Mexico Day 3 & 4: Turtles and Protests

For our last full day in Mexico we decided to go snorkeling with sea turtles! We found an outfit called iTour just across the Avenida from our hotel that would transport us to the beach and lead us in search of the turtles. It was a fairly big group, and we were the only Americans--most of our group was British, with a few Italians sprinkled in. Our Mexican guide, Emilliano, gave instructions first in English, then in Italian, and of course was speaking Spanish with all of his colleagues. It was pretty impressive.

The iTour people have a sense of humor.

We arrived at a dive resort and received snorkeling equipment (we'd brought our own, but were required to wear inflatable snorkeling vests) and instructions on the beach. Then it was off in search of turtles! Unfortunately it was quite crowded, there were numerous tour groups looking for the turtles, and many of the people in our group had never been snorkeling before. Some weren't very strong swimmers either, and this combination resulted in several flippers and elbows to the face, which did not enhance my experience. However! We did find the sea turtles, and lots of them.

Ready to look for turtles!

Green sea turtle

And another

Up for air...

...then back down again

Liam having a fantastic time watching the turtles

We also saw some rays, like this yellow spotted ray...

...and this Caribbean whiptail ray

According to Emilliano, the green sea turtles have become more abundant recently as the sea grass has expanded along the beaches. They graze on the grass almost like cows or goats, surface for some air, then descend back to the sea grass to graze some more. They are such beautiful, graceful creatures, and I could have watched them all day. Unfortunately, we only had a limited amount of time to swim with the turtles, and our group was led back to the beach and the vans so we could travel to our next stop, Tak Be Ha, an underground cenote.

Swimming in the cenote

This underground cenote was very beautiful, and thankfully we were provided with wetsuits so the cold water did not get to the boys like it did when we swam in the closed cenote with Labna Ha. But once again, it was jammed full of tour groups (including ours) and was strung with lights, so we didn't get the same solitude and magical darkness as our first closed cenote. It was still very enjoyable and interesting to note the differences between the two.

We made it back to Tulum in time for some sand castle building at the beach, then had a nice dinner at one of the restaurants on the Avenida. Lochlan made friends with a very friendly pitbull while we waited for our food, and we enjoyed the unusual bottle-based architecture.

Very proud of their enormous drip castle fortress

Creative way to use the empties

Lochlan's new friend

The next day we had planned to take the ADO bus from Tulum to Chetumal, shop for a bit, then take a transfer across the border back to Corozal for the flight home. As fate would have it, our friends Tara, Cathy and Aiden had also decided to stay an extra day, and their driver offered to swing by and pick us up for no extra charge. Amazing. It was not a hard decision to accept their generous offer, so we spent a relaxing morning packing, swimming in the pool, and waiting for our ride.

We headed south uneventfully...until we came to a road-blocking group of protesting teachers. That's right, in Mexico, when teachers protest, they shut down the highways, and the Federales are totally cool with it. Every hour they move the gates and lets some cars through, then they shut it down for another hour. So we hung out in the blazing heat, peed in the jungle, drank some beer, talked to the teachers, and just soaked it all in. It was a very unusual experience.

Well, this is different.

Protesters passing the time in the middle of the road. It was very hot and sunny, hence all the umbrellas.

Amy and Tara, gettin' messy in a mango

Eventually we made it in to Chetumal and were dropped off at an honest-to-god shopping mall. I wanted to purchase an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for my computer so the frequent brown outs in Belize would not shut down my computer, and Amy and they boys went in search of food and Halloween costumes.

It was somewhat jarring being in a mall, surrounded by more stuff than I have seen in months. I don't normally go to malls in the States, and being at the mall in Mexico, I was struck by how incredibly loud everything was. In the grocery store, right before I found Amy and the boy, I walked past this quasi-deli area with a sound system that was absolutely cranking, like 120 decibels, it was surreal.

 I found my UPS at Office Depot and Amy and the boys were sort-of successful in finding their food stuffs and Halloween supplies (apparently Mexicans do not eat granola bars, raisins, or nuts) and we were back in the van to finish our journey south.

We had a short wait at the Corozal airport, which I spent alternating between bird watching and playing soccer with the boys. I saw three large flocks of what I think were yellow-lored parrots flying across and around the runway. Even through binoculars it was difficult to find the characteristic markings that distinguish this species from the very similar white-fronted parrot. Regardless of the species, I always get such a thrill out of seeing WILD PARROTS in their natural habitat, it is just so freaking cool.

Homeward bound!

We made it home safely and were pleasantly surprised that returning to San Pedro really, truly felt like going home.

The End.