San Cristobal and beyond...
Wow... I´ve been really slack and haven´t written for ages! San Cristobal seems so long ago now. It was packed full of markets and I suffered from shopping... so much so that my bank card went missing and I had to send a package home so I could carry my baggage again. I went on a fabulous horse riding trip out to San Juan Chamula which had a church in which the local people practice a mix between christian and traditional practices. The whole place was filled with candles and there was hay all over the floor (a dangerous combination in my opinion). It was smoky, they used soft drink as part of their rituals and there were standard statues of christian saints all along the walls. Totally different to any other church I´ve been to.
From here I went to the spectacular ruins of Palenque via two lovely waterfalls agua-azul and misol-ha before making my way to Tulum where I spent a few nights. At Tulum there are ancient ruins set above the beautiful turquoise ocean. The water feels like a warm bath and there was some fabulous snorkeling! I went with a guide and I´ve never seen so much cool stuff when snorkeling on my own, and I think it´s just the case of knowing where to look. I saw heaps of sea turtles, a huge lobster, a couple of octopuses, sting rays as well as heaps of different fish and shell fish where I could see the cute little things living inside. There are also cenotes (limestone sink holes filled with rainwater) in Tulum where I snorkeled which was cool but really required scuba in order to see properly into the underwater caves. I got burnt despite being suncream queen and had a few other dramas that I can go into on further questioning....
I then made it to Cancun - the whole concept of which was completely beyond me. It was essentially just a strip of super fancy all inclusive hotels so people go there and see nothing but their hotel and fully packaged tours. I stayed in a youth hostel.
Partly out of laziness and partly to see what the whole Cancun thing was all about I decided to go on a packaged day trip to Chichen Itza. The site itself was spectacular and the guide was useful at the ruins, but the rest of the time he talked incessantly about crap and they provided us with about two hours of forced shopping time (which I would have greatly preferred to spend at Chichen Itza). On this annoying trip we did however get a lovely swim in an underground cenote which I rather enjoyed.
I headed off to Isla Holbox for a couple of days after this which was bliss. I stayed in a fabulous hostel that had huts with no real floors (just sand) which meant no stressing about bringing sand inside the house. I hung out with two lovely sisters from North America on the beach and snorkeling with whale sharks. That was an incredible experience. I got dropped off by the boat next to the whale shark and then swam next to it for ages, until I felt guilty for holding everyone else up! I got such a good look though, and was on my own, ´cos my whale gawking partner got tired before I did. We also saw nurse sharks which was cool as well and enormous manta rays as well as flamingos, dolphins and lots of fish.
From here after getting back to Cancun I headed to Cuba...
