Merida-Chichen Itza-Playa del Carmen

In the hostel in Campeche we met an English girl and German girl travelling together who were heading in the same direction as us so the lot of us headed to the bus station and went to Merida. Since we were 4 we managed to do a bit of bargaining and got a 4bed air conditioned room in a guest house with tv for little more than the price of a bed in a hostel....great result! We ended up staying there 3nights.

Merida is about 1h inland and is a stop for the Cruise ships that dock in Progreso. All the locals think you are a rich tourist with loads to spend and get quite upset when you don´t buy any of their wares. Its a busy town with some nice buildings but mainly its used as a starting point to see the surrounding areas. The main thing i wanted to see were the cenotes (underground sinkholes full of freshwater)- ever since i saw the film ´Journey into Amazing Caves´ i have been fascinated by them. There were plenty of tours available to take you to them but we got chatting to some locals who told us how to get there ourselves. We took a collectivo (hi-ace van type bus) to the town of Cuzama where the cenotes are located. From the main street we had to get a bike taxi (two seats for passengers in a cart with a bike at the back to push you). The guys cycling had to take us 4km up the road and it turned out to be a really hot day so boy did they work! 4km in we arrived at a stop where we changed to horse and cart that took us the 7km in to the first of 3 cenotes. When we arrived all i could see was a hole in the ground not more than 1.5metres in diameter. There was a wooden step ladder leading into the black abyss...thats all i could see when i looked in. It took alot to get me down the ladder (i´m not that good with heights) but it was worth it. Inside was a cave full of the brightest turquoise blue i have ever seen. There was a one other small hole in the roof that allowed the sun to beam in and light up the cenote....it was fantastic. We swam in the water surrounded by stalagmites, stalagtites and some bats who roost in the roof of the cave- wonderful! We had about 30mins in that cenote and then back onto the cart to see two others- they were good but not quite as impressive as the first one.

That evening we wanted to go to Uxmal ruins, Mayan ruins, where they put on a light and sound show when its dark. Again there was the option of a tour but was quite expensive so since there were 4 of us we managed to bargain with a taxi driver to take us there, wait for us and bring us back to Merida- Uxmal is about 1.5h outside the city- we got it for a good price. On the way to the show, there was the most torrential rain, thunder and lightening i have ever seen. The show would get cancelled if it was raining so we feared our haggling may not be rewarded. But luckily it stopped by the time we got there. The show was great, the majority of these ruins are set in a square and over the 45mins different ruins are lit up in different colours while we listened to an English narration on our audio set. The Mayans relied heavily on the rains to bring them plentiful corn harvests, often chanting to the rain gods and it was a drought that brought an end to their civilisation many hundreds of years ago. But many of the buildings are so well preserved. They also introduced the idea of decmilisation by discovering the number zero and created the 365day calendar.

From Merida it was onto Chichen Itza (without the German as her trip was finishing and she was flying home), probably the most famous set of ruins in Mexico and has been voted the 8th wonder of the ancient world apparently. We tried to go to the light and sound show here but the torrential rain put a swift end to that. Instead we got to see it in daylight, very impressive again.

Then yesterday afternoon we packed up and headed for the beach. We are now at the Carribean, Playa del Carmen, about 2h south of Cancun. Unfortunately we are not getting Carribean weather, it has been raining all day and the forecast doesn´t look much better for the next few days- the rain gods must have heard the chanting at the light and sound show!!!

San Cristobal-Palenque-Campeche

Ola- from the Gulf Coast. Have finally gotten past all the mountains and bendy roads and reached the Campeche, a small colonial town on the Gulf Coast this morning. But let me back track a little to last week as quite a bit has happened since the last update.

Last Monday night was independence day and there were celebrations everywhere. We just headed to where the crowds were on the streets and watched some live bands and dancing while drinking beers-at less than 1euro a can, not bad. It seems to be quite a family occassion with kids out til all hours with their parents. In general family life seems important to Mexicans and they seem to do things as a family unit. So far the places we have visited have been quite poor- the kids don´t have any toys and the youngest children are being carried in slings and no sign of any sort of prams or buggies.

