Xcalak: Heaven and Hell

So I recently had a week off between my last trip and the one that I am currently doing. It was nice to have a little bit of time off... lot's of stress in my life and also I didn't have time to get things as organized as I would have liked to prior to my first trip (curses OCD!). Spent the first couple of days off relaxing and getting things organized. On Wednesday of last week though Steve "Boos-bi" (another guide) and I decided to take a little bit of time to cruise south and relax a bit. We both wanted to check out Xcalak , a small fishing village located on the most south-eastern point on the Yucatan Pennisula... so southern that it is actually located south of the border of Belize-Mexico. It's located on a small strip of land that stretches south and eventually becomes the islands (cayes) of Belize. Xcalak is known to have get snorkelling and diving and with a couple of days free we figured it would be a great time to check it out.




The journey from Xpu-ha took about 5 hours and the roads were surprisingly in good shape. The road from Majahual to Xcalak is 70 kilometers - a paved 1.5 lane skinny jungle road that pushes though thick swampland. When we arrived we figured that we'd find a place to camp, but the town was so small that there wasn't even a campground. Really aren't even many hotels, mostly just rooms available for rent in the local's homes. We pulled up the the local (only) restaurant and met a few "extranjeros" that we in town to dive. The food (conch and fish) was incredible and we planted ourselves down for a few beers.

About 5 beers later we were all chatting when the door popped open and 2 middle aged couples burst through. "Hey... who's got the tour van... are you the guides?", one of the couples asked. Turns out that the guy (Bob - or "Wogs" to his tour guide buddies) used to work for the same company that we work for from 1981-1988. He knew our boss and some other friends and they were really excited to meet some new guides! Turns out that they have a place in Xcalak (right on the coast) and they invited us to come up and spend the night. We jumped in the van and drove 7 bumpy miles up the dirt road to their house. Spent the night drinking rum and beers and talking about shared friends and the "guiding life"... good times.

The next morning we woke up and Bob and Carol had the whole day planned out. They made a spectacular breakfast and then we geared up to go snorkelling. We jumped in 3 kayaks and paddled out to the reef. The beach on the coast of Xcalak isn't nearly as nice as the wide, sandy beach near Tulum... but the reef is much more vibrant and alive. The coral was very colorful and there was an abundance. There was also a heck of a lot more sealife.

Bob, Carol & Busby

Bob and Carol's Beach House

The Xcalak Waterfront

In the afternoon we went down the beach to Carol's sister's house and played boche ball. It was nice to walk the beach some and see some of the houses on the water. Xcalak is still a pretty simple community - just the small village and the waterfront homes north of town. There is no electricity so all the homes use generators or solar power and the water system is a cistern that catches rainwater. Despite the lack of modern anemities, Bob and Carol's house was really nice and Carol's sister's house was gi-normous. Most of the property on the water was foreign owned (Canadian and US) and the homes seemed to be retirement dream homes or small occupancy hotels. Although it is a paradise, they do have a few problems that plague the community - theft. Several of the homes have been robbed over the past couple of years. People coming at night, slicing through screens and crawling through windows and casing the place... often times while the owner is home in bed. Really brazen! So Carol warned us to take our valubles out of the van and store them in the "Bodega" - a locked closet in the house.

That night Bob grilled up some pork and we spent the evening having a couple of beers and playing dominoes. I had never played before so it was fun to learn - Carol was talkin' a lot of smack but I managed to give it back and then win the second game! Yeaher! We all went to bed about 10. Steve and I slept downstairs and we were both chillin' in our beds for a couple of hours read and messing around with our computers. At about 1am I was about to pass out when I heard Steve yell "HEY - RATITO". I didn't know what was up but then he busted into the room and said that he had been laying in his bed when all of a sudden a little Mayan dude popped his head up to the window and started peering around. Steve was in bed about 2 feet away staring right at him. When he yelled he saw 2 guys sprint down away and down the beach at full speed.

Figured we should check the van, so I looked outside at it and it appeared to be fine. Steve needed something out of it so I tossed him the keys and he went outside. About a minute later I hear Steve say "Dude, you got jacked!". By this point Bob and Carol were up too and we went to the van and sure enough they had broke in. They had smashed a back window on the side of the van that was not facing the house and had tossed the whole thing. There was stuff everywhere. They stole my car stereo, Steve's guitar, Steve's cell phone, my leatherman, and a bunch of other miscellanous things that we failed to bring in the house. They failed to find a couple of things (my wallet, a camera and all the stuff I have stored behind the back seat of the van) but they had gotten away with a lot! How had they broken the window and ransacked the van without us hearing a thing? We were pissed off and confused. Bob and Carol ran to the neighbors to send a call out on the marine radio and I sorted through my stuff to see what they had gotten away with. When they returned we tried to figure out what to do and decided against trying to chase the guys down. It had almost be 1/2 since they ran down the beach and who knew if they had any weapons, etc. So I gathered EVERYTHING out of the van and hauled it in and had a beer. While we were sitting in the kitchen Carol told us about the last time that she got robbed and pointed out the window that they had come through... then we noticed the the screen had been cut again and it appeared as if they had tried to enter the house again! It was hard to pass out because I imagined every little sound to be a Mayan theif crawling through the window.

JACKED!

The Hole Where My Radio Used to Be

The next morning we woke up and got ready to head up to Majahual to make a police report when the neighbor dropped in to tell us that one of the theives had been caught. Apparently they robbed us and then afterwards continued to make their way south on the road back to town, robbing hotels and residences all along the way. At 4 in the morning a guy that lives where the road enters town heard someone downstairs in his house and went to go check it out. He caught the guy crawling back out his fence. When he went to go check on his truck he saw a truck rolling slow down the road and when it passed he recognized that it was the (3) theives and jumped in his car and chased them. At this point a police car rolled up and they stopped the truck a couple 100 meters down the road. Only one of the 3 was left but there was a bunch of stuff in the truck that they had stolen.

We left and drove up to Majahual to write a report and to see if any of the stuff in the van was ours. When we got there the cops showed us the truck and sure enough our stuff was piled high in the back. They had most of the stuff - the radio, Steve's phone and guitar, my binoculars... but some stuff was missing still. They had the suspect in cuffs and we all had to pile into a small room with him and wait to talk to the cops... and wait and wait and wait... and wait. We were there from 9am until 6pm doing basically nothing but waiting to write a report. The cops were really inefficient and they definately were not maximizing their time. In fact at one point the suspect was in cuffs on the floor looking into a corner while one of the cops played "Doom" on the computer with volume at maximum... the gunshots and screams of dying ghoulies was echoing throughout the concrete bunker. At the same time the other cop picked up Steve's guitar that they had recovered and started playing while the female midget lawyer that had one leg 4 inches shorter than the other and a shoe to compensate for it hobbled around smoking cigarettes... it was definately surreal. All the while we just waited... and the waiting got a little bit annoying knowing that these guys were sitting around doing nothing. We just wanted our shit back so we could roll back up to Cancun, get a new window and the radio installed and start planning our trips.

The Thief's Truck... Or At Least The One He Was Driving
It Was Most Likely Stolen. Notice Katana Swords Painted On
The Door - Awesome!

The Machete I Found In The Theif's Ride.
Good Thing We Didn't Chase Them Down!

We finally got out of the station after about 8 hours of nothing. But I had my police report and my stuff... so I was happy. Drove up to Xpu-ha and just crashed!

The next day, the day before the trip, was rough. We spent the whole day that we had planned on preparing for our trips at the police station and now had only one day to do it plus fix the window and stereo. It was a loooong day as well but I finished all my stuff and was fresh for the next day when I had to meet my group.