Mexico
Our early morning arrival in Cancun was met with a bunch of friendly if over-eager taxi drivers. We were relieved to hear English being spoken. We'd intended to wait for the bus to Playa Del Carmen but were talked into (mostly likely scammed into) sharing a shuttle with some American girls there for a brother's wedding as they said the next bus was an hour away.
On arrival in Playa Del Carmen, we walked down the incredibly touristy main street to Hotel Casa Tucan, our small, friendly and reasonably priced hotel complete with tropical garden, pool, hammocks and colourful murals on the walls.
We then headed to the beach for a delicious Mexican brekkie and spent the rest of the day chilling with sun, sand and Sol beer. We did find time for a look around which didn't take long because Playa is very small, but it did involve fending off lots of friendly hawkers trying to sell us everything from jewellery to tours to sombreros to weed ("No, gracias.").
The next day we took a collectivo (a shared public van) to Tulum, where we braved the crowds (probably worse than usual because of an electronics convention) to see Mayan ruins set against a beautiful backdrop of cliffs and sea. Apparently we missed Justin Bieber by a day. (We heard he'd been kicked out for climbing on the ruins - young people these days!)
Next up was the Gran Cenote, a limestone sinkhole filled with clear water that you could swim, snorkel or scuba dive in. We relaxed on wooden platforms built down inside it and enjoyed swimming with the turtles and fish that made it their home. We also swam through a cave filled with bats. Brodie learnt a valuable lesson - don't swallow the water - when he started feeling dodgy on the way home. His tummy bug continued to escalate and he couldn't keep any pills down so we eventually had to get the hotel to call a doctor out at midnight to inject a 'cocktail' into his butt and prescribe more pills. That USD179 visit put a bit of a hole in the budget!
The following day was a recovery day for Brodie, with a bit of beach/hammock time thrown in for Karen, rather than a day of exploring Cancun and Isla Mujeres as planned. By now we had learnt to get away from the tourist hot spots for some tasty cheap eats but it did involve some broken Spanish and guess work in the ordering! Our attempt to order a cappuccino resulted in a cup of hot water each with a jar of instant coffee, milk and sugar on the side. Oh well, it kinda worked and we forgot to tip that time anyway.
Our next stop was Vallodolid, a 3 hour ADO bus ride away. What a gorgeous colonial town! The paved roads, pastel-painted buildings and historical churches gave it a very special feel. The nearby cenotes were all lovely in their own way - Zaci had beautiful gardens surrounding it, Xke Xke was very cave-like with a huge stalactites and Samula had long tree roots drooping through a hole in the cave's ceiling. We even managed to follow our hostel's rules for no cuchi cuchi on the pool table!
Vallodolid was a good base from which to explore Chichen Itza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. El Castillo (the Castle) was huge and breath-taking but the whole site was fascinating and it was interesting to read about the Mayan calendar, a ball game played by shooting goals from the hip and human sacrifices into a nearby cenote.
Our last destination on the Yutacan Peninsula was Merida, also known as its cultural capital. We arrived in the evening and went to our budget hotel, hotel Adventura. (We had been planning to couch surf but unfortunately it fell through because our host had to work in Cancun.) For dinner we had enchiladas in a nearby square to the sound of a live brass band playing as part of the Merida Fest. The next day, we took advantage of Merida's free attractions - taking in the colonial architecture, the palacio with huge wall murals depicting Mexico's history, a 16th century cathedral and a Spanish conquistador's home from the same period, which had been turned into a museum. We took a look at the local markets and ate a grande bowl of nachos before heading to the central park, which housed an average natural history museum and a free zoo with a surprising array of animals, particularly big cats. Josh had fun with the new camera and Karen found her inner child and enjoyed the 1 peso (10c) train ride. Dinner was local dishes in a restaurant in the main square where we had a good chat with a Mayan geologist.
An 8 hour bus ride took us to Palenque, home of jungle and ruins. Our jungle lodge, Kin Balam cabanas, was a very pleasant surprise, considering it cost $25 per night. We enjoyed the jungle setting, complete with monkeys in the trees and a creek running past the front door of our hut, as well as the pool to escape the humidity. Across the road, Don Muchos was a restaurant with a great vibe - beautiful jungle location, candles, live music, delicious pizza and happy hour cocktails (two for one means something different here - when you order two, you don't pay for one, you pay for two but get four!). We awoke in the middle of the night to what we assume were howler monkeys, although they sound more like big cats.
The Palenque ruins were quite spectacular, particularly because of the backdrop of mountains and jungle. The terraced waterfall in the same park was also quite unique and the nearby museum gave us insights into Mayan life, and we learnt that you didn't want to be on the losing side of their ball games, unless you wanted to be beheaded. And Josh thinks it's bad when the Crows lose!
Next came a long but pretty bus ride to Tuxtla to catch a flight to Mexico City. The bus was two hours late, plus went the long way, apparently due to demonstrations on the infamous Hwy 199.
After one night in Tuxtla, we spent another full day travelling with a flight to Mexico city and a bus to get to Angangueo. Driving through Mexico City, we were glad not to spend too long there as it's a huge, smoggy city. There is a big contrast between the rich and poor areas. The scenery we drove through on the way to Angangueo was quite diverse, going from big urban areas to snow capped mountains to farms to pineforests as we drove.
Angangueo was a cute little town in the mountains and a good base from which to explore the monarch butterflies. Unfortunately, no one really spoke English there and the buses weren't reliable. We caught a bus to El Rosario Monarch Sanctury and walked for 45 minutes in high altitude to see millions of butterflies sleeping in the trees. An amazing sight but the little buggers were to lazy to fly around (or it was too cloudy and cold). When we went to catch the promised return bus, it never came, so after am hour and a half waiting, we gave up and walked the 12 km back into town, just in time to catch the bus into Mexico City. There we stayed in Colonia Centro, the historical part of town, in a happening hostel, but unfortunately didn't have time to enjoy it. The next morning we flew to San Jose.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Mexico but wished we had more time. It was nice to visit somewhere so different from our previous travels but where were the sombreros and ponchos?