San Cristobal is another colonial town up quite high so it wasn´t too hot and you needed a jumper in the evenings. It is the heart of Mayan culture and we visited the Mayan Traditional Medicine Museum- it was brilliant. If you are suffering from whooping cough, an armidillo shell should do the trick and if someone is giving you the evil eye, then a ritual with a rooster (or was it a chicken?) should sort them out quick smart!!! Joking aside the Mayans still believe in their traditions but have somehow mixed it in with the Catholic religion the Spanish brought over. Because the following day we were visiting one of the many churches in the area and came across a ritual in the auxilary atrium where a healer was cleansing a local woman from some illness. Surrounded by candles (the number and colours of which determined by her illness), the healer was brushing her down with a bunch of basil leaves. Trying not to invade we respectfully watched for a couple of minutes and then left.

In total we spent 4days in San Cristobal, took a day trip to Canyon del Sumidero.....where we got great photos and saw crocidiles and monkeys. One of the nights we met up with a guy from work who is doing 30,000miles on a motorbike from top of Canada to the tip of Argentina. It turned out he was passing through San Cristobal on his way to Guatemala on Thursday night last and we went out for some pints. San Cristobal is a great spot for live music and in particular the reggae scene is alive and well. Really liked this place but by Friday it was time to move on.

6am Friday morning and after a few too many drinks the night before we were on a bus to Palenque, one of the finest ancient sites in all of Mexico. The tour included a stop at Agua Azul, a series of waterfalls and pools that are supposed to be the most amazing turquoise colour. But because we are in the rainy season they are just muddy brown! Although since there is alot more rain, the waterfalls are really powerful so much that even some of the walkways have been flooded. The next stop on the trip was to Misoh-al waterfall, 35m high....not too impressed with that considering Multnomah falls in Portland is much higher, but good to see nonetheless. We were about 20 people on the trip and were transported on a hi-ace van type bus. We ended up in the back row and these roads around the mountains were the worst we have been on. Made worse by the fact they have speed ramps almost every 100m.....the van´s suspension wasn´t very forgiving!!! I could only stomach the trip by half lying down and closing my eyes. The final stop was definitely the best- we had 2hours in Palenque archaelogical site with a guided tour in english. This ancient civilisation was only discovered in the mid 20th century and to date 33 out of 1481 buildings have been excavated. The remaining buildings are still covered in rainforest- there isn´t the money in the country to support further work on this. The Mayans believed the circle was a sacred shape and as a result never used the wheel. When you see the architecture of the buildings they built it is hard to imagine how they could have managed it all....apparently they had hundreds of slaves. That night we stopped off in a campsite nearby to the site and got a cabin in the rainforest. Now i am a fan of all things natural, especially when it is on the tv and David Attenborough is providing the narration but wasn´t overly keen on sleeping in a room with corrugated iron roof and all the possible creepy crawlies that might appear. But a couple of pina coladas in the local restaurant and a mosquito net draped over the bed meant i got 40winks.

Saturday was spent making our way to Campeche. Though only 6hours away, the buses didn´t leave til midnight. So instead we went halfway to Villahermosa and spent the afternoon in the local zoo, getting to see jaguars which are very sacred to ancient Mexican culture and then caught the night bus to Campeche. Because it wasn´t too far away we got in about 4am. Chanced our arm and got a taxi to a nearby hostel. Luckily they had space and got some sleep. Campeche is beside the sea and even still, the humidity is really high here. So not doing very much today. Plan is to head off tomorrow and hit the Yucatan.

From Oaxoca to Puerto Escondido

Last week sometime (can´t remember days anymore!) we left Mexico city and made our way further south to Oaxoca city. City full of churches mainly, we just spent a couple of days there. There is alot of poverty there and loads of vendors selling everything. After awhile you can get complacent and just brush them off with a polite ´No Gracias´. It gets really hot during the day and one of days we went into shop to get some drinks and there behind the counter, a mother was washing her newborn daughter in a bucket. When she saw us she just wrapped up the baby in a towel and started to serve us, the baby was tiny and couldn´t have been more than a couple of days old- no such thing as maternity leave here! We continued one to a shaded tree in one of the many squares to cool off. When we left we unknowingly left behind our shopping from the market earlier that day. We only realised it a couple of hours later and when we went back of course it was gone. But it turned out a local artist selling his art in the square had found it and was keeping it for us. We were given directions to where he was teaching an art class and when we found him he had our things- we left Oaxoca the next day with a very good vibe for the city.

