After eight magnificent nights, our Mexico holiday had to come to an end. On our final day, we checked out fairly early and headed up to the tourism capital of the peninsula – Cancun. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be very similar to Surfers Paradise only on a much larger scale. Plus the beach isn’t as nice. And there was more Starbucks. Bah!

So as you probably guessed, we didn’t stay in Cancun long; instead we returned our rental car and hung around the airport. Our final meal in Mexico was dissapointingly at TGI Fridays, though in our defense we did order from the “Mexican” section of the menu.

Overall, this was definitely one of the most enjoyable vacations that I’ve ever been on – a credit to both the destination and the magnificent company. You can check out some photos from our trip in the Mexico photo album, and make sure you watch Ben’s wicked good video.

One of the last places on our (or at least my) list of things to see in the Yucatan peninsula was Chichen Itza – one of the biggest and most well excavated ruins site in the region. Cleverly, we waited until pretty much the hottest day to visit, and twice as cleverly, aimed our visit so that we’d be walking around in the midday sun. Yes, it must have been about 40 degrees out there, with at least 80% humidity, so we were sweating up a storm!

Still, the discomfort of the heat was well worth it, the ruins were amazing!

Now I ain’t Wikipedia, so I’m not going to tell you the history of the site, how it was discovered, etc etc. – you can click on the link above if you’re interested. But I can tell you about some of the things that we experienced. For example, the main temple (above) has some type of clapping feature installed, in that if you clap your hands loudly whilst standing directly in front of the steps, the temple makes a strange, quacking like echo in reply. What purpose this has I do not know, but it sure was nifty seeing large groups of people clapping their hands for no particular reason.

Another cool building that we saw was he observatory – built very similarly to a modern day observatory, just without the telescope (obviously!).

I’m not sure why, but it seems as though the Mayans were obsessed with columns. They were everywhere at the site! I overheard one guide say something about “1,000 columns” but I could be wrong there. (It also seemed as though the guides didn’t really know much about why the Mayans did things the way they did, so they were limited to describing things that you could see for yourself anyway.)

For me, the rest of the ruins kind-of blur into one. I think that’s mainly because it was so hot, to the point where Kristy almost passed out a few times! The trip to Chichen Itza was totally worth it, but at the same time, we were pleased to be back at the hotel, sipping cocktails at the swim-up bar!

Our Mexico holiday continues to be nothing short of extraordinary! We’re all becoming more relaxed as each day goes past; with such a beautiful setting, it would be hard not to be relaxed though! We have even discovered a new favourite cocktail – the Leaping Lizard. We have no idea what’s in it, except probably some melon liquor (think: Midori), but it’s very tasty, and very green!

One peculiarity that we’ve discovered with the resort however, is that they can’t seem to set tables correctly. This has been an ongoing theme for the whole time we’ve been here. For example, this morning at breakfast, there were no teaspoons (for coffee/tea, or eating yoghurt), and only two glasses of orange juice were poured even though the setting was for four people. Last night we ate at the French restaurant here – the fanciest of all the resort’s restaurants – and only three of us had dinner forks. No matter what meal or what restaurant, there is always at least one or two things missing from the table. It’s really quite bizarre!

But asides from that, everything is pretty much perfect. Yesterday we joined a bike-ride excursion from the resort to the ruins at Tulum – about a 4 mile ride. It was hot!! By the time we got to the ruins site, we were all sweating up a storm.

The Mayan ruins were extremely well preserved, and the site itself was immaculately maintained. The paths between the ruins were adequate, but unfortunately a few of them seemed to be a long way from the structures themselves, which meant for the most part, you were viewing things from a distance. Still, very impressive, and well worth the ride to get there.

Apparently, on the two equinox days, the sun casts a perfect shadow through the building at the top of the hill. Wicked! Would have been good to be here on the equinox but we missed it by a couple of months!

One thing that’s extra cool about the Tulum ruins is that they overlook two of the most immaculate beaches I have ever seen. One of them is easily accessible by stairs, and as I said it was freaking hot, so Ben and I jumped at the opportunity to go for a swim.

