17/7/14 - Tulum costal ruins, another paradise beech and no room at the inn

17/7/14 - Tulum coastal ruins, another paradise beech and no room at the inn.

About 4 am both me and Ceri woke up shaking in our bed as if we'd been skinny dipping in the Antarctic! Turned out that the air con in our room must have mal functioned and gone from cool to Baltic! It was a bit like that scene from dumb and dumber when they get of the mini moto in aspen "Harry, you're hands are freezing". Ceri used all her strength to yank the plug out of the wall though and we both quite quickly stated to thaw!

8am and I made a sharp exit to go meet Adam and Rich to make our way to the ruins before the crowds started to swarm ..... this place was a whole different experience to Chichen Itza and although the ruins were not as well preserved here the site seemed much bigger and you got much more of a sense of it having been populated by an ancient race.
The coast was again completely stunning and it made such an incredible back drop for the ancient ruins. Once we'd had a good look around and taken in the views we made a rush for the exit just as the first jam packed tour buses started to arrive. We walked along the beech for around half an hour before finding a nice spot for breakfast. The lads left and Ceri came and met me later.

Me and Ceri stayed at the beech all day and slept and had a bit of a swim. We discussed our journey to Caye Caulker in Belize, and decided that we would both prefer to take the morning bus to Chetumel (on the Belize border) then the ferry to the Island rather than the night bus to Belize City. Although this meant another night's accommodation in Tulum i was happier with this plan as trying to sleep on a bus with still having a bad back would just not be an option. We decided against the ice box of a hostel room for our second night's stay and instead opted for a cheaper room with a fan..... not sure which was worse though as last night's sleep was awful...... I felt like I was in a wind tunnel in the furnaces of hell as all the fan achieved was to blast hot air at us and keep us both awake with its racket.

Before bed we headed off to the ADO (bus station) to book our tickets for tomorrow's journey and lucky we did as there were only two seats left on the bus.... when we got back to the hostel we got onto booking our accommodation for 4 night's in Caye Caulker only to find that every where on hostel world had competently booked up..... seemingly Caye Caulker is the place to be on a Friday night. Ceri did a fab job of trawling the net though and managed to get us one night in a hotel and the other 3 night's in the hostel where some peeps we'd met in Cancun and arranged to meet up with were staying.

Small world: when I was at the beech i was chatting on Facebook with one of the Israli's we'd met on our first day and had a look at some of his pics.... anyways when I got back to the hostel that evening I saw 3 girls who i recognised from his photo so I asked if they knew him and they'd met him the night before in a place further north!
Also we keep bumping into the same people.....seems EVERYONE is going the same way and to the same places. I want new people......!!

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15/7/14 & 16/7/14 Last day in Cancun, more new friends and bus south to Playa Del Carmen and onto Tulum.

Despite waking up still in a lot of pain with my back (tail bone), I knew that I had to get up and get a wriggle on as I needed to pack my 'exploded' backpack ready for moving on from Cancun and starting the trip south later in the day.... My bag looked like a stick of dynamite had gone off in it though and I could not even begin to envisage how in the world I was going to fit everything back in.....the weather was soooooo hot and even at 9am it was unbearable..... 3 showers and 4 packing attempts later I was just on the verge of a breakdown when I was rescued by a lovely girl called Amy who I'd befriended the night before.... between the two of us we managed to get everything snuggly back  into the bag and then decided we should hit the beech to celebrate.
A group of around 12 of us from the hostel set off on the bus and when we arrived I was once again blown away by the sheer beauty of the place.....once again pure white sand, crystal clear water with so many shades of crimson, turquoise, aqua - just paradise.....
We found a shady spot and I stayed with all the bags whilst the rest went swimming.... I didn't fancy tackling the crashing waves with my poorly back so was quite happy lying in the shade and watching all my new friends having fun. This beech was much more chilled and tranquil compared to Mandala where we'd been to the beech / pool party. Such a contrast and so glad that I also had the opportunity to see this other side to Cancun.
We got back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit, all discussing our travel plans and deciding if and where we would all meet up again on our respective trips, then we made tracks for the bus to Playa Del Carmen. Me and Ceri had managed to gain 3 new recruits for this part of the journey and the plan was to go out to 'party' when we reached Playa (as its renowned as a party centre) we booked a 'lively' hostel called hostel 'Che' which had been recommended.....  We kinda lived to regret that decision however when we arrived to the worst Bob Marley tribute ever, playing very very loudly in the bar which was situated directly next to our room. We were all knackered but there was absolutely zero chance of getting to sleep with the Mexican version of Rod Stewart with swine flu murdering Marley track after Marley track so we made a quick change and got out of there. I can safely say I DO NOT recommended this place at all..... the only places i could compare it to would be somewhere like Malia or maybe Benidorm...... just a strip of shops and bars and clubs pumping crap music out of worse speakers. Me, Ceri and Amy managed to have a nice time though - we had a couple of Mojitos before heading to go people watch at the more crazy end of the strip where all the main 'clubs' were.... We only lasted one drink though as it was bloody awful and none of us could bear witnessing another silly girl in stupid high shoes try to walk up or down the cobbled hill we were on. Luckily by the time we got back to the hostel the music had stopped and all was quiet. The 2 others we'd travelled with were already soundly asleep and the air con room was the perfect welcome home.

