Cancun / Belize

[Charlie]

I'm heading down to that area in a couple of weeks. Anyone been down there? Any suggestions? Cool ruins? Indigeonous cannibal tribes? I'm not really planning on climbing- just bush-whacking through the jungle and stuff. Is there any climbing around there?

[payaso]

There aren't any hills in the whole of the Yucatan, and a few "Mountains" in Belize. As for climbing you'll have to line up behind a fat tourist at Chichen Itza when climbing the pyramids. If you're a scuba diver try the fresh-water cavern diving! Now that's something you can't do everywhere!

[Doug]

Give me a call Charlie (before the weekend, I'm headin' to Australia). I'll give you some beta on Cancun.

[ScottP]

At the ruins at Tulum (south of Cancun), there is some good bouldering right on the beach. The rock is sharp pockets, but there is lots to do. The trip to Coba is worth the drive.

[Dru]

The whole Yucatan Peninsula is made out of limestone.... I saw that in a Donald Duck comic one time....

[mtnnut]

Unless you like comforts and feeling like you never left the states, get out of Cancun as fast as you can. Not too many hike along the beach there in the regions south of Playa Del Carmen and Tulum, they tend to hang around whatever attraction has been built at spur roads that lead to the beach. Hiking or camping between these spur roads is one way to dodge the masses. There is a long beach south of Tulum that eventually takes you to a nature preserve at Punta Allen. I don't think there are public busses that run all the way to Punta Allen, but there are outfits that run day tours.

If you aren't in a hurry, there are public busses that run from Cancun down to the townsite of Tulum (which is inland from the beach) and further south toward Belize, but on a route away from the coast south of Tulum. Getting to the beach at Tulum might involve a hike, hitchhiking, or taxi from the townsite. First class busses tend to go to scheduled stops, second class busses will stop pretty much anywhere, so takes longer. For instance, you might be able to get dropped off at the ruins for Tulum on a second class bus, but a first class bus probably only stops at the townsite, which is further south. A second class bus goes from Tulum townsite to Coba. You don't have to rent a car if you can afford the time to work out the local transportation.

For a pricey amusement park atmosphere you can see Xcaret. I saw the area in its natural state before it was developed, so found it to be a quite overwhelming and Disneylandish. Not much remains of the natural setting. If you do bother to go, do the swimming trip through the caves (either with or without snorkel gear). A nicer, though still touristy, public snorkeling venue is Xel Ha.

If you want to try scuba, try places like Cozumel or Xcalak.If you are into snorkeling, here are some tips: * Bring a shirt to swim in for sun. Easy for us pasty white Washingtonians to get a nasty burn very quickly. Also, in an environmental move, the public snorkeling venues of Xel Ha and Xcaret don't let you use your normal sunscreens there for concern over what washes off and could damage the fish and ecosystem of these inlets. They will sell you an eco-friendly version, though it isn't cheap.* If you are doing a trip that is trying to avoid the touristy locales, consider bringing your own snorkel stuff. It largely is only available to rent at the public snorkeling venues. There are many other places along the coastline that offer worthy snorkeling, so if you have your own, you can do it anywhere.

Tulum as a ruin site has a pretty location, but isn't very large. Best to see it early in the day or late, as it is popular with the day tours coming down from Cancun. Coba is interesting since they still are working on exposing what is there (the jungle kinda took over when the Mayans left). Larger structures to see at Chichen Itza, similarly large structures with more ornate rock carvings at Uxmal (south of Merida).

The Mexican tourism development folks call much of the area south of Cancun the "Riviera Maya". They have ongoing plans to continue developing it, so see it while there are still some natural beach lands remaining.