Signed by Scarlett

After three months of backpacking Central and South America, I am officially home and it is now time for a recap with this first instalment of the backpacking diaries, Mexico.

Monday, 10 June, me and my best friend, Danni, set off to Cancun, on what would be a much longer flight than expected due to an emergency landing in Canada after someone fell ill early on into the flight.

Now if you haven’t heard of the app ‘Been’, it’s where you select countries you’ve been to and it colours them in on the map. We were in Canada for around three hours but because we never actually got off the plane, Danni said I couldn’t tick it off on the app… she’s totally correct but annoying still!

Eventually we headed on our way again and landed in Cancun, now I can’t write about much for Cancun as we were only there for one night but the hostel we stayed in was immaculate and very nice.

Hostel: Mezcal Hostel – £17.31 pppn

Isla Holbox

Isla Holbox was the first stop of our backpacking journey with three nights on this beautiful island.

Now we had heard that rainy season was no joke but it turns out it truly isn’t because the streets here were more like lakes with extremely deep water which wasn’t a great start for my new Birkenstocks! A quick trip in an ATV however and we arrived at our hostel.

Hostel: Tribu Hostel – £12.86 pppn

This hostel ended up being one of our favourites of the entire trip and whilst it could be totally biased from the huge net that we chilled in for hours, it really was a lovely hostel from the people to the cleanliness and the comfort of the beds, as well as a nice bar and kitchen. There even was a twerk class, which Danni said was her biggest regret of the trip that we didn’t join in, sorry Dan.

Isla Holbox isn’t the cheapest that’s for sure, so I would say spend more on your breakfast because the açai bowls and the pancakes are worth it (Mr Happy and Painapol) but then find the hidden local gems for dinner where the food is much cheaper and still just as good (TacoQueto).

Another recommendation is to walk to ‘Playa de Coco’. A much longer walk than we expected, particularly with the heat, but walking up to clear blue water and the sight of flamingos, it was worth it. A truly beautiful surprise and my first ever time seeing a flamingo.

Isla Holbox is not a place to miss and it was in our top 10 places we stayed in across the entire trip.

We also met Nina and Maren here!

Valladolid

A ferry and a bus later we arrived to Valladolid, the main place to stay for those who want to visit one of the new seven wonders of the world, The Chichen Itza, and to swim in some Cenotes.

Hostel: New Friends Hostel – £10.76 pppn (inc. breakfast)

This hostel was the first hostel so far where we had a very quick panic about what we’d got ourselves in for when looking at the outside of the building. Very rundown, no proper door or sign and on a random street. However it was better inside, a seating area with a pool and clean bathrooms and bedrooms (however the top bunk is extremely high and you might be sharing your bed with an iguana).

We booked the Chichen Itza and Cenote trip with a local hostel, it turned out to be a very expensive day with the transport and entrances but it’s definitely something everyone should do if you have the chance.

The Chichen Itza is one of the new seven wonders of the world and is believed to have been built around 500 – 800 AD, a beautiful place to see and learn more about the Mayan’s and their culture.

The first cenote we visited was ‘Chukum’ which had consisted of a biplane and a 15 metre platform to jump from, it was really beautiful. The second one was called ‘Secret Maya’, it was a lot more open which was truly beautiful when it started to rain and hit the water. This one had an even taller platform at 23 metres.

Maren also had the “joy” of filming me and Danni for a TikTok as we jumped into the Cenote spelling out the word ‘LOVE’. Wasn’t my best performance but it gave people a laugh!

Whilst there isn’t much more to do in Valladolid, it is a great base for these experiences!

Bacalar

Arriving to Bacalar was rather chaotic as we walked down one street late at night to see a telephone cord go up in flames and set off sparks along the whole line. So it’s fair to say we went down a different road to our hostel.

Hostel: The Yak Lake House – £16.50 pppn

The Yak Lake House was one particular hosel we were looking forward to staying at due to having seen it recommended all over social media. Now I will say whilst we did really enjoy it, unfortunately rainy season meant we had very little sun whilst we were there and therefore we didn’t get to truly enjoy the lake.

Just make sure to have a coat or like Nina above, rip into a bag and make your own personal poncho.

However the hostel itself was very clean, a great kitchen area with a lovely bar outside and nice rooms and multiple bathroom areas. A selection of events everyday to join in, but pre-warning if you sign up for karaoke, the host will probably just keep singing his own songs and you’ll never get a go! Makes for a laugh though.

If you’ve ever researched Bacalar, you’ve probably heard of ‘Mr Taco’ and if you haven’t then, what are you doing? We ended up going here two nights in a row because the selection is incredible and the food we had was truly great!

Backpackers – If you are going from Bacalar to Caye Caulker, make sure to take an early bus to the ferry port in the morning because there are two main ports to arrive to Caye Caulker, but they don’t run late into the afternoon!

AND that is our Mexico round-up, stay tuned for the next part, Belize.