Hi everyone, sorry its been so long but its taken me a while to find the time and a computer to actually update the blog! Anyway so I have now been travelling for 4 weeks, luckily I have been keeping up to date with my journal so I can at least remember all the things I've done! So...

After New York, I headed to Mexico City to join the tour. When I arrived it was grey and rainy (there is a pattern forming there!) and I took a taxi to Hotel Metropol where I met Katie, my roommate from Germany. Whilst in Mexico City we went on an excursion to the Teotihuacan pyramids which were very impressive, some of which were built in 100-200AD. The views were amazing although there were a lot of steps! In the evening we went up the tallest tower in the city for drinks (I had my first margarita of the trip) and we admired the views. It was fantastic and the city just seemed to go on forever! After the city, we left for Puebla where we wandered around the old colonial town for a while. In the evening we went to the Lucha Libre which is Mexican wrestling. It was an interesting experience - all very theatrical and acrobatic but they all (kids, grandparents) seem to get very into it. Our next stop was Oaxaca, where we took an all day tour to several spots. These included visiting the world's largest tree trunk, some Mayan ruins, some putrified waterfalls where we got to swim in the natural pools, some traditional Mexican weaving and a Mezcal distillery where we got to try all the drinks! After another day in Oaxaca we took the night bus to San Cristobal de las Casas where we took a tour to some indigenous villages. We saw spirtitual leaders, markets, and churches where chickens were being killed in exchange for the return of spirits after an accident/illnesses. At midday some fireworks were set off in the square, they were actually a bit scary because they were homemade thus a little unpredictable and very loud! The next day a bunch of us decided to go horseriding, it was supposed to only be a 2 hour trek but ended up being 4 hours! We were all a bit sore afterwards! It was all good fun though! I was a bit anxious about our next stop on the tour, Palenque - in the jungle! I was however pleasantly surprised to find I actually quite liked it! Our rooms were right in the heart of the jungle, surrounded by trees, flowers and wildlife and it was quite peaceful. In the evening we watched the fire throwers, which were pretty cool. The next day we went to the ruins of Palenque, it was unbearably hot so afterwards we went swimming in the neighbouring hotel's pool. After our stay in the jungle we left for Merida and didn't arrive until quite late. We went to an ice cream/sorbet shop which dated back to 1907 - I had coconut ice cream which was very good. We walked to the park to watch the locals dancing in the plaza - they were all so good! Afterwards we went for some drinks in a "traditional" Mexican bar and tried on the massive sombreros! The next day we took a tour to the cenotes, where we had to take horse driven carts on tram lines to get there. The cenotes were amazing, we had to climb down steep ladders to get to some of them, but it was worth it. The water was so deep but it was so relaxing swimming in them. Our final stop of the tour was Playa del Carmen, although we took a detour to visit Chichen Itza. The ruins were really impressive but it was just so hot again and there was little shade. At lunch we were joined by some hungry iguanas! Whilst in Playa, I did some snorkelling and got to ride on a motorised water scooter which was a lot of fun! On our last night together we had dinner at a beach restaurant, actually sitting in the sand - it was perfect. We sat under the stars, by the sea and were entertained with various music & dancing acts. Afterwards we went to a beach bar/club called the Blue Parrot where we had unlimited drinks, flame throwers and great music. It was a fantastic end to a great trip! After saying goodbye to a few people, some of us stayed on for another day just relaxing by the pool/beach in Playa. On 14th August, Katie and I headed to Cancun for two nights where we decided to splash out on a nice hotel (I didn´t need much persuading)! The hotel was beautiful, right on the beach! The water was crystal clear, turquoise and the beach was a soft white sand! It was lovely! After a great few days relaxing, Katie and I bid a sad farewell to one another and went our separate ways at the airport. I headed to San Jose to start the Costa Rica and Panama tour!

Hope everyone is well.
Miss you, love Charlotte x x x