On June 14, I reached the border of Tabasco, crossed over the Rio Usumacinta and on into the State of Campeche. It was very flat and desolate with no towns, just farm land and communication towers. I stopped at the side of the road to camp and, with my new sandals on, I stepped into an ant hill. Sharing the field with me were two horses. They were very curious as to what I was doing and that night, one of them came over and nudged my tent.

         The next night, I reached Escarcega, and found a cheap hotel and paid for two nights. In the morning, I went in search of some food and ended up with a juice and a large package of cinnamon rolls. There did not seem to be a town square so I had to search around for a shady spot to eat. I found a spot in the market across the street from two old ladies sitting on a bench. The ladies had a bunch of chickens with their legs tied together under the bench. Eventually, a young lady came along, selected a chicken and walked away with it. As well, the two old women had four live pigs for sale. I spent the rest of the day doing my laundry, cleaning the tent, working on my diary and studying Spanish.

         The next morning, I packed up early to leave but had to a repair a flat tire first. I drove to the market, stocked up on food and water and continued on my way. The roller coaster ride started again and continued all the way to the coast. I didn't get very far before the tire went flat again and this continued the whole day. By the end of the day, my back tire also blew with a loud explosion. I fixed the back tire with a replacement I had been carrying and rode on. That night, I set up camp in a rock quarry.

         The next day, I decided that rather than patching the tire all the time, I would pump it up every half hour. That seemed to work but then I got another flat in the back tire. The road went on forever with very little to indicate where I was. I finally made it to Xpuhil in the dark. I found a hotel, had supper and carried my bike up to my room. In the morning, I tried to find someone to fix the tube. A teenager offered to drive me into town to find a bike shop in a car that should have been condemned. At the bike shop, the owner found what looked like a used tube but it was the right size! I finally fixed the tire and got off to a late start. It soon started to rain and the hills continued. I finally reached the Autopista and a wide shoulder to myself as I crossed the border into Quintana Roo.

         I continued on in the rain through nothing towns and stopped under a bridge for lunch. My GPS indicated that I was slowly going down in altitude. The terrain started to flatten out and I was faced with a head wind coming off the Caribbean Sea. I passed the road leading north to Cancun and south to Belize. I decided to go into Chetumal to get some Belize money. I found a hotel, had supper, did some laundry and crashed for the night.

         On June 20, I stocked up on food and water and drove off to the Highway with the wind at my back. I covered the 11 kilometers to the border in no time, had my passport stamped and entered Belize. After 4 1/2 months of mountains and poor roads, bladder infections, kidney stones, many bouts of gastrointestinal upsets and too many flat tires to count, I finally bid adios mi amigo to Mexico.

Belize - Belize City & Belmopan