Voyage , Voyage

´¿Donde sale el autobus para el centro?´ My first line in Spanish came out quite fluently, and I understood the answer as well saving me a $40 taxi ride. I had just arrived in Cancun (Mexico) and was to travel Central America down to Costa Rica. My plan was - as usual - to have no plan.

Cancun - the only interesting thing I could find there was the bus station and after some bumpy hours I arrived at Valladolid. Few tourists so my 4-night stay was bound to be a pleasant affair. My hostel was a good base for exploring the nearby Maya ruins: the site at Chichen Itza was crowded, but in Coba we had a 42-meter pyramid for ourselves and enjoyed the views on the surrounding jungle. Another highlight were the so-called ´cenotes´(beautiful limestone caves with large subterrainean lakes) and we couldn´t resist the swimming temptation. So much fun!

Merida (Yucatan´s largest city) was another pleasant place. We went to the Maya ruins of Uxmal and also had a great time at Celestun, where we hired a boat to see the flamengo lake, followed by the inevitable dip in a jungle spring and a good sunset on the beach. Life is good!

In Tulum, the Maya ruins are rather an excuse for beachtime and parties. After two night we couldn't go on drinking that many Sol beers and we hired a cabana on the beach where we slept in hammocks. Being woken up by the Carribean waves really IS nice!

I packed my bag and went to the excellent Maya museum of Chetumal, before crossing the border to Belize. Stayed two nights in friendly San Ignacio and visited the recently discovered ruins of Xunantunich - it was only 8 years ago that one of the pyramids was excavated. But the mother of temples is to come soon: Tikal! Next chapter will be: Guatemala.