Tamales throughout Mexico vary from place to place. In the West, where we live near Guadalajara, tamales come wrapped and steamed in corn husks. In the more tropical areas, they come cooked in banana leaves. The tamales in Bacalar Mexico are bigger than most I’ve seen, and they have some interesting ingredients. The flavor at this particular tamale place didn’t tickle my taste-buds, but I loved the little sope-type tacos on the right hand side! I figure you can’t go wrong with a tortilla, some cabbage, and lots of limon!
We also found these little frogs hanging outside of our window. They are the kinds with big sticky pads on their feet, and we saw him clinging to the outside of our window one night. We also had geckos climbing up around our ceiling while we were sleeping!
A trip to the grocery store showed that I was limited on spaghetti sauce choices, if I wasn’t up for making it fresh (which I usually d0):
I also found their road-side signs discouraging drinking and driving to be a big gruesome. I tried to distract the kids from looking! (Alcohol+Speed=Death)
One day we took a drive over to Calderitas, which is north of the closest big city Chetumal (which is on the Belize border). We had read online it was worth visiting, but found it pretty disappointing. Calderitas is right on the ocean, and therefore had a small strip of restaurants serving seafood (not our thing). And that was pretty much it for the town (supposedly it has ruins to visit, but we didn’t visit them). The ocean didn’t look too pleasant for swimming, although it was kid-friendly in the sense that it didn’t have waves (it is on a protected little ocean inlet).
There were some native women walking around with big bundles to sell. They looked like they were from Guatemala or Chiapas…not natives of this area.
One thing Calderitas has going for it is a cool little campground right on the water. Yax Ha looked like it had little cabin rentals, as well as plenty of space for your camper or tent.
It’s restaurant looked pretty decent, as well. Albeit a bit expensive!
But I have to admit they had a pretty expanse of grass…
Overall, the best part of the trip to Calderitas was looking into the back of the van and seeing this:
Hi. I have been thinking of going down to Chetumal for a few months. What do you think of this idea? Are the beaches as good as Tulum? Is it cheaper than Cancun? I would appreciate your insight.
Hi David,
Chetumal is certainly going to be cheaper than Cancun! Chetumal is not known for its beaches, however. We drove to a nearby one to check it out, and weren’t impressed. We didn’t explore more.
Tulum beaches are pretty spectacular, if you go to the right spots. However, Chetumal is nearby to Lake Bacalar, which is the most beautiful water I have ever seen! There aren’t “beaches”…but the gigantic lake is a freshwater “lagoon” of “7 colors”. Quite simply–it looks like the Caribbean ocean, but it’s all fresh water! GORGEOUS, and VERY quiet!!
Hi David,
Chetumal is certainly going to be cheaper than Cancun! Chetumal is not known for its beaches, however. We drove to a nearby one to check it out, and weren’t impressed. We didn’t explore more.
Tulum beaches are pretty spectacular, if you go to the right spots. However, Chetumal is nearby to Lake Bacalar, which is the most beautiful water I have ever seen! There aren’t “beaches”…but the gigantic lake is a freshwater “lagoon” of “7 colors”. Quite simply–it looks like the Caribbean ocean, but it’s all fresh water! GORGEOUS, and VERY quiet!!
However, if you’re up for surfing and beaches…I’d check up by Tulum and Akumal (between Tulum and Playa del Carmen). Those are sand beaches in Mexico worth mentioning!