Lagoon of 7 colours and my last days in Cancun!

My plans have been too chaotic in the past few days but well I went to Bacalar this weekend which is famous for its ‘7 coloured lagoon’. Our plan was to take the 5 hour bus to Bacalar spend the night there and then continue our trip to Belize and Guatemala by bus only to find out my dear frind Fenja forgot her passport. It is fine though something inside was already telling me that something was going to happen so I did not feel too bumped. Anyway we arrived in Bacalar after a lot of hours and it felt like we were in the smallest city ever in the middle of nowhere. People literally only go there for the lagoon because it is the only thing there, to my surprise there were quite a few backpackers though. We got a taxi to our hostel as he told us it was too far to walk so we all sat down and after 4 minutes he stopped. We were wondering why and it turned out the hostel was already there haha! We got out and it was a cute little place with very friendly people; Posada de la Madrid. We dropped our things and we decided to look for a place to eat. We ended up at a small café with freshly made Italian food, delicious! I had a zucchini calzone and a Mexican chocolate gelato. After that we walked around the lagoon to see what things you could do. The water was different shades of blue from what we could see. We grabbed our swimming clothes and went to a place with a small pond where people were hanging out. We sat down and dipped our feet in the water. There was a party going on so we had some background music. I went for a swim because it was too pretty not too. Perfect temperature water to refresh. After spending some time there we went to have dinner in this super cute place we saw on the way called; ‘La Playita’. It was located next to the lagoon and it had a really nice garden with a gigantic tree hanging over it. The roots were like 4 meters high and just impressive to look at. The place was decorated with candle light and fairy lights. The perfect type of music was playing, a bit of chilled and happy music. We got just in time to see the sunset while we looked at the menu. It was hard to order as everything looked delicious but I started with an orange/peach smoothie and a veggie tostada. The menu was very interesting to read as they used very rare combinations of food. The food was in one word; DELICIOUS. Really fresh and I did not think I could ever enjoy vegetables this much. After dinner we did not want to leave just yet as it was such a nice ambience and place to talk to we decided to play cards. During we also talked a lot and it was just such a nice moment to share. By the way I was with Fenja, Jacky (german girl on the same exchange as me) and Mabel (a Dutch au pair we met here). After a long play of cards we decided it was time for dessert. As they had my favourite dessert ever I ordered it; a chocolate fondant. I can honestly say it was one of the best ones I have had. We spent a few hours there and then went back to our hostel. 10/10 recommended.

The next day we looked for a place to have breakfast and ended up at ‘El Manati’. The food was all organic, fresh and they used a lot of recycled products. We sat outside in the sun and inside there was a small shop with recycled bags, art books and much more. They also had a fundraiser to help street dogs. The waiters were all so cool, kind of hippies with cool clothes and paint all over them as they had been redecorating the place. I had a sandwich but then I saw the waffles and I decided to order them as well. When we finished we were all super full and stood up. As we walked away the owner of the place asked us if we wanted to do a photo shoot in the back yard to promote the new opening of their place. Of course! We said. We went through the back of the café and suddenly were in this huge garden with a lot of plants and trees. They explained how they were going to put an art gallery, seats and their own veggie garden etc. Super cute! They put 4 chairs and a table somewhere in the garden and asked us to sit down. They wanted us to eat some food and just smile etc. So a few minutes later there I was, smiling at my salad. Haha! But no, it was not like that. We were actually having a real conversation and the photographer was just taking pictures, it was all really natural. I then got a cup of coffee and they asked me to drink from it. It was really hard to keep a smiling face while drinking that bitter coffee as I do not like it at all, haha! After that they thanked us, gave us some money and left us to eat all the food they had given us! We had breakfast and lunch within an hour haha! After that we walked to the lagoon where we took a boat trip. As we sat in the boat we saw these super dark clouds coming towards us. It was an amazing contrast with the dark grey clouds and the light blue water. Our tour guide showed us various points of the lagoon. The reason why it has 7 colours is because of the different depths in the water. There were cenotes IN the lagoon! He told us to keep looking down and you could see the light blue water suddenly changing in dark blue because it went from half a meter depth to 80 meters! So crazy. We had the chance to swim but it was too cold. There were other cenotes of 60 and 35 meters and these kind of stones in the water that grow every year. Really impressive. After the boat tour we rushed to our hotel to grab our things and take the bus. We took a different bus which was cheaper and once we got on we knew why it was cheaper. Some of us had to stand and sit for the first 3 hours as there were no seats available! And the driver did not mind at all as he just kept stopping everywhere and picking people up… It was also again freezing inside the bus. When we got to Cancun 7 hours later we were exhausted and hungry so we went for a nice warm meal to VIPS. Afterwards for a hot drink and then BED!

The next day we were deciding where our next trip was going to take place. Being all spontaneous we decided to go wherever it was cheapest but it was either too cold or really expensive. After that we went for breakfast at Plaza to a Waffle Boutique. We ordered a chocolate fondue and a Nutella waffle and admired the decorations of the restaurant which were more Dutch than Belgian with all the tulips and windmills haha. After that we decided we had not been to the VIP cinema yet. We went to see ‘Heart of the Sea’ and oh my god. I almost fell asleep. I sat down in this huge fluffy leather chair and when I pulled this handle my chair flew open and suddenly I was laying with my feet up and head down. It was difficult not to close my eyes! With a menu and a table lamp next to me I looked at the menu, as if I had not eaten enough, and pressed the button on my chair for ‘service’. What a life. The next morning we were again looking for something to do and since we had no food at home we decided we craved waffles. Again. We decided it would be a bit too much to go back again to the same restaurant in the same place so we went to a different Waffle Boutique close to our house haha! After that we enjoyed the sun and drank some tea from a really cute tea stand.

Today really was my last day in Cancun. In the morning I went to have breakfast with a friend and after that we sat outside to soak up some sun. I did not really have plans for this day as everything went so fast. So I decided to do what I do best; go to the cinema. We went to watch ‘El Gran Dinosaurio’ which is a kid’s movie but honestly there were more adults than kids and when I heard a kid laugh I wondered what she was doing there until I realised where I was. Anyway the movie was so funny and so cute!!! Afterwards I went for a juice at a South African juice bar. I grabbed the menu and all the juice names were in Afrikaans! As I ordered I had to repeat myself a million times because I pronounced it the Dutch way not the Mexican way…. Haha. I then went home and at night I had dinner with a lady who I had met in the beginning of my exchange and we weirdly enough did not see each other during all these months!

Tomorrow I will go to Mexico City with Fenja to stay a few days with grandparents and show Fenja the city. Even though I have no idea where to go and how and what because it is just gigantic haha! I am not really realising that I will leave Cancun.. all my bags are packed but I guess that because it is Mexico I don’t feel like it is a goodbye as I will return soon! I am totally used to the weather though as it was 25 degrees today and it was COLD! Also I am happy because today for the first time a Mexican referred to me as a Mexican. Well… he said I looked a lot like his cousin and wanted to take a picture of me. But I guess that is close enough! A lot of people probably still think that me being Mexican is a joke or whatever but haha oh well. I will soon return to Holland where I will be tanned and more Mexican than ever. See you soon from the capital of Mexico! XX

P.S. Here is my new video of my exchange in Cancun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwmYAYsFoKM