Mexican highway tales: post-crash
by Kirk Stephan, on the road in Mexico
Mar 13, 2000
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Two more days and I was in Chetumal and decided to take a respite from the driving stress. I hopped a plane to San Pedro island in Belize and chilled out for a few days on the beach. The water was still too cold to enjoy but reminiscing with my old friend Cap'n Roberto made the time go by nicely. He has what is probably the most interesting vessel in the country, the 'Winnie Estelle'. A Maine-built motor-sailer brought down in the 1920's, she's 65 feet and completely rebuilt with the local exotic hardwoods. He has the best day-diving trip going and has a web page: www.belize1.com/winnieestelle

The road from Chetumal up the "Mayan Riviera" to Tulum is still two lanes but is soon to be upgraded for the millions of tourists clambering up and down. The beaches here are the best in the world, but crowded with sun-lovers from all the world over.

I knew by e-mail from Coyote Carl, an inveterate Mexico-traveler, that he was in a "hidden" camp-site just North of Tulum. It WAS a beautiful stretch of beach but there were still hundreds of white bodies adorning each nook and cranny. I spent the night talking with him and his family, then headed up towards Cancun, bypassing the over-rated Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos.

"The nest of snakes", as Cancun was known to the Maya (the meaning became clear upon the arrival of the modern hordes, say the locals) is everything that Miami and St. Tropez could never be. Over 100 miles of the whitest powder-sand beaches on the planet stretch alongside crystal-clear turquoise water the whole way there, with this City centered near the top. It's neatly segregated into the 'hotel zone' with its 200,000 migrants per day from world's capitals and then the 'real' Mexican town inland, which supports the resort games with its own 200,000 workers from all over the country.

Since I had no real plans, AND a bad case of 'Montezuma's Revenge' (bad stomach and 'runs') I decided to eat some of the worst but simplest food in the world; I bought a ticket for Havana...

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