Mexico: Yucatan Part 1

I knew it would never last.. after 3 months of good health, I finally ate a dodgy burger in Caye Caulker and was forced to endure a dreadful boat trip from Belize to Mexico, breaking out in cold sweats as the boat tossed in turbulent weather. But I held it together and eventually arrived in Mexico, my final stop in Central America. It was bittersweet arriving in Mexico as my friend Laura and I had planned a holiday to Mexico a few years ago, which we weren't able to go on after all - so here I was, but distinctly lacking my amiga and partner in crime to drink tequila with! However, said amiga was busy having her own adventures driving around Southern Africa - and I believe they even had a Mexican night!

Tulum was my first stop in Mexico, and I had been salivating over photos of the Tulum ruins overlooking crystal white beaches - the only Mayan ruins situated on the coastline. Of course it was never going to live up to the hype, and the day I visited the ruins was rainy and windswept, while you could hardly see through the tour groups to the ruins. This was a surprise to me, as I didn't expect Mexico to be so developed and besieged by American tour groups. I should say that this is probably specific to the Yucatan peninsula, home to Cancun. Enough said. However despite the weather, and the tourists, cycling to the beaches further down from the ruins proved how unparalleled the beaches are. At one of the beaches, Akumal, I was lucky enough to snorkel with turtles - I went in looking for tiny turtles when out of nowhere several 1 metre-long turtles glided past me.

This part of Mexico is also famed for its cenotes,or sinkholes, formed from the collapse of limestone deposits. These cenotes were of spiritual significance to the Mayans and were sometimes used for sacrificial offerings. Today, however, they are used by tourists to jump into from great heights and allow for some eerie snorkelling into the caves.

One good thing about Mexico being quite developed is that the bus system is very easy and organised - even the collectivos or commuter omnibuses as we'd call them in Zim are fancy, with enough room to have a seat to yourself - quite a novelty after Guatemala. I jumped into a collectivo and headed up to Playa del Carmen, a very touristy beach resort - it felt like the Faliraki of Mexico - but when in Rome, have a frozen margarita. Which I did. I also met up with Rafa, a friend of Liannah and Chris's, who took me out to a great rooftop bar where I met some of his friends.

Ater a few days on the coast I felt it was time to head inland to Merida, the capital and largest city in the Yucatan, in the hopes of seeing the 'real' Mexico. Merida was built on the site of the Maya city of T'hó, a center of Mayan culture and activity for centuries. Today Merida is a buzzing, vibrant city. I was lucky enough to be there over a weekend, and the start of the holiday season for the locals, so the town plaza was shut off from traffic to allow for a big market, live music and festive dancing.

Merida was also a great base from which to visit Chichen Itza, the largest of the Mayan ruins in the Yucatan, and recently selected as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Chichen Itza was a centre of pilgrimage for over 1000 years, and is situated next to a giant, sacred cenote, in which the skeletons of hundreds of sacrificed men and children have been found. Having visited Mayan ruins in Honduras and Guatemala, I have to say that Chichen Itza impressed me the most. The site is dominated by the giant Pyramid of Kukulcan, but the Temple of the Jaguars, the Great Market, the Great Ballcourt, as well as El Caracol, an astronomical observatory, provided a variety to the site that really gave an insight into daily life - spiritual, religious, economic and social.