Cities and Churches

We spent a glorious, sunny day pottering around the lakeside town of Catemaco, intending to visit the jungle and cloud forest in the surrounding hills the following day.

Unfortunately, the cloud forest was true to its name, and we saw little but fog, so opted for a final seafood lunch as we skimmed the coastline before heading inland to Puebla. Climbing through dense fog to 7,500ft we broke out into clear sunshine on top of the Central Plateau and found our campsite near Puebla in time to enjoy the blissfully cool evening air.  Having largely stuck with coastal and rural areas so far, this was the first of a number of colonial cities we intend to visit on our way back North. The girls are thoroughly enjoying a taste of 'cafe society'.

We also spent a day in nearby Cholula, which is known for its numerous churches built by the conquistadores, one of which they perched on a hill that turned out to be the second largest pyramid in the world, Pyramide Tepanapa. 

We climbed to he top of this still unrestored pyramid for geat views of the city and surrounding volcanoes.

Avoiding the congestion and pollution of Mexico City, we took the new toll road to camp close to Teotihuacan, one of the largest and most impressive archaelogical sites in Mexico.

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.

Tarantulas, Temples and Toucans

We are now back in Chetumal, in the South East corner of Mexico, having spent a spontaneous week-long 'holiday' in Belize and Guatamala. Last Friday we drove 160 miles across Belize - to the forested hills around San Ignacio, which borders Guatamala.  We were pleasantly surprised by the bustling little market town, which had a relaxed, Caribbean air and plenty to keep us occupied.  We shopped at the weekly market, ate ice cream in a nearby Amish village and rode a hand-cranked ferry across the river to visit more Mayan ruins at Xunantunich.

Mayan Marvels

The anticipated slow, tortuous route from San Cristobal to Palenque proved even slower and more tortuous than expected.  We spent the day driving through verdant mountains dotted with indigenous villages, but eventually the numerous hills got the better of us and the van broke down with a cooling problem.  After lunch, and much fretting, we hobbled to a mechanic in Ocosingo (the only town en route) who had us back on the road in a flash. There was no "we can fit you in next Thursday" or waiting for parts, they just all huddled around the engine with a voltmeter and some bits of wire for an hour and we were as good as new!

We finally arrived in Palenque and stayed right in the jungle, listening to and watching howler monkeys in the evening, and exploring the Mayan ruins during the day.

We were so impressed with Palenque, that we detoured 100 miles to visit two more Mayan sites deep in the Lacandon jungle - Bonampak and Yaxchilan. Near Bonampak we also took a guided walk through the jungle to a crystal clear cenote and camped in a lovely spot on the Rio Lacanja.

Yaxchilan was less accessible, and even more interesting - we had to take an hour's boat ride down the Rio Usumacinta, which delineates the Guatamalan border. This brought out the Indiana Jones in all of us - particularly Francesca who loved exploring the tunnels looking for bats and beetles.

Still not bored with jungles and ruins, we made another long detour off the road to the Caribbean coast to visit Calakmul - a spawling site set in a National Wildlife Reserve. The most memorable part of the day was being harrassed by a troupe of spider monkeys who screeched, banged their fists and threw sticks at us as we walked under 'their' trees!  The girls were very excited and a little worried - after all, as Liberty told us, "we've never been attacked by monkeys before"!

Having survived the ordeal, we are now in Chetumal on the Carribean coast, overlooking the ocean again.  The big news of the day is that Francesca has lost a tooth - her first - we are hoping the tooth fairy can find us, and that she carries pesos!  Here is the 'before' picture...