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Cat & Ame's Discovery Tour
Hi everyone,
after 2 unsuccessful attempts to send a collective email, this is the last one!
We have arrived in Cancun just fineon the 18th, after a very long flight. The temperature was fairly hot, probably lower 30s. We managed to find our hotel just fine and had 2 days to acclimatize and catch up before meeting the rest of the group on saturday night.
So on saturday morning we took the ferry from Cancun to Isla Mujeres, which is a beautiful tropical island with emerald waters. We swam and went on a little boat tour, inclusive of snorkeling and seeing some small tropical fishes and some corals. Really impressive!
We also saw some dolphins and turtles (although they were kept in not very big tanks...mm...not very impressed with that).
Following this trip we met the group on saturday night, we are 11 in total, with Alex being our guide, from Costa Rica.
We experienced a total black out, our Hotel AND the rest of Cancun, which meant we slept without air-con. AUCH!
We took off to go and visit the Zona Archaeologica of Chichen Itza on Sunday, which was beautiful. Although it was hot it was overcast, so we could take some time for exploring the whole site, without risking a sun stroke. There are still many temples completely covered by jungle, and chances are that, armed with a machete in hand, anyone could uncover more treasures!
After Chichen Itza we made our way to Merida. Along the road our bus broke down and we had to wait 4 hours along the side of the road, uncertain of when the next bus would turn up, especially as our driver took off with yet another bus without saying a word!!!
That was quite funny really, especially as we happened to listen to Monty Pithon's "the bright side of life" when that was happening...
We had some time to socialize with another gap group which was cool as we went out in Merida on sunday night.
Following that, on monday we went to see the "Cenotes": these are amazing underground caves with transparent fresh water. We could access them thanks to wooden ladders and staircases, which were charming. So we spent the day swimming and jumping off rocks in this surreal setting.
Most of the Mexicans sleep in hammocks, which are very colourful and impressively made, so as a good italian tourist, i got myself one. Definitely need to find a big flat now in Dublin! Tee-hee...
The tueday we went on a long road trip to Pälenque, which is another archaeological wonder in the Chiapas area, more central in the Yucatan. We were stunned when we reached our hotel which was a group of huts in the middle of thejungle. Absolutely incredible. Howler monkeys, iguanas, toads and all sorts of sounds hidden in the luxurious green foliage. Really gorgeus settings.
We went to Palenque yesterday, more beautiful than Chichen Itza, this site covers a huge area and although only 7 or 8 buildings are accessible, it is believed that there are more than 1500 buildings overall, hidden away, in and under the jungle!
We also passed by some water falls on the way to San Cristobal de las Casas, where we are now. Misol Ha (Ha meaning water in Mayan) and Agua Azul. We walked under the first one, and swam in the second one, where the strong currents made it that bit more challenging.
Today we have finally been visiting some Mayan villages near San Cristobal, these are San Juan de Guadalupe - where you can only live if you are a Catolico Traditional, which means you believe in a religion which mixes catholicism with mayan believes - and Zincantan, where we visited a local family, saw them at work making beautiful fabrics, and made tortillas with them, as well as drinking sugar cane and water juice.
All very impressive.
The recurrent food is rice, beans and tortillas with guacamole and cheese. But there is abundance of fresh fish, seafood and all sorts of beautiful tropical fruits.
Tomorrow we cross to Guatemala.
hope you enjoyed that. We here can't believe it's only been a week so far!
Lots of love to everyone, thinking of you all.
Cat and Amy
xxxxx
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