| Central America - The Journal |
Into Prosperous Mexico
Days 45, Caye Caulker to Tulum
Early start once again to get back to Belize City and to catch a bus bound for Mexico. The crossing went problem free and we perused the bus ticket offices in the port for the best way of heading north. The buses available were definitely tourist buses and seemed pretty expensive for the distance involved. In fact, one of the guys manning the stall told us that it would be better to go to the bus station and get a bus there; not only would it be cheaper but it would also leave on time, unlike the ones leaving from the port! The chicken bus we ended up getting at the bus station was actually quite comfortable and not as packed as usual, and at less than half the price of the tourist bus, we were very happy with the advice!
The journey north was long but straightforward. We made a lunch stop, but as we'd carefully managed to spend all of our Belize dollars, we were only able to scrabble together enough change to buy a simple snack. We reached the border, which looked immensely busy and very modern. Belize's English heritage and Mexico's relative wealth were obvious when the border posts of the region were compared!
The bus took us on to a major town just north of the Mexican border, and for the first time in Central America, it really felt like we'd crossed a frontier. The wide, white tree lined boulevards, the roads busy with modern cars and plush buses and the citizens, looking comfortable and distinctly middle class, were a world apart from the ramshackle crumbling, potholed roads, the ramshackle housing, the battered vehicles and worn faces of the rest of Central America. It felt like we'd actually crossed into the US, what with the hypermarkets, super-brand name stores and drive through food chains!
But it was when we reached the main bus station and transferred quickly to a Mexican bus heading further to our destination, we really felt the difference in the wealth of the countries. We found ourselves on an air-conditioned bus with huge, comfortable reclining seats, an English movie on TV and super-smooth roads. After 7 weeks in Central America, we were totally unprepared for this comfort; but we had no problem relishing it.
Having always compared Mexico with the USA (their common border always being in the press) it was easy to imagine Mexico as a poor, relatively undeveloped country. However, from what we'd seen (maybe it was just the relatively developed Yucatan region) Mexico was much closer in prosperity to it's northern neighbours, rather than its southern ones.
We reached our destination for the day, Tulum, relatively late at night and after checking into our hostel, had little time for anything else other than dinner and a few drinks.
|
