Tulum is a very small town with the main drag located right on the highway. But people flock here for the stunning beaches and probably the most spectacularly located Mayan ruin in the country. Although it's quite compact compared to some of the larger, more sprawling archaeological sites, this is by no means a drawback. Especially when you see the location, which is quite simply breathtaking at times. This group of Mayans sure knew how to pick a spot as it shits on the more famous sites like Chichen Itza. Location, location, location. Another feature makes the Tulum ruins stand out though - it was one of the few protected by a wall. And not just any old wall, but a big fat fuck-off wall 5m high, and 7m thick. That oughta do the trick. We spent a couple of hours wandering around in the blazing heat, but it was worth it to see the parts of the ruin that are perched on the rugged limestone cliffs, towering over the white sand beaches and turquoise waters of the Caribbean below.
A short collectivo ride away at a nearby beach called Akumal, we had a great time snorkelling around and spotting the green sea turtles who were just casually swimming and doing their thing despite us humans following them around like a bad smell. There were other cool fish and even a couple of rays, so we came away pretty happy after that swim.
After that we walked for about 30mins or so to a lagoon Matt and Matt, a couple of Aussie guys, told us they'd snuck into. It was a proper tourist attraction you had to pay to get into, but of course us backpackers will do anything to avoid paying. You just have to be able to handle a few scrapes if necessary and then carry off the casual "of course I've paid, I'm allowed to be here" look. Easy peasy, and after scaling a concrete wall we were in. Feel free to judge and berate us from afar if you must, but we've been ripped off so many times this fare evasion tactic didn't weigh on our minds or morals at all. Once in we enjoyed more snorkelling, this time in more brackish water. There wasn't a massive amount of fish, but the underwater terrain - ravines, valleys and caves - was interesting. All in all, a day well spent.
After 4 days in Tulum we figured it was time to venture down into Central America. We'd initially planned to cross over into Belize and jump a boat out to Caye Caulker, but after some investigation we discovered it was going to be way too expensive just to do some snorkelling. There's supposedly some good diving out there, like the Blue Hole, but as we didn't have our PADI tickets yet it wasn't worth the time and money for us. So we chose to bypass Belize altogether, as the general consensus is that the Caye's are the only place worth visiting. So we decided to mission it all the way to Flores, Guatemala instead.
The Aussie Matt's were doing the same thing, so we all got a night bus to Chetumal, which is on the border of Belize. Arriving in the middle of the night, we had about 4 hours to wait until we could get a bus to take us across the border and all the way through Belize into Guatemala. Of course we had to get past the corrupt Mexican border officials first. We'd read up online so we knew for a fact we didn't have to pay an exit fee, but of course that didn't mean jack-shit. No amount of discussion/arguing would change the stony-faced bastard's mind, so we were left with no choice but to pay. And even then there seemed to be no set fee, but of course we only had a US$50 note which he gladly palmed. Others paid US$20 and I even saw someone slip a measly 50 pesos (US$4) into their passport which was accepted. Everyone has to grease the wheels of corruption, but it left a bad taste in our mouths for a country we'd loved.
After that we weren't sure what to expect from the Belizean border, but we entered without a drama and went all the way down to Belize City where some people got off. We'd heard it was a shithole of a city, and driving through it certainly seemed that way. It was weird to hear everyone speaking English though, in that laid-back, lilting Caribbean accent. So unexpected after being in Spanish speaking countries for almost 18 months. That only lasted 5 minutes though and then we were on the last leg of the journey. One more border crossing, and this time we got it on both sides. Leaving Belize we were charged $17 each, even though we'd only spent a few hours traversing the bloody country! Thankfully the Guatemalan's weren't so outrageous, and we only had to fork out $3 or $4 each. Still, it was a long and expensive day travelling through these three countries, so we were grateful to finally arrive in Flores. And thus began our Guatemalan adventure.