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After around 5 hours kip I woke up with the worse fever, so hot and sweaty but shivering all over......I knew where this was headed and sure enough 10 mins later I made my first trip to the bathroom. This continued for around 3 -4 hours before I was forced out of my bed and back to the bus station to head off to Tulum....no food or water in my system, blazing heat, knackered back and dodgy tummy are not a good combination for lugging round a 17kg back pack. Ceri was also unwell so we made a right pair on that bus journey.... Luckily I once again managed to commission two seats to myself so just slept for the entire journey. We arrived in Tulum, or so we thought.... got off the bus both half dead and still asleep and quickly realised that we were in middle of nowhere. After snapping at each other a bit we got on a shuttle bus to the centre and went to a restaurant to use the WiFi.... with the assistance of the lovely owner of the restaurant we managed to find a hostel and a taxi and before long I was back in a horizontal position in our own private room..... We opted for a private room due to the need for a private toilet! I managed to muster the strength to head out to locate a place to get my washing done as there's no way I had the energy to hand wash..... After a few words from my phrase book I was onto a winner and very proud of myself that I could even walk in my current state never mind be speaking Spanish!
Back at the hostel I slept a further 4 or so hours (and had loads of trippy 'fever dreams') before getting a message from a guy we'd travelled with from Cancun asking if we wanted to go for dinner. Neither of us felt like we could eat but knew we had to so we forced ourselves to go. I managed to eat a few chips and once I'd had a coke and some water I started to feel much better. Adam who we'd met in Cancun had brought another guy along called Rich and after the meal Ceri started to feel really unwell so Adam walked her home leaving me and Rich to stay and settle the bill. Minutes after they'd gone an entertainment act started at the restaurant - which basically consisted of a rather excitable Mexican lady with a microphone doing a lot of shouting and talking to the crowd. We were praying she wouldn't talk to us but sure enough she did and we both realised that neither of us spoke any Spanish! I tried to signal to her that I was sick by rubbing my stomach at which point she turned to Rich and said loads of stuff in Spanish to which replied  si si si despite not having the first clue what she was saying..... it then transpired that she thought I was pregnant and had asked if he was the father to which he'd replied yes!!!! Funny but tell tale sign that I neeeeed to learn more Spanish!

Animal update: I saw my first chiwawa today!

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14/7/14 - Chitchen Itza and Cenote

Today we visited Chitchen Itza which is an archaeological site of Mayan ruins ( http://www.chichenitza.com/). Our trip started at 7am when we were picked up from our hostel.....wasn't a great start to the day as I'd only had about an hour's sleep but I pushed through and was on time for our pick up. We arrived to pay the remainder of the fee after having already paid the deposit and I realised that in my sleepy daze I had left my purse safety locked in my locker back at the hostel (note to self - always take purse with you!)
Luckily the girl I'd made friends with the night before - and convinced to come on the trip with us - offered to pay for me and I could pay her back. Lucky save!
We got on our second bus and I was fortunate enough to have the only seat on the bus with no one sat next to me, so I assumed a horizontal position and when I opened my eyes we'd arrived. Unfortunately where we had actually arrived was a giant souvenir warehouse and not the ruins.....my idea of hell after almost zilch sleep and with no money.....it was insane the amount of people turning up at the place.....coach after coach of tourist all being piled into this one Aladins cave of crap! 

I decided to take myself out of the equation and found a nice spot outside to sit and hide from the crowds. After about an hour we were called for our dinner which was a buffet of all kinds of weird and wonderful concoctions, so I opted for mashed potatoes butty's.

Back on the bus again for around a further two hours and we arrived at the ruins.....once again we were greeted by thousands of tourists all piling either on or off buses.....not at all the vision I'd had in my head of how it would be. Very naively I'd expected to trek through the jungle and for the ruins to appear out of the mist! Very disappointing as the reality was something quite different. The entrance was a huge brand new building selling even more crap and I'm pretty sure that although the Mayans were very accomplished they didn't have turn styles! Anyhow when we reached the ruins they were very impressive and it was amazing to hear our guide give details as to how the Mayans lived and how much they knew, particularly about astrology, with so little technology. This is the main building on the site and was built in honour of a bid that the Mayans worshipped.....most incredibly if you stand directly facing any of the four sides of the building and clap the echo which returns is the same sound that the bird makes.....truly magical. Another part of the site there was the games stadium where a Mayan version of football was played, the guide explained how every (I think) 52 years the captain of the winning team would have his head chopped off which was actually a privilege as it was in honour of the Mayan God whose head was chopped off in order to save the human race.....something like that anyway.....it was hot so was quite difficult to take in all the info!

