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Well, got another overnight bus over to Pallenque ruins on the way to Playa del Carmen on the Caribbean coast.
Arrived in Paleque jungle on the 15th Feb early in the morning. We then went and found a hostel in the jungle. To save money we camped under the stars in hammocks. Jenny and Kelly seemed to have a great nights sleep. For me however, not so good! There was some mean sounding animals making a weird and very loud growling type noise right near me and it sounded as though there was more than one! Lots of fire flies too which scared me cause i had never seen them before! I was also freezing and needed the toilet half the night but didn´t get out of the hammock cause of the beasts growing at me. Everyone seemed to be of the opinon that they are howler monkeys but im not so sure. They sounded a lot bigger! There are also lots of scary bugs living in the jungle, i don´t think im really the camping type!
Next day feeling pretty tired we went to see the ancient Maya ruins of Palenque. They where cool and interesting. Cant belive that some of the stuff there dates back to 300 AD. I think i have said this before though, all ruins have signs next to them about what the building where used for. How do they know that? How do they know that they used to cook in a certain building which is now pile of rubble? How do they know that the bowl shaped thing was used for food preparation? For all we know they could have used them as party hats! They even used words such as probably, we think, maybe, and possibly when describing how they lived in the ruins. Seems like a lot of guess work to me!
We finnished at the ruins and then went back to chill at the campsite for the day. This was in preparation for yet another overnight bus to the destination i was looking forwards to the most, Playa Del Carmen.
The bus was fine. Im really used to overnight travel now and seem to be able to sleep as soon as i sit down and wake as the bus reaches the destination. Although im slightly achey after!
Got to a really nice hostel in Playa Del Carmen this morning (17th Feb). Its really lovely and the staff are really helpful. It has a really good, chilled out vibe to it too. Been to the beach today and was a bit shocked. The lonely planet described as a quiet travellers hang-out which is growing really quick. The book was printed a few years ago and was right! It has grown really quick! It now full of posh hotels and its all quite expensive and very busy. It is a Sunday today though which is the busiest day on the beach so hopefully it will quiet down during the week. Still really lovely though, a typical Caribbean beach with blue sea and white, sandy beaches. Loads of good diving too so im happy. Im going to treat the week as a holiday. Its my last week before heading to Peru alone and im coming home soon so i just want to chill and catch some rays.
Will continue later on in the week........
Its the 24th of Feb and im leaving for Peru tommorrow. Not done an awful lot in my final week in Mexico! The night i last updated was Sunday and the first day i arrived. That night we made the mistake of going out and drinking tequilla! This led to quite a drunken night, especially when we found the Bali club which lets ladies drink for free! Anyway, this was good fun (photos to follow) but did mean that Monday was a wright-off! I spent all day in bed and did nothing apart from go to the shops and buy crisps and in the evening i ventured into main Playa del carmed for chips and ice cream, ideal hang oveer food.
On Tuesday the girls went to Chitchen Itza for a day trip. I was slightly ruined-out by that point and decided to spend my budget on doing dives as i know i would enjoy them far more. So i had a day of sun-bathing on the busy beach. Was quite nice to have some quality beach time though! Had a quiet evening as i was diving Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
On Wednesday i was up bright and breezy for my first dive at the Cenotes near Tullum. Kelly came too as did Jenny to snorkel. The Centoes are an underground fresh water system used to supply the whole Yucatan Peninsula with water. There are small sink-holes outside the towns where you can get into them and dive. It was really amazing. We swam down through caves in crystal clear fresh water. We had stalagtites and stalagmites above an below us as we round our waythough the caves. It was pretty dark but we always had some sunlight. This made for some amazing sights when swimming though when the light came in certain places. I wish i had an underwater camera to explain it a bit better. Anyway it was great and i would recommed anyone who dives to come and see them.
Thursday was another dive, this time to the reef off Playa Del Carmen. We had 2 dives from a boat and they were drift dives, so i went along with the current. Sadly the other dives wern´t that good and we had to surface after 30 mins when we started with 2000 bar. Slightly annoying as the dives are not cheap in Mexico. Got back on the boat for our breakfast we consisted of a cereal bar and carton of juice. Not really the breakfast i had in mind when the trip was sold to me! The second dive was much better, saw sea turtles and lobster and even a barrucuda called Barry in the distance. Once again i was like Grandma that night and had an early one while everyone else went out and partied. Luckily one of the guys had his open water diving course so he couldn´t drink in the evenings either. This made me feel slightly better.
Friday was time for my Cozumel dive. This meant getting a ferry over to the Island of Cozumel opposite Playa Del Carmen. I stared the day by going for an all you can eat buffett breakfast which was full of fat Americans. Was good though, unfortunatly i did not get the chance to take full advantage as i had to get the 9.00am ferry. Got the ferry and the water was really rough. They were handing out sick bags but i felt fine for a change! Got to Cozumel and hated it immediatly. It was Playa Del Carmen look underdeveloped and non touristy. It was so loud and so, so, so busy and expensive. There were loads of cruise ships docked there which is probably why. As soon as i steped off the ferry i had loads of sales people shouting and grabing at me, trying to sell me car hire, boat trips and diving. I was relived when i found my dive school waiting for me and hopped on the boat! It was a long but nice boat trip to the dive. The dives were lovely and i saw a ray, turtles, parrot fish and lobsters. It was weird being on th dive because there were quite a few glass-bottom boat trips stopping to have a look at us! Was really pretty though and really loved it, nearly as good as Egypt but not quite! after the dive i went back to the port, was stuck in Cozumel for am hour as i missed the ferry. Decided to have a look around but found it really hard work, it was just too loud and crowded. Managed to find a secluded street where they sold ice creams. Bought one and had to argue toget my change in Pesos not dollars! Another problem with Cozumel, too many Americans! In the evening i went out as it was the first night i didnt have to get up early. We bought corona from the supermarket over the road and drank it at the hostel to save money. It very expensive to drink out in Playa as its so touristy. We decided to try and find a cave bar recommed in lonely planet but by the time we got there at 12.00 it was well and truly shut. We got a taxi to the blue parrot club and went next door. It was pretty busy everywhere and we all had a good drink and a dance. Left about 4.00am despite Kelly trying to make us go in another bar! Went and got pizza which was the best thing i ever tasted (maybe something to do with the alchol).
Had a lazy one Saturday and just went down the beach and slept. Didñt drink in the evening or anything, just sat around and chatted to other travelers and had an early one at 12.30.
Sunday - the three of us got up at a decent hour to visit the ruins in the neighbouring town of Tullum. They were really pretty as they were right on the beach and made a great photo! There were lots of iguanas knocking about too. This was the best bit of the ruins. Went to the beach after, this is much nicer than playa del Carmen´s. Its really quiet and very under-developed. There was plenty of space on the beach to sunbathe and swim. Also a really pretty beach with crystal clear water and white sand, proper Caribbean! Got the little collectiveo bus back and came down to the internet cafe where i sit now. Leaving tomorrow to see Peru which will be really cool. Have to up at 3.00am though which will kill me. Its my last week which i cant belive, not looking forwards to cold rainy England too much let me tell you! Think i will defo save up for another trip as soon as i get back! Anyway, chow for now or should i say Buenis Dias! xxx
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