Excitement grew as the signs for Belize approached. Thankfully because I was pissed off Kevin kept stopping to check his compass to see which way was south and I already knew and didn’t want to stop due to the simple fact it is difficult to get going on a shitty bike with your whole life packed on it and I am slowly withering away probably at least 2kg down in this first week (not my goal at all, just the inevitable when you bike for hours in the hot sun to get places).

369 km with one bus ride from Cancun to Playa del Carmen. I don’t know how many km it is on our bikes and nor do I care because we are enjoying and oddly enough we argue less on the road than we did living in Switzerland.

As we got to immigration on the Mexican side we handed them our papers from the flight to leave and they demanded 575 pesos per person and from what we had read we should not have to pay to exit the country. We watched others pass by and not pay and then decided to look it up once more by calling my dad who said the same thing we owe nothing. Kevin went back to window and argued at this point I just wanted to pass by but I know I needed a stamp. The fight worked and the corruption did not occur, we passed and headed to Belize immigration and customs. We were pumped not to pay the extra unnecessary money and thought that was giving us good vibes for Belize.

Not sure it was the hot sun or the rotten eggs we were eating but we couldn’t seem to listen to the lady in Belize who kept telling us to fill out a certain section which we were recluctant to do. After finally filling in the blanks properly we could pass and wow is Belize different from Mexico, there is no shoulder to ride our bikes on and you see the ocean with many private properties occupying the space ocean side and cane sugar fields on the opposite. We got to town Corozal to get wifi and food and we both felt uncomfortable and not happy with the place. I was in tears and couldn’t even eat my hot chicken soup I ordered at lunch because I felt unsafe and was worried about finding a place to camp. Kevin ran into a guy at the toilet and asked him about the area and he confirmed our suspicions, he said there are a lot of drunks and people driving drunk thus we should be careful and make sure to be off the streets by dark. He also mentioned people roam at night and was best to find a place just as our guts were telling us. I tried to use Couchsurfing last minute but it fell through so we got a room for the night and hope tomorrow is a new day and our thoughts on Belize change as we spend more time with it’s people and their culture traveling further south before our next crossing.

Being as it is Sunday, everything is closed. So tonight my tummy growls as I write this but a I am thankful to have a cold shower, a door to lock, wifi, and some good rest before another day in the saddle. Oddly enough an old man with few teeth came by us on the street and said yes so hot this morning right no rain no rain so hot right and we both just locked eyes and agreed yes it’s hot. Not even 3 minutes later it started to rain and actually rather hard. So also thankful for a dry place to sleep.

Kevin and I both have rashes from the heat and biking/our seats, mine is slightly worse but he is a bigger baby about his as well as about his mosquito and ant bites, which he got more of today. Belize is slight more expensive than Mexico so thinking we might power through and keep on our route south. Lots of love to family and friends in a rough day for myself 😍

We switched our headlamps on and asked which way was south as we carried our bikes down the stairs back out to the street. Take the first right and just keep going. We had just ate our coffee and taken care of the morning duties, packing, peeing, preparing food. Our wheels hit the road and we both checked in to start our stop watches and hit the dark highway for our longest ride to do date. As the cars passed and we rode one behind the other I couldn’t help but drift into thoughts of the beautiful lagoon a bold man on the flight from Indianapolis to Cancun showed me on his phone. He said if we if want less touristy and have time then go to Bacalar and forget the rest of Quinta Roo.

The dark turned to light and I slowly started taking off my headlamp as we rode. Next I managed to get my safety vest into front basket and settle into the ride. We had planned to try and make the 120km ride and had planned to couchsurf that evening across from the lagoon. The started off cool and the vegetation started to change. The dense jungle have glimpse of trees and what once was a thick wall of green became a scenic drive with openings allowing you to see into the future. For some reason I couldn’t settle into my saddle and kept doing the up down to try and get comfortable as the heat started to sink in around 9:00.

