Calakmul

STOP OFF IN ESCARCECA FOR NIGHT

Our bus and luggage was fully searched by the army on the way. They were quite thorough with the luggage but didnt bother with searching us. So if you wanna smuggle stuff in Mexico then just put it in your pockets!

When we arrived and were getting our luggage a small compartment on the bus opened and out came a stow-away! We presumed he was one of the drivers but no way he could get a good sleep so close to the suspension.

Walk to the hotel was freaky. Drunk guy swaggers past us and a security dog barks crazily at us from behind a chain link fence.

Hotel was just as bad. We could not get into our first room as the lock had been forced so many times! Fell asleep worrying for our safety for the first time on this trip.

DAY 1

The town of Calakmul is pretty small; the bus stop is basically an addition to a restaraunt. There is no atm, laundry etc.

So we had 120km to get to the Calakmul site and the same to get back. 60km along a main road and then another 60km into the jungle.

Fate intervened alot today! We sacked off the first hotel we checked as it was slightly too expensive and we walked down the street towards the next hotel. We had no clue where we were going and when a guy in a orange/rust campervan waved at uis we headed over, hoping he would be able to help us find a hotel.

Four Canadians: 2 Landscape gardeners, 1 artist and a dope dealer. Are you heading to Calakmul? Yeah. Would you like a lift? Shit yeah!

So we headed in the van, and since it was hot they bunjee corded the door open.

I had to hold onto a metal pole to stop from flying out when we went around bends. Quite an experience!

When we arrived at the site we said our goodbyes since they were planning on sleeping at the site and we had to get back for our bus the next day. Before we headed into the site we realised the driver had not just been drinking one beer, no, he had polished at least 5 on the way!

The actual site itself is astonishing and I would highly recommend a visit. Standing on top of the 2 largest temples feels like standing on top of the world, the view is stunning, trees as far as the eye can see in every direction. I could have stayed up there all day quite easily. Simply stunning.

Leaving the park we found out there were no more buses to take us back to the village.

We hinted at 2 guys who were heading back that we were stranded, and after watching them drive off we realised we were pretty screwed! 60km of road before there is any hope of meeting someone else. You would think we would have panicked but we stayed remarkably calm.

The Canadians´came out of the park and thanks to the hungry bugs who had feasted on them they had decided they were going back to the village to stay and would we like a lift? Once again shit yeah!

On the drive back we all had beers and huge tequilas, and I do mean all of us, the driver included!

They turned out to be really sound guys and we decided to head out for a few beers.

There was tequila, spew, laughter, arm wrestling and generally just a fantastic atmosphere (apart from the huge argument between mr dope dealer and mr landscape gardened, but they soon made up again). It turned into the best day/night so far!