Shell on 2 wheels: Yucatan, Mexico

And suddenly everything is gorgeous...

On January 26th, after spending a lovely week in Mexico city I flew on a 70usd one way flight with InterJet to Cancun. 50kgs of luggage were included in the hefty price tag which meant I could easily pack up my bike and all my camping stuff in one cardboard box. My friend from home Rosalinde (Dutch but lives in Dublin) was joining me and the easiest place she found to fly to in Mexico from Ireland, was Cancun.

After building up our bikes at Cancun airport it was already
dark. So we put on lights and high viz for the 20km ride into town.

Carlos was a wonderful host in Cancun.
Brought us on a night bike tour for beers and tacos.

I was expecting it to be a little hot and a little flat so was looking forward not only to the company, but also to some easy'ish days of cycling. What I never expected was the sudden holiday feeling that swept over me as soon as I saw the sea. The fact that I had a friend visit plus the amazing blue/green colour of the water, the clear blue skies, the 28 degree average daily temperature, the multiple daily swims, the riding on the bike with a bikini top and cycling shorts... all added up to the start of a wonderful three week holiday. Everywhere you looked the world was just so pretty.

Our first swim was at the Ritz Carlton in Cancun. We left our
bikes at the door, walked through onto their private beach,
grabbed some towels and swam in our underwear.

This beach was particularly busy as we could swim out about
20 metres and see loads of turtles just with our swimming goggles.

Rosalinde parking the bikes by a thatched palapa
before going for yet another swim.

This was the colour of the water on a dull grey day.

We had no fixed plan for Rosalinde's three weeks other than cycling south. She flew into Cancun and was flying out of Guatemala City, some 1200kms further south, so we knew we would cycle through the three countries of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. The Yucatan peninsula was first. Famous for Cancun, lots of Mayan ruins including one of the wonders of the world, Chichen Itza and tropical weather. It didn't disappoint.

The pair of us find our first Cenote.

What I didn't know but what the Yucatan is also famous for are cenotes (sinkholes). Lovely big cool swimming holes normally found under big rock formations. They are everywhere. Some are very touristy and you can pay 25 usd to stay for the day, others are more local and you can pay 1-2 usd to go for a quick dip.

Tulum was the only Yucatan Mayan ruin site which was directly on our route south. We woke before sunrise and got in before the crowds arrived. It is the only Mayan archaeological site in the Yucatan built on the sea and acted as the Mayan's main port. Built in the 13th-Century it was abandoned later and rediscovered by a British expedition in the mid 1800s.

We cycled to the mayan ruins at Tulum and arrived for sunrise.

Turquoise water at the Tulum site even on a dull cloudy day.

Rosalinde's first of many porridges with apple
and cinnamon.

Rosalinde had never really cycle toured before. But she had been in the girl guides as a teenager so was a camping guru. And well, she is Dutch. So bikes are in her blood. She took to it like a duck to water. On the first night in Cancun we stayed with a warm showers host, night two saw us set up our mats and sleeping bags in chiropractor's surgery.

Campaing on the floor of a chiropractor's practice in

Playa del Carmen. Cancun Carlos put us in touch.

It wasn't until night three that we tried some wild camping. We set up shop near this private jetty and speaking later to some security guards learned that we were actually on a university campus. Beautiful peaceful quiet sleep. We obviously thought we could swim but were luckily told about the resident crocodiles just in time.

Sunset and sunrise were stunning.

The joys of having a partner in crime means that
there is a photo of me on a bike.

Roads in the Yucatan were great. After the mountains of mainland Mexico the flatness was a real treat. The tarmac was good AND we often had a hard shoulder. Being January it was also not TOO hot.

Flat tarmac, a hard shoulder plus some road signs.
What a treat.

Although at 28 degrees C we were roasting,
others obviously were cold.

I mentioned briefly before about Mexico's pueblos mágicos. Over 100 towns that Mexico's tourism department has labelled as 'lovely'. Each has their own colourful sign which is quite clever actually as tourists stop all the time to take selfies. We were no exception.