Mexico was the first stop on our Central American adventure. We arrived in Cancun completely exhausted after a solid 22 hours of travelling, to be hit by a wave of humidity like I’ve never experienced before! I couldn’t wait to get some proper sleep, and thankfully we had planned ahead and booked a hostel for our first few nights. When preparing for travelling, I’d always recommend booking somewhere to stay for your first couple of days, but there’s no need to plan further ahead than this.

Cancun
To be honest, Cancun felt a bit overwhelming, and not somewhere I’d return in too much of a hurry. It reminded me of a mini-Las Vegas with huge hotels and flashing lights! But, it is a good basis to explore nearby areas, and flights are also pretty cheap to Cancun from the UK.

Isla Mujeres
Isla Mujeres is a beautiful island just a short ferry ride from Cancun, and can be easily explored as a day trip or longer stay. Golf carts are one of the easiest and most fun ways of exploring! The island is home to a turtle sanctuary where there are loads of baby and adult turtles being cared for!

We also happened to come across a floating bottle island on our golf cart exploration! A guy from Manchester had moved to Mexico and created his entire home using empty plastic bottles mixed with mangroves- very cool!

Chichen Itza (Chicken Pizza)
Chichen Itza was one of the first mayan ruin sites we explored , and is definitely worth a visit! The architecture of the ruins is incredible and was built around 600 A.D.

Lots of companies run tours to Chichen Itza from Cancun, but be warned, they will stop off at souvenir shops along the way, resulting in less time spent at the ruins than you may have hoped for!

Isla Holbox
We heard about Isla Holbox from a recommendation through the hostel we stayed at in Cancun. Isla Holbox is a pretty little fishing island situated not too far north of Cancun, where the streets are all made of sand, and you might even spot flamingos or pelicans on the boat journey to the island! We spent 3 days on the island and stayed at a hostel called ‘Tribu’.

Tulum
Tulum is a backpackers paradise in Mexico, and I couldn’t wait to get here after hearing so much about it from other backpackers we had met. It’s easy enough to get from one area to the next. ‘Chicken buses’ or local buses are the main form of transport in central america, and are a fun, and often eventful mode of transport!
We stayed at a hostel called ‘Mama’s house’ which is round the corner from a bar serving the best mojitos I’ve ever tasted! There are loads more impressive ruins to be explored in Tulum which are set right on the edge of cliffs overlooking the sea.

Next up was one of my most memorable experiences of Mexico, we went scuba diving in Dos Ojos, a Cenote, or underground, clear water cave. It was amazing! The water was crystal clear, which made it feel like you weren’t even in water at all, like diving through air!

Bacalar
Our final stop in Mexico was to Bacalar, a small town near the border of Belize, and a good stopping over point if you don’t want to travel from Tulum to Belize in one trip. We spent our day here sailing around a beautiful warm water lagoon, I was getting used to this relaxing lifestyle…

So that’s all for Mexico, next stop Belize! Make sure to keep following my posts as I’ll be posting more travel guides for each country I visited in Central and South America. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at cloverseasclaire@gmail.com.