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Published: October 16th 2007
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Cancun
We almost missed our bus to Cancun and our pending meeting time with friends (Wik and Agie) coming in from California having cleverly managed to lose our tickets somehow between checking in our luggage and the departure - fortunately there were no other Derek and Kate´s on the bus system.
Cancun is very different to the rest of Mexico and if this is your only experience of Mexico you won´t come away with the best impression of the country. Very touristy, it is America´s version of Costa Brava with every restauranter your ´amigo´, a 6 piece
genuine Mexican music band and everyone out to make a quick buck off you.
The zona hotelera with its beautiful beaches is worth seeing although you have to sneak through a hotel lobby just to get onto the beach. Once you´ve made it to the beach however it is very peaceful provided you don´t try to use the hotel´s deck chairs (even when you´re there out of season these are still sacrosanct!)
Tulum
Hot footing it out of Cancun as quickly as possible, well rather driving as Wik and Agie´s arrival meant it was much more convenient to hire
a car - air conditioned bliss - we headed on to the second most touristy town in the area Tulum.
Stretching pretty much along a single main road it´s full again of amigos selling the usual tourist tat and touting their restaurants but none of the high rises of Cancun. The coastline had been quite badly hit by hurrican Dean with many of the cabañas half washed away (the story of the man who built his house on the sand sprung to mind!). The main beach, however, was still paradise on earth with white sand stretching endlessly and even genuine coconut trees. Finding some freshly fallen coconuts it became Derek and Wik´s mission to demonstrate their manly hunter-gatherer skills in battering open the coconuts for the girls! (In fact it seemed a rite of passage for all guys that came to the beach as we noticed the next day - with Wik & Derek joyfully commenting on those with ´poor technique´!)
Tulum comes complete with its very own pyramid ruins set spectacularly on the cliff´s edge. These were also home to several large lizards who enjoyed posing for the cameras (and didn´t charge either!).
Beware the extermely Tulum ruins
Kate and Derek dodgy petrol station attendants who fiddle the petrol pump and then try to switch large notes for smaller ones and claim you have not paid them enough!
Inland Yucatan
* Punta Laguna - a serene lake and the surrounding forest is known for its population of spider and howler monkeys. We spent a relaxing few hours spotting monkeys (not to be done out of a buck the gate keeper offered us his two sons as guides for a quarter the usual price, who turned out to be surprisingly good), swimming (with extremely friendly fish) and we also borrowed one of the canoes conveniently provided by one of the tour operators in the area for a quick paddle around the lake.
* Coba ruins - impressive even in
torrential rain, they are spread out over a large area and you could spend a good part of a day exploring. With the rain pouring we limited our sightseeing to a quick dash between the major pyramids and scramble up the highest, careful not to be washed back down.
* Valladolid - a welcome oasis from the Yucatan tourist trail, Valladolid was a delightful colonial
Tulum ruins
Wik and Agie style town with good priced accommodation and an excellent food court. Everybody was more concerned with ther own business than being your ´friend´!
* Chitchen Itza - now a new world wonder (hence twice the price) it is defintely the most visited of all the pyramid ruins in Mexico even if it´s not the most impressive! However a good day out and Wik and Agie managed to pick up a few cool souvenirs (not for the "$1" supposedly everything was going for though!)
Isla Mujeres
Our last day was spent off the coast of Cancun on Isla Mujeres where we went snorkelling with a wealth of fish including barracuda, sting rays, parrot fish and heaps of other colourful fish. Also included on the tour was the opportunity to get into a cage and swim with sharks. This turned out to be harmless nurse sharks held in a 3m x 3m cage in the shallows and you can climb down and hold one assisted by the massive Mexican handler not quite the experience we were expecting and a little sad to see. Similarly, there were dolphins caged in a private pool doing
tricks which we cruised past at a distance (it would have been nicer to see them in the wild).
A few final lazy hours on the beach then back to town for a slap-up meal before bidding Wik and Agie goodbye the next morning and heading back to rather cold Mexico City where the National Day preparations (15th September) were well on the way, but we missed it by 2 days, flying out on 13th!
WARNING TO ALL TALL PEOPLE VISITING MEXICO: Beware of low flying ceiling fans - keep heads and hands low at all times, as they truely can hurt!!
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