Dear Lyn, Alan, Shelly, Paul and families

Xel-Ha, pronounced shell-ha is one of the most beautiful coastal scenes in the world, situated about thirty miles south of Playa Del Carmen. It is a wide and shallow estuary area with crystal clear water and thousands of fish. It is formed by a natural river that flows through a tunnel of mangrove forests before opening up into tropical forest surrounded open water.

The Mexicans, not wanting to miss a trick to make money, have sectioned it all off and turned it into a theme park that they charge tourists quite a lot of money to visit. We used your generous wedding present to visit Xel-Ha and had a great day out. We thought this was appropriate given it is called shell-ha which is a bit like Shelly.

You would think that turning a natural phenomenon into a moneymaking theme park might be considered a little bit cheeky on their behalf but they have done it in style. Possibly the biggest selling point about it being a theme park is that it now includes five restaurants that are included in the price so you can eat as much as you want and more importantly at least three (that we found) fully stocked open bars. So you could either consider it an expensive visit to a theme park or a very reasonable all day drinking session in a very pretty environment with some cool activities to do. We treated it like the second option and had a brilliant day.

Obviously combining water with unlimited alcohol could be considered a bit dangerous so it was good that they made sure that no one went in the water without a lifejacket. It was just a shame that the lifejackets they had available had a rather uncomfortable strap that went under your nether regions. No matter how much you loosened that strap, it still managed to dig into your particulars when you were swimming.

The wide-open lagoon style estuary had a multitude of fish. Before I came on this trip, I never really liked snorkeling but I have got quite into looking at fish. They are not as boring/evil as I first thought and some are even quite cute. I am now in a position where I would recommend looking at fish to people.

It is quite curious being in Mexico after the other places we have been because it is full of proper holidaymakers rather than backpackers. I imagined it would just be full of Americans but the majority seem to be from various European countries. It was easy to find the other English holiday makers because they were the ones hanging around the free bar at ten in the morning when it opened ordering pineapple juices for their kids and tequilas for themselves (they are in Mexico after all).

The peaceful camaraderie between English people discovering that the bar really was free and we really could have anything we wanted was soon broken by a rather large American women ordering a Bloody Mary while screaming at her child Presley Alexander that if he didn't leave his brother alone this instant they would pack up and go home. Presley Alexander didn't pay any attention to his mother but then the threat did sound a bit hollow when she had just ordered a cocktail. Even a ten-year-old kid could work out if she did take him home she would at least finish the drink first.

In the afternoon, we made a new friend. He was called Christophe, a young Mexican teenager who had sneaked away from his parents to sit at the bar and drink. Despite our limited Spanish and his limited English we bonded over the simplistic ritual of clinking our glasses and saying 'salut' (Mexican for cheers) every time we took a drink. It was a wonderful example of international relationship building, only hampered when he fell off his chair and couldn't get back up again. Given that he was drinking straight tequila, you could understand why.

I was very proud of Donna in the afternoon when she showed her bravery by jumping off the 'Leap of Courage', a five meter high cliff jump into the river. It was no easy fete and possibly even harder when she got up to do it a second time. But then, sometimes life if all about challenging yourself to do new things. For Donna, it was jumping off a very high cliff. For Christophe, it was trying to drink as much tequila as possible before his mum showed up. Me? Well, I ate mushroom soup the other day. And quite liked it. Until I found out they were mushrooms.

And so we spent the day meandering around the park, stopping every now and then to top up our drinks, eat some lunch and top up our drinks again. The highlight was the mangrove river where you were given rubber rings and floated along, admiring the scenery and the family of raccoon/monkey/badger types that ambled past as we meandered along. The perfect time to reflect on the amazing travel adventure we have been having. After so much time spent together on this trip, it is good that we still have the best times when it is just she and I; the best laughs and the best adventures and we are still the best friends.

Lots of love

Jim and Donna