Sun 0718 in Xpujil, waiting for 8am bus to Villahermosa which I am taking to Catazaja and changing to Palenque from there.
I have a big gap but I am going to have to start writing now and fill the gap in after, a bit like San blas trip.
It has been chaotic with little free time since leaving Bacalar. On the whole it was good but I am a bit exhausted. Last night Iwas struggling to find how to get on froXpujil and in the end asked reception who got me to mrssage owner who told me avout this. Fingers crossed as if this doesn't work out the options are a bit thin and I already paid for a dorrm in palenque, which appears to have few cheap or even generally social options.
I did ask a chap sitting here about trt bua at 8 and he seemed to think it was from here but I am a bit leery.
Last night while packinng I notices my tube xube, which I had left locked around cable on floor right next to maim bag, was soaked. I had and have no idea how this happened. I emptied it out and towelles off the contents and the cube itself (stamping on it in a towel) and thanks to luckily having put most stuff inside plastic bags inside it for organisation I have probably got away with it. Some ashesive sreasings are maybe toast. Lessons learned are probably to make use of sealed plastic bags a formal part of packinf strategy for tube xube and not to leave it outside main bag if I can help it, though wrt the latter I guess if the main baf had mysteriously got soaked the tube xube might have stayed dry.
I got up at 630 after waking up constantly in night wondering/dreading of it was time to go. If I can get on this bus OK most of the stressy bits of today will be over and just a question of grinding through.
I really really want a day or two with no requirement to get up early or rush round and a comfortable bed. I am not planning to charge round palenque like mad partly as I was there in 2010 but obviously don't remember that much but mainly because it is quite likely I will be back at least once and? Maybe more druing this trip, esp if I do the Flores etc loop I may so palenque ruins at some point but I am ruined-out right now and a gap seems desirable, likewise I also really don't want to do Flores etc loop right now.
Feel a bit annoyed as I am going to Palenque not cos I want to or cos it is an obvious gateway to somewhere I do want to but because I has to to get out of Xpujil. In hindsight I could have gone to Villahermosa but didn't know that til I started asking about palenque and it turns out this bus has villaheemosa as its destination. Same principle kind of applies though. I suspect I am going to feel very dunneles by buses and available hoatela on bo{king in terms of onward travel rather than ezcitingly exploring a broad range of options.
But let's just get to palenque today.
0735 aha, there are taxi colectivos to escarcega. This is probably a solid fallback. There is iirc an ado bus esc-palenque, the last one probably leaves 1330 but if (touch wood) I miss this 8am bus I should have plenty of time to get to ESC before then.
I checked trendy Maya last night and couldn't see any tickets on any day but this may just be something I am doing wrong.
0749 on bus, paid 400 for ticket. It says crucero de playas but I saw a sign earlier talking about crucero de playas de catazaja so reasonably optimistic. It was actually here and waiting hidden behind some ado buses but luckily I went for a brief wander.
Day-pack feels slightly damp but not quite sure how. Unless one of my tiny near empty water bottles leaked on top. Not a big deal. Spoke to American? Couple in brief queue to ask if they had a ticket and they said you had to buy on bus, as I did. They are having some sifficulty getting to some small place and I talked to rhe woman a little bit about how I am going to Palenque. Her destination sounds more interesting. :-)
TBH I suspect poorlyish documented taxi collective services and maybe local buses are the key to seeing slightly off the beaten track places, though for overnight stays you need axxxom on somewhere like booking, but there may well be places you can use as a base to explore the surroundings via colectiv o with luck.
Bag does fit in overhead rack nicely anyway.
I saw and atrokes breakdown little kitten from the other night out here - I can see the Six I bought the beer in through bus windows, we are right in front of it. Not written any of that up yet of course.
I left over half a big bag of tortilla chips in Accom this morning to save carrying them and half wish I had them now. Not end of world. I am not actually hungry and I have other snacks too and doubtless chance to purchase some. Albeit while it is hard to be sure I looked at myself in mirror last night and felt my gut looked way bigger than normal. Diet has not been great, though otoh I also didn't think I had eaten huge quantities of anything healthy or unhealthy in general.
Used lifestraw for first time in anger yesterday, did work reasonably well.
I was finally able to find time to wd some much needed cash yday afternoon. OK I did haveny reserves but I really didn't want to touch them and although of course there is theft risk it does feel good to actually not be constantly worrying about not being able to pay for stuff.
0800 fwiw ado buses have gone so I might have seen this bus even if I has stayed waiting around in that not quite right spot earlier anyway.
0811 engine started.
0813 moving!
1040 been drowsing. Arriving escarcega. Throat dry but reluctant to drink too much.
1046 on way.
1819 On lower terrace at hostel, a couple are hanging around and the woman has a laptop, we said hi but no more. Been charging around due to losing stuff due to lack of recent experience with dorms.
