El Remate - Flores

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Ran out of time yesterday so will fill you in on the last 24! We were planning to go to a reserve in El Remate yesterday and camp there the night but we got talking to a local who said it's pretty dodgy and there have been cases of muggings and assault as it is pretty isolated. We headed there just for the day instead and felt quite disappointed at the entrance as prices had doubled and the "beach" was pretty grotty with a dead-looking horse on it! So we changed our plans and decided we would head to Flores across the lake and stay the night here. We managed to get here (30km) with about 20 Quetzales (about 2 pounds...Chris thought we had more and didn't realise until the guy asked us for money) when it should have cost us about 30 each! It is a tiny island with a bridge connecting it to Santa Elena and is absolutely beautiful! We decided we would stay an extra night and went and had some pina coladas and margaritas at happy hour to watch the sunset and bumped into some guys we have met several times in Belize. The cocktails cost 10 Quetzales, which is about 90p! We then decided that a nice big bottle of rum would do us good so we are feeling a bit worse for wear today! Fortunately the hangover food here is amazing!

We went into Santa Elena this morning, a very very hectic market town and intend to get a bus from there at 5 tomorrow morning to head back into Mexico to visit the Palenque ruins. Hope you are all well, love to all.

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