Arrival and first walk through Chemutal :) (Day 166 + 167 of the world trip)

17th + 18th February 2020

Yesterday was a typical travel day. In the morning, we waited a bit at the hostel and then went to the bus station 20 minutes away at 9:30 a.m., where the bus was supposed to leave at 11:00 a.m.

Arriving at the ADO terminal (which we don't have good memories of because of the theft), we saw that there was only a bus to our destination, Chetumal, at 1:00 p.m. :O Oh no :D :D

We initially tried another provider, but they only had sleeper buses, which were not interesting for us, as we already booked accommodation in Chetumal for the evening ;-)

So we joined the ever-growing line (Carnival is coming soon and it will probably be celebrated big in Mexico, depending on the region!), bought two tickets for 1:00 p.m., and then waited for almost 3 hours in the waiting room, where there was luckily free WiFi :D :D

In these three hours, we went to a snack shop three times, where we devoured cookies, baguettes, drinks, and even pastries from the bakery outside. Well, when you wait, you get hungry - but the mood was great^^

Two small children played hide-and-seek around us and occasionally hid under our chairs, as we had parked our backpacks in front to keep an eye on them. The children were really cute, but Jonas didn't notice the boy at first, which again shows how quickly someone theoretically could steal things from under a seat :p

We found the children really cute, so we pretended not to notice them so that we wouldn't reveal their hiding spots :D

When 1:00 p.m. finally arrived, we got on the bus with our big luggage in the belly of the bus and our small backpacks between our feet, just like last time. But since it was daytime, we didn't plan on sleeping, and even if we did - we already thought of creative options on how to protect our belongings^^

Since we didn't want to sleep, we could also watch the movies this time. First, Skyfall was playing, which I had seen in a 10:00 p.m. showing at the cinema, where I unfortunately fell asleep :p So this time I also saw the middle part ;-)

After Skyfall, "The Amazing Spiderman 2" was playing, where the slapstick humor was almost a bit annoying to me, but well, some people like it :D

During a toilet break, the hunger returned and so we spontaneously decided to buy something from one of those small street vendors - and in line with the movies, we bought a pack of popcorn.

The old man who sold it to me was really happy and we watched him from the window, hoping he would sell more. He was so cute <33 And he actually sold some more! :)

Back on the bus, the woman next to me had trouble adjusting her seat. I helped her quickly and she thanked me by offering me a hand-sized tortilla chip. The woman was also around 60+ and really sweet, so Jonas and I were getting more and more euphoric. Once again, we had found nice Mexicans! <3 ;-)

As a gesture of goodwill, we let her have some of our popcorn, and it was just a small thing, but somehow it felt...familiar? In any case, it was really nice :)

It was different at the bus station in Merida. When Jonas was in the bakery, he saw a pastry with the word "Jamon" on it, which means "ham" in Spanish. He didn't know the Spanish word and asked if it was meat. Apparently, the saleswoman was immediately annoyed again. Of course, ham is meat and don't people in Germany (in general) eat meat? :D Ei ei ei^^

Well. After the Spiderman movie, there was another short film and then a wild, Mexican teen comedy with rather questionable values, as often found in such movies - regardless of the country - and that was somehow entertaining too :p

We arrived in Chetumal around 7:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. local time, we're getting closer to German time again) and then walked to the address of our accommodation. The way there reminded us of a simple neighborhood in the USA and in the darkness, it didn't look spectacular but also not eerie^^

Finally, we arrived at a small Mexican snack bar and showed them the address. He knew immediately, called our landlord, and five minutes later she welcomed us warmly and happily and escorted us up to the apartment where we rented one of the four rooms :)

In addition to the room (with its own bathroom!! A luxury we haven't had in a while^^), there is also an open kitchen that we can fully use, which is why we chose this place.

Since it was already quite late, we only bought bread and breakfast for the following day and then went to bed - after half an hour of Mexican television, where some kind of game show was running, where people had to perform athletic tasks^^

We were able to sleep in this morning and managed to do so until 7:00 a.m.^^ After that, we dealt with the second reason why we are here: to clarify everything regarding the theft. Since it is six hours later in Germany than here, we made phone calls, etc., until (finally) breakfast was served <33

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. We took a walk through the nearby neighborhood, passing a larger mall and a smaller one, and noticed that it really looks like the USA here. Really wide streets, big cars, big parking lots, and hardly any pedestrians despite the sidewalks :p :D :D

Chetumal is located by the sea, but we are more in the "back" part, so we saved the exploration of the coast for tomorrow - because: we will probably stay here for a whole two weeks!

The walk was followed by a big shopping trip and later a self-cooked dinner <33 Okay, I don't know if you can call wraps "cooking," but hey, it was super delicious and warm, and that's what counts. We also had fun preparing something together, as a preparation for our return in six months :D

As I just mentioned, we will stay here for two weeks and see what we do each day. The city doesn't seem to have so much to offer, but you can do a number of day trips and if not, we'll take care of paperwork or whatever.

We'll see if it's worth writing blog entries. But if we don't write, it doesn't mean that we're not doing well^^

(knowing myself, I will probably write something anyway, even if it might not be interesting to everyone :p :D :D)