Mahahual

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Mahahual

By mcdog | May 3, 2007

Mahahual looked like a ghost town when we arrived on the bus. There were lots of bars on the beach, places to hire jet-skis and kayaks and buy snorkelling and diving trips and souvenirs aplenty but where were the people to provide the money to justify all this effort? They arrive in the morning. From cruise ships, and the place is transformed, almost in minutes. However, though the place provides lots of things to buy there seemed to be a paucity of places to sleep. There’s a hotel alongside the bus station and I had to walk a few hundred yards along the sand road before I noticed another, though we were accosted by a man later in the evening offering us rooms in the back of a restaurant. mahahual main drag
We stayed at the Mahahual Hotel by the bus station, partly because it was a lot cheaper than the only alterative we had seen and partly because it was only a few yards to carry the bags. It had what we needed, except for net access as usual, and was reasonably clean, and the price was right. We wandered down the road for a while and then got some food at a cafe on the beach. Most places had closed by now and a lot of the workers/owners of the bars were living in tents on the beach or even in the shops/bars. There was a feeling that most of the town could be packed onto trucks and vanish completely in a few hours. beach bar
The next morning people were setting out their wares, seats and tables appeared and were set out neatly under palapas and canvas awnings. It was all done quite leisurely and there was a relaxed feel to the town. A cruise ship appeared on the horizon and approached the specially built jetty a mile north of town. The police put barriers across the road and the first taxis arrived and discharged their passengers before the roadblock. A ‘pirate’ appeared and was offering his services for photos on his pirate island, a few palm trees at the head of the beach, I thought his denim clothes a bit odd though. A lot of the people from the ships had coloured wristbands and they congregated at various bars, talking to one guy he told us he’d paid US$20 on the ship for all he could drink and a snack or two. This was a different town, now it was all hustle and bustle, emphasise on the hustle. cruise ships
We repaired unto a bar on the beach at the north end of town for a day of snorkelling, swimming and soaking up a few rays. This bar had only opened a few days before and had’nt managed to get on the cruise ship radar yet though we met some of the staff from the ships. One girl was from Dumfries. In the late afternoon we walked about a mile to an internet cafe to make a few calls. On the walk back to town we met a lot of the ’shippers’ as they headed back to the ships. It was a drunken parade of taxis, golf carts and dune buggies. It looked as though a good time had been had by all. cruise shippers
Mahahual soon returned to it’s ghost town mode again.