Today was officially an early start however we were both awake far before the alarm. The coach picked us up for our Coba Mayan experience at 7.15am. After what seemed like a few false turns and one more pick up, we were given coffee, juice and some strange pastries and headed off along the road towards Coba in a coach that seemed to have forgotten it had air conditioning. When we arrived at Coba the air seemed quite positively cool. After a quick restroom break we headed off in to the Jungle with our guide Ricardo. Coba is the biggest city of the Mayan culture, once hosting a population of 50,000 people. We were told that as yet only 8% of the city had been uncovered and we would see 5% of that. Having done some negotiation with the group it was agreed that we would walk into the jungle and take Mayan limos out (more of them later). We saw a number of different archeological ruins, temples and priest buildings and a road which had been built through the jungle, only to be used by people of wealth or stature. We we also shown a game court, or as Ricardo called it a "ball of game" designed somewhat like a gladiator game where apparently the winners (or was it the losers) were sacrificed to the gods for rain, us shine, grain etc. we the. Reached the highest building to have been discovered and were invited to climb it. Chris had a number of reasons to stay at the bottom, not least because a fear of heights would have caused her to freeze half way up. Diana, the even intrepid explorer headed for the top. It was hot especially when the sun came out half way up but on she pressed. A view over the top of the jungle made the whole exercise worthwhile, even though jelly legs took over on the descent. This is when the Mayan limousines came into their own. A bicycle with a twin seat on the front, powered by locals these were ridden around the jungle taking visitors around the sites of Coba. Last stop was called the church, where the priests got to make decisions about who was to be sacrificed to humour the god of rain. Lunch in the restaurant was lovely, although the green sauce, which in our hotel is quite mild had haberos chilli in and it took Diana quite sometime before her mouth stopped burning. Back in the bus (the air conditioning now working) and off to visit a 'typical' Mayan village. The people still choose to live in wooden huts and live a traditional life however they are clearly influenced by engaging in the tourist culture. One of the highlights was seeing a spider monkey from the next door sanctuary come wandering through the village. A few rain drops made us realise that rain in Mexico really isn't as miserable as in the UK.

Back in the coach and we headed off to our next stop, a fresh water cenote. This was a beautiful environment with little tourist influence apart from the number of visitors. A quick dip, Diana wore the life jacket with offered a perculiar experience of floating upright. Last stop on our trip was a visit to a shop where we were plied with tequila, consumed the 'official' way, and then encouraged to spend money - something we both managed to keep to a minimum.

Back at the hotel we had a later then usual dinner and buoyed by the activities of the day we headed to see the evening entertainment. After a holiday camp experience of watching 5 me make fools of themselves performing Mexican activities we watched a great show of Mexican dancing from different regions of the country. The highlight of the show being a man dancing with a lassoo. The latest we had been to bed all week we were planning a serious lie in the following morning.