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| Our Bus broke down for 4 hours in the middle of nowhere |
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We found ourselves in Cancún, Mexico - and it was time to go to Belize. Belize is a small English-speaking country in Central America, the only one in fact. For us, it seemed like a good place to speak English one last time before our great dive into the rest of Latin America.
Before that, we had to grab some dinner first. There was a McDonald's near the bus station, so we headed there. But our monetary supply was already spent. I had 44 pesos left (~US$3.38).
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| Looking for a place to eat in Cancún |
Poor Man's Dinner
In our attempt to not starve, we headed out in search of the money changer we'd seen when we first arrived to Cancún (to get more money). But alas, it was closed.
Hopeless in hunger and poverty, we walked around aimlessly for a bit. I was getting a little depressed and was about to give up hope when suddenly, I looked up and there was a heavenly white light shining on my face. Angel music began playing in my head - it was the wonderful neon lights of a Subway restaurant. That happiness was short-lived though, because I quickly realized that we were so broke we couldn't even afford a Subway.
They say lightning never strikes twice, but they never said heaven's lights can't light up the same spot twice. Just as we were about the leave, we saw an obscure poster on the windows promoting an offer for a set meal for MEX$42. Without thinking, we rushed in like hungry dogs and got the meal, all the while emphasizing that we could only afford the offer to avoid any extra charges.
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| Subway, our savior |
After our last purchase in Mexico, I was left with 2 pesos. I felt like Bill Gates.
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| My total Mexican net worth |
Before this, we'd already checked out of the hostel (there was a checkout before 11am policy). Most hostels have a luggage storage area, where you can store your bags for free after you've checked out - we did that.
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| Baggage Storage - guess which belongs to me |
Having no money to do anything else, we went back to the hostel, and snuck back into our old room, where we used the wifi. We pretended to fit in when people in the dormitory looked at us, it worked. There was nobody at the counter anyway (it's been like this on most nights - the staff usually hang out at the bar on the rooftop), so it was no problem.
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| Missing staff at the front desk |
We needed the wifi to get directions to the next hostel in Belize City, and of course for Facebook and Instagram (@tet54).
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| Back to our old dorm - the top bed above the towel was mine |
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| Charging dead phones and finding our next hostel |
After the short retreat, it was time to go. We collected our bags and walked to ADO station (just a block or two away) to take the 10:15pm bus. It was a night bus so that we could travel while sleeping, which also saves on accommodation costs.
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| ADO Bus Terminal |
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| Inside the ADO Bus Terminal |
Lessons on Buses in Latin America
What I learnt was that in Latin America, bus tickets should not be booked online. Buy them on the spot. They almost always have seats, unlike Greyhound or other bus services in the United States. What should be booked online are Air Tickets (cheapest on Wednesdays. You're welcome) and Hostels (which can also be booked at the last min most of the time anyway).
Try to get to the station 10-15 mins early, ADO usually starts boarding 10-15 mins before and leaves on the dot or sometimes even a minute early. The buses are comfortable as well - not as good as First Class on airplanes, but certainly better than Economy Class.
Greyhound vs ADO Buses
In Greyhound buses in America, the driver usually gives a briefing when departing, which includes a rule for passengers to be quiet and for cellphones to be silent. In ADO buses however, the driver doesn't say anything at all. Not even during rest stops or emergencies when the bus breaks down (as I experienced in the next few paragraphs)
The Bus Breakdown
So off we went to Belize. There was a rest stop at Playa Del Carmen around 11:25pm. You only get off if you choose to. My Spanish wasn't too good so I didn't wanna risk getting left behind so I stayed on the bus. It was dark anyway, and the bus had its own toilet so there was no need to empty the pipes. I quickly fell asleep.
When I woke up, the bus wasn't moving. I looked at my phone, it was 3:45am. The driver was trying to start his engines (to no avail), and I suspected that the bus had broken down. However, since the bus driver didn't say anything, I thought he would fix it eventually and went back to sleep. We were set to reach Belize City by 6+ in the morning anyway, so a little delay would be good. Disregarding the situation, I went back to sleep.
Couple hours later, I woke up and looked around. The bus was still stuck in the same spot. I checked the time, it was 7:20am. Uh oh.
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| Along Quintana Roo, where our bus broke down (blue point) |
An American lady (one of the passengers), was announcing her frustration to the rest of the bus, and that she had decided to take a taxi to Belize. Soon after, she and her group of friends left.
I went out to see a commotion going on. There was an army of taxis vulturing next to our broken down bus, waiting for one of us to crack and give in to their scam rates (my assumption, I didn't actually check).
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| Taxi drivers vulturing next to our broken down buses, waiting for passengers to crack |
At that time, I didn't take notice of this Jamaican-Australian guy who was on the same bus as us. It's funny, because after this, we stayed at the same hostel in rooms next to each other. He also joined us in taking photos and videos in the Belize. About a week later, we coincidentally meet again in Antigua Guatemala in a souvenir shop. Talk about fate.
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| The Jamaican-Australian guy we met 3 times in different countries (coming down from bus) |
Also, there was an angry European lady half-shouting at the driver. The latter merely looked down at the ground as she though she was his nagging mom. He hid behind his lack of English-speaking ability. One of the Spanish-speaking passengers was acting as a translator between them. However, he also felt sorry for the driver and tried to reason with the angry woman. I was just standing in front of them, eating my invisible popcorn as the show went on.
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| Pissed European lady (in pink) is pissed at the bus driver (in white, facing away, next to bus) |
The driver had already told her that they sent a mechanic from Cancún (we were 4-5hrs away), but she couldn't accept it and kept pushing for him to do something about it. Although we were much nearer to Belize and it would make more sense to send a mechanic from Belize, the driver (via the translator) explained that the bus company could not do so because buses require a special permit to travel between the border between Mexico and Belize, and a mechanic coming from Belize did not have such a permit. The driver also said that they could not send another bus to pick them up from Belize for the same reason. This pissed the European lady even more, and spurred her to continue her verbal attacks. It wasn't her fault though, because it seemed as though the driver wasn't doing anything (he was actually waiting for the mechanic to come). He's just not a very good communicator, which is why he was probably a bus driver and not a telemarketer.
He explained that he already called the mechanic, but he still had yet to arrive. The driver was trying to calm the lady down by saying the mechanic would arrive at any time, when suddenly the mechanic actually pulled up. He was alone, driving a small car. He got out of his car, carrying a box of equipment and immediately went to work. The lady stopped her reprimanding.
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| The Mechanic arriving and attempting to fix the bus, much to the dismay of the vulture taxi drivers |
It didn't take too long, the bus engine was repaired at 7:39am. I also kinda anticipated this at the back of my head because I'd read that bus breakdowns are commonplace in Latin America. In fact, I embraced it because it was the first time I was in such a situation.
The mechanic received a round of applause from everybody as they headed back into the bus. Poor guy drove down 4 hours for a 10 min job in the middle of nowhere (somewhere along Quintana Roo) and had to drive back another 4 hours.
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| Passengers heading back into the bus after the engines are reignited |
The Corrupt Border Officials
So off we went, back on track to Belize City. I felt sorry for the group of Americans earlier because they only got a 15 mins headstart in the taxi.
The bus stopped at the Mexican border at Chetumal. We got our passports, the Mexico exit form we received when we got into Mexico, and the receipt we specifically asked for from the airline company in Miami before flying into Mexico that showed that we had already paid for the DNI fee***.
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| Documents needed to exit Mexico. Notice the highlighted DNI fee. |
This receipt was particularly important because when you cross the border overland from Mexico to Belize, the Mexican border guards will ask you to pay US$20+ as a fee. This fee is not required and is actually a corrupt act by the border guards! The way this works is that they tell you the money is for the DNI fee (a UK tax for some reason). So to beat them at their own game, you show them that you've already paid this fee via the receipt. I circled the portion that was the DNI fee very clearly, to show that I was serious about not paying.
Luckily, being savvy travelers, we already knew about this. In fact, we were the only ones in the entire bus that knew about this. We got our documents and got out of the bus, like cowboys headed for a showdown with all our guns locked and loaded.
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| The tiny border crossing at Chetumal (Mexican side) |
We joined the queue at the guard house, and as the people in front of me took turns to get surprised by the sudden charge slammed on their wallets, I steadily waited for my surprise attack.
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| Waiting in line, while everyone in front gets scammed into paying the corruption fee |
When it was my turn, before the guard could ask me for money, I slammed the receipt onto the table, and pointed to the part I circled. Then I said, "When I bought the ticket, they (the airport people) told me that I didn't have to pay this fee when I left Mexico at the border because we already paid it when we entered Mexico."
The guard was stunned. It hit him like a stab in the back. He sat there silent for a few seconds, and finally admitted defeat in his eyes. Without saying a word, he took my receipt (in case I passed it to someone else on the bus), and gave me the exit stamp on my passport. I left, and walked back to the bus happy.
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| Achievement - Mexican Exit Stamp without paying corruption fee |
On the bus, word of our heroics spread. I then began to educate them on this corruption. I didn't do so earlier in case it jeopardized my plan. They could probably let a few slide, but if the whole bus claimed the same thing, something bad might happen. Those that we told didn't have the receipt anyways so they couldn't do anything about it. It wasn't as though the Mexican guards were gonna give them back the US$20 even after the passengers told them that they knew it was a scam. Overall, there was just mass confusion and slight unhappiness in the bus, but we moved on eventually. Emotionally, then literally.
The bus drove over to the Belize immigration side. This time, we had to carry off all our luggage because they needed to check them at immigration.
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| Taking off our luggage for immigration checks |
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| Heading towards the Belizean immigration |
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| Outside the Belizean immigration |
The line was particularly long (in waiting time, not length), although there were only one or two bus loads at that time. We got a free map of Belize while waiting in line to stamp our passports.
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| Entering the Belizean immigration - finally, English! |
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| Belize Entry Stamp |
Also, the bag check was not strict at all. They asked me if I had anything to declare, I said "no", and they just let me through. Must have been my innocent Asian face.
So after this, we got onto the bus and everything from then on went smoothly as we headed to Belize.
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| Our bus waiting for us outside immigration |