To resume the journey and without going into too much detail, I stared to feel a bit mentally wobbly after a bit. I did just about keep it together.
Got off at Catazaja no problem and straight into a waiting colectivo minibus. Unfortunately I ended up sitting next to a weird young Mexican guy who insisted on talking to me in mildly incomprehensible English, although I suspect he may have grown up in the US and his incomrehensibility was mainly due to his mental state. He kept going on about Trump (I don't know if he thought I was American or not) and about drug gangs and their weaponry and don't go "over there" as he waved his arm unhelpfully. I tried to make noncommital comments. I dont know if he was trying to scare me or not - I was slightly, but only to the extent that I assumed I'd have to deal with him when I got off the colectivo. Luckily he got off way before we got into Palenque so I was spared that and I instantly felt better.
Jumping ahead, I just last minute decided to take a load of laundry into the HITW laundrette next door - min 4kg/100 pesos but not too bad. (Given my bag with water weighs about 7kg I am likely hitting the min price, but can't really be helped.I have taken a chance and taken four full sets of clothes and underwear in and have taken my grey trousers off and swapped to black ones for first time on this trip. There are some laundry machines here in the hostel but no privacy to hand wash or hand dry and the hostel machines are min 4kg too and price probbably same or worse, and I asked and woman at HITW said she would wash at low temp and dry in sun.
Fingers crossed I dont regret this but hand washing trousers is always a bit unsatisfactory and if as I suspect I am going to be in unpropitious laundry circumstances for a while it is a good idea to get them done professionally while I can. (Technically the private bathroom at the cabin in Xpujil would have been great for laundry, but the basin water flow was just a trickle and it was practically stuck to the wall with chewing gum. I did IIRC do a tiny bit of water-only washing of one garment at a time in the shower to eke things out, but of course this is always a bit unsatisfactory.)
I got colectivo to drop me just round corner from hostel and it's quite a swanky looking bit of town, although when I popped out later for a wander if you go a block or two north it gets quite gritty. Still, apart from one super amiable and harmless beggar no one hassled me.
Back to the hostel, I checked in. It is all a bit semi-fancy with but with an annoying hotel vibe - there is a stupid wifi code you have to enter rather than them just giving you the wifi password, and I have to wear a wristband. That said, it is super clean and the groud are pretty big and nice and there is a kitchen with a fridge.
I managed to get a single bed in the dorm. It showed signs of only one other occupant when I arrived but I think it has been filling up.
I drank loads of free water and called parents from kitchen then (all this rather dithering TBH) went out for a walk and food. Lots of expensive restaurants but I found a local-seeming place up in the grittier bit and had a couple of large and pretty decent quesadillas with arrachera and a mango juice. I also went to supermarket(s) and got some bananas and some sparkling water, the latter I will try to have with some lime in a bit.
My feet are itching - I am wearing flip-flops, partly to save laundry - but I suspect it is more after-effects of dirtyish sweaty socks all day despite having had a *very* hot shower (and doing a redundant, since I took it into laundry after last minute decision to use it, water wash on one top) than mosquitos. There are some hanging round though so I may go and put some repellent on feet.
1836 Jesus, it is an epic trek between back terrace and my dorm.
So I came back and had a shower and as I say took laundry next door and I am now sitting out here. I feel slighty BNM but TBH I am really not desperate to meet anyone. (I did wonder a little if the slight mental wobble on bus was a reaction to having been with people so much lately and hen suddey feeling lonely, but who knows?)
I was dreading it would be like an inferno here while getting stressed out on the bus but TBH even wandering around while warm it was not horribly so. Quite pleasant out here at night of course.
Not super happy to be in a dorm but I think it will be fine. It always has been in the past and I dont think my mental wobbles are too bad now. (Possibly a silly phrase, butas this is a public blog and I don't want to go ito too much detail it will do.) Also after getting up at 0630 and not really sleeing that well (I had two blankets on against it being relatively cold from the previous night, but I was also sweating a bit despite it probably actually being cold, and I was maybe a bit worried about waking up in time and getting the bus etc) I hope to sleep fairly well in a proper bed, and although I don't know if people will put it on or not there is also aircon. I have a window with an insect screen that opens by my bed FWIW. Unfortunately socket is on wall and too high to charge phone on floor, but I can work round this with power bank and overall it isn't bad.
1843 So let me revert to Thursday morning and start to fill in the gaps. I don't expect to get it all done tonight.
I didn't sleep amazingly well IIRC but perhaps a little better. I got up pretty late - take all this with a pinch of salt given it was now several days ago - and had breakfast at hostel. I then overhear Youri (as it turns out it is spelled) talking to someone about Xpujil and I wandered over (rather dynamic of me). Long story short, Youri was willing to drive a car and they were thinking of hiring one and apparently it was only 15 euros a day and they were looking for people to share with them to go to Xpujil. I dithered but did essentially (and I am gong to try to avoid complete blow by blow stuff here) decide to go and as I'd already paid for Thursday night at the Bacalar accom I did ask and although I couldnt get that money back they did refund me for that day's breakfast, so I effectively got over half back.
