It has been a funny few days. We started our time on the Yucatan peninsula with a wonderful evening and morning in Campeche, a beautiful, small colonial town painted in pastel colours.

Campeche is famous for its chocolate so we treated ourselves to breakfast at the chocolate cafe. Chocolate lovers will be pleased to learn that there are many of these cafes in southern Mexico.

We ordered the traditional hot chocolate which came with a great deal of ceremony as it was prepared at the table.

It all looked very exciting but disappointingly the drink tasted of nothing at all. The vegan sandwich was another matter. Served on local chocolate bread (bread with dark chocolate nibs in) and with a chocolate dressing, it was tasty and a little rich.

The plan had been to spend a couple of days in Merida to see the splendours of this stunning city. However, the filling from my root canal fell out a couple of days before and so seeing a dentist was a priority. It turned out that the tooth was cracked and could not be saved and so I had to have it extracted. It was a prolonged business as the tooth was hard to get out and so I was quite unwell for most of our stay in the city. Fortunately, we were staying at a lovely, large house that we had been upgraded to by our lovely Airbnb hosts so we were very comfortable but we did not see much of the city. While we were there, we managed to source a front tyre for the bike which was a huge relief as it was starting to look like we might have to ship one from Triumph direct. Apart from coming close to running out of fuel one day, and Dave doing an oil change in an abandoned, half built church, all has been quiet on the Triumph front.

We may still need to ship some parts we need in the coming weeks though.

Leaving Merida, we went to Cancun to do some more business. The riding on the Yucatan has been very dull. It is very flat but the roads are very fast. We were grateful for this lovely juice stop a couple of days ago. Here in Mexico, it is easy to get freshly squeezed licuados including jugos verdes (green juices) that are cheap and delicious.

Cancun was our last stop in real civilisation for a while so I got a much needed haircut and we stocked up on essential toiletries etc.

I caught my first glimpse of the Caribbean Sea between the banks of massive hotels that line the beach in Cancun (not somewhere I would return in a hurry but great shopping). We also managed to find an Indian restaurant (the best since North Wales nearly a year ago).En route to the border, we stopped for a night in Tulum and then another in Chetumal, a few miles from Belize. We did not manage any sightseeing as my mouth was and is still badly swollen and it looks as if I have managed to get an infection in the gum. We are laying low and hoping things improve in the coming days with some antibiotics.

So this is our last night in Mexico.We arrived exactly 2 months ago to the day.We have ridden over 4,000 miles here in Mexico and the bike clocked 14,000 miles across the whole trip today. Here is the route.

The highlight for me by far was Baja.

Next was Guanajuato.

 

Then San Miguel del Allende.

The time here has been wonderful but a little fragmented by job interviews on Skype and my visit to Hong Kong. It has also been blighted slightly by the ongoing issues with my tooth. There are a few places along the way that we would have liked to have seen more of but we will be back before the spring and will get a second bite at the cherry.

Reflections on Mexico

1. It reminds me a lot of Thailand in many ways.Weird I know.
2. I totally loved Baja. It surpassed expectations.
3. The colonial towns are amazing.
4. Outside of Baja, the landscape is a little disappointing.
5. The Mexican food is terrible for vegans.
6. It is very, very clean here and hotels are of a high quality compared to what I expected.
7. People are quietly friendly.
8. It is a pretty easy place to travel.
9. I have not felt unsafe once since I arrived here.

We are now excited to be crossing Belize, very briefly en route to Guatemala where will be spending about 3 weeks. We will be at Lake Atitlan for Christmas where we have rented a house with fireplaces to try to create some seasonal atmosphere. Before then, we will be getting into the jungle and crossing the mountains so it looks like a lot of fun.