Mexico to Belize

Getting from Isla Mujeres to the main bus station in Cancun is easy. The ferry, Ultramar runs every 30 minutes and deposits you at Puerto Juarez where you can pick up a taxi to the main bus station. The building itself is pretty large and all the bookings are computerised, meaning you can reserve from anywhere and print out your ticket http://www.ado.com.mx. If you need supplies for the journey stores and restaurants surround the depot.

My journey took me through the south of the Yucatan to Chetumal at the border of Belize. The trip itself takes about five hours at minimum and longer if you opt for a cheaper bus.

Arrival at Chetumal is pretty straightforward and a local taxi shouldn't cost more that 12-15 pesos within town. I stayed at the Chetumal Hostel run by a couple of great ladies. It is in a very convenient location and the rooms are clean and tidy if a little warm. It is a good place to hook up with other travellers going south. I had arranged my border transfer to the small airport in Corozal Belize a week before with George and Esther Moralez who run an ever expanding travel service at www.gettransfers.com.

I picked up a couple of extras from the hostel in Chetumal and headed across the border, the minivan was huge and air conditioned and the cost for this time saving service was only $40 for up to three passengers. As I had a flight conection to make it was good not to have to worry about the bus connections and was in good shape for the check in.

I had picked this particular route because I wanted to fly to the island of Ambergris Caye on a small Cessna as this was an exciting way to see the cayes close up from above as well as a thrill to be is a small plane. The price was an amazing $46 and again was bookable online with Tropic Air.

Check in was extremely fast, being only four passengers, and the turnaround for the plane was all of five minutes. Takeoff was great fun with only a short runway we banked across the airport and headed directly for the cayes. With an altitude of only a few hundred metres it was amazing to see the detail of the countryside below.

In a too few short minutes we were decending over the town of San Pedro and ready to start the adventure in Belize!

Peter J Smith