Our next stop was Puerto Escondido, a beach town famous for the Mexican Pipeline. The bus took 6h and was pretty much on mountain bends for all the journey. Spent the days just chilling out on the beaches and while i think i am a dab hand at surfing (down on Lahinch and Strand hill when the tide is calm) there was no way i was attempting to catch any of these waves- i think they would have made mince meat of me. Some of them must have been 20ft high. It was just fine to sit back and watch the pros do it. We did muster up a bit of energy and do a boat trip out to see the dolphins- well that was how they sold it to us.! We did not see hide nor hair of a dolphin. However, the skipper managed to spot an adult turtle beside the boat and got it on board- have some good photos of that-will try and upload them next time. And we also managed to catch a big fish- called Mahi Mahi- it was a fiesty thing as it took three attempts to kill it- poking its eyes out didn´t do it, nor did slitting its throat but finally mashing its head with a blunt object knocked the life out it!!! Spent last night on the night bus for 13h journey to San Cristobal. Today is a national feast day, independence day. Apparently big celebrations everywhere. So we are off to take a look!

Adios Mexico City

Planning on leaving Mexico city tomorrow morning- spending today booking accommodation and bus tickets- great fun when you have very little spanish. The last few days have been great. On Sunday we went to Xochimilco, a network of canals where you rent a boat and go sailing for the afternoon. As well as a must see for the tourist families rent boats for the day and bring lunches and picnics and spend the afternoon on the river. The boats are decorated with so many colours and designs. Vendors on smaller boats sell their wares, everything from crafts, to corn on the cob, tacos, tortillas etc. Even Mariachis will come to your boat and sing you a song! We got a lift to the train station that morning with Gaby´s mum but were caught doing an illegal U-turn and 150pesos bribe got us out of paying a 1000peso fine. Sunday night we went to Mexican Folklore Ballet (same idea as Riverdance though this has been running since the 60s) which was brilliant. We got the cheapest tickets, for seats in the gods, but for 50pesos more (paid to the ushers) we were moved down one level to much better seats (tickets that would have cost a furhter 100pesos if bought at the box office)- bribery is alive and well in Mexico city!! Monday night we stumbled upon an Irish pub (Celtics) but have to say it didn´t have the ´cead mile failte´ that one would expect. The bouncer on the door made us wait outside for ages eventhough the place was empty and we couldn´t sit where we wanted- had to sit at a table for 3 because the comfy chairs were being kept for larger groups altough no groups appeared. They got the message when we didn´t leave a tip- definitely would not recommend this pub.

Buenos Dias

Ola from Mexico. What a huge city. Population is 20million and everywhere is always busy so much that i nearly got squashed a couple of times getting onto the metro, i am learning though, you just have to push your way on. Friday night we headed down to the Mariachi square where all the Mariachi bands gather and play their music. After awhile its a bit of a Mariachi overload but good fun nonetheless. Yesterday did a tour out to Teotihucuan, Aztec ruins just outside Mexico. Part of the tour stopped off at Basicilia Guadalupe, site of Vision of the Virgin centuries ago. It has become such a popular pilgrimage place that there have been 3churches built to accomodate the numbers. Yesterday the biggest church was packed to capacity, 40,000 people- that´s the biggest crowd i have ever seen (as you know i am not a GAA fan so have not had the pleasure of being in a packed Croke Park!). Teotihucuan is impressive and the pyramids can be seen for miles around. We were the only two english speakers on the tour, the rest spanish so i think we got the shortened translation always!!! Plan is probably to head off south Tuesday. Weather has been mixed, not too hot and alot of rain- though you can set your watch by it. Torrential downpours from 7pm til 8pm and within 15mins it has all dried up.

Hola from Mexico

We arrived in Mexico city last night. The flights went off without a hitch and passed through customs and immigration no bother. We met up with Gaby who will put us up for the week and hopefully show us around all the tourist spots. She lives abot 10km outside the city beside the university and on leaving the airport we prepaid for the taxi- a good idea as it must have taken us about 40mins to get to her place and that was because off the traffic. 9.30pm at night and it was hectic. I dread to think what rush hour is like over here. As soon as got onto the motorway we could smell the smog and pollution. Lorraine and myself have been sneezing ever since. Last night wasn´t too warm so we didn´t have to have the windows open- just as well as the mosquitos are huge over here- just aswell i brought 95% DEET!