Early on Sunday morning, our driver Jason picked us up and in about 45 minutes we were in Tulum. This 13th-century Mayan site is extra impressive due to its location 39 feet up alongside the Caribbean Sea. The site has a path that leads visitors through all the temple sites. Main temple "El Castilo". Amazing views but beach access was closed that day. We walked a short way to the beach access road and spent an hour frolicking. Then we drove into town for lunch. We went to a place that offered a seafood and a traditional Mexican fare restaurant side by side. Jordan and Ryan opted for the seafood with amazing presentation ... Tuna tostada - $65 pesos/$4.30 CDN ... my meal was a little less appealing by comparison and both Trisha and Connor's orders were completely wrong! BBQ pork quesadilla? We finished off our day with a visit to Cenote Azul, a natural swimming area with the most crystal clear water,...

Our friends Trish and Gayle have an impressive list of travel destinations to amazing places such as Trisha's recent trip to Jordan and Gayle's to Scotland but they made time to visit us again this year. They stayed in an Airbnb condo in the building opposite ours so our days often began with breakfast together before beach time or pool time. New Mexican breakfast favorite - chilaquiles. Gayle's sangria by the pool. The pool was too cold but it was a perfect for cooling the feet. Lunch at La Terraya. At the Portal Maya statue. Despite tough talking about getting loads of walks in, Gayle and I finally pushed ourselves to walk the Xaman Ha golf course loop at least once before they left! We began our walk at sunrise. At Plaza Playacar. Usual photo op! And a photo with this guy of course! Sunny smiles. The girls did excursions to Cozumel, Chitchen Itza and Valladolid and we all took a trip to Tulum together (separate p...

The tourist visa issued on arrival in Mexico is good for up to 180 days then you must leave the country for a short period before re-entering. We planned to visit our friends in Belize during the exit period. We took the ADO bus to Chetumal (4.5 hrs) which was very comfortable and showed movies (we watched Jurassic World in Spanish).  Upon arrival, we were asked if we needed a taxi to the boat dock and the driver told us that it was cheaper to fly as there was a sale on at Maya Air, $45 USD versus $50 USD by ferry. Enticed by the prospect of a quicker journey we agreed.  As we passed the airport sign without exiting the highway we realized we were heading for the border at Corozal - the driver had neglected to tell us that the flight was not from Chetumal. Long story short, with the 300 peso taxi in Chetumal,  then the 25 USD/500 peso taxi from the border to the airport, our savings were in the negative figures!   At the airport, the pho...