After the ruins we were back on the bus to make or way to a Cenote (water hole). Another nap later and I opened my eyes and looked at the  window and all I could see was a sheet off water.....I thought we'd driven into the Cenote! The heavens had opened and within minutes the most epic thunder and lightening started.....thunder so loud and so close it shuck the bus.... not exactly the ideal weather for outdoor swimming but I figured I was going to get wet anyway and so decided to don my bikini and get involved and off we went for a dip in the rain. The water was had a strange green tinge toon it which I'm sure in the sunshine would of looked stunning but in the dull thundery light it just looked kinda swampy..... Although I was completely sh**ting myself, there was something quite exhilarating about swimming in this cave in the rain, and looking up to see lighting in the small circle of sky above. I just completely blocked out of my mind the fact that I had no idea what else was taking a dip with me and that there was a whole 40 metres of murky water below me for them to dwell in!! We took a few pics and bobbed about before the jumping platform was opened. From below I couldn't for the life of me ascertain if it was a long drop so I decided to head up for a look from the top. Still couldn't get me head round it.....I asked the guide how far it was and he said maybe 7-8 metres and I thought "that's not far" (Genius!) - It took me at least 15 mins of walking up to the edge and then  changing my mind before I actually took the plunge.... I counted to 2 and BOOM, I was free falling (I only got to 2 as I knew I had to trick myself....if I'd of got to 3 I'd of chickened out) - I fell for a lot longer than I expected and in the shock of how long it took to hit the water I forgot all about staying straight and subsequently hit the water at a slight angle, which meant that a lot of the impact was taken on the base of my spine - painful does not come close. I was absolutely ecstatic that I'd done it though and even more that my idiocy had been caught on camera by Ceri (who had sensibly declined from even swimming in that crazy weather). In all the excitement and adrenaline it took about an hour to realise that there was something seriously amiss with the base of my spine and 3 hours on a bus later I realised that my 30 yr old bones were not cut of for 7 metre high water bombs!
That night I was in bed for 10pm with my fingers crossed that the pain would subside by the morning as we would be making our first leg of the journey south to the border.

Animal update: Ceri got stung today by an unknown creature who left a big black stinger in her arm.....she managed to get it out but she said it was excruciatingly painful and her arm has all swelled red : (

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when the weather is fine, you know that its time, for swimming around with some Whale sharks!

6am wake up and some Mexican scrambled eggs later me Ceri and Isabelle (our new German friend) headed off out to catch our boat for a dip with some Whale sharks.

On arrival at the jetty well were greeted by our guide Sho - with his curly hair and huge smile he knew what he had in store for us and clearly loved his job. On boarding the boat my more sensible self started to question what I was about to do but I pushed through and found my seat in the boat. There was ten of us in the group, a couple from Belgium and couple from Barcelona and some college students from Virginia. At first the ride was smooth and chilled and I started to relax, however as we got our of the houbour our captain cranked up the the two big Yamaha engines and before I knew it we were bouncing over waves and flying off our seats getting further and further away from shore. Best off all I look around to see that Ceri is actually full on asleep, having a little snooze, as the rest of us were bouncing around. 

We were in the boat at full speed for around 1 1/2 hours before the engines slowed and the first of our group shouted look there's one..... I couldn't believe my eyes - it's funny really as although I'd booked a trip to see whale sharks I hadn't actually anticipated the moment where I'd actually see them!!! There must have been 30-40 whale sharks, they were in every direction........huge, yet so graceful. Our instructor gave us numbers and I was number two..... he told us that we needed to be ready to jump when our number was called and we would need to be donning our flippers, masks and snorkel and get straight in when we he called. Then the crew positioned the boat directly ahead of an oncoming whale shark which had its mouth fully open, gathering plankton. 

Considering I've never snorkeled before I was kind of craping my pants and thinking maybe this wasn't the best idea I've ever had, but I decided to 'go with the flow' and before I knew it I was on the side of the boat, flippers and mask -check - next thing I heard go go go!!!!! 

I just jumped off the side and put my face under the water straight away and right before me emerged the most incredible view I've ever seen.....the sharks mouth full open guzzling plankton only metres from me.....aside of him were a few other smaller sharks catching his left overs......it was such an insane and exhilarating experience and as I was shrinking and grabbing hold of the instructor the shark turned and as it came round it's tail touched along my legs and stomach. I was over run with adrenaline and then the instructor grabbed my hand and pulled me to swim right along side the shark. It was by far once of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. All I kept thinking of was having seen whale sharks on blue planet (the david Attenborough documentary) and that every time I stuck my head under the water it was like watching tv!!!

We had three dives each before saying goodbye to the sharks and making our way to the island where we had our dinner of fish freshly caught that morning and nachos with guacamole. 

After lunch we made our way back to the mainland where we guy from our hostel was already waiting - ready to take us to watch the World Cup Final. I'm glad I got to watch it with Isabelle as it made it much more fun to watch with someone from the country who were playing.
Tomorrow we're off to Chichen Itza to see the Mayan ruins, admirer early start as the bus is coming at 7. Tomorrow's trip also includes going to a water hole which I'm pretty excited about.

I'm concerned I won't have any serotonin left for tomorrow......

I managed to swap beds so I'm on the bottom bunk which is good news as we've decided we'll say a little longer than we first planned.

Our new plan is that we'll stay in this hostel (hostel orquierdeas) untill Tuesday. Reason being we're goin to do two trips, one on Sunday to go swim with Whale Sharks off the cost here in Cancun and the second to Chichen Itza which we're going to do Tuesday. We're then planning to head south to a place calle Playa del Carmen and visit somewhere called Tallum before making our way south again Wednesday or Thursday to the Bleize border. 

We've already met so many people - some who are goin to same way as us and others who are coming from where we're going so there's just a massive exchange of info taking place constantly.

Today was incredible - we went to the beech with some guys from our hostel, 3 from Israel and one guy who's from Switzerland - we went to this place called Mandala Beech which is basically a beech club an the party starts at noon. We arrived to the beech and I was absolutely blown away by the sheer beauty of turquoise water and the pure whit sand..... One of the most picture perfect places I've ever been. We made our way toward Mandala and were greeted by a guy who informed us that for a $25 tab we could have loungers, parasols and use of all the pool and 'club' facilities. Although this is quite expensive to what I was expecting to spend on a daily basis we decided to go for it as the spot was perfect and the music was soooooo good it sucked us right in. As the first DJ set kicked in i felt my happiness levels hit the roof and I realised that these are the kind of days and experiences I have to look forward to for the next ten weeks! Can't be faulted really (although we do need to curb our enthusiasm with the spending).
We stayed all day and had foods and drinks, swam in the sea (which was warm like a bath and crystal clear) and danced for hours in the club pool which was basically the dance floor.

We left at around six PM to make our way back to out hostel and both me and Ceri realised we'd had a little too much Sun but neither of us really cared as we'd had such a good time..... I swear I actually thought to myself 'I might run out of serotonin by tomorrow!'.

When we got back we got chatting with more people, one a German lady called Isabelle who has decided to come swimming with the Whale sharks with us tomorrow  after which we're going to go to watch the World Cup Final together.

The Israeli guys from our hostel.... Planning to meet back up with them in Belize.

Perfect place for a siesta:

Touch down cancun......

Arrived in one piece after an interesting transfer with a driver who spoke only in Spanish and who seemed to be asking us for directions! Anyhow after 1 1/2 hours we finally have found our hostel which is really cute and quiet and worlds away from the mass of monstrous hotels which greeted us a we left the airport.  Kinda glad we've already left the 'tourist trap' behind so soon after arriving as it was a little overwhelming to have travelled so far and within 10 minutes passed a maccy d's an dominos pizza! That said the sea is beautiful and picture perfect more so than I'd imagined. On arriving at the hostel we were offered a shared dinner of traditional Mexican food so we jumped on that.....not sure what tin it's served but I'm looking forward to it. Two nights stay with breakfast and dinner has cost the grand total of $23 which can't be faulted. The place is super basic however and I already lost out on the bottom bunk to Ceri.... Here's to hoping I have a restful nights sleep and don't fall out of my bunk which has no sides!

I've not the first idea where I am in relation to anywhere but sure once we get chattin to some of the other guests we'll be able to work it out.

We've both agreed that we are going to stick with our original plan of staying in Mexico untill Monday before making tracks into Belize. Plan to visit Chichen Itza whilst we're here and other than that just chill an acclimatise to this heat! It's so hot right now I feel like I'm sat in a pizza oven! Feels a bit strange as its now 10pm uk time and we've been up since 6am but going to try to fight it an stay awake as late as poss as its only 4pm Cancun time. 

Animal update: there's a spaniel at the hostel who looks just like our Alfie! 

 

Pics - 

Ceris efforts to reassure me she was well prepared for when we got off the plane.... In her defence having the Spanish for 'how do we get to....' Written on her hand worked a treat!

Our beds for the next two nights:

Graffiti on the wall at the hostel:

Our colourful accommodation:

Mexican Alfie: