Heading Home!

From the far South Eastern corner of Mexico, we headed up the Yucatan coast and stayed one night on the Riviera Maya, but were deterred from going any further towards Cancun by the Spring Break crowds.  We did, however, find one last perfect Caribbean beach with the Yucatan twist of an adjacent freshwater cenote to bathe in. Sadly we were not allowed to camp the night there, so we headed inland and stayed beside another cenote - this time in a enormous cave, complete with stalactites and spooky fish. The day will long be remembered by the girls for the five separate swims we fitted in.  For the statistically-minded, one beach, two pools and two cenotes!

Having spurned the crowds of Tulum in favour of more swimming, we felt obliged to find time to visit Chitchen Itza (to a chorus of "not more ruins" from the back seats). This hugely impressive site is one of the 'seven modern wonders of the world' - but the hawkers and flippin' tourists got in the way of a good view! On top of which there were no monkeys or tunnels and climbing the pyramids was not allowed. We really appreciated having already seen some of the more remote ruins.

We couldn't bear to stay in the hotel car park at Chichen Itza, so we followed a few signs and found an 'eco-tel' in a quiet village where the owners were happy for us to stay in their drive. Luckily for us, there happened to be a cenote in the village - so yet more subterranean swimming! Next stop was Izamal, one of Mexico's 'Pueblos Magicos', renowned for its yellow adobe buildings and old convent. Progress around the plaza was slow as the girls decided to photograph everything in sight (including shop contents, and every single horse and carriage lined up around the square) - Francesca was cameraman, and Liberty director of cinematography.

We were very keen to see the flamingos at Celestun on the Gulf Coast, so we stopped a night in the old colonial town of Merida, where our only company in the campsite were numerous huge iguanas.

Celestun didn't disappoint us and we were thrilled to find thousands of flamingos in the lagoon - Tony and Francesca photographed each and every one! Since then, we have had a couple of long days driving around the Gulf and are now in Catemaco, Verracruz, feeling very much on the journey 'home'.