We awake to the sounds of spider monkeys dropping debris onto our roof, not a bad way to awake to a new day.We pack up, have breakfast and say farewell to our new found American friends. Spoons and the big Mercedes have already hit the road.

We leave the beauty of the Tikal National Park and head towards the Belize border, it is a really scenic ride which we thoroughly enjoy and before we know it we are at the border.

The lovely grounds of the Jaguar Inn

It is a pretty quick and straight forward procedure to leave Guatemala, except that the heavens open up and we have to take shelter under the eaves for a about 15 minutes before we cross into Belize. This is the quickest and easiest border crossing ever, apart from the fact that Belize is an English speaking nation, the process is sequential and all in the one building and NO BLOODY PHOTOCOPIES. We are finished in 15 minutes, where once again we have to wait out a short sharp shower before we buy our insurance and are on our way to San Ignacio.

The Belize Guatemala border

Still recovering from our dreaded lurgy and after our huge 9 hour day at Tikal the previous day we are feeling the ill-effects and need to get off the bike, we eventually find a little guest house owned by a local family. The hostel is above the family's hardware/landscaping store. We unload the bike and park it in the landscaping supplies compound, get settled and get a load of wet, smelly washing into the much appreciated washing machine before we go to bed for the afternoon, we must be getting old as we are shattered. The day is incredibly hot but with the help of a fan we sleep soundly until we are awoken by the inevitable thunderstorms which cool things off nicely.

Later in the evening feeling a lot better we head out for a bit of an explore and find a great curry restaurant, San Ignacio is quite a groovy little town with lots of nice little restaurants, it is also the gateway to a lot of Mayan Ruins but we are pacing ourselves on the ruin front, as we know we want to visit at least two or three in Mexico. The following day we are still not up to par so have another day in, this flu bug is really starting to become a pain.

Next day we leave San Ignacio and ride the stunning Hummingbird Highway towards the coast, the roads are lovely not because of the condition but because there is so little traffic, it really is a treat. Arriving in Placencia we find the Manatee Inn which is close to the beach front. We then spend an idyllic Sunday afternoon at a beach front bar, drinking cuba libres and slushy daquiris, and listening to a live reggae band, days like this are magic and reminds us of why we love to travel. Later in the afternoon we go for a swim in the crystal clear waters before spending the evening chatting to a young English couple who have the room next to ours.

Beautiful beaches at Placencia

Lan swimming at Placencia

We spend two more days in Placencia, mainly on the beach enjoying the sand, surf (well actually there is no surf) and sun but occasionally we head to our local burrito stall for a snack. While inhabited by many American expats there is also the Rastafarian influence, funnily enough all the local guys love Skill's Bob Marley singlet, he has many offers to buy it, or swap it for other clothing items, a hat or even a couple of “smokes”. He declines all generous offers.

Our favourite Burrito stand

Colourful Placencia

Placencia

In order to leave Belize and head to Mexico we have to re ride the Hummingbird Highway, this time we play dodge the storms, we get wet once but dry out before we hit the Western Highway towards Belize City. We then head North opting to miss the delights of yet another capital city and arrive in Orange Walk mid afternoon. We have been very lucky to miss the worst of the rain but the streets of Orange Walk are a muddy, soupy mess, the bash plate is full of slushy mud and the underneath of the bike is absolutely mud covered as are our riding pants and boots. YUCK!! Our hotel of choice is full so we check out another option, fortunately for us it is a lovely hotel run by a great local family and we are soon happily ensconsed in the comfort of our air-conditioned room. We decide to take a walk to find lunch but once again end up splattered in mud. Funnily enough this is another Belizean town full of Chinese owned shops and restaurants, who would have thought, Anglicised Sweet and Sour Chicken take away for tea.

There is also a large community of Dutch/German Mennonites who came to Belize in 1959. These people still adhere to their traditional way of life and are highly respected for their strict work ethic. Apparently the Mennonite farms of Belize produce most of the countries fresh food.

Young Mennonite men

Next morning after breakfast and a long chat to the delightful owner, Yvan we try to leave the town of Orange Walk but soon discover we have not downloaded the Mexico maps onto the GPS so after a slight delay to our rectify our technical oversight we head to the Mexican border. Roll on - this will be border crossing number 32 for this trip.

The dried out muddy streets of Orange Walk (there is actually bitumen underneath all that mud)

This border crossing could not have been simpler or more organised and we were through both sides in under an hour. So peaceful, there were no touts, no fixers and no money changers, fortunately we didn't have any Belizean dollars left but we also had no Mexican pesos so we hoped that our chosen route was not a toll road and that we could pay for fuel by credit card, fortunately this turned out to be the case.

Crossing the border into Mexico

The first thing we notice about the Yucatan, Mexico is the quality of the roads (SO GOOD) and everything is clearly sign posted, something we have not experienced in a long time. The ride to Tulum is quick and easy, we find a bank to solve our money woes and arrive at the Pacha Tulum Hotel around 3.00pm, the hotel is on a very busy intersection of two highways, and the parking is a bit sketchy but the rooms are newly renovated and the attached restaurant is very good. Before you can say welcome to Mexico we down 2 coronas each and wear a very satisfied smile. Welcome to Mexico!!!!!!

Great roads and OMG there are signs

Next day we ride the bike a short distance to the Tulum Ruins, where we spend the day wandering the ruins and swimming. While the ruins are not as grand or as vast as some we have seen, the setting is absolutely stunning, as is the water. However we cannot believe the number of people, the place is absolutely stuffed to the gills with American tourists.

The word Tulum is Mayan for “Wall”. The three ramparts that surround the three sides of Tulum (the fourth barrier being the sea) leave little question that it was a fortress protecting the important port city. It is believed that city was occupied from 1200AD to 1521AD.

The ruins of Tulum

The ruins of Tulum

Local inhabitants of Tulum

The ruins of Tulum

We spend most of the day here, exploring and swimming before returning to the hotel just before a huge afternoon storm and a very, very, good Italian lunch.

Next day it is a very slow pack up, by the time we have breakfast, and buy supplies for our day at Chichen Itza we get away well after 10.00 am and ride towards Chichen Itza (Piste), while the road is just fine the jungle/forest seems to be creeping in.

The jungle/forest seems to be creeping in on the road

Yesterday was Halloween which marks the beginning of Dia de Muertes (Day of the Dead), this is really a Mexican family celebration where families celebrate together and remember those that have passed on. Interestingly enough there are decorations everywhere even at the service station where we stop for fuel.

Dia de Muertes decorations on the petrol bowsers

We seem to be in Piste in no time (we are going to have to adjust our measure of travel times after Central America) and check into our very, very posh hotel room overlooking the pool and garden, a very tranquil setting. I must say that it is nice to stay in a hotel that has crisp white sheets on the bed, handmade soap and toiletries, a bath tub, hot water over the sink, a coffee maker and air conditioning. I really, really appreciate all these creature comforts although I cannot bring myself to use the hair dryer. We opt for a local street food dinner and beer from the small shop beside the hotel.

Skill relaxing in our posh room, it has been a while since we have encountered such luxury

The following morning we are up early, have a coffee and yoghurt (from the shop next door) breakfast before we catch a cab out to the ruins, we are there right on 8.00am and are the first people through the gates.

Lan ready to visit Chichen Itza

The first sight that greets you as you enter the site is the huge El Castillo (Pyramid of Kukulcan), it really is stunning and incredibly well preserved.

El Castillo

El Castillo

El Castillo

After tearing ourselves away from the grandeur of the pyramid we wander over to the Gran Juego de Pelota, the great ball court, it is the largest and best preserved one of its kind in Mexico. The court is surrounded by towering parallel walls with stone rings cemented in way up high. Apparently a soccer like game was played here although there are depictions of many different forms of the game carved around the walls. Funnily enough all I can think about is a Harry Potter game of quidditch.

Gran Juego de Pelota

Gran Juego de Pelota

From here we take in some of the surrounding temples and platforms.

Templo Barbado &Templo de los Jaguars Y Escados

Platforma de los Craneos (Platform of Skulls)

Before we spend time wandering the Plaza de las Mil Columnas

Plaza de las Mil Columnas

There is just so much to see, including El Caracol which is believed to be an observatory and also countless other buildings, pyramids and even a nunnery.

El Caracol

Edificio de los Monjas

More Ruins at Chichen Itza

The Ruins at Chichen Itza

We get to spend the first couple of hours nearly by ourselves, there are very few tourists around but by the time we are ready to leave at 1.00pm the place is teaming with people and 100s of stall vendors, truly amazing.

By 1.00pm we are ruined out and walk the few kms back to our hotel and spend a lazy afternoon by the pool.

The following day we head back to the small town of Valladolid, after checking out a few dodgy hotels we find a nice one, park up, unpack and head out to explore this cute little town. We find a great restaurant on the square and enjoy another lovely Mexican meal and people watch. It is then back to the hotel to finish off the blog and figure out where we will head to next. The decision is made to bypass the ruins of Palenque which we may regret but you can only visit so many ruins. There are also a few issues with the road from Palenque to San Cristobal, we have heard that protests and blockades have been prevalent in the last week and have now escalated with the 43 missing students crisis. So we decide we will ride down the coast and then towards San Cristobal on the Mexico195. We later learn that this was a good move as blockades were in place meaning a 5 hour detour (making it a 10 hour day).

We actually manage to get away early and enjoy the quick ride to Morelia (where we manage NOT to get lost), we then ride along the coast, it is quite lovely and the road is in pretty good condition, and interesting there are huge toll bridges across vast stretches of water.

The road along the coast is lovely

Long bridges over the vast rivers

The afternoons ride deteriorates as we have to negotiate some pretty ordinary looking towns and we soon learn about the infamous Mexican topes (speed bumps), the marked and signposted ones are bad enough but it is the unmarked, handmade ones that are deadly to our low clearance bike and the bashplate is constantly doing what it was designed for. At one point it takes us a good hour to ride through three small villages, at least 40 speed bumps over a 10 km stretch. After some slow riding we eventually reach the outskirts of Campeche, a small colonial city which seems to be in traffic chaos, roads are blocked off everywhere and we cannot seem to find our way around. Our hotel of choice turns out to be entirely hidden or non existent, well after half an hour of walking around and asking people we cannot find it. We give up and go in search of another hotel and once again encounter closed off streets, finally we find a very nice place which is slightly outside our budget but given our circumstances we give up and check in. Skill then has to ride the bike the wrong way up a one way street to get to the parking 200 metres away otherwise it is a half hour ride to negotiate all the blocked off one way streets.

By this time it is 3.00pm and we are starving so we head out for a great local lunch, including he best margarita I have ever had. It is then a walk down to the main square, which is cordoned off with police everywhere, we are searched and have metal detectors run over us before we can enter. What is going on??????

We eventually discover the cause of all this chaos is a visit by Prince Charles and Camilla, bloody hell, of all days. We stay for a while watching the barrage of media and the amassing crowd before returning to the hotel where we spend a peaceful afternoon in beautiful colonial surroundings.

Tranquil surroundings of Hotel Castelmar which has been a hotel for over 100 years, before that it was an army barracks.

The following day, it is the usual game of spot the detours and dug up road always followed by “getting lost”, much swearing, frayed tempers, and all that before 9.30. We do eventually emerge onto the toll road and enjoy a fairly long days ride towards the city of Villa Hermosa.

Generally if we are doing a long days ride we don't tend to stop for lunch but today as we are riding along and are in need of fuel we stop at a service station with a Burger King attached. Funnily enough we look at each other and go “YER”. We park the bike where we can see it, and enjoy air conditioned comfort before downing our first ever Burger King burger, fries and Sprite. Jolly expensive but enjoyable none the less

Feeling fortified and in a much better mood we forge on to Villa Hermosa. As usual the city is being dug up, there are road works everywhere and desvios (detours) with no signs, it takes us a good hour to find our way through. In my infinite wisdom I have decided that we will not stay in another big city but we should ride onto the small town of Teapa to the South where I know there is at least one hotel. We push on and after once again having to wait nearly half an hour for roadworks into the town, we find the hotel which is very, very ordinary but after looking at another two (which are in a word disgusting) we return to the best of a bad bunch, it is now just on dark.

Our not so beautiful hotel and surrounds

The town is not that scenic and we really stand out, this place is definitely not on the tourist route, we manage to find a few beers and have a taco dinner at a little stall, all for the princely sum of 40 pesos (About $4.00 AUD) . It has been a very long day so we are in bed by 8.00. I am secretly preying we don't get bed bugs.

Emerging from our slumber bed bug free, we opt for our travelling breakfast, granola and yoghurt before we are on the road by 8.00 am.

Skill having our usual travel morning breakfast

The road is very slow going, but incredibly scenic and we take it easy negotiating the potholes, topes and occasional traffic, animals and people.

The scenic road to San Cristobal

The scenic road to San Cristobal

At the small town of Puerto Cate our chosen route is completely blocked off by huge mounds of dirt so we continue on towards Tuxtla Gutierrez. At one point we are stopped at a police/army checkpoint, not for a paperwork check but for a look at the bike and a chat, the young man seems quite insistent that he should go for a ride on the bike, we decline and go on our merry way. Just after Ixtapa we turn off and it is at this point we begin to climb, and climb and climb. Before reaching San Cristobal we climb to over 3000metres, considering we only have t-shirts on under our riding gear it is a tad cold. This part of the ride is very scenic, and surprisingly there are vast areas of market gardens being grown under hothouse covers.

Finally after 6 hours and only a fuel stop to break the journey we ride down and arrive in the very beautiful San Cristobal de las Casas, it takes us a long while to find a hotel that is not full but we finally luck in on the beautiful Casa Margarita right in the heart of things on a pedestrian street. They kindly let us park the bike in the Central courtyard but not before we have to do battle with the transit police due to riding down the pedestrian street. Of course we prevail, ignoring them, our need to get off the bike and get some FOOD is more overwhelming than their need for law enforcement. We are checked in, unpacked and at the pizza establishment across the road in under 10 minutes. I don't think we have ever eaten/inhaled a huge pizza so quickly.

Once we are fed and watered we can actually start to enjoy the beauty of our hotel and the surrounding area. We spend the next four days here, wandering the streets, visiting the many churches and countless markets, enjoying the fantastic local restaurants and street vendor food.

Lan enjoying the streets of San Cristobal

San Cristobal Church

View over San Cristobal from the Church

Not to mention the many street parades.

Street Parade San Cristobal, we didn't even have to leave our hotel

Street Parade San Cristobal, we didn't even have to leave our hotel

Skill (with help from the wonderful staff at the hotel) also manages to find a motorcycle shop close by where we can get an oil change done.

Oil change time

Oil change time

After 4 days it is time to reluctantly move on.

leaving San Cristobal

We enjoy the ride to Tuxtla Gutierrez, but once again on the bypass road we encounter a series of detours and dug up roads, we employ our usual trick and follow the traffic in front, most times this proves to be successful but today we bomb out and end up on some random road and we have to back track, fortunately the GPS proves useful today and finally we are on the right road heading towards Ariaga. We have chosen the toll roads, while reasonably expensive they are usually good quality, with no topes and allow us to put on some kilometres.

Once we hit the coast we head West towards the non descript Port Town of Salina Cruz. The riding is enjoyable and we are lucky enough not to have the strong winds which are obviously a way of life here, if the countless Wind Farms are anything to go by. I think this is the largest area of Wind farms we have ever seen easily rivaling Tarifa in Spain.

Huge wind farms

Huge Wind Farms

In a small town just before Salinas Cruz we hit a small unorganised road block, consisting of tuk tuks and taxis, we stop to survey our options when I notice a hole in their defences big enough for us to get through. Today we are just not in the mood for our usual idle chit chat and jokes to weigh up the situation. Skill just lines the bike up and makes a beeline for the gap, once through we speed off quickly. In the rear view mirror I can see them manoeuvring a tuk tuk into place to close up the obvious weak link in their defences.

Today we have chosen a City Express Chain Hotel as we are in need of their business centre to get some stuff printed, signed, scanned, and organised for our bank at home who have decided now would be a good time to change our banking structure with them. NOT!!! However we cannot complain too much as we have a great contact in our bank at home and she has it all sorted for us in 24 hours.

We get settled in and once again are in awe of our room, a huge bed, clean crisp white sheets, toiletries and even a room service dinner. Such luxury. The hotel is on the outskirts of town in a pretty dodgy area. Later in the day the security guy comes to see us and makes us move the bike to right in front of the reception area (he has made a space for us) where he can keep an eye on it overnight, how's that for service.

Salinas Cruz doesn't have a lot to offer so after a BIG buffet breakfast we are packed up and away towards the small beachside town of Mezunte (thanks for the tip David and Yessbell), the ride is not arduous but by the time we arrive 4 hours later we are a bit over dug up roads and topes. I swear I am not exaggerating on the dug up roads, I am sure every town in Mexico is being excavated. We easily find a lovely little hotel with parking, unpack and chill back with a great lunch and a couple of Coronas. Hard to take!!! This is where we will reside for the next four nights.

Mezunte