Cancun

The tour ends this morning, I was planning to go with David and Anne to Cancun but I wasn't ready so they left at around 11am. I had a bit of lunch, got myself back together and left at around 1pm. I arrive at the hotel around 3pm, wait for a while for the hotel to work themselves out, drop my stuff in room and at the bar by 4pm.

This place is massive so I grab a drink and keep moving. Anyone who loves resorts, good weather and heaps of people would really enjoy this place. It has a pool bar, a beach bar, and a couple of bars spread out around the place. I start off on beer, soon realise, cocktails were free also so I moved onto them.

A bit of walk down the beach I descovered the Parasailing centre, I hadn't done it before so off I go. I didn't know what to expect, it is mainly cruising up in the air about 50 metres looking into the distance. Relaxing and enjoyable but no adrenaline rush at all.

A few more drinks at the pool, a buffet meal with a glass of red and I decide to head back to my room and catch up on sleep from the Mexican tour.

Playa Del Carmen

Wake up this morning around 9am, go have a bit of breakfast and go for a small walk. We don't head back to Cancun until 1pm, its a 25 minute boat ride. We arrive and get straight into taxi's for the bus stop, another hour to go down to Playa Del Carmen.

This place is a mini, more classy version of Cancun from what I am told. We have a few hours to ourselves before going to dinner, I decide to get a sports massage. The lady absolutely destroyed my shoulder, she found a notch and did everything in her power to level it out, hopefully doesn't hurt to much tomorrow.

We go to dinner at a place called Go Natural, healthy stuff. I chose enchilada's and a tropical juice with a splash of tequila, a nice combination. Next stop is a pool bar on the roof top of a hostel, it was real nice and prices were pretty good. The night ended for everyone else at that point, I wanted to go check out some clubs on the last night of tour.

I joined a group of people from the hostel, the were from a wide range of nations, France, Germany, England and Denmark. A bit of a pub crawl then onto the best club in town, the Blue Parrot. The girls got free drinks, I just got my hold on one of there drinks before a bouncer threatened to kick me out for not buying the drink, he could have waited 10 minutes for me to finish it. The club was on he beach, great fun and I stagger back to the hotel at around 3:30am.

Isla Mujeres

Up a bit later today, you spend it however you like. I was catching up on stuff from home, updating websites Dolls Clothes and Ashwoodfc, the morning disappeared. Mid afternoon, I have to go do some something on this beautiful little island so I go and hire a moped for an hour. The island is 8km long and 1km wide, I get around in an hour only just. Speed limits sucked, 20kmph in the centre with 40kmph for the rest of it, I opened up a couple of times but the speed humps were everywhere.

The island had beaches and piers everywhere, a turtle hatchery and place where you can swim with the dolphins. I was happy to just look around and get the moped back on time, beer on the beach was awaiting me. 5 beers before dinner on the beach went down a treat, then off to meet the others.

Back down the main street, a beach style restaurant with sand on the floor and a live band. The kebab I ordered was huge, I was lucky to get through it and the 2 for 1 margaritas, $3 is a steal. We all moved on to look for other places open, they all give up so I went on alone.

I went to a bar where you can smoke waterpipes (seesha's or hooka's). Started to order, then I recognised a girl walking past the talked to last night who was sitting by herself in the bar. I invited Victoria over for a few beers,we chatted about her life of travel and her new company Swish Wetsuits. Her life sounds awesome and she was a real nice girl, we said our goodbyes and I head back to the hotel to crash.

Chichen Itza

Up at 5:30am, a taxi to the bus station, our bus leaves at 6:30am. We arrive at Chichen Itza at 8:30am, drop off our bags in storage and a guide meets us. Chichen Itza is one of the 7 famous wonders of the world. It gets allot of tourists because it is so close to Cancun.

The guide took us around most of the temples and told us stories of the Mayan people who lived here. 2012 is believed to be the end of the world by some people but Mayans lived in 52 year cycles, at the end of the cycle it gave you a chance to live a different life or change something about yourself, 2012 is the end of the cycle. The main temple was built to show a serpent on the northern side on March 12th, the serpents head is down the bottom of the stairs and the sun sets in the right direction to show a slithery body which attaches to the head.

Allot of stories on the sporting heroes, how the captain would be killed at the end of each match and there ashes would be spread over a certain temple. The game involved a 3kg rubber ball and each team consisted for 7 players. You had to scale the wall once with it to win the game, I reckon a few games wouldn't have lasted to long.

Just as the tour finished, the heavens opened up and we got drenched. Back onto the bus to Cancun before getting a ferry to Isla Mujeres, our destination for this evening. This place is a huge tourist destination, with the place setup for just tourists. A walk down the bar strip had every type of restaurant and 2 for 1 specials everywhere. I went through the list of Daiquiris and plenty of tequila shots before eventually calling it a night.

Cuzama Cenotes

Today we follow the advice of a few other guides that Adam had talked to, a journey out to the springs. Off to the bus station, after a few wrong turns we arrive just before 10am, the next bus to Cuzama was at 10:45am.

A ride that took more than an hour, we get off and straight onto some motorbikes with 2 seats at the front for transporting people around. The guys drop us off at the company that takes you to the springs, they use horses to pull carts with 4 people along a little railway track.

After a 2 ½ hour wait and a very badly run business, it starts bucketing down. The company gives you a cart driver, that's why it took so long, a busy day and all the drivers were out on the track. At last we get onto the track, not long after we have to pull the cart back off again to let others pass, the tracks were only single lane. The horse was probably the slowest one they had, he kept wanting to stop and down the hills he was lucky that the cart didn't run him over.

Cenotes are naturally formed underground caverns that house pools of crystal clear water. The 3 cenotes were deep in the earth, you had to go down stairs or steps down to the water hole. The first had a cool 2 metre platform to dive in, great fun. Onto the second one, we stay long here, it was way to crowded and it didn't look as impressive as the first. The third one involved us climbing down a slippery ladder to a small platform, about 3 metres from the water, that was also great fun and did a somersault off this. We stayed long enough before it got way to crowded and we couldn't miss the bus back. The horse ride back took around an hour, around 11km, the horse decided to speed up on the way home.

Motorbike back into town, then a small bus was offering an easier way back to Merinda at the same price. We didn't get back to the hotel until around 8pm, a long shower then some Hungry Jack's. I went back to the room around 10pm to get on the internet for a bit, after a long day.

Merinda

I was up real early this morning, not knowing the time because my second phone decided to play up. The bus leaves at 8am for Merinda, at full day of travel ahead of us. Stopped 3 times by police, the bus checked for drugs, eventually we make it to Merinda at 5pm.

Straight into the pool to wash away the day long travel, then off to dinner. I had been keen to get nacho's for the last week but our restaurants hadn't been serving them. These nachos were enormous, beef pieces, refried beans, guacamole and cheese. A few beers then back to the hotel, a relaxing evening tonight.

Palenque

Up at 8am for breakfast, 9am leave just down the road to the Palenque Ruins. Got to talk to Bronnie for a bit, put a smile on my face. It turns out the Palenque Ruins is the 8th wonder of the world, only 5% has been uncovered and it is so mystical.

The scripture temple was made right next to the palace by the son of the ruler, the mother must really love her son. It is filled with hieroglyphics and it was the tallest temple in the village. His tomb was protected by 6 people who gave there lives, behind a hidden door and inside is the best art that has been found in Moran history.

For lunch, we walked just down the road, then David and myself decided to go for a run. 4km to the ruins and back in 30 degree heat, 80% humidity. Good to get a bit of exercise into me, looking forward to having a game of footy when I get back.

A quick shower and then a 6km walk with Adam and David into town for a look around. Interesting place, walked around for a bit, went off the beaten track and decided on a bar. It was covered up, so you couldn't see who was in there, we chose the one with the most sunlight getting in.

As we ordered the beer, I quick glance to my right and I straight away noticed a guy dressed up as a girl. Adam clicked as quickly as I did, but it took the until he said cheers for David to catch on. Not long after, he was very direct and offered a head job to me, then the others, we thought he must be a prostitute.

After a while, Adam decided we would, for a bit of fun ask how much he was charging. He responded free for me, he wanted to taste me. I could only work out some of this, with hand signals and facial expressions. After not getting the hit, he started offering anything I wanted, making allot of rude gestures. He seemed fascinated by me and I couldn't speak a word of Spanish other than “ no thank you”. I found it a little amusing but there was no way I was leaving until we had finished our beers.

The next bar was Adams turn, the local bar maid, around 40 years in age, with gold caps on her teeth decided that she wanted to ravage him. We had only just ordered the beers and here we go again. Another couple of beers and it was time to go back to the hotel and the restaurant nearby.

A few beers, some wood fire pizza and live entertainment was good. Every seemed more interested in the proceeding for the day, oh well, a good story to tell I guess.