Cancun, Isla Muheres and Tulum - Death by Tanning

So, the time has come to spam yet again! Don't you worry though, it's not going to last... 2 weeks in the depths of Central America is hardly a massive trip but still worth a quick little blog.

What a beginning of the trip though! For those who haven´t heard yet: I didn´t get on the flight to Guatemala because I didn´t have a US transit visa! These visas are not what you normally think about when you go places, at least I don´t as I´d never needed one before but after having to trek back home from the airport, I think I learnt an important lesson... Also, it just didn´t occur to me I´d need to make an appointment with the embassy and pay $130 just to be able to change planes! Madness...

Anyhow, I managed to get a charter flight straight to Mexico and hoping I´ll be able to do Guatemala at the end of the stint. Before I tell you about all these exciting new places though, I´d like to make a point about flying with airlines specialising in package holidays. It´s an experience in itself and all of that is due to the ubiquitous chav. I don´t think I´ve ever seen that many of them in one place! Even the staff! Check this out: when I got to my seat, there already was a fat Hello magazine waiting for me and when one of the stewardesses saw me sitting on my own, she asked me if I was OK. I didn´t quite get it at first but after further questioning, I realised she was rather concerned for me. Wow - that´s all I was able to think at that point.

This one is the best though: there was a couple sitting next to me and the chav lady wanted to stick Essex in the coutry box when filling out the immigration form. I also don´t think she was joking... I´ll leave that without a comment.

OK, I guess I´ll just stop being mean and snobbish. Oh wait, I can´t cos if you want to know what I think about Cancun, I´d have to be lying and that´s just not what I do ;o)

So, Cancun is officially the ugliest holiday resort I´ve ever seen in my life. The only amazing thing about it is the colour of the water but everything else is really really cheesy. But hey, we all knew that, right? Therefore, I & Poie decided we were going to make a quick exit to the nearby Island of Women. The name apparently comes from some Mayan sculptures of women that were found there long long time ago, so boys, no need to book your tickets there just yet... The island itself is full of Americans (which is fine by the way - I´m just stating a fact here) and one-day holidaymakers who flock to the little pearl in the morning, fry themselves on the white sands during the day and then leave on the afternoon ferry back to their Cancun resorts. You should have seen some of their tans. I mean they could easily get away being a different race!

I found Isla Muheres slightly annoying as I really wanted to get to know Mexican people but all I got was heavily tanned tourists. Not ideal for a hungry traveller, so we decided to change that and left the isla for chilled out Tulum.

Tulum is another beach place with white sands as far as you can see and insanely blue water. Pretty much everyone resides in beach huts called cabanas which is very cool but also very very sandy. There wasn´t a single moment I didn´t have sand stuck to my ever sticky skin. As you can gather, it´s pretty damn hot in here and I mean scorching hot - OK, OK, I´ll stop talking about amazing weather but you can´t escape the photos ;o)

Tulum is also known for its Mayan ruins nestled on this amazing cliff just by the sea. It used to be one of the most important ports in Mexico. Damn nice place to live I say! Ruins themselves were not that impressive - it´s the location that has the wow factor.

At this point, I´d like to say something about Mexican people but I really don´t know what apart from the fact they are all really nice & friendly and drive like maniacs but it´s OK. I´m hoping to get a better picture of them in the next places we´re going to which is Palenque and San Cristobal. I shall probably scribble something sooner or later, usually while waiting for a bus (which is the case now).

So, hope everyone is having a great Bank Holiday weekend and I shall speak to you soon!

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