Costa Maya, Mexico 2007

Our first stop was Costa Maya, on the eastern side of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. Costa Maya is a small tourist region in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, between Cancún and Belize. The area is generally undeveloped but has been growing quickly and rapidly after the construction of a large pier to accommodate cruise ships. The Costa Maya includes two small villages -- Majahual and Xcalak. After we made our way through the mandatory shopping area at the port, we walked to the Mahahual village.


The after-the-adventure photo at the port


Tourists chatting with a local The fishing village of Mahahual has soft sand beaches, grass thatched palapas, and a coral reef a short distance off-shore, as well as several bars, restaurants, and shops. Mahahual is only about 2 miles from the port; cruise ships can easily be seen from the village. And that's where our problems began.

Walking past the village

Me on the beach at Mahahual

Sarah took a picture of us- Looks like Paul and I are reading
Paul notes that we can see our ship from here! We went to a cafe for drinks and snacks   This is fun! Time to go back. This is what we should have done...
... This is what we decided to do instead. We figured that since the ship was only two miles away, and we could see it, we could walk back. One little thing we failed to calculate was the location of the ocean relative to the land. So after walking for an hour down a secluded path, we reached a beach facing the ocean and an unscalable wall. Our choices: try the wall anyway, head into the ocean, or walk back one hour and risk missing our ship back to the US. 

This is what denial looks like.

We chose ocean. Now our second problem: as we reached dry land on the other side we were confronted by Mexican port authority trying to figure out why we're trying to swim around border control. Conversation clearly starts off on the wrong foot as he accuses us of trying to break the law, but he then ironically suggests bribery. Finally, through a combination of my persuasive abilities and Spanish sweet-talking, he finally lets us go without going to jail or paying money or anything. And that's why you should learn Spanish, kids!