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So here I am on my travels once again and this time it’s a whirlwind tour of Central America.My flight took me in to Cancun and it was full of sun loving Brits who would be spending most of the time on the beach – God love 'em:-)

My first Destination was Tulum, a couple of hours south of Cancun on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.

On my first night in Tulum I statyed up as long as I could to get over the jet lag (Mexico is 6 hours behind GMT) but had to hit the sack at 20:00.

The next day I was still adjusting to Mexico time and was up very early to hire a bike from the hostel and set off to one of the main attractions of Tulum, the Grand Cenote. These are basically pools that apparently were caused by a huge meteorite which crashed into earth millions of years ago and the outer rim of the crater is ringed by all these cenotes. The meteorite impact was so large that it is one of the reasons suggested for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The current exchange rate is £1.00 - M$21.00 which is Mexican Pesos.

You can snorkel in the grand cenote for M$100 and if yu want to see where you are going its an extra M$100 for a torch. I loved snorkelling in the cenote, its filled with crystal clear fresh water as it is just a small part of a huge underground cave system which is great for diving and snorkelling. I was surrounded by fish, several of which I’ve kept in a fish tank in the past including catfish, cichlids and guppies, and a few turtles thrown in. The cave was full of bats too so when you surfaced they were buzzing round your ears. I really enjoyed it at the cenote, because I was so early I had it just to myself but by the time I left an hour later it was filling up with other swimmers.

The cenote is about 6km from the hostel and the cycling was getting progressively more difficult on the way back and I finalised realised that I had a puncture!! So I had to walk the rest of the way to my next stop which was around another 6km as I went the wrong way round. I had recently bought some new sandals and these were rubbing one foot after a while so I had to walk part of the way barefoot and then just to top it all it started raining!!

My next stop was the Tulum Mayan ruins which were pretty impressive and the beach which is immediately behind it was stunning but it soon emptied when the rains came:-( The weather did make for some foreboding skies which were a fab backdrop for some of my pics.

After visiting the ruins I walked my bike back to the Tulum main drag and had some fahitas, the other main attraction to Tulum is the beach but sunbathing is not for me with my skin (mum will be pleased).

Boring bits

The bus from Airport to Playa del Carmen leaves from Bay 1, nearest to the exit, cost $9 (M$114) and takes an hour – runs frequently.

Bus from Playa Del Carmen costs M$32 – non express and leaves from same bus stop that the bus arrives from the airport – takes 1 hour – runs frequently.

Best not to give advice on where the ruins are:-)

In Tulum stayed at Casa del Sol, which was OK and could have done with more toilets and a bar!

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