What was intended to be a quick break turned into a joyous Saturday playdate with Matteo and Regina at their home. I am not sure their father was pleased but he played along. Matteo showed us and named every tree they had in their village/backyard, banana, avocado, coconut, bamboo, fruits I didn’t know and even plants which we should stay away from. Regina and I played catch with some plant and after nearly an hour and trying out our bikes and gear we received drawings from Matteo and we’ll wishes from the family as they saw us off on our journey. Into the heat we biked as the sun started to burn my tanned skin, I saw the red shinning through my sunblock.

Many hours later down the same road heading south we stopped for lunch in what I would call pineapple land. They were selling pineapples on all sides of the street. We stopped at a small bakery and ordered lunch, used the bathroom and bough fresh squeezed no sugar lemonade. We ended the meal by buying a baked good (cherry and walnut bread) we eagerly took one piece each only to cringe in disappointment. Kevin went on to talk about our pore decision making because we didn’t process slowly that cherries don’t grow here thus they were “fake” and we hadn’t had sweets in a week….I felt ill and the tension mounted as I was even more uncomfortable riding yet powered on. We rode on talking about how we shouldn’t buy sweets anymore and we thought we would just pass the rest on as a gift to our CS host that evening or have it with coffee after another hour or two of riding.

Another hour passed, and yet another. I still could not get into a flow my mind raced, I was hot and I wanted to be there. I thought about and told Kevin how much I disliked riding between 11:00am and 13:00. He was having a good day besides his butt hurting. We stopped to make coffee in some shade and immediately regretted our decision because the mosquitos were eating us, it was sign so we hoped back on the main rode and finally we saw it. Signs for Bacalar and a blue colored water you dream of on a hot day or a cold dark winter night.

We had arrived and the life came back into me. We made our way to our Couchsurfing host who lived across the street from the lagoon and is creating an ecoliving space. He was rad and told us all about his projects and visions and the days he travelled and worked in Canada and how soon he will do it again. We carried our bikes up the stairs and dropped it all to go swimming and enjoy the lagoon and dock. It was spectacular and much needed after the long ride. We decided 120km was a bit much for this early in the trip and I still think with the views and fun we had with our host we would do it all again tomorrow. We woke to rain in the night and the cutest pup sleeping by our tent. It was early, we wanted to catch the sunrise and eat then hit the rode for our first frontier crossing if we played our cards right.

The touch of coffee on my lips in the morning didn’t spark the light it usualy did, after all I didn’t need it because I awoke to a view after a restful night after the longest ride I’ve ever rode in my life. The morning was a workout morning so it was early.

The rings have played a vital roll in our life on the rode. We have transitioned to 3x per week bodyweight training/gymnastic workouts with the rings and the straps double as the genius mechanism which holds our bags to our crap bikes. Minimal living at it’s finest on the rode. Hard not to be thankful with the morning views. We had a tasty breakfast then I bitched at Kevin because I told him yesterday and at breakfast how I hate riding at mid day….what time did we start on the bike, 11:00 fail! Life goes on so we rode with the mindset that soon we would leave Mexico but what a way to end if you ask me and below I leave you with photos to help build your wanderlust and remind me of the good times because it’s not all good, trust me. Also keep an eye out for some wild tan lines.

I have so many beautiful emotions to describe this town and words will never fully give the proper feeling to what was experienced in Felipe Carrillo Puerto thus, photos will suffice in hopes to transport you into my shoes and give you a glimpse of what I would so far call my favorite place in southern Mexico.

If you made it this far you will have noticed I decided to follow up with writing something after all. The trip to Felipe Carrillo Puerto began at 6:00 in the morning after a rough nights sleep in the tent. Rough night sleep yet the night sky was magnificent and each time I woke up to some odd noise or to turn on my camping mat I always opened my eyes to see how the stars and constellations had moved slightly to my right. First task was to divide and conquer, one makes coffee and the other packs the tent. We either got too comfortable or we were being tested because next thing I know Kevin in his quiet scream tells me to turn off my head lamp because a car was coming. It stopped and all I could see were the red tails. I held my breath and they carried on their way. We just looked at each other and began packing got our bikes secured and were off to the main road to reconfigure anything we needed–which was nothing because we just wanted to get biking and find breakfast. The day before some locals told us about Muyil a small or tiny village with a place to eat and get water (they also gifted us two bottles of water—lets just say we haven’t been fully hydrated because our pee slightly stinks and is yellow-brown) Muyil was the start of our travel angles because our “Mexican Mama” fed us the most delicious meal and then packed all 5 of our steal to-go containers full of rice, beans, tortillas, and chicken for our lunch. It was nice to finally feel the warmth of locals and eat side by side with them as they thanked us for stopping by because we were the first of that kind to stop there and actually spend time with them, not to mention we got two full breakfast meals and two full lunch meals for the total of $9 USD. When I was living in Switzerland I would dream of such meal prices. The people of Muyil informed us as soon as we hit the road we wont find anything until we reach the next town….Felipe Carrillo Puerto a mere 85km ride. Now I am sure in 2 months I will think nothing of riding 85km in one day in the hot sun therefore I must remind you this was only day 3 on the bike and the first two days I had a brake which rubbed my tire making me work twice as hard to ride, easy fix as I just disconnected my front brake and currently ride with only the back brake working and the front brake is just on the bike hanging there till I decide what I want to do with it, fix it or just take if off the bike. This ride was long, lots of big trucks passed us and the jungle was on both sides yet there were still moments of laughter and water breaks. * STOP READING NOW IF YOU ARE EATING OR GET GROSSED OUT EASILY* TMI** My favorite by far had to be when Kevin promised a short 10 minute water break only to decide once he got off his bike seat he had to poop. He then took 20 minutes to wipe his but because the first wipe he got poop on his finger and after that it took him probably 10 more minutes before he finished wiping because of his “butt hairs” and “cars passing” and that I was “watching and laughing and needed to turn away”. We also got passed by a police truck with a few guys in all black from top of their head covering their face all the way down to their shoes with machine guns, that was the moment we looked at each other and decided we need to get to the town and we probably should not wild camp in the area, plus we needed to shower, wash clothes, and restock on food and do minor repairs on the bikes for upkeep. At 13:30 we stopped for lunch because we thought we still had an hour or two to go (always better to over estimate in these situations as to not get your hopes up in the heat and on the bike) till we got to town and we stopped to eat our Mexican mammas food on a little roadside pull off where a truck was stopped. Little did we know a cop had pulled him over and as we enjoyed lunch the cop drove over to us. It went something like this in Spanish:

• Cop: You get that food in Muyil
• Us: yes, how did you know that?
• Cop: I passed you guys there. You bicycled all the way here?
• Us: yes, (in my head I was thinking, well how the hell else did we get here?DUH)
• Cop: where do you go?
• Us: uh, Carrillo Puerto….is it far?
• Cop: oh no about 6 km…..HE LIED, MORE LIKE 10! I am doing a speed stop here, hope you guys are doing well, have any troubles?
• Us: troubles, No, well no need to worry about stopping us for speeding, I don’t think we can hit the limit with our packs on our bikes.
• Cop: have a good day.
• Me to Kevin: Should we be worried he asked if we had any trouble?

We enjoyed this town so much we stayed an extra night because tomorrow we are planning to try and get 120km to Bacalar, where a kind local on the flight to Cancun told us to visit due to its beauty. We hard boiled some eggs, bought more coffee grounds, repacked to what we think is now a more efficient packing system and plan to get a good nights rest and the universe was asking us to stay because a really shy young boy here told us they have a local festival in the city center tonight (I almost forgot it was Friday haha a weekend night) so we plan to enjoy the scenery and festive time before going to bed at 20:00 tonight and waking up before the sun to hit the road.

VAMOS A BACALAR…

Plan to write more on this place in the near future once I digest the last of it…if I have time and the will power.

This post will continue to be updated with thoughts, questions, and any other randomness which has occured while sitting on a bicycle moving the pedals in circles.

• CJ’s Thoughts:
• Do you ever feel like a different human while on the road traveling?
• Tourism is taking over the beauty of the world–good bad? Too many heavy thoughts on this topic
• Why do we dream of the future while doing the same thing over and over
• I could do this forever, 1 hour later, I’ve hit a wall, and 3 hours later I am dileriously laughing for no reason
• I think I will commute daily to work no matter the circumstances after this trip
• Why is it so hot, oh well now why is it raining–not sure which is worse
• Where do I see myself in 5 years (asked from Dale in Gales Point) now I can’t stop thinking about this
• WHY IS THERE TRASH EVERYWHERE?

• Kevin’s Thoughts:
• why he has always ran from security especially that which Switzerland provides (let’s just say we rode through a sketchy area)
• Are we done pedaling today?
• When is the next meal, what is the next meal, where is my next meal?
• Will CJ ever stop giving me a hard time for going over the budget (I’m hungry)

First we needed to weigh our bags and distribute the weight accordingly because the one way non-refundable tickets from Indianapolis to Cancun only allowed 18kg (40lbs) for checked bags. After taking Kevin’s 2kg bag of mixed protein powders and cinnamon we were under the weight and ready to check in.

Let me start by saying I spent the entire day before we departed worrying about Kevin not informing himself or myself on how ESTA works and visas with the US and Mexico being neighboring countries and we previous bought and 20 hours later cancelled a single flight to Belize so he could actually enter the US for Christmas holidays, much to our surprise the frontier ticket counter person didn’t flinch to issue our tickets, check our bags and off to security we went. The night before my dad had literally told me to stop foreseeing and worrying because we won’t know till we get there and that played out to be great advice and something I have been keeping in mind as we travel.

We spent 3 hours drinking coffee, reading, playing guitar and practicing handstands waiting for our flight to board. 3 hours later we landed in Cancun with some local advice from another passenger to visit Bacalar if we want a beautiful non-touristic location on our journey south. Next task, clear customs and hope our bags arrived with everything in tact.

When we arrived at customs the Mexican lady did not like Kevin’s Swiss passport and questioned why he spoke Spanish and comes from Switzerland. She didn’t love that we only wrote Playa del Carmen as our location and didn’t have a set address we were visiting or staying at. Eventually, she had me write my phone number down (hope that doesn’t come back to get me when I exit Mexico or in the future) I thought about writing down a fake number but her glare burned through me and being it was our first day in Mexico I felt I should be truthful and follow her rules. As soon as we left customs I told Kevin he should start listening to me and letting me look up things off the internet and put down any address to not cause any red flags of suspicion, he rolled his eyes reluctantly semi agreed and we grabbed our bags and went to catch the bus to Playa del Carmen then walked around once we arrived, got a hostel, went to Walmart for water and made a plan for the next day as follows:

• Find gas for our camping stove ✅
• Find 2 cheap bicycles 🚲 ✅
• Get our bags to stay on the bikes ✅
• Eat and just go till before dark ✅

I guess you could say we were following the “KISS” principal…Keep, It, Simple, Stupid. All was well it worked and we departed Playa del Carmen in search for the beach and less touristy things. Our family took votes how long our bikes will last before major repairs and only time will tell.

Added info: First night in the hostel was brutal in a shared room, love camping way more. People flicked the lights on and off till 3:00 am and they slept till noon the next day and snored like a drunk sailor.

Originally, I had planned a trip to Michigan to kick off the new year and spend some time snowmobiling amongst other winter activities before departing for warmer weather (where I belong and flourish). Unfortunately and fortunately the trip had some questionable weather and was called off, then called back on a day later: in that small window of time I took it as a sign to look up flights to FL to visit my grandmother who will be 91 this year and had never met Kevin. In short, the $135 (for two people) round trip flights were too good to pass up.

I have to add a disclaimer, I am completely spoiled whenever I stay in FL with my dad’s mom. She is in incredibly good shape for a 91 year old woman, still has a car which is at our disposal and is willing to pick me up if I run too far and don’t want to make the run back to the condo. You may ask, could it get better than that? Why yes it can and it does. She also spoils me every evening with a dinner out at MY CHOICE OF A RESTAURANT. So 7 days in Florida went as follows:

I am eternally grateful the universe signaled this visit to Florida because sometimes old people give the advice we don’t want to hear yet know we need to hear it.

I’m thinking I give Kevin one famous, funny, or useless quote per post and his FL life was, “a mini retirement except the sausage rolls which kept rolling over the arm rest from his neighbor on the return flight.”