Just a reminder that we are home in less than two weeks and our notice board appears to have run rather dry. So falks this is your last chance to say how much you've missed us and how the UK just isn't the same when we aren't there. Failing that it{s your last chance to say something funny that we can look back on in years to come and chuckle over as we re-read the book of our year 2007. So come on get out your funny fingers and start typing.. or don't, whichever really...

We last left you enjoying music in Valladolid. Well it was very nice, a very good chamber orchestra with a nice sound playing some old classics and then finishing the night with an encore of sleigh ride, which made me VERY nostaligic for school carol concerts. ( We played it with more feeling than the pros did!) The second day in Valladolid we cycled to a Cenote for a swim. These are underground caves filled with water, used as a water supply in days gone by, due to the fact that the Yucatan Peninsula has no rivers or lakes. The Mayans also used to throw sacrifices into them, to encourage the rain god Chac Mool to appear.... anyway, we took a nice bike ride out to a Cenote and had a lovely cool swim, then spent the next few days nursing our bottoms as the saddles were very unforgiving. Aside from that in Valladolid we did lots of eating at a nice cheap food court type place. My faves were Papadzules which is kind of like canneloni but made with corn tortillas an stuffed with hard boiled egg with a pumpkin seed sauce over the top. Also eating huevos motulenos, eggs cooked with tomato, peas, cheese, ham and fried bananas on top. Sounds odd but totally yummy. Evan has been eating a lot of salbutes which are deep fried tortillas topped with meat and salad and after all that I´m on a diet! We also enjoyed some more music, this time traditional yucatan orchestra, which is basically guitars, strings, percussion and a bit of brass. They accompanied various cheesy singers, the best bits when the guitar section would suddenly stand up and act as backing vocals.

After a few days mooching round Valladolid, we caught the bus to Piste, the small village just next to the ruins at Chichen Itza ( see photo.) We got a cheap room there and hung around until the sound and light show that evening which you get s part of the ticket. It´s a super cheesy history of the site, spoken by Trailer man over some marvellously second rate film score music, but gives a nice introduction to the history of the site. In a nutshell this is quite a late Mayan city, and has slightly different designs to the other Mayan sites as the Toltecs from central mexico seemed to come and conquer, or help out, at some point. The large pyramid pictured depicts the mayan caldendar by the number of steps it has and so forth, and at the equinox the light falls in such as way that it looks like the serpent depicted on so many of the stone work, is crawling down the pyramid.

the next morning we arrived very early to beat the tour groups and spent 2 hours wandering round the site, seein the largest ball court ( you remember, where the losers get their heads lopped off) and an observatory, as the Mayans very into the stars and aligning buildings according to them. lots of decoration of jaguars, serpents and rain gods who have very prominent noses.

We caught a lunchtime bus to the village of Izamal to spend a day there chilling out. It is quite mad as the entire town is painted yellow. Also naturally there was a fiesta taking place which involved a massive SOL beer stand and several eating stalls and lots of music. Having got ourselves a room we enjoyed some nice food, some excellent people watching, then some more free music. This time 4 singers singing cheesy songs of love. If you remember Steve Coogan´s Tony Ferrino character, they were like that basically, but of course in spanish. Quite funny and I ate my own body weight in popcorn then we went to bed.

The next day we spent exploring the pyramids that Izamal was built on. They formed an ancient Mayan city but when Cortes and his spaniards arrived they destroyed the pyramids and used the stones and bases to build other things. Thursly the convent in the centre of town is based on the foundation of the largest pyramid of them all. We took a look at some of the pyramids still in a vague pyramid shape, and ate some nice lunch at the market. Then we were nobbled by a parent age english couple who wanted to know where a good bar was ( marvellous!) they were there in their camper van and encouraged us to visit later. Needed a stiff drink after our visit to the convent where small dwarf like tour guide insisted on taking me round by the hand, and even kissing me at one point and ignoring evan entirely. So took round lots of deep fried mexican snacks to knock on the door of Sandra and Bob´s camper.

Spent a very pleasant evening with them hearing about their travels, all the way down from alaska in fact. They seem to spend a great deal of time travelling and when not, basking in the sun in their turkish flat. Very nice indeed.

Next stop Merida where we are now. It´s the capital of the Yucatan state, and sees a fair amount of tourists If anyone else asks me if I want to buy a hammock I shall strangle them with their own wares. However, took a very informative walking tour for free yesterday which gave us a good history about the knocking down of mayan pyramids to built churches by the conquistadors. Staying at a very nice hotel for cheap, and we can use the pool round the corner which is great as it´s very very hot.

And not long now until we come home, but am sure wéll manage a couple more updates before then...