Day 182 - Squashed into a boat, then squashed into a car

San Pedro (Belize) to Cancun (Mexico)

We could have easily spent a couple more days on Ambergris Caye but we were now on a schedule with our flight to Cuba in a few days, so we had to keep moving. There is no doubt that travelling without a fixed schedule is a better way to go, as you never really know until you get to a place how long you need to spend. Today was another long travelling day, with boat and land travel needed to reach our destination of Cancun.

The first leg was the water taxi to Chetumal in Mexico, this was a nice trip of about an hour in a pretty full boat, speeding across the water between Belize and Mexico. There was a bit of mucking around at each end with border formalities - exit fees in Belize, entry fees in Mexico, and some time in Chetumal while everyone's luggage was checked by a strangely incompetent sniffer dog who kept trying to leave the luggage area.

We then paid for a shuttle to take us to Cancun, but weren't able to leave until enough passengers had come through customs to fill it. As it turns out there weren't enough people, so after about half an hour we were squashed into a taxi with another couple. The plus side was that the car was much quicker than the shuttle, making it to Cancun in much less than the five hours we were expecting, but it wasn't the most comfortable trip. We were delivered right to our hotel though, and once there we settled into our fourth floor room overlooking the beach and ocean.