22 November - The Yucatan

Howdy,

We´re now in Cancun, and are counting down to our flight over to Mexico City on 30 Nov... then from Mexico to LA on the 06 Dec, then HOME!!! (That´s on the 10th, arriving on the 12th Dec).

Things we´ve done in the Yucatan Peninsula...

Tulum

Diving/Snorkelling in the Cenotes. For those of you who don´t know, ¨snotties¨ as we´ve taken to calling them, are waterfilled caves or sinkholes in the limestone of the Yucatan. The diving is cavern diving so there is natural light filtering into the water giving it a real (as Rob called it) an ¨Alice in Wonderland¨ feel to them. Swimming through stalagmites and stalagtites...

Lazing on the beach...Tulums beach has nice white sand but resorts line the beachfront. The ruins overlooked the sea and may have been nice if they weren´t sooooo covered with tourists.

Chichen Itza
Famous ruins but oh... the crowds!! We also stumbled on a Mexican Independence day parade (20 Nov), with all the kids in fancy dress of historical significance.

Celestun

Played a game of ¨Spot the Flamingo¨and found a few thousand! The waters run almost red with the krill which the flamingos feed on, giving them their pink colour. Phil went a bit mental with the telephoto lens, trying to capture flamingos with their heads above water.

Uxmal

Enjoyed some rather unique ruins. The pyramid in the background is rounded and a lot of people think its just been reconstructed wrongly. Quadrangles and palaces were impressive with their detailed facades.