San Cristobal de Las Cases to Tulum

Hi Everyone,

Sorry that it´s been a while since my last post... things have been very hectic here! We spent a few days in the sun in Puerto Escondido. On our last day we took a boat out with a lovely guy called Roberto, and saw dolphins. We swam with a sea turtle that we named ´Simon´, and went fishing. I managed to catch a yellow fin tuna (massive!) - about 2 1/2 foot long - and ate him for my lunch on the beach. He tasted absolutely delicious.

We took an overnight bus to San Cristobal de Las Cases, where we met up with someone that J had got on very well with, called Helgi (from Iceland) with his two lady friends. San Cristobal is surrounded by mountains, and because the roads are on a grid system, every direction we turned, we could see the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful, plus the houses were painted lovely bright colours. The town has a collection of indigeneous people (due to social, cultural and political upheaval) and the ladies in particular were beautiful. The children were very cute, selling us friendship bracelets. The females wore strange skirts which we think were probably made from buffalo skin at a guess. I don´t know who looked at each other more! They were so friendly, although we always have to ask before taking photos, as some believe that if you take their photograph, you take their spirit.

We really enjoyed our time there, bought a few bits and bobs (mainly light stuff that we can wear, apart from J´s rug...) but the weather was very cold so we left the following day. We took a 5 hr coach to Palenque, where we saw beautiful Maya ruins in a rainforest and waterfalls, (with Helgi et. al), then spent the afternoon and evening sweating huge amounts in the humidity. The town was nice enough, but the people were very kind and welcoming.

We then took an 8 hr overnight bus to Merida, another city, before changing buses and going onto Chichen Itza (another 2 hours) which is the site of the most impressive Maya ruins in Mexico. The Mayas were around from 250 - 900 AD, and the site is very beautiful. The buildings were originally bright primary colours, but this has of course gone. Visitors could climb up the biggest pyramid until George Bush fell off it a year or two ago. I say no more. Despite this, we enjoyed walking around, making fun of American tourists (one asked J whether the cash point gave Mexican pesos or American dollars) and sweltering in the sun. Again, too hot, so we moved on, saying goodbye to Helgi, who is going to Cuba but meeting us in Peru.

Another 2 hour bus ride later (the same day), we arrived at Tulum, which is where we are now, on the east coast of Mexico. The Caribbean is crystal clear and turquoise, the beaches are white, and the hostel is... empty. Very unusual! But I suppose it is still the rainy season here. We were going to stay here until Sunday, but we all have itchy feet now, and as the weather is bad (didn´t stop us swimming though!) we are moving on tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to Chetumal (4-5 hours away) to pick up a bus that will take us through Belize into Guatamala. We´re all very excited about this, however we will definitely need a rest when we get to Antigua! We are heading for Flores in Guatamala, but it might take a day or two to get there. Flores is a small island in a lake and meant to be very pretty. Following that, we will be basing ourselves in Antigua, for us to do day trips to see the Pacaya volcano - an active volcano. Occasionally it erupts again, fingers crossed we are lucky! We can walk up to the lava there and toast marshmallows on it (although the sulphur makes it quite nasty to eat!) and we have been warned to wear good shoes, as the soles often melt....Very excited!

So going to sign off - J is checking Facebook, Haz is writing her journal -
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx