Operation 'ditch the book'
This entry was posted on 12/22/2006 5:34 PM and is filed under Mexico.
MAHAHUAL - Lonely Planet hasn't been great with places to stay so we figured we'd lose the book for a while and go out completely on our own. We picked a coastal town on the map called Mahahual about 100 miles away, hired a car in Chetumal, and set off! When we got to the town we were suprised to see a giant cruise ship port a few miles away!! NOO! The 'downtown' area was built to cater to the cruise passengers, so we didn't hang out there long... or lose faith. A few kilometers past the town things quieted down drastically and about 10 or so kilometers later we found a little restaurant with rooms right on the beach for 15 bucks! Here's a look at the terrible view outside the car in Mahahual...
Like others on the shore this place had no electricity except what came from a generator, and had outhouses for bathrooms... but it was steps from the water and we loved it. The owners, Rene and Maria, cooked a fabulous dinner of some kindof fish they'd caught that day and we stayed up playing a travel version of 'rummycube' we found in Valladolid. Turns out their little restaurant was a hot spot with some of the locals so we had company sitting in the screened dining room playing games under the christmas lights that would dim and go out when the generator ran out of gas. In the morning we had a fantastic breakfast of eggs, beans and rice with tortillas and an amazing cilantro salsa.
The only bad thing about the place is the snorkelling isn't very good. The reef is about 500 meters out through some shallow yet rocky and weedy water so after a few attempts we opted out. Instead we took a drive past the restaurant about 16 kilometers, looking for a better spot. What we found were miles of great and completely empty beach to hang out on. And a zillion iguanas sunning themselves...
There was literally nothing and nobody out there (except for one very large and curious barracuda we found following us in the water). There had at one time been a smattering of huts and cabanas, but it seems that they were destroyed in hurricane Wilma. Here's a shot of one palapa on the side of he road, completely uninhabited...
We pulled over on the side of the road by this palapa to go for a quick swim and play in the waves. The water was nice and warm! Hey, speaking of roads, these are the 'roads' we were driving on...
