From San Cristóbal I took a bus to the town of Palenque, making a few stops along the way... Agua Azul is a large complex of beautiful waterfalls and turquoise pools, some of which visitors can swim in. There are paths leading up through the jungle to see different parts of the river and waterfalls. Along the path are many little shops and stalls plus some restaurants and lodgings. As the bus approached Agua Azul some people came and blocked the road, begging ...

San Cristóbal de las Casas is a very pretty town in the Chiapas region of Mexico, it's a quirky place with cobbled streets and brightly-coloured buildings. In the morning I took a walk up to the Iglesia de Guadalupe church on a hill overlooking the town and then headed down into the centre for a nice breakfast with a chocolate milkshake After walking around for a while we started to fade from the heat so we caught a little trolley-bus that drives around the to...

Oaxaca was my first stop in Mexico and I was amazed by how beautiful and colourful it was - much prettier than I had expected Mexico to be (although I don't know exactly what I imagined). It was an interesting mixture of Spanish-style big squares and grand churches with side streets that had a 'Wild West' feel, scattered with countless Volkswagen Beetles, plus ruins of ancient cities on the outskirts of the modern town. When Helena and I arrived late at night we...

I flew in to Mexico City from Rio de Janeiro via São Paulo and Panama City. The landscape looked cool as I came in to land - passing over volcanoes and seeing the purple-flowered trees all over Mexico city. I didn't actually stop in Mexico City though because time didn't allow - I was piggybacking on Helena's planned itinerary so as soon as I landed I legged it over to the bus station to meet her and get on the first bus to Oaxaca...

For some reason, when I imagined Rio in my head, it was always with the sun shining. So when we arrived to heavy rain it didn't feel quite right. Luckily it soon brightened up but the weather was very mixed the whole time I was there. I tried to do most of my sightseeing in the first couple of days, with the intention of going to the beach later, but the weather was awful for the last couple of days - pouring with rain - so I didn't make it to the beach once! On...