Leaving Mexico! - Trip day 16/17

The final leg of the trip. For the last time we had a walk around the town of Akumal where we were staying and took in all that we had experienced there.

 

And just like that it was time to make our way home. The coach picked us up around 11 am and took us straight to the airport. When we got there we still had a couple hours until our first flight from Cancun to JFK so we just went around some shops and got some last minute items. Mostly treats. The first flight went alright although it was a bit slow and where the plane had 1 TV for every 10 rows you basically had to put up with what's on, on a TV 5 metres away and 10 inches wide or you had nothing.

(Landing at JFK)

The second flight wasn't until around 11pm from JFK back to Heathrow. Some people had a cheeky McDonald's and others, including me had nothing. Once we boarded the flight and took off it was around midnight so all we wanted to do was sleep. The crew had other ideas though. At around 1 am they decided to bring around dinner. A curry of all things. It was nice but not something to eat on a plane at 1am. Arrival was safe and we quickly collected our bags but due to the times of the National Express, we had to wait a couple hours until we could leave the airport. The rest of the journey though was alright. We had a nap on the coach on the way to the ferry and once we got on that ferry, we knew we were home. My parents and my brother were there waiting for me. I had an awesome time but it was so nice to be home!

(Final flight home)

 

Toodles for now.

Trip Day 10

It was an early start as our coach was leaving at 7.30am for Akumal. We had to empty our tent, sweep it and mop it before taking a group picture in front of the sign. We said our goodbyes and left Calakmul for probably the last time. The coach on the way back up north was the same as the one we rode down on. Comfy seats, apparently was used for a baseball team.

 

The journey was long since Akumal wasn't too far from Cancun and it took us 7 hours to get between Cancun and Calakmul last week. We stopped again at that little shop on the way for some snacks. These Doritos are really good by the way.

 

 

 

When we arrived we got a tour of the facilities and our room. A room which was filled with 6 bunk beds and 1 bathroom. Then we had lunch. It was pizza. I loved the food the local village made for us but to have some normal food was incredible!

After lunch we had a couple hours free so we headed to the beach. It was about a 3 minute walk and it was well worth the wait. We hadn't been given our snorkels yet but we still went into the water and found some turtles! It was the best feeling ever. One stuck its head out of the water right in front of me.

For dinner we had spaghetti and garlic bread. Once again it was normal food. Afterwards we went down the road to this little ice cream place and had some rocky road ice cream. Sat on the beach for a little bit before it shut. The beaches shut at a certain time to let the turtles come onto the shore to lay their eggs. We moved to the bar/restaurant that was by the beach for a while. They didn't seem to care about the age limits for drinking. Everyone had a drink anyway. The beer was called Sol. Never heard of that one before, it must be a Mexican thing.

Toodles for now.


Journey to Calakmul - Trip Day 3

Day 3 of the trip began at 5am to have breakfast and be packed and ready for the coach at 5.45. The hotel made us packed lunches with ham, cheese, lettuce and mayo sandwiches (which tasted pretty disgusting actually), a banana, a water bottle and a mango juice carton. Our journey on the coach was approximately 7 hours with a stop at the dive centre to pick up a guy named ross then a stop at a random shop in the middle of nowhere to grab a snack and to drop ross onto another coach which had people going the other way. They had just had their first week in Calakmul and were moving onto the second half of the trip. They were all saying how amazing it was.

 

KM20 was the name of the camp we were on our way to. We put our bags in one little room and had a tour of the facilities, got our tent allocations and our first lunch at the camp. All the food is prepared by a local village. It was beans but not the Heinz baked kind, some brown version that had a weird texture and weren't as tasty. It came with chicken and pure melon juice. Much better than I was expecting for a camp in the middle of nowhere.

We had a relaxing afternoon with my first trip to the loo. It had one section for your pee and another which basically was just a hole for number 2's. It'll take time to get used to but the paper goes in a bucket in front of you not down the hole. (It took just as long after I got home to get used to not putting the paper in the bucket because my bathroom at home has the bin in the same place as the bucket was in Mexico! Some awkward moments happened there!). The 'door' to the loos was a tarp. The team leader, whilst on our tour, demonstrated how to enter like Indiana Jones with the disinfectant to keep the stench down.

Dinner from the village was more brown beans and spicy scrambled egg with lemon juice (I'm sure you are loving the dinner chat right after a loo chat aren't you?) And that was followed by a shower in the dark. Not the most pleasant or easy thing to do.

Toodles for now.