen the town's name spelled out, we are ready to see some more. 17.14 The air moves quickly and fresh at the Obelisco a la Bandera. It is a pillar with statues of soldiers and birds in the form of eagles. 17.50 After a few last photos by the sea and in a park (Parque Caimanes) we headed home towards the hotel. Before entering, we checked out possible dinner and breakfast options. Now we are in the room for final planning of the stay here in Chetumal, the last city in Mexico we visit. 20.04 There will be no grand finale, no unique extra special dinner to end the stay here in Mexico. The restaurant selection does not allow that. Instead, it will be pizza for both of us. We are at Sergio's Pizzas (https://www.sergiospizzas.com.mx) right next to our hotel. On TV, Spain and the Netherlands are playing football (soccer) in the Women's World Cup.
Muelle Chetumal. From here there are boats to Belize.
The name of the city and a reptile.
Monument to Nachi Cocom, Chetumal.
Obelisco a la Bandera, Chetumal.
Fuente del Pescador, Chetumal.
Here Mexico begins!
21.39 It was good as well as filling. With some sadness we also visited an OXXO for the last time. Now it will be the last Mexican evening. We have some work to do. Among other things, we have to register for the flight to the United States on Sunday. Now the Spanish football ladies scored on a penalty.
21.51 It's a goal again. The Dutch have equalised. 22.07 There were no more goals during regular time. It's time for an extension. 22.34 First it was close for the Netherlands and now Spain scored. There are different offers on how and how much we should pay in exit tax from Mexico. The amount we paid in state taxes in Tulum was higher than the amount mentioned online. Have we also paid exit tax? If we are going to pay, do we do it by card, dollars or pesos? 22.45 Spain face the winners of the match Japan vs Sweden. It was state tax plus administrative cost that we paid. The exit tax still remains, we think anyway. 23.22 Tomorrow we will withdraw money in the form of cash so that we have 700 pesos each available on departure. We have to make sure to make it to an ATM before heading to Muelle Chetumal and the boat to Belize tomorrow morning.
Parque Caimanes, Chetumal.
Peter at Sergio's Pizzas.
Christer's shrimp pizza.
You can see 54 photos from August 7 in this photoalbum.
You can see 78 photos from August 8 in this photoalbum.
You can see 32 photos from August 9 in this photoalbum.
You can see 47 photos from August 10 in this photoalbum.