Oh nooooooo! It's nearly all over! As I'm writing this I can't believe I only have about 10 days left before getting back to the real world. Still, as per usual, I've certainly been making the most of what precious time I have left.

Since my last blog I have pretty much been on the beach the whole time! From San Ignacio we went across to Caye Caulker, a tiny island in the Caribbean just off the coast of Belize. Although there's not so much of a beach there, the water is the brightest turquoise colour, and the reef is just off the coast and the snorkelling was amazing. Pretty much everything in Belize revolves around the phrase "Go Slow", and it was hard to do anything but... time was easily spent just watching the world go by, listening to reggae music and sipping possibly the worst beer in Latin America! One day we did manage to drag ourselves away, and went out on a sail boat... in the loosest sense of the word! Whilst I wasn't expecting anything modern, I didn't expect the boom to be made of a large bamboo stick! I think our "skipper" relied mostly on the outboard to get us to our destination, despite Caye Caulker being impossibly windy!

Leaving Belize we headed for my final country... Mexico. I think I've saved one of the best places until last - while each country I have visited so far has had it's very distinctive personality, Mexico just seems to have a spirit all of its own.... and I love it! Our first destination was the rather unpronounceable Xpu-Ha. This is a sleepy little village on the Caribbean coast about an hour south of the more well-known Cancun, and about half an hour south of Playa del Carmen - another busy resort town full of 4 and 5-star all-inclusive hotels. Thankfully we stayed well clear of te swarms of tourists with their all-in wrist-bands making funny tan-lines on their arms... our beach was virtually deserted except for the white sugarry sand, greeny blue clear water and a cute little bar with swings instead of bar stools and a particularly attractive and charming (although I feel certain, gay!) bar manager! It would have been all too easy to spend three days at that beach and not move once... but you know me better than that by now! I somewhat regrettably visited the Mayan ruins at Tulum, which had been reconstructed too much, and were far too busy with the all-inclusive crowd - it actually felt like we were in some bizarre Mayan themed zone at a Disney World park or something. I then snorkelled in a 'cenote' which is a large underground cave full of fresh water and some of the most amazing rock formations of stalagmites and stalagtites in the world - they even made an Imax film there.

However I think my most adventurous outing so far was to jump out of a plane..... Yes, you read that correctly! Ever since I was about 18 I have wanted to do a sky-dive and every time I got close I bottled out for one reason or another. There were a couple of opportunities to do it in South America, but the weather was set against me, so it never happened. Given that this trip was all about doing all the things I have never done before I thought I'd give it one final go. Convinced I would yet again back out of it, too scared to go ahead, I rather anxiously stepped into my harness and was taken to the airstrip. That's when I really got worried.... we stepped towards what can only be described as a Noddy plane! It was bright yellow, with red and blue stripes on it, and was a little Cessna with one seat for the pilot and a very small floor area for me and the instructor. Still shaking like a leaf we took off and started to climb to 10,000 feet. When we had nearly reached our final altitude my rather butch and burly Mexican instructor Raul adjusted all the harnesses and tightly secured us both together - and I mean tightly! I'm sure a man designed these things with the express purpose so that male instructors would have a legitimate excuse to fumble with straps between girls' legs and across their boobs!!!! So anyway, there's me and Raul, rather close for a first meeting (but I was very glad of the fact when the plane door was opened!) and he's now telling me to put my right leg out of the plane and on top of a small platform covering the wheel. Let me tell you it's easier said than done! In the wind my legs (which are already like jelly, remember) are flailing around like a mad person and struggling to make contact with this tiny platform. Eventually I stabilise myself and there I am, perched on the edge of this tiny plane looking down at a view that will stay with me for an incredibly long time! I'm just taking in the beautiful colour of the sea, the coral reef just off the coast, the perfect beach, the urban sprawl of Playa del Carmen and the jungle beyond when I'm brought back to reality by being asked if I'm ready. Having got this far I nervously said yes and then we were off! Suddenly I was plummetting towards the ground at around 130 mph, and loving every second of it! The parachute was opened at around 4,500 feet, which bizarrely felt far too soon - the free-fall lasted around 40 seconds, but it was over far too soon! We then gently glided around for a further 2 or 3 minutes, me taking the controls at one point (eeek!) before landing gently (and might I add, fairly gracefully for me!) on the beach. By this time I had so much adrenalin running round my system that once out of my harness I turned around and hugged Raul, planted a big kiss on his cheek and bounded around like a lunatic for a while! It took me ages to calm down, and even now I can't actually believe I went through with it! Although if you asked me to do it again tomorrow, I would jump (literally!) at the chance - it wad an amazing feeling!

After all this excitement we headed on to Merida and the Mayan ruins at Uxmal. My most prominent memory of this site will be of the birds, butