Chetumal - last stop in Mexico... for now.

So having said goodbye to Mexi-Tam - whose posting access has been well and truly removed by the way (don't worry - I'm sure comments will be posted in his name and others) we were a little unsure of what to do. We hadn't really made any plans beyond Tam arriving. We eventually decided to head towards Belize. The main reason for stopping in Chetumal (beyond the fact it was as far as we could go in Mexico) was that it looked like we could see some manatees. After the anti-manatee diatribe from Mexi-Tam, we thought we should redress the balance in favour of the gentle water-dwellers that all right-thinking people love.


Chetumal has manatees all over the place! The local businesses, buses even pavements are covered with their images. There's even a manatee fountain outside the university. Unfortunately getting out to see them is another matter entirely. All the tourist information places in Chetumal were shut (for good? I dunno...) and information is sparse on the net. We did find a small outfit who would be able to take a boat cruise, but first we'd have to find four more people to go along with us. Tricky.


Anyway, we decided that we didn't really want to spend too long in Chetumal if manatees were not on the menu - sights wise that is - so we started looking into how to get to Belize. Belize, it seems, only gained independence from the UK in 1981 although I'm not sure if anyone was too bothered... It's a rarity in Latin America as a country where they (officially at least) don't speak Spanish. It's an English speaking country. Also, according to the foreign office, it's pretty safe.

So that's about it for Mexico. It's been a great country to visit and there's certainly plenty more to come back for. For some things it's been the wrong time of year - for others a lack of time of all things - but the places we've been, people we've met and things we've seen have certainly been very special. There will be plenty more to do next time we're in Mexico!