Bacalar

We squeezed out every bit of our condo time with homeschooling before checkout at noon. It was raining on and off all morning as hurricane Helene slowly moved its way north.

We filled up on gas and water and stopped at the Soriana hypermarket for some bananas and ended up eating lunch at its food court. We said goodbye to Playa del Carmen and Hurricane Helene as we headed south toward Bacalar, near the Belize border. We had planned on camping on the lake but when we got to the campground it was empty and appeared closed up and a soggy mess. The campground was down a steep, fortunately paved path of smooth rock, which we had to try three times to make it back up. Having a running start certain gave us the momentum we needed. We tried a hotel but it was down a gravel path without an obvious turnaround spot so we had to do a 10 point turn to get back.

Finally we picked a hotel in town center. The parking lot was tiny so we parked on the street.

We walked to a sushi place on the lake and listened to the owner regale us of his tales of working all over the US. He worked crabbing and salmon boats off Kodiak, Alaska, saving up $70,000 a season.

The unagi was very good, but I could tell their Japanese chef partner was not in town. The rice was undercooked, but perhaps more to the taste of locals.

We had visited Bacalar 10 years ago and it was more lovely than before. The town center was well lit and there was customers on sidewalk tables eating and families strolling.

Our hotel is cheap and clean and new appearing and only $45. Tomorrow we head to Belize.