Daily Routine

To get to our starting point on the coast for the year, we always travel like the locals do: by taking the ADO or MAYAB bus from the airport, a collectivo around town for 80 cents or less, a chicken bus or hitchhiking. The local bus is about $4-15 (a fraction of the cost of tourist buses and taxis), and it usually has air conditioning, a movie, and I get to practice Spanish! To get the bus, one needs to stand on the side of highway 307 (the only major road in Quintana Roo), and wave the bus down. This is what a bus station looks like along the highway.To travel like the locals do, however, you need to know some basic Spanish, be adventurous, and not be on a timed schedule.

We usually get up in the morning around 5:30-6am, start hiking around 6:30am and stop around 3-4pm, depending on where we are and how long to the next town. It is best to start walking early in the morning before the sun gets too hot. Sometimes we even skip breakfast to get an early start and find some place to eat along the way around 9-10am. (more on food in a near future post) We have also been known to hike at 7:30 in the evening because it is cooler.

We usually take a short break every 2 hours, in the shade and go swimming in the ocean to cool off. It gives us a much needed burst of energy. My father really enjoys this.

To get thru difficult, hot and tiring hours of endless coastline, I sometimes talk to myself that if I can just put one foot in front of the other and keep walking we will eventually find the next town. I also like to practice my Spanish to myself while walking. I practice over and over the words of what I will say when I meet the first local person in the next town. One time I wanted to learn the sentence of how can I find some young boy to hire to carry my backpack for the next 30 miles down the coast! Just like Peissel did when he walked this coast in 1958! I also like to study the terrain as I am walking and find shells, seeds, plants, animals etc.

What does Dad do when he is walking in the 108 degrees F for 15-20 miles a day? I think he is always ahead of me because he is watching out for things ahead of us, looking out for the military posts searching for drug packages, and pushing on to get around the next point to see if there is a town. The MX military/police makes him nervous. There are military posts all up and down this coastline, it seems like in every town. I think he is being a Dad when he does this and looking out for us. Or maybe he is looking for a clothing optional hotel??

I like it when my Dad plays this game with us when we are hiking every year: he always asks me what would he do if he found a treasure of $100,000 cash on the beach? Since we can only claim something like $10,000 on the plane home, he always says that he would hide it each year in the exact same spot and take $10,000 home each time--after splurging some of it in a rich resort with a lot of fruit daquiris!! I always ask him how is he going to make sure he knows where he hid the treasure the next year. The subject of off shore banking and hiring a boat comes up too.

When we find the next town, we always get drinks first (usually a lot of ice cold purified water, Cokes and pineapple juice), then a local hotel, cabana or tent cabin. We do bring along Army hammocks and mosquito nets in case we need to sleep on the beach. There has only been one time near Punta Allen that we had to use our hammocks.

After checking into to our rooms, we usually crash and relax, then shower and find something to eat in the pueblo. There has been only once or twice where these small local hotels along the beach in the 450 miles have had TVs in the room. One hotel even had satellite TV and we were able to watch the NBA playoffs!!