paraphernalia

We left at 7:30am for Tulum, one of the most complete Mayan architectural sites in Mexico. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was most certainly impressed. The photos speak for themselves, but to give you some idea of what it all means, the site was a religious centre for the Mayan civilisation. It was not, as many other ruins are, a city. Instead it represents the city centre – a place of worship and politics. The quality of buildings and its location reflect this. It is built on a cliff overlooking an amazing beach and crystal clear Caribbean waters.

The buildings themselves are mostly located according to certain lunar-based rules. For example, on the 6th of April, the sun aligns in a certain way and the boy born on that day is declared King. For more information, visit Loco Gringo .

We ate lunch at the hostel nearby (and I tried some Mola, which is chocolate-flavoured sauce over red beans, guacamole and meat – so good!), before boarding another 4hr bus to Chetumal. Chetumal, on the Mexico-Belize border, was our overnight stop before tomorrow’s journey to Belize.

The bus itself was fine – air-con, TV, bathroom – but came with this ABSOLUTELY annoying kid who continuously ran between his seat at the front of the bus to the bathroom, opened the door, and ran back to his seat. This meant that the ‘aroma’ from the bathroom filled the air. Eugh! If I see that kid again I’ll kill him! We even plotted to feed him sleeping pills hidden in M&Ms! On the plus side, I watched Princess Bride 2 and Suddenly 30 in Spanish. It helped that Mila knew the plots inside-out, so I had a running commentary. Plus, let’s be honest, they are hardly deep films! The bus passed such Spanglish classics as “Chilly Willy’s International” and “Wonderfull Sex”.

Had dinner at our hotel – Mayan Chicken (cooked in oranges!). Really quite tasty, although not exactly what I expected!

Photos of Mexico

Today was our last day in Cancun, and so with the new Geckos crew we visited Playa once more. It was a late start, given it was New Years Day, so we didn’t get there till about 11:30am. That wasn’t really a problem, as we hardly had any plans – it was Playa after all!

We ate an awesome brunch off Fifth Ave (Playa’s main street) at a place called Hot (on Casa 14). Then we spent the rest of the day on the beach, as we’d already done the whole shopping thing. There we bumped into Justin, Lorali and Rachael and just before sundown headed back to Cancun.

Unfortunately, we had dinner on our own again. Luckily we ate at our favourite restaurant on Av Coma near the supermarket. There Ange and I aired our opinions on group travel and the group dynamics that we expected to develop. I guess it was just my uneasiness talking, but it seemed a shame that 24hrs into our trip we’d all gone our separate ways! Hopefully tomorrow is much better!

Oh, it’s New Years’ Eve! Yay! This year has been SO long, but so incredibly awesome that it will be sad to see it go. Luckily I am spending the last day with Ange in Mexico, so that makes it far easier!

Today we had a bit of admin stuff to do – pick up laundry, checking out of one hotel and into another and the like. Luckily all of that was fairly easy – I think we’re getting to know downtown Cancun quite well now!

We had decided that today we’d try and visit the Hotel Zone, as it was close by and relatively easy to get home from for the 5pm Geckos meeting. Ange had told me about a Museum located there that sounded awesome – it was all about the Mayans and their history, and was meant to be near the start of the Hotel Zone. We took the public bus out there (MX$7 each way), however without much luck. I’m sure it’s still there somewhere, but we couldn’t find it. It was also blisteringly hot, so we opted for the easy option and plonked ourselves on a beach by one of the hotels there.

Unfortunately, the Hotel Zone is not Playa. The beaches are definitely not public, and it wasn’t long before we were discovered as non-guests and moved along. Bugger! So we moved next door to the more public beach, which was nowhere near as nice. Soon afterwards we headed back to downtown and checked into our new hotel. This one, Maria de Lourdes, was just down the road from our old one (both on Ave Yaxchilian), and looked nicer from the outside.

Indoors, however it was slightly different. We didn’t have a balcony anymore – actually now we didn’t have a window! The pool was nicer, but just as cold. Ah well, at least we were only here two nights.

At 5pm we met with the other Geckos people and decided on our plans for that evening. It turns out that Coral, our leader, had nothing particular planned for New Years (which sucked), and that we were all going to have dinner together at our old hotel at 5:30pm! Being NYE, all the places had set meals from 7pm that cost upwards of MX$500. I admit that’s hugely expensive, but c’mon, it’s NYE and I would have expected Geckos to have organised something!

On the plus side, we did meet loads of people – Dan, Juliana, Frankie, Lorali, Rachael, Lisa, Mila, Justin etc… which was great. I think we’ll all get along really well, although it is clear that tours encourage a certain type of traveller – namely young solo females. We also all paid towards a drinks kitty and subsequently had loads of alcohol and snacks. At midnight a group of us went in the pool and had sparklers, which was really nice.

All in all a really nice NYE, but not one as spectacularly memorable as I would have expected from an organised tour!

After our horrendously touristy day yesterday at Playa, we decided to go all backpacker today and hit Isla Mujeres (Island of Women). It was AWESOME! The ferry from Puerto Juarez costs MX$70 return, and takes about 30 mins. Once there, the whole island is highly walkable, and most streets are lined with ultra-cheap restaurants and awesome little shops. This place really struck a chord with me, and reminded me so much of Ko Phi Phi. We spent so much of the day just lounging around on North Beach which was fantastic and so relaxing.

It’s a hard life!

We continued our exploration through Mexican food tonight with some delicious grilled fish and sangria. Yes, yes, I know you can get these in Sydney or pretty much anywhere else, but I’m determined to believe they were more authentic here because we are in Mexico! So pfft!