Adios Mexico!

Tam:

Its now almost 9pm and we are in a little tiny town called Piste just 1 km from the ancient ruins in Chichen Itza. Its been a long long day but full of cool adventures.

We said gooodbye to Playa which has been our home for the last 2 weeks. The school where we have studied Spanish, Academia Columbus was a great place to learn, spend time and meet some really nice people. We took advantage of activities such as Mexican cooking lessons (Las Flautas.. muy rico!) and a day trip to a centoe (a pond of natural water crystal clear water) and met many nice German people too. Our last night in Playa couldnt have ended better. Our director Jose joined us for farewell and Halloween Eve drinks at the L'Ambasaad where the beer was cheap and the juke box started playing all my favourite tunes. We started talking about our mutual love of karaoke and he took us to a local Karaoke Bar where we sung (both in English and Spanish), danced the salsa and not so sexy or cool western dancing until 3.30am. It was really a great night out.

The next day we slept in, tried to get over our hang overs and got on a bus to Piste. In Piste we checked into a quaint little posada not far from the centre of town called the Posada Olalde and had dinner opposite the plaza. We dined on Mexican chicken, tortillas and rice with a Yucatan twist.

The ruins at Chichen Itza are beautiful. The Mayan history is linked closely to astronomy and the lunar and solar calendar and its amazing to hear their history in human sacrafice and the mystery of the building of their civilisation.

In two hours we will board a bus for 2 hours to take us to a neighbouring town called Merida. This is where we will board another bus (at 7.30 tomorrow morning) for a further 6 hours to Chetumal. From Chetumal we will (hopefully) get on a boat to cross over into Belize, San Pedro to be exact. A nice reward for studying every day. So expect to see more piccies of white sandy beaches. Hopefully I will get more pictures of Mexico up soon!

Coxy¨:

Loved our time in Playa Del Carmen, spanish school was brillant, I know enough to understand most conversations now but need to practice speaking more. It was a hilarious last night in Playa, I belted out Semi Charmed Kind of Life which seemed a cool song when I selected it but singing it required more coordination and less tequilla! Ha, very fun though... we met some great people in Playa at the school and our trip to Tulum was amazing as Tam said. Sitting on the beach surveying the brillant blues and greens of the water was something out of a movie... Last Monday I saw a movie on the beach, they played The Hangover in english with spanish subtitles and I have to say the sound and picture quality was very good - as was the Sol and Haagen Das Dulce De Leche ice cream we ate! Its officially the Day of the Dead celebrations over here, its like a turbo charged Halloween. Lots of people dressed up in the streets at night in crazy costumes, very cool... We also went to El Alux bar, its a bar in this cave underground, you wouldnt want to be claustrophobic... we had a couple of very nice cocktails amongst the damp surrounds, then a little tour and some photos to finish the night was just great. I think my favourite thing we ate was the super burrito I had for dinner on saturday night, after we came back from Tulum, simple but all the flavours of Mexico with the salsa and chilli sauces to boot! Although my favourite meal was one Tam and I had by the beach where we just grabbed some food from a little restaurant to go, then got 4 beers at the local pharmacy (yep pharmacy!!)and walked to the beach where we drank beer, ate our Mexican food and watched waves trickle into the beach - a perfect time! As Tam said we did the ruins today, then attended the sound and light show tonight. Huge structures these Mayan built - where did they get their rocks from? Its the middle of the jungle and all of a sudden there massive rock structures in your face! Awesome sight...maybe a tour guide could of helped but they are a little pricey... we had heaps of fun ourselves just winging it and walking around for the day exploring and bartering with local merchants for little presents to take home. Cant wait for Palenque...