Day 43 12/8/2021
Odometer 28,780 – 28,950 —– 170 Miles (6250 Miles Total)
Bacalar, Mexico – San Ignacio, Belize
I got up around 8am today. Stomach was hurting a bit as I was recovering from last night but I was in good shape overall considering the last 12 hours. My body usually knocks things off very quickly but I was worried about this one hanging around for more than 12 hours. I packed up my things slowly, my new neighbor got me some fruit in the morning as I was packing up and fed me. I was excited about her travels coming up and to hear about it. So fresh into this whole thing. We were her first white friends ever and she loved us! Haha
This group reminded me of my friend I made on my last trip in Europe. Gareth from Ireland, and the three girls from the US. We still keep in touch and Gareth even came over last year right before covid started so we could get him set up with a bike under my name to travel the US down to South America. I feel like i’ll be doing this with this group.
I got on the bike around 11am and headed to the border. The clocks rolled back when I got there so I saved an hour which was good. The Mexican border crossing was pretty easy. I paid a $596 peso tourist tax :rolling my eyes:. I got my $500 back from the motorcycle import fee I paid when I crossed from Texas. The woman also had to take a picture of my bike before I left but her battery was dead on the camera. I guess she never got the memo that it takes 5 minutes for a camera battery to charge before you can use it at most. She made me wait almost 40 minutes for the battery to charge. I was annoyed. I got to take my hammock out and let it dry from being wet from the lake all day yesterday and then just laid there sweating in the 90 degree heat. off I was to deal with the Belize side.
So some news I’ve been hearing about Belize is that you have to take a Covid test for $50 before you get into the country. You also must book a gold star hotel for three nights minimum before you’re able to leave the country. I booked a hostel for three nights and they accepted it. I rode down to the Covid testing site and waited 15 minutes for that. I was negative. YES! I went to the immigration side of the crossing and I filled out a bunch of paperwork, paid some fees, more paperwork and then when I tried to leave they noticed the woman put down some wrong info on the form so I had to head back to the office to get it redone. UGH. I’m over this heat already! I stopped at a building after I left the border to get motorcycle insurance. $8 US for 3 days of insurance. Not bad, I was really happy with that.
I had a 3.5 hour ride from the border crossing to San Ignacio to where my hostel was booked. My stomach was throwing me some sharp pains on the ride as I haven’t had food in my stomach for almost 24 hours at this rate. I stopped at two places but no one took credit cards. Just my luck. I kept on pushing to make it to my hostel. I got stopped at a police checkpoint where a cop asked me where I was coming from. I said Brooklyn and he made me pull over. He was from Anaheim, CA. he warned me about MS-13 in Guatemala. We chatted for a few minutes and he could see me sweating so he let me go. I finally found a restaurant to eat at, 45 minutes from my hostel. The national food in Belize is rice and chicken. Dom, my buddy who is a Crossfit coach, told me to eat some rice and chicken since I was sick and it will make my stomach feel better and this was perfect. Thanks for the info Dom! I shoved a whole huge plate of rice chicken and vegetables down my throat and it held up really nicely. I think I’m totally over what I had last night. I got back on the bike and finished my 45 minute ride.
My hostel is in a lovely spot outside of the small city of San Ignacio. I got a whole room to myself since it’s a bit slow here for $15 a night. They let me cancel my 3 day reservation since I actually booked it for the wrong days. So I’m going to stay tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll go check out some waterfalls and ride some lovely small mountain roads an hour away to do some swimming and check out some big caves. I’ll have a nice leisurely day after partying with the kids for the last week. I need some alone time for sure. I think I’m going to book a flight tomorrow to New York for Friday and when I get to the border Friday morning I’ll drop some bullshit story about how my sister is sick and I have to get home to see her. They just told me I had to book a hotel for three nights and they never told me I had to stay so I’ll have that argument with them when the time comes. I’m thinking about slipping a fake $100 bill in the passport when I get to the border to save that argument but I also only have 6 of the fake $100 bills so I don’t want to waste it when I can use it for other border crossings.
I got settled in at my hostel tonight, took a nice cold shower, worked on the blog for a bit and then walked down the block to some ruins that were free to enter after 5pm. I met two people from London and one guy from France while I was up there so they invited me to dinner. We got back to the hostel, worked on my blog a bit more than we picked up another girl from Portugal and all went out to get some food in the city. Most of them are 24 except the girl from Portugal so they were looking for real cheap food. We got a bit shafted on some burritos which weren’t even close to an actual burrito so my dinner was non-existent but I’m ok with that after the last few days. I probably shouldn’t eat much after what just happened anyway. I’m gonna work on the blog a bit more tonight, edit a ton of pictures, upload them, have an edible and pass the hell out!
This angel the morning after she babysat me. You’re the best!
Free ruins in Belize next to my hostel
The woman who waited 45 minutes for her battery to charge to take two pictures of my bike at the Mexican to Belize border.
My first Belize lunch. Simple and delicious
View from my hostel while I work on the site
Walk back down the hill from the ruins to my hostel
The people I went out to dinner with tonight while we all hung out in the lobby.
2 replies on “Day 43”
Woo I got a mention in the blog! Your posts have me really excited to get to Puerto Escondido. I’m still not sure whether I’ll go to Belize or straight to Guatemala so you’re next few posts will helo me decide!
HAHA. Man you’re going to love Puerto. Its my number 1 favorite spot of thew whole trip so far and like I told everyone else im probably buying something there at the end of my trip. Go to Belize if you’re trying to add countries to your resume but otherwise don’t go there’s really not much there. If you end up near it you should go. Either way you should go to Bacalar near Tulum I spent 5 days there and it was maybe my 2/3 favorite place in the trip. So beautiful there. And if you go to Bacalar you’ll ride through Belize to get to Guatemala!