Mexico (Merida / Tulum)

Saturday 25 April 2009
After a 14 hour bus ride through the night I arrived in Cancun. Although I loved Palenque there was an opportunity to get a game of football in so I left early and took a slight detour to here. The bus ride was nice and cheap with no toilet or air con. That evening I went to watch Atlante v Monterrey.

I was staying in a real cheap hotel in downtown. I wasn't keen on sharing my bed with the ants so I checked out early at about 3 am and waited at the bus station for the first bus to Merida. Got over 50 Mozzie bites!

Sunday 26 April 2009
Got a good hotel for a reasonable price. A bloke called Manuel told me about it, he also kept trying to sell me a hammock!

I relaxed for a day and then there was champions league football on the TV for a couple of days. Merida is a nice place to walk round.

Thursday 30 April 2009
I got up early to get a bus to the ruins at Chichen Itza. The bus driver told me that they were shut so I didn't go. Due to the Swine Flu all Archealogical Sites and caves were shut for a week. I was worried about getting quarrantined as my allergy might make me look like I've got it.

I ended up visiting Celestun as there is a lagoon there. I took a boat ride along it. I got to see some Flamengos and other weird birds that I couldn't name. The ride back to the beach was against the tide and although the waves were tiny so was the boat therefore it was real bumpy. One woman thought it was funny for the whole 30 odd minutes and kept laughing. She was really annoying me and I wish I could of pushed her overboard.

Sunday 03 May 2009
Spent half a day at the beach in Progreso. Not sure why I went as I'm not a fan of sand as it gets everywhere but it was something to do as I waited for the other places to re-open.

Wednesday 06 May 2009
Finally things re-opened, I went to visit the ruins at Uxmal. I got there early but was told they were closed until late afternoon. The nearest town is over 10 miles away and the next bus wasn't for 2 hours. I hitchhiked for the first time and got a lift to Muna. A waste of time really as there was nothing to do here. Eventually returned to the ruins.

These ruins are also Mayan from 500AD to 1100AD. They were impressive but so too was the size of the lizzards here! They made the one in Palenque seem like an ant. So yes you guessed it, I spent as much time taking photos of them as the ruins. Got scared a few times so the laundry budget will take another hit.

Manuel, who was continously trying to sell me a hammock, and his friends were good company, especially as a lot of places were closed, and I managed to practise my Spanish with them One of his friends kept asking for my Hugo Boss T-Shirt that cost me £70. Luckily he settled for an old Man Utd one I had. His name was Jesus so we truly are the team of the holy ones!

Thursday 07 May 2009
Took a bus to Tulum, it was 39c in Merida yesterday and was going to be 41c tomorrow whereas Tulum is a cool 32c!
On the way I visited the ruins at Chichen Itza.

Finally found out the name of the Mana song I have been after for over 3 years. People would ask me to sing some of it so they could help me know which song it is but I didn't know the lyrics. It's called "Labios Compartidos" which they say many times during the song so I should of been able to figure it out myself.

Stayed in a hotel owned by Italians and have been eating their home made pasta for lunch and dinner.

Friday 08 May 2009
Walked to the ruins which took about 45 mins from the town centre, at least I had a good reason to be sweating now. These ruins are different to the others as they are next to the sea.