After a lengthy, uneventful flight we finally touched down in Cancun, where a bar handily placed right by the airport exit door was only too happy to exchange our remaining British pounds for ice-cold bottles of cerveza and agua. We jumped into a shuttle and headed straight for the city of Tulum, about 120km south of Cancun along the Riviera Maya coastline. On arrival we checked into our 'tube' hotel - each room is made from a concrete tube with just enough space for a small shelf and a bed. Cosy but comfortable. After we got settled we followed the receptionists advice on where to find good Mexican food and headed out for dinner which was some incredibly tasty guacamole and fajitas washed down with a few punchy margaritas. Not a bad start!

The next morning we woke up lazily, packed our costumes, hired some bicicleta and headed for the nearby beach, about a 4km slow pedal away. We spent a good few hours on the sand before the siren call of two-for-one margaritas got us up and into a nearby restaurant for lunch, yes more guacamole and some lovely cevichè. We'd been making a conscious effort to try and speak a little Spanglish and it was all going well until I asked for the bill with a confident "l'addition s'il vous plait". More practise needed! That evening we wandered into town, had a few drinks at a pretty cool mojito bar and ended up at a very popular local restaurant which served amazingly fresh fish (and guacamole).

The next day we were up early to hit the Mayan ruins on the shores of Tulum before the crowds arrived. We enjoyed walking around checking out the ruins but as we didn't opt for the guided tour and most of the information signs were bleached out we didn't really find out too much about it all. Off to Chichen Itza tomorrow so will do better then! We randomly bumped into Amy (a friend of Fiona's) and her husband Neil whilst exploring the ruins, which was quite a coincidence. Cycling back from the ruins, I decided to stop at a petrol station to blow up my bike's back tire which was a bit flat. Blow it up I did, as I massively overinflated it and burst the entire tube and tire, leading to a rather hot trudge back into town for a replacement bike. Once sorted, we pedalled out of the town again to visit the Grand Cenote, a huge sinkhole filled with groundwater that you can snorkel and dive in. Very cool to see! Lunch was a repeat of the first nights dinner (why change a winning formula) which was followed by a lengthy 2.5 hour siesta, waking up in just enough time to get to the bus depot to organise our travel tickets for tomorrow when we're off to Valladolid.

So we've had a good few first days and have really enjoyed our time in Tulum, keen to visit Valladolid and check out the ruins of Chichén Itza, one of the seven 'new' wonders of the world.

Will keep you posted, thanks for all the comments!
KL