The car price turned out to be a bit higher than advertised of course and there was insurance too. But anyway the three of us - the other being a German guy called (sp?) Mischa - probably left about 2-3ish. The Spanish guy from hostel said it was his day off the next day and he might go over and we swapped numbers but he never got in touch.
Anyway, we ended up having to go for food as we walked along trying to find the collectivo place which ate up some time. We then managed to find collectivo and go one over to Chetumal as we needed to hire the car at Chetumal airport. We had to faff around getting dropped in Chetumal and then getting a taxi over to the airport as there is some stupid pricing in effect.
There was one guy ahead of us in the queue which took forever and then it took forever for us to get dealt with too. Mischa - who speaks good Spanish by the way, better than I do or at the very least more confidently - had gone outside for fresh air but Youri speaks fairly good Spanish and I was able to step in and help with a bit as necessary.
M had been saying stuff at various points about how we ought to take the car back to Bacalar or stay the night in Chetumal and that he didnt want to go in the dark or that it would be boring in Xpujil etc. Luckily I got to chat to Y during the car hire phase and Y felt like me and although M wasnt happy we did manage to talk him round. (FFS, we paid for two nights for the car. Why write one off going back to Bacalar? And I wrote off half my pre-paid accom there. And it would have been a massive time sink, as I think he finally saw the next day.)
We did drive in the dark and it was fine though there was a certain amount of joking about people pulling us over with guns or whatever and I must admit I (sitting in the back) was quietly edgy at times and was glad when we arrived.
I got slightly shortchanged at reception to the tune of about 70 pesos and with the others there and a certain flustered quality I had to sort of let it go.
The private cabin was OK, the bed was nice enough with a mosquito net, the private bathroom small but with a suicide shower (so warm water at least) and although the sink was wobbly it was not bad. The cabin was not sealed and there were quite a few air holes or bits of plants growing through.
We met a German-Austrian couple (maybe just "best friends", hard to say) who had been let down with their transport to ruins (poss due to needing a third person) and it was suggested they join us to share the hire. We all went out to dinner together - M fell asleep after one beer and went back to the accom sightly ahead of the rest of us (he was sharing with Y), so so much for all that "oh it'll be boring in Xpujil" stuff as if he planned to stay out and party all night.
Couple were Lars and (not completely sure about her name, sadly) Miriam. Both very nice. Lars is a filmmaker of some kind and she makes ceramics (on the last day at B*, to describe later, we saw some big spiders and she said she had some like that roaming around in her studio back home). Y and Mischa both did geology at university BTW, Y works in that field, Mischa has an ebay business selling all sorts of stuff he has accumulated over the years but he isnt happy with it as people are always complaining now.
Chap from couple at table just commented on my bt keyboard setup and we exchanged a few words, they have gone off to dinner. Nice of them to say hi though.
You can imagine a vague low grade worry about having enough physical cash for the duration of this whole trip with those guys. I did have my reserves but didnt really want to touch them. To jump ahead, I did finally withdraw some cash on Saturday afternoon in Xpujil after they all left to drive back to Chetumal and that was a big relief.
1901 Gonna take a little break.
1941 Watched a video. Bum hurting a bit from not super comfy seat.
Anyway, we agreed to meet up at 630 in the mornng but we didnt go to bed too late so although I was a bit edgy it wasnt too bad. Considering I had been ill I wasnt and havent feel feeling too bad and perhaps to some extent the sudden road trip has kind of kick-started my holiday.
Incidentally except for Youri who is late 20s, all the rest of us were in our 40s, though I was probably the oldest by at least 3-4 years.
Fair old drive over there but not too big a deal. In an extremely frustrating way there are three different admission fees to pay in at least two and maybe three different places. Given my general cash concerns this was all a bit stressful.
We were expecting a dirt road down to Calakmul itself but it is a super nice modern tarmac road. We saw a few animals on the way, though being in back I didnt see that many - not a huge deal.
It was sort of spitting with rain a bit at times and fairly overcast but on the whole we got pretty lucky with the weather - it was basically dry and we werent there in blistering heat or anything.
I saw most of the site, although was a bit hurried towards the end and some of the signage is pretty bad. We might (photos/GPS tracks would be definitive) have got there about 10 and agreed to meet up at 3 to come back. We started off somewhat together but not all that much (it wasn't just me) and in the end we mostly split up.
It was pretty cool to be there and climb up the various structures. It was quiet enough you often had the smaller ones to yourself and never really that busy. Reallt hard to take photographs which show the scale of the place and I wont try to waffle badly about it but I will say it was pretty nice.
On the way back I managed to locate the "bat volcano" place on Organic Maps and we went there and that was pretty cool. TBH it wasn't quite the absolute thick black swarm of bats coming out that I had hoped for (despite I think seeing a video of it on the bus down to Bacalar, along with the tarantula courtship stuff) but it was pretty impressive. They told us we'd need to cover our noses and mouths because of the smell (ammonia etc) but no one stood near me seemed to have a problem with it.
Our group was the last subgroup to leave the little tour - by chance (thanks to Mischa suggesting we get a move on) we got there just in time to pay 80 each to join the organised group walking down the short trail to the cave.
After that we went back to the accommodation and went out for some excellent quesadillas and (not quite my favourite but OK) gorditas at a very friendly little kiosk near the taxi rank and then we went and had some micheladas at a little kiosk and there was a bit of a party atmosphere. Mischa left first I think and then Youri and Miriam and Lars and I stayed for a last one.
Calakmul and that evening ending with the little party was Friday.
We arranged to meet at 930 on Saturday to maybe go somewhere else to take advantage of the car before they all went back to Chetumal. Lars and Miriam were heading towards Cancun airport to get flight back in a week, Youri was crossing into Belize that night (he sent me some photos he took of me and i asked him and he had made it across but it was a bit of a nightmare and he was apparently stuck in Corozal, hopefully only for the day because it was Sunday or something) and I'm not quite sure where Mischa was going but I know he had Guatemala as a target.
Anyway, didnt sleep great but not too badly - half wish I hadnt had the extra michelada, these were great big ones with gobs of sticky goo round the rim by the way - and we met up and went to Becan. This is where we saw the big spiders.
To be honest, in some ways this was actually cooler than Calakmul. It was if anything even quieter. The weather was borderline a bit warm at times but then Id find some breeze and it was quite nice.
Lars and Mischa went underneath one of the structures down some narrow stairwell and aparently it was alternating these little narrow passageways with big open spaces (probably structural) the whole length.
We left about 1 and drove back to Xpujil and they dropped me off and we said goodbye etc. Swapped email addresses with Lars who says he may have some photos of me.
I then went back to accom and no one was at reception so I faffef around and eventually maybe managed to save a few pesos by booking the nights accom direct with them. I then went off exploring for a cash machine, and then also trogged over to Xpujil ruins which I had pretty much to myself. I was feeling pretty knackered but they were small and gven the difficulty of getting to X I figured it would be a shame not to see them when they were right there.
I spent the evening faffing trying to find how to get out of X as already I think noted.
So while I have probably missed some details, that is probably the broad outline of the missing stuff. I can always make little random notes as stuff occurs to me in future, if it does.
Back is hurting a bit. Legs also from all the walking and climbing on the ruins. I need to try to decide where I am going next, maybe even Catazaja if there is accom - it looks like there are super cool lake(s) there on the map. If the dorm is OK I am willing to extend a night here in order to just hang out and try to relax a bit.
Not blaming them but none of those guys from the Calakmul (I am probably getting name wrong but not checking guide book or map right now) trip are doing slow travel. I too wanted to be on and doing with the ruins while the chance was there but I also now need to relax a little bit.
I do feel a bit headachey but I suspect it will improve with relaxation and sleep and maybe yet more water.
Pacing around yawning a bit. I dont really like wearing the reading glasses ut they are best for this sort of typing.
2006 Had three bananas over course of evening and feeling absolutely stuffed. Which seems odd given that apart from those two quesadilas I just had a handful of leftover small orange cookies on the bus. Maybe a side effect of poor diet lately. Or maybe the quesadillas were more filling than I quite realise. Have three more bananas but will probably put them in kitchen for tomorrow. I may also try to buy and eat some different fruit tomorrow as part of misc hanging around strategy.
2018 on sunlounger in astroturf garden. Gotr my bottle of fizzy water. Kitchen pretty busy with cooking so didn't try to slice up the limes and use them, left them in a cupboard with bananas and maybe be able to use them tomorrow.
If I didn't say they do have free drinking water here.
2122 watched a video. Was yawning and half falling asleep at points. Will probably move towards bed in 15ish mins.
2134 it is and has been a bit chilly out, put fleece on. Throat feels a tiny bit dry. Just had piss and water in bowl looks quite yellow, though I think less so than it has done at times (when even the stream has looked visibly yellow). I suspect I may still be far from perfectly hydrated but I suspect things will improve over time if I am careful. Slight headache as I write this.
Vaguely edgy about going to bed but it should be fine. I feel pretty tired and I have bed by door and nothing stops me getting up in middle of night if I want.
Black trousers maybe not as comfortable as grey but then again this is the first time I have worn the black trousers in anger. They may well loosen up a bit with wear and they are not that bad. Nothing stops me wearing the grey nearly all the time if I really want to, though will try not to do that without giving the black a fair trial.
