TravelStream™ news feed for member tommnow on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tommnow en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:11:06 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tommnow/12/1245636485/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tommnow/12/1245636485/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tommnow/12/1245636485/tpod.html Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:11:06 -0400 Mexico & Caribbeans

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Merida, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Merida at first glance seems to be one of those cities where you would like to spend some more time to get to know better the city center, restaurants and cultural attractions. As this time we were just in transit, I'd need to come back!http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/UxmalMerida?feat=directlink
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Uxmal, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Uxmal, our last Mayan ruins stop on this trip - a very interesting architectural site..http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/UxmalMerida?feat=directlink
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Hopelchén, Campeche, Mexico

http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/UxmalMerida?feat=directlink
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Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Campeche, Mexico

As a part of our Yucatan vacations we decided to drive through the Mayan jungle, there is actually a pretty good road going from Chetumal to Campeche. Approximately, 150 km into the forests we arrived at a small village called Xpujil - it's a great starting point if you want to visit several very interesting ruin sites within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. It's off the mainstream tourist trails so it feels almost as if we had bought individual visiting tickets - practically no people at the sites and the mysterious jungle around :PWe have seen ruins at Chichanna, Becan, Xpujil and Hormiguero. Tip: Do not forget to take enough cash with you - there are no ATM's nor bank branches in the 150km radius.http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/InTheMayanJungleCalkmul?feat=directlink 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tommnow/12/1245618361/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tommnow/12/1245618361/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tommnow/12/1245618361/tpod.html Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:13:49 -0400 Mexico & Caribbeans

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Corozal, Corozal, Belize

Going to Belize was a kind of adventure - already before crossing the border we had to go through talks with local Mexicans  trying to squeeze money out of the passing tourists. As you could imagine this was not Tijuana and four Polish nationals driving in a rented Mexican car was probably the attraction of the day. For sure people on the border did not make an impression as if they were in a rush or something. Before the car was allowed to set a tyre on the Belizean soil, it had to be fumigated - personally I'm not really sure what for, but ok, we paid 15$ for a 30secs of spraying of the side of the car.On the very border we had to unpack everything from the car and pass through a customs clearance building. I never knew one can get as many stamps in the passport during a border crossing - one for yourself, one for the luggage, one for the car..;-) And on the return similar collection plus lots of explications. Hopefully if they get a bit higher volume of tourists in the future they might be able to maintain the current headcount levels and reduce the number of needed stamps..Once in Belize, we started enjoying local generally slower ambience. We drove around a bit visited seaside Mayan ruins in Cerros and had a pleasure of using two family-run ferries, which, due to lack of bridges, seem to be the only alternative of moving around the Carribean laguna. An interesting facts is the ferries are hand operated (father with a son rotating a handle). When leaving the Mayan ruins we asked the local guide for an advise on the local lodging options. After some thoughts he explained us with a note of confidence that we might stay in bungalows at Orchid Bay and the price would be 40 american dollars. Sounded really good, so we drove to the place only to find out from a local guard that yes - there WILL BE bungalows, but no - NOT YET READY. When kindly asked when would they be ready the guard very kindly answered "if you come back in two years they should be ready, hmm.. better in three years" and wished us a really good evening... After day-to-day office stress it feels a bit awkward to encounter a place on Earth where time perception is so much different.We started the following day with a morning walk in the Corozal Town, seemed quite abandoned with an ambience a bit of how I would imagine Jamaica. Altogether, I enjoyed quite a lot this short visit to northern Belize. At this occasion we did not have time to get to the islands - maybe one day - there are supposedly some georgeous diving, snorkeling destinations, including the famous Blue Hole..  http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/Belize?feat=directlink
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Chetumal, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Just passing through Chetumal to cross the border to Belize
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Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico

http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/Belize?feat=directlink
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Coba, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/CenotesCobaXelHa?feat=directlink
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Los Mochis, Pacific Coast, Mexico

http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/CanyonDeCobreEnChePeWizytaBartka?feat=directlink
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Creel, Northern Mexico, Mexico

http://picasaweb.google.com/tommnow/CanyonDeCobreEnChePeWizytaBartka?feat=directlink
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