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Published: June 27th 2010
Iguana at Tulum
One of MANY iguana photos we have!Well we have been a couple of busy bees this last week, and we are trying to catch up on blogs as it's unlikely we will finish them when we are at home - which, at the time of writing will be in less than a week! It's crazy to think it's almost over already, it will be sad to be the end but it will be great to see everyone at home and finally be able to eat without the constant threat of food poisoning!!
Tulum
Our third and final visit to Mexico began in Tulum, home of Mexico's best ruins by the sea. Luckily we got there early, as we got to have a quick look round the site and visit the beautiful beach nearby without the crowds. As we were leaving, the aforementioned crowds started to appear, and what crowds! We hadn't seen anything like it for a while so we took quite a lot of pictures of people. Tulum's proximity to Cancun and the rest of the "Riviera Maya" - a popular tourist destination for Americans, Mexicans and Europeans, meant it was tour bus heaven. But Tulum was very picturesque, with clear turquoise waters just
Iguana
Dreaming of distant lands? below and millions of iguanas! The ruins themselves weren't quite as interesting as the other places we have been - but you go there for the beach!!
We then spent a couple of hours getting burnt on the beach nearby and enjoying the crystal clear sea and powdery white sand. As we have been trained by our parents, we walked down the beach past the crowds to a nice empty bit of sand with no one else on it. Unfortunately our excellent plan wasn't so excellent as a man with a huge kite promptly came over and told us he was going to be giving lessons on the kite very soon. Unless we wanted to be squished by people careering out of control at a 100 miles an hour with a kite attached, he advised we moved.
Mexico were playing France in the World Cup when we got back to town, so we found a little bar to watch this in - it turned out to be a very entertaining match, especially as Mexico, the underdogs, won 2-0! After this we took a taxi out to "Gran Cenote" a nearby sinkhole full of fish
and clear, cool water to snorkel in. While bats fly above your head you can swim around and admire the stalactites. stalagmites and underwater caves that make the underwater and above-water spaces absolutely incredible and greatly distinct from each other. There are also rather brave terrapins, some small and some rather large, that are happy to swim around you (but not as close as the fish do).
Valladolid
The next day we went to Valladolid, one of Mexico's oldest cities. There is lots of pretty, pastel-coloured colonial architecture, imposing stone cathedrals and pretty parks. There are also more nearby cenotes. The one that we visited was set underground in a dark cave, lit only by a small opening on the ceiling that lets in a beam of sunlight. It was different from the previous cenote in that it was really dark, with less plant life (but there were fishes), and was so deep that when snorkelling you only see a dark expanse open up below you, while the odd whiskery fish swims past your goggles making you jump (the fish must be very used to snorkellers, they are very unafraid!). Here we also visited the remains of another
Tulum
With no crowds yet! Mayan city called Ek Balam. There aren't a great number of buildings here so our visit lasted shortly over an hour only, but it was still fascinating (probably long enough since we'd visited the many other sites in the area that our interest was renewed) and climbing the temples offered great views over the completely flat landscape.
Chichen Itza
However, next up was one of the new seven wonders of the world, the remains of the ancient Mayan city Chichen Itza. While visiting we stayed in a nearby town called Piste, in a hotel that had a big pool, air-con and cable TV, as well as a children's birthday party going on that day. And it was pretty cheap (i think we got a 'there's no other guests, what the hell...' discount). We visited this site in the day, and there were buses and buses worth of other tourists there, as well as a thousand local people who were selling their goods. But the grounds were huge so there was plenty of space, and the buildings were incredible to look at. It also poked it's neck above other similiar sites due to the lasted integrity of the carvings
on the stone buildings, and the incredible acoustics of the ball-court as well as outside the main temple. Noises echoed in fantastic and prolonged ways, and a voice could be heard without any raising of volume while close or at the other end of the very long ball court. There were also lots of gruesome decapitation and skull carvings, as well as eagles and jaguars holding human hearts. It was also absolutely roasting hot. Later that night we returned for the sound and light show, expecting them to play Pink Floyd for some reason. But what it was was a spoken word history of the Maya and Chichen Itza in Spanish, with an eerie electronic backing track, with the buildings lit in varying colours and flashes. Elton John played at Chichen Itza a while ago. Although no-one is allowed to climb the pyramids here, I reckon they let Sir Elt sit atop one with his piano to bash out his hits.
Merida
Then came Merida, another very old (by Mexican/'new world' standards) colonial city with grand old buildings of varying colours, shapes and sizes. It was very very hot but we got lucky with our hostel room,
Ben at Tulum Beach
Taking the mickey out of the scores of girls lolling in the water while their boyfriends took photos of them! as it had a balcony and a big door facing onto the central park of the town. We could watch and listen to the music and general hubbub below, and get a good breeze at the same time! On the first day we wandered round the town, found some oldies doing salsa dancing in a park, saw lots of grand old churches and buildings and lots of tourists! In the evening we cooked some dinner in our hostel and sat on the balcony watching the world go by with a glass of grape juice. Unfortunately the supermarket couldn't sell wine past 5pm so grape juice was the closest we could get!
The next morning I woke up with some grumbling in my belly and put it down to hunger, so stuffed myself silly at the all you can eat breakfast buffet. However it didn't disappear after breakfast and in fact intensified - Montezumas Revenge had struck again, and I spent the rest of the next day running between my bed and the toilet (which was miles away!). Ben saw a bit more of the city and visited an art gallery while I felt sorry for myself!
Cancun
Next morning we took an express bus to Cancun (with a toilet on board just in case, luckily I had recovered sufficiently not to need to use it!), our final destination in Mexico. We saw a little more of the city than we had done on our last visit (when we flew to Cuba), and spent some time catching up with one of Ben's old school friends who is a diving instructor in Cancun. We watched the England football match (we won!) and I spent a lot of time eating very plain food - I was not going to get ill in Mexico for the 4th time!! We took a bus down to the Cancun Hotel Zone, a long narrow strip of beach where all the posh hotels are for a last dip in the Carribbean, and sat on a hotel beach surrounded by very tanned people in hotel wristbands - suckers!! We were paying a lot less a night than they were!!
Mexico City
4.30 am: We got a bus to Cancun Airport to catch our flight to Mexico City, where we had a connecting flight to New York. At Mexico City we were
met by Erik and his friend, who had a banner saying "Welcome back to Mexico, Sarah and Ben!". We spent a few hours in Mexico City (it was nice to be back!), eating tacos at the nice vegie friendly taco shop we found last time we were there, and we even went to a Pulqueria where we tried Pulque, an alcoholic, thick, milky-texture drink made by fermenting Maguey sap that was drunk by the Aztecs. It didn't take much to make you dizzy! We tried the plain (10 pesos for a big jug (50p), the mango flavour (25 pesos for a big jug) and the nutmeg flavour (the best, and free for a one glass taste!). Bargain. Then back to the airport to catch our flight to the Big Apple!
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Shiv
non-member comment
Hiya guys! I've half been keeping up with your crazy adventures, but sorry for the loss of contact over recent months. As you can probably guess, the little 'un's keeping me very busy. I will send you a proper email soon to update you on all things Seth! Glad to see you're having a brilliant time and squeezing lots into your trip. Miss you guys lots xx