Jun 2008

We spent a day and a night in the colonial town San Cristobàl before going on to Palenque. From Palenque we went on a day trip to the Palenque ruins which are in the middle of the jungle.

The tour we were on then took us to Misol-Há - a 25 metre waterfall with a trail leading along a ledge behind the cascade giving off a refreshing spray.

After Misol-Há we went to the impressive waterfalls of Agua Azul, in the Parque Nacional Agua Azul - more waterfalls and rapids which you can swim in, surrounded by jungle.

That night we took an overnight bus to Tulum - the longest, finest sand beach on the Carribean coast (allegedly). We chose to stay in a Cabana on the beach front. It was very basic accomodation with cold showers and electricity only between 7:30pm and 11pm but worth it to be right on the beach.

We spent 4 days in Tulum and during that time we have hired bikes, visited the ruins and spent time relaxing on the beach.

We arrived late on 11th June to Mexico City and spent the first 4 nights there. We visited the Zocalo (main square), Temple Meyor (pre-aztec site), le Merced (large, busy market), Chapultepec Park and Zona Rosa.

Palace at the Zocalo -

Ruins at Temple Meyor -

Random Statues around the Zocalo -

Chapultepec Park -

Le Merced -

On Friday we went on a day trip to Teotihuacan - the largest pre-Hispanic site in the country. The main landmark is the 70m high Piramide del Sol which we climbed up.

We have found things to be quite cheap here - a ride on the underground costs 10p and a 4 course dinner can be bought for £2.50 (not a particularly good one though!). We have tried as much Mexican food as possible, in restaurants and street stalls, with varying degrees of success - some have been disappointing and bland whilst others have been excellent. Our limited Spanish means we often don´t know exactly what we´re going to end up with. For example they seem to have a number of different names for each type of meat! Saying that the Spanish we do know has been useful in other situations.

The last night in the hostel was Tequila night - the only rule of Tequila night is once a bottle is opened the bottle must be finished! The staff at the hostel were giving us lots of tequila slammers and tequila shots, and then took us on to a nearby night club. We quickly discovered that the club was a gay club - it was called Lipstick and the bar men were all topless!

We are now in Oaxaca which is about 500km south of Mexico City. We chose a hostel on the outside of the City - a bit far out but it has great views of the mountains and has an outdoor swimming pool and trampoline. We have explored the city and spent time relaxing by the pool

Last night Mike played football with the guy that runs the hostel and some of his mates (who are teachers) at a local school. There was a thunderstorm and heavy rain that delayed the game a bit but it still went ahead.

We are now about to get a night bus to San Cristobal de las Casas....