Ay carumba....its Mehico!!!

We then faced our first overnight bus across to the state of Chiapas. Our first stop here was to visit another Mayan ruins, Palenque. The temples were not as big as Tikal, but it was a lot more interesting as a lot more had been excavated so you can really see the details and understand a bit more. Unfortunately, there was a bit less wildlife, boo hoo! We decided to go off the beaten track and stay in the jungle near the ruins. It was a crazy little village (El Panchan) amongst the trees, filled with hobos/hippies and howler monkeys (they sound like dying dinosaurs when calling - it was a little terrifying!) What was more terrifying was finding a cockroach in our shack that night before bed. What ensued was mild panic as we both ran around the room with only a bin, a vase and a flower (used as a poking device) whilst moving all furniture in our path to capture the little bugger. Bets finally succeeded in doing this but needless to say we slept in our sleeping bag liners with them over our heads! We did enjoy a fun night in the jungle though with some entertainment from the crazy hippies playing music and fire dancing!

We really liked the town of San Cristobal de las Casas, which was also in the Chiapas. We had been warned but weren't totally prepared for the chilly, mountain conditions though, causing us to need actual jeans and jumpers rather than sweating it up bikini stylee. We saw A LOT of churches and cathedrals and visited artesian markets and had more of a culture injection by visiting a historical house/museum where an explorer and journalist couple had lived. The town was also filled with what appeared to be European hippies and we couldn't quite work out where they had come from! Despite having to wrap up super warm, we really enjoyed this cobbled streeted town.

Our second overnight bus took us back to the Yucatan to the town of Merida, which had been recommended and sounded good in the guidebook, but it wasn't our favourite place as it was a bit hectic and grimey! We spent the whole day with sleazy mexican men blowing kisses at us and we have never seen so many churches in our lives. The highlight was definitely the free breakfast (fruit, cereal, toast, omelettes, pancakes, etc) and the second tiny black kitten of our trip at the hostel.

We decided to spend our last few days in Central America on the island just off Cancun, called Isla Mujeres. We had a super fun time here, the hostel was really lively and we met lots of fun people. The best bit was our new found friend Baptiste, who was a 4 seater golf buggy that we hired with another English guy and ventured around the island on. We visited a turtle sanctuary that was half cute and half traumatising as there was a tank of literally hundreds of baby turtles all squirming all over each other and we couldnt work out if one or two were dead or not?!?! On the island there were some beautiful houses and resorts looking out onto rugged coastline...it was like a postcard! Bets also enjoyed a freshly caught and cooked whole fishy. Our island stay also included the night of doom. We are not sure if this is due to the lack of food and drink in the day, but we should of read the signs when after the first mojito with dinner laura says "well thats definitely gone to my head." Back at the hostel the night continued with chatting to our fellow travellers, a fairly unsuccessful game of spanish simpsons cluedo, music, dancing and bonfire on the beach and MANY more drinks. It can only be said that the next day was not fun. We wasted a whole day of potential sun tanning as we could not move from our beds and Coops could not make it 5 metres down the beach without having to stop and throw up behind a wheelie bin. Nice. The two day hangover has left her with some serious scars and alcohol still fills her with fear. But, we can safely say that we really enjoyed our time here and in Central America in general. Its gone by super quick and it feels bizarre to be moving on to the next place, but also exciting.

New Zealand here we come............

P.S if we were coming home now...you'd be REALLY impressed with our tans!

written by  coopsandbets on December 6, 2010 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: We are off to find the wizard!
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