2142 OK, going to move towards bed. I plan to charge this phone in locker off power bank overnight so will post this now.
I have a big gap but I am going to have to start writing now and fill the gap in after, a bit like San blas trip.
It has been chaotic with little free time since leaving Bacalar. On the whole it was good but I am a bit exhausted. Last night Iwas struggling to find how to get on froXpujil and in the end asked reception who got me to mrssage owner who told me avout this. Fingers crossed as if this doesn't work out the options are a bit thin and I already paid for a dorrm in palenque, which appears to have few cheap or even generally social options.
I did ask a chap sitting here about trt bua at 8 and he seemed to think it was from here but I am a bit leery.
Last night while packinng I notices my tube xube, which I had left locked around cable on floor right next to maim bag, was soaked. I had and have no idea how this happened. I emptied it out and towelles off the contents and the cube itself (stamping on it in a towel) and thanks to luckily having put most stuff inside plastic bags inside it for organisation I have probably got away with it. Some ashesive sreasings are maybe toast. Lessons learned are probably to make use of sealed plastic bags a formal part of packinf strategy for tube xube and not to leave it outside main bag if I can help it, though wrt the latter I guess if the main baf had mysteriously got soaked the tube xube might have stayed dry.
I got up at 630 after waking up constantly in night wondering/dreading of it was time to go. If I can get on this bus OK most of the stressy bits of today will be over and just a question of grinding through.
I really really want a day or two with no requirement to get up early or rush round and a comfortable bed. I am not planning to charge round palenque like mad partly as I was there in 2010 but obviously don't remember that much but mainly because it is quite likely I will be back at least once and? Maybe more druing this trip, esp if I do the Flores etc loop I may so palenque ruins at some point but I am ruined-out right now and a gap seems desirable, likewise I also really don't want to do Flores etc loop right now.
Feel a bit annoyed as I am going to Palenque not cos I want to or cos it is an obvious gateway to somewhere I do want to but because I has to to get out of Xpujil. In hindsight I could have gone to Villahermosa but didn't know that til I started asking about palenque and it turns out this bus has villaheemosa as its destination. Same principle kind of applies though. I suspect I am going to feel very dunneles by buses and available hoatela on bo{king in terms of onward travel rather than ezcitingly exploring a broad range of options.
But let's just get to palenque today.
0735 aha, there are taxi colectivos to escarcega. This is probably a solid fallback. There is iirc an ado bus esc-palenque, the last one probably leaves 1330 but if (touch wood) I miss this 8am bus I should have plenty of time to get to ESC before then.
I checked trendy Maya last night and couldn't see any tickets on any day but this may just be something I am doing wrong.
0749 on bus, paid 400 for ticket. It says crucero de playas but I saw a sign earlier talking about crucero de playas de catazaja so reasonably optimistic. It was actually here and waiting hidden behind some ado buses but luckily I went for a brief wander.
Day-pack feels slightly damp but not quite sure how. Unless one of my tiny near empty water bottles leaked on top. Not a big deal. Spoke to American? Couple in brief queue to ask if they had a ticket and they said you had to buy on bus, as I did. They are having some sifficulty getting to some small place and I talked to rhe woman a little bit about how I am going to Palenque. Her destination sounds more interesting. :-)
TBH I suspect poorlyish documented taxi collective services and maybe local buses are the key to seeing slightly off the beaten track places, though for overnight stays you need axxxom on somewhere like booking, but there may well be places you can use as a base to explore the surroundings via colectiv o with luck.
Bag does fit in overhead rack nicely anyway.
I saw and atrokes breakdown little kitten from the other night out here - I can see the Six I bought the beer in through bus windows, we are right in front of it. Not written any of that up yet of course.
I left over half a big bag of tortilla chips in Accom this morning to save carrying them and half wish I had them now. Not end of world. I am not actually hungry and I have other snacks too and doubtless chance to purchase some. Albeit while it is hard to be sure I looked at myself in mirror last night and felt my gut looked way bigger than normal. Diet has not been great, though otoh I also didn't think I had eaten huge quantities of anything healthy or unhealthy in general.
Used lifestraw for first time in anger yesterday, did work reasonably well.
I was finally able to find time to wd some much needed cash yday afternoon. OK I did haveny reserves but I really didn't want to touch them and although of course there is theft risk it does feel good to actually not be constantly worrying about not being able to pay for stuff.
0800 fwiw ado buses have gone so I might have seen this bus even if I has stayed waiting around in that not quite right spot earlier anyway.
0811 engine started.
0813 moving!
1040 been drowsing. Arriving escarcega. Throat dry but reluctant to drink too much.
1046 on way.
1819 On lower terrace at hostel, a couple are hanging around and the woman has a laptop, we said hi but no more. Been charging around due to losing stuff due to lack of recent experience with dorms.
To resume the journey and without going into too much detail, I stared to feel a bit mentally wobbly after a bit. I did just about keep it together.
