Arriba in Mekiko!

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We parted from Belize and the company of the kiwis and headed north to Mexico. With only 5 nights to work with before needing to be in Houston to meet Katy, we decided to make only one stop in Playa del Carmen. It is from here we could reach Chichen Itza, one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

It was interesting to see and clearly it is a much higher tourist attraction compared to Tikal with lots more souvenir vendors and crowds. The guide discussed how they used to play a game where the winning team's captain was sacrificed to the gods and it was the losing captain who did the beheading. Apparently that was the shame to losing and being beheaded was an honour. It was interesting to hear that they only ever sacrificed men as they are the strongest and most fertile to offer the gods. We enjoyed playing with the acoustics of the structures as when you clapped nearby, it would bounce it back. In the sports pitch it would be repeated 7 times and on the main pyramid building it would repeat 180 times up & down the stairs causing a strange vibration sound.

After Chichen Itza we enjoyed a traditional mexican lunch with dancers before we were taken to a cenote, a pool created in a cavernous area. It was huge; the water was 160m deep and the walls loomed above us. We enjoyed jumping in from high steps and I got to try a back somersault into water.

Playa del carmen is home to the second Coco Bongos (first is in Cancun), it is based on the nightclub in the film, The Mask. We were all excited to go and it definitely didn't disappoint. There were 25 different acts throughout the night from miming singing acts to the more spectacular trapeze acts and film interpretations. They had a batman sketch with the bad guys dropping from the ceiling and batman flying in. It was brilliant and we found our mouths dropped watching the different acts. The waiters took us to dance on stage between acts and we loved dancing the night away.

We were given free passes for the following night so unable to pass up the offer, we enjoyed the experience again with more dancing! At one point Ellie and I were taken on stage to join in on the samba act.

The rest of our time in Mexico we enjoyed sunbathing, swimming in the sea and window shopping. We then headed to Cancun to catch a flight to Monterrey before busing it across the border into the states.

Sent from my iPod

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