Baxters in Cozumel: Bacalar. Fort and Chetumal. Part IV.

While in Bacalar, we ate several meals at a loncheria named El Socio. The population of Bacalar is maybe 2,000 so there are quite a few taquerias but very few sit down restaurants. This restaurant was crowded the first day. No wonder, the food was good, plentiful and very inexpensive.

Bacalar built a fort to protect itself from pirates who kept coming down into the lagoon and sacking the town. Here's a photo of a gun port looking out over the school (can you imagine going to a school built on the shore?) and the lagoon.

The fort even had a moat with a drawbridge. It did curtail the pirates, but failed to protect itself from the Indians during the Caste War who attacked from land, not sea.

Peggy looking out for pirates! Actually enjoying the view of the lagoon and the "seven shades of blue" that it's supposed to have. We only counted 5 shades. We want our money back!

Ed trying to ignite a cannon to celebrate our visit. Didn't work.

Here's the real operator of the cannon!

We spent 2 nights in Chetumal, the Quintana Roo state capitol and border city to Belice. Could have reduced it to one, as there is very little for tourists, other than the Mayan Museum below. On a walk around the central market we found this young man selling a strange looking fruit called rambutan. It's hairy looking fruit that you slice around the middle and you then can pop out the gelatinous middle. It's very sweet and good tasting. He gave us one to try and said they came from Chiapas. We bought 1/4 kilo. It has a nut/seed in the middle and it can be eaten or not. Ed saved a couple and he'll try to grow a tree.

The Mayan Museum was a treat. Although almost every display was a reproduction, it did have great explanations (in Spanish and English) for the exhibits.The best display was an interactive one about the Mayan numerical system. We spent several hours there.