A few years ago my brother moved to a remote town in Mexico to work at Maya Palms, a scuba diving resort.

Last year, my mom and I decided it was time to see where he is living. We wanted to go for about a week, and he was only able to get off for a couple of days. So, we decided to spend a few days in Merida before heading to Mahahual where he lives. We finished up by enjoying the weekend with him in Playa del Carmen.

It was a great trip.

So great that we decided to repeat the experience this year. I’m in the midst of planning another trip to see him in November.

This time, we’ll go straight to Mahahual to see Mark and spend the weekend at his resort. Hopefully he will be able to get away during the days with us as we explore the town and nearby Laguna Bacalar. But he works at a tiny resort and he is needed on the property if they have guests. As of today, no one is booked during our visit. Whether he can leave the resort or not, we’re excited to be able to see him.

Here’s the rundown of the upcoming trip so far:

Day 1 – fly to Cancun, take a luxury bus to Playa del Carmen, explore & spend the night (if we took the bus straight to Mahahual we would arrive at midnight!)
Day 2 – wake up early for the 8:30 AM bus to Mahahual and spend the rest of the day with my brother
Day 3 – relax at Maya Palms, maybe go into town or to Laguna Bacalar
Day 4 – relax some more at Maya Palms, and do whatever we didn’t do on Day 3
Day 5 – wake up early to wait for bus that picks up at Maya Palms between 5:30-6 AM, head to Chetumal, Mexico and explore until it is time to take the water taxi to Ambergris Caye (an island in Belize)
Day 6 – spend the day enjoying Ramon’s Village Resort and exploring the island by golf cart
Day 7 – take a water taxi to Belize City, then head to the local prison for a tour (I’ll explain more on this later) and to the Baboon Sanctuary, then back to the island for another night
Day 8 – enjoy the morning, then take a 15 minute flight between the island where we are staying and the international airport in Belize City for the flight back home

In the upcoming weeks, I’ll share more about our plans for this trip. Then I’ll share our daily experiences…probably after I get back. I’ve tried blogging my last two trips, and wasn’t successful at getting out posts every day on either one.

In the meantime, I’ll be re-posting last year’s trip here so you can see why I’m so excited to go back.

Stay tuned!