It was a pretty easy ride home to the resort, and we certainly the BBQ lunch that we enjoyed when we got back!

Despite the appeal of simply staying at the resort (and trust me, the appeal is strong!), we’ve been on an outing on both of the days that we’ve been here. And the cool thing is, there is so much variety, it’s sure to entertain everyone!

Yesterday afternoon we ventured to Chunyaxche, a ruins site about 20 minutes south of our hotel. The guidebook we have correctly stated that we’d “probably have the entire site to ourselves” as it’s “too far” south for most tourists. The number of ruins there is also small compared to some of the other sites, but they’re still impressive none-the-less!

Probably the most significant structure here was this temple thingy. I should have paid more attention the the sign at the base which described what it was all about, but I was too busy taking photos. Salomon (whom I used to work with) warned me that the steps on these things were very narrow, and I was amazed to see them for myself – they were barely wider than my foot!

On the way back to the resort, we made a brief stop in the town to grab some pesos and browse through the tourist-centric shops. We were somewhat discouraged when Michelle tried to buy a couple of nice little bowls from a guy that she guessed were worth five bucks for both, yet he tried to charge us about $30 and told us that was a discount! No thanks. I also saw this sign and thought of the Durhams – no way would I be trying the local “expresso”!

Today we ventured north to a place called “Hidden Worlds”, where we went snorkelling through two different cenotes (see-NO-teh) – basically underground caverns. This will go down as one of the coolest things I have done in my entire life! The first bit of fun was sitting in the comfort of the in the air-conditioned limousine (read: standing in the back of a rusty old truck) for the ride from the reception area to the cenotes.

Once we got there, we had to squeeze through a narrow entrance way and down a very steep ladder, into the massive cavern. It was breathtaking!

Holy moly, the water was wicked cold! I was pleased to be wearing that wetsuit, and frankly I think I looked rather becoming in it as well. Anyway, swimming through the caverns was just amazing! The stalactites on the ceiling we sometimes so low that you could barely raise your head out of the water. Similarly, the stalagmites came right up out of the ground, but they weren’t so spikey so I wasn’t too concerned about them.

The part I liked the most was when we were floating along with the current of an underground river, through really narrow bits of rock. As Kristy so rightly put it, “it’s like being in an action movie”! We’re hoping that we can do this again this week at some of the other local cenotes around the traps.

If you’ve ever thought about visiting Mexico, then I’ve got one word to say to you: do it! And when you come, stay at Dreams Tulum!

We touched down after a fairly eventless flight, but for Kristy and I it was a very significant moment – the last time that we would leave the States on a G4 visa. Sadly, when we fly back next week, big George will be taking our fingerprints, and we’ll be merely tourists!

Anyway, we were totally exhausted by the time we got to the hotel, so we were pleased to sail through the check-in process and get to our room. And my, what a room it is! Keep in mind, we’re on a budget – this is pretty much the cheapest room in the house (complete with King Size bed, sitting room with day bed, private patio, and one of the most awesome bathrooms I’ve ever used).

We’re actually staying in an all inclusive resort for the first time, and so far it’s been excellent. The facilities here are magnificent! We knew we were on to the right track when reading the “Bar Service” section in the Guest directory, which started with:

In a luxurious all-inclusive hotel it is essential to have numerous bars available that offer a great variety of drinks.

Right on the money! Our favourite bar so far is the swim up one in the main pool. The only drawback is (for obvious reasons) they serve the drinks in plastic glasses; but asides from that, there’s nothing quite like sitting in the pool and drinking a Corona (or mojito, pina colada, etc)!

The resort is also built right on the beach, so if the pool doesn’t grab you the beach certainly should. The cabana huts “sell out” pretty quickly, but there’s always a beach loafer or two available.

Finally, the restaurants. On the down side, service seems to run on “Mexican time” (which we agree is similar to Jamaican time or Egyptian time). No-one is in a hurry, and this is evident from having to wait up to 20 minutes just to have your order taken after being seated. Still, the food has generally been quite good, and the only real trouble we’re having is trying not to over-eat!

It’s going to be an excellent week; I just wish everyone was here to party with us!