Got off at Catazaja no problem and straight into a waiting colectivo minibus. Unfortunately I ended up sitting next to a weird young Mexican guy who insisted on talking to me in mildly incomprehensible English, although I suspect he may have grown up in the US and his incomrehensibility was mainly due to his mental state. He kept going on about Trump (I don't know if he thought I was American or not) and about drug gangs and their weaponry and don't go "over there" as he waved his arm unhelpfully. I tried to make noncommital comments. I dont know if he was trying to scare me or not - I was slightly, but only to the extent that I assumed I'd have to deal with him when I got off the colectivo. Luckily he got off way before we got into Palenque so I was spared that and I instantly felt better.
Jumping ahead, I just last minute decided to take a load of laundry into the HITW laundrette next door - min 4kg/100 pesos but not too bad. (Given my bag with water weighs about 7kg I am likely hitting the min price, but can't really be helped.I have taken a chance and taken four full sets of clothes and underwear in and have taken my grey trousers off and swapped to black ones for first time on this trip. There are some laundry machines here in the hostel but no privacy to hand wash or hand dry and the hostel machines are min 4kg too and price probbably same or worse, and I asked and woman at HITW said she would wash at low temp and dry in sun.
Fingers crossed I dont regret this but hand washing trousers is always a bit unsatisfactory and if as I suspect I am going to be in unpropitious laundry circumstances for a while it is a good idea to get them done professionally while I can. (Technically the private bathroom at the cabin in Xpujil would have been great for laundry, but the basin water flow was just a trickle and it was practically stuck to the wall with chewing gum. I did IIRC do a tiny bit of water-only washing of one garment at a time in the shower to eke things out, but of course this is always a bit unsatisfactory.)
I got colectivo to drop me just round corner from hostel and it's quite a swanky looking bit of town, although when I popped out later for a wander if you go a block or two north it gets quite gritty. Still, apart from one super amiable and harmless beggar no one hassled me.
Back to the hostel, I checked in. It is all a bit semi-fancy with but with an annoying hotel vibe - there is a stupid wifi code you have to enter rather than them just giving you the wifi password, and I have to wear a wristband. That said, it is super clean and the groud are pretty big and nice and there is a kitchen with a fridge.
I managed to get a single bed in the dorm. It showed signs of only one other occupant when I arrived but I think it has been filling up.
I drank loads of free water and called parents from kitchen then (all this rather dithering TBH) went out for a walk and food. Lots of expensive restaurants but I found a local-seeming place up in the grittier bit and had a couple of large and pretty decent quesadillas with arrachera and a mango juice. I also went to supermarket(s) and got some bananas and some sparkling water, the latter I will try to have with some lime in a bit.
My feet are itching - I am wearing flip-flops, partly to save laundry - but I suspect it is more after-effects of dirtyish sweaty socks all day despite having had a *very* hot shower (and doing a redundant, since I took it into laundry after last minute decision to use it, water wash on one top) than mosquitos. There are some hanging round though so I may go and put some repellent on feet.
1836 Jesus, it is an epic trek between back terrace and my dorm.
So I came back and had a shower and as I say took laundry next door and I am now sitting out here. I feel slighty BNM but TBH I am really not desperate to meet anyone. (I did wonder a little if the slight mental wobble on bus was a reaction to having been with people so much lately and hen suddey feeling lonely, but who knows?)
I was dreading it would be like an inferno here while getting stressed out on the bus but TBH even wandering around while warm it was not horribly so. Quite pleasant out here at night of course.
Not super happy to be in a dorm but I think it will be fine. It always has been in the past and I dont think my mental wobbles are too bad now. (Possibly a silly phrase, butas this is a public blog and I don't want to go ito too much detail it will do.) Also after getting up at 0630 and not really sleeing that well (I had two blankets on against it being relatively cold from the previous night, but I was also sweating a bit despite it probably actually being cold, and I was maybe a bit worried about waking up in time and getting the bus etc) I hope to sleep fairly well in a proper bed, and although I don't know if people will put it on or not there is also aircon. I have a window with an insect screen that opens by my bed FWIW. Unfortunately socket is on wall and too high to charge phone on floor, but I can work round this with power bank and overall it isn't bad.
1843 So let me revert to Thursday morning and start to fill in the gaps. I don't expect to get it all done tonight.
I didn't sleep amazingly well IIRC but perhaps a little better. I got up pretty late - take all this with a pinch of salt given it was now several days ago - and had breakfast at hostel. I then overhear Youri (as it turns out it is spelled) talking to someone about Xpujil and I wandered over (rather dynamic of me). Long story short, Youri was willing to drive a car and they were thinking of hiring one and apparently it was only 15 euros a day and they were looking for people to share with them to go to Xpujil. I dithered but did essentially (and I am gong to try to avoid complete blow by blow stuff here) decide to go and as I'd already paid for Thursday night at the Bacalar accom I did ask and although I couldnt get that money back they did refund me for that day's breakfast, so I effectively got over half back.
The car price turned out to be a bit higher than advertised of course and there was insurance too. But anyway the three of us - the other being a German guy called (sp?) Mischa - probably left about 2-3ish. The Spanish guy from hostel said it was his day off the next day and he might go over and we swapped numbers but he never got in touch.
Anyway, we ended up having to go for food as we walked along trying to find the collectivo place which ate up some time. We then managed to find collectivo and go one over to Chetumal as we needed to hire the car at Chetumal airport. We had to faff around getting dropped in Chetumal and then getting a taxi over to the airport as there is some stupid pricing in effect.
There was one guy ahead of us in the queue which took forever and then it took forever for us to get dealt with too. Mischa - who speaks good Spanish by the way, better than I do or at the very least more confidently - had gone outside for fresh air but Youri speaks fairly good Spanish and I was able to step in and help with a bit as necessary.
M had been saying stuff at various points about how we ought to take the car back to Bacalar or stay the night in Chetumal and that he didnt want to go in the dark or that it would be boring in Xpujil etc. Luckily I got to chat to Y during the car hire phase and Y felt like me and although M wasnt happy we did manage to talk him round. (FFS, we paid for two nights for the car. Why write one off going back to Bacalar? And I wrote off half my pre-paid accom there. And it would have been a massive time sink, as I think he finally saw the next day.)
We did drive in the dark and it was fine though there was a certain amount of joking about people pulling us over with guns or whatever and I must admit I (sitting in the back) was quietly edgy at times and was glad when we arrived.
I got slightly shortchanged at reception to the tune of about 70 pesos and with the others there and a certain flustered quality I had to sort of let it go.
The private cabin was OK, the bed was nice enough with a mosquito net, the private bathroom small but with a suicide shower (so warm water at least) and although the sink was wobbly it was not bad. The cabin was not sealed and there were quite a few air holes or bits of plants growing through.
We met a German-Austrian couple (maybe just "best friends", hard to say) who had been let down with their transport to ruins (poss due to needing a third person) and it was suggested they join us to share the hire. We all went out to dinner together - M fell asleep after one beer and went back to the accom sightly ahead of the rest of us (he was sharing with Y), so so much for all that "oh it'll be boring in Xpujil" stuff as if he planned to stay out and party all night.
Couple were Lars and (not completely sure about her name, sadly) Miriam. Both very nice. Lars is a filmmaker of some kind and she makes ceramics (on the last day at B*, to describe later, we saw some big spiders and she said she had some like that roaming around in her studio back home). Y and Mischa both did geology at university BTW, Y works in that field, Mischa has an ebay business selling all sorts of stuff he has accumulated over the years but he isnt happy with it as people are always complaining now.
Chap from couple at table just commented on my bt keyboard setup and we exchanged a few words, they have gone off to dinner. Nice of them to say hi though.
You can imagine a vague low grade worry about having enough physical cash for the duration of this whole trip with those guys. I did have my reserves but didnt really want to touch them. To jump ahead, I did finally withdraw some cash on Saturday afternoon in Xpujil after they all left to drive back to Chetumal and that was a big relief.
1901 Gonna take a little break.
1941 Watched a video. Bum hurting a bit from not super comfy seat.
Anyway, we agreed to meet up at 630 in the mornng but we didnt go to bed too late so although I was a bit edgy it wasnt too bad. Considering I had been ill I wasnt and havent feel feeling too bad and perhaps to some extent the sudden road trip has kind of kick-started my holiday.
Incidentally except for Youri who is late 20s, all the rest of us were in our 40s, though I was probably the oldest by at least 3-4 years.
Fair old drive over there but not too big a deal. In an extremely frustrating way there are three different admission fees to pay in at least two and maybe three different places. Given my general cash concerns this was all a bit stressful.
We were expecting a dirt road down to Calakmul itself but it is a super nice modern tarmac road. We saw a few animals on the way, though being in back I didnt see that many - not a huge deal.
It was sort of spitting with rain a bit at times and fairly overcast but on the whole we got pretty lucky with the weather - it was basically dry and we werent there in blistering heat or anything.
I saw most of the site, although was a bit hurried towards the end and some of the signage is pretty bad. We might (photos/GPS tracks would be definitive) have got there about 10 and agreed to meet up at 3 to come back. We started off somewhat together but not all that much (it wasn't just me) and in the end we mostly split up.
It was pretty cool to be there and climb up the various structures. It was quiet enough you often had the smaller ones to yourself and never really that busy. Reallt hard to take photographs which show the scale of the place and I wont try to waffle badly about it but I will say it was pretty nice.
On the way back I managed to locate the "bat volcano" place on Organic Maps and we went there and that was pretty cool. TBH it wasn't quite the absolute thick black swarm of bats coming out that I had hoped for (despite I think seeing a video of it on the bus down to Bacalar, along with the tarantula courtship stuff) but it was pretty impressive. They told us we'd need to cover our noses and mouths because of the smell (ammonia etc) but no one stood near me seemed to have a problem with it.
Our group was the last subgroup to leave the little tour - by chance (thanks to Mischa suggesting we get a move on) we got there just in time to pay 80 each to join the organised group walking down the short trail to the cave.
After that we went back to the accommodation and went out for some excellent quesadillas and (not quite my favourite but OK) gorditas at a very friendly little kiosk near the taxi rank and then we went and had some micheladas at a little kiosk and there was a bit of a party atmosphere. Mischa left first I think and then Youri and Miriam and Lars and I stayed for a last one.
Calakmul and that evening ending with the little party was Friday.
We arranged to meet at 930 on Saturday to maybe go somewhere else to take advantage of the car before they all went back to Chetumal. Lars and Miriam were heading towards Cancun airport to get flight back in a week, Youri was crossing into Belize that night (he sent me some photos he took of me and i asked him and he had made it across but it was a bit of a nightmare and he was apparently stuck in Corozal, hopefully only for the day because it was Sunday or something) and I'm not quite sure where Mischa was going but I know he had Guatemala as a target.
Anyway, didnt sleep great but not too badly - half wish I hadnt had the extra michelada, these were great big ones with gobs of sticky goo round the rim by the way - and we met up and went to Becan. This is where we saw the big spiders.
To be honest, in some ways this was actually cooler than Calakmul. It was if anything even quieter. The weather was borderline a bit warm at times but then Id find some breeze and it was quite nice.
Lars and Mischa went underneath one of the structures down some narrow stairwell and aparently it was alternating these little narrow passageways with big open spaces (probably structural) the whole length.
We left about 1 and drove back to Xpujil and they dropped me off and we said goodbye etc. Swapped email addresses with Lars who says he may have some photos of me.
I then went back to accom and no one was at reception so I faffef around and eventually maybe managed to save a few pesos by booking the nights accom direct with them. I then went off exploring for a cash machine, and then also trogged over to Xpujil ruins which I had pretty much to myself. I was feeling pretty knackered but they were small and gven the difficulty of getting to X I figured it would be a shame not to see them when they were right there.
I spent the evening faffing trying to find how to get out of X as already I think noted.
So while I have probably missed some details, that is probably the broad outline of the missing stuff. I can always make little random notes as stuff occurs to me in future, if it does.
Back is hurting a bit. Legs also from all the walking and climbing on the ruins. I need to try to decide where I am going next, maybe even Catazaja if there is accom - it looks like there are super cool lake(s) there on the map. If the dorm is OK I am willing to extend a night here in order to just hang out and try to relax a bit.
Not blaming them but none of those guys from the Calakmul (I am probably getting name wrong but not checking guide book or map right now) trip are doing slow travel. I too wanted to be on and doing with the ruins while the chance was there but I also now need to relax a little bit.
I do feel a bit headachey but I suspect it will improve with relaxation and sleep and maybe yet more water.
Pacing around yawning a bit. I dont really like wearing the reading glasses ut they are best for this sort of typing.
2006 Had three bananas over course of evening and feeling absolutely stuffed. Which seems odd given that apart from those two quesadilas I just had a handful of leftover small orange cookies on the bus. Maybe a side effect of poor diet lately. Or maybe the quesadillas were more filling than I quite realise. Have three more bananas but will probably put them in kitchen for tomorrow. I may also try to buy and eat some different fruit tomorrow as part of misc hanging around strategy.
2018 on sunlounger in astroturf garden. Gotr my bottle of fizzy water. Kitchen pretty busy with cooking so didn't try to slice up the limes and use them, left them in a cupboard with bananas and maybe be able to use them tomorrow.
If I didn't say they do have free drinking water here.
2122 watched a video. Was yawning and half falling asleep at points. Will probably move towards bed in 15ish mins.
2134 it is and has been a bit chilly out, put fleece on. Throat feels a tiny bit dry. Just had piss and water in bowl looks quite yellow, though I think less so than it has done at times (when even the stream has looked visibly yellow). I suspect I may still be far from perfectly hydrated but I suspect things will improve over time if I am careful. Slight headache as I write this.
Vaguely edgy about going to bed but it should be fine. I feel pretty tired and I have bed by door and nothing stops me getting up in middle of night if I want.
Black trousers maybe not as comfortable as grey but then again this is the first time I have worn the black trousers in anger. They may well loosen up a bit with wear and they are not that bad. Nothing stops me wearing the grey nearly all the time if I really want to, though will try not to do that without giving the black a fair trial.
2142 OK, going to move towards bed. I plan to charge this phone in locker off power bank overnight so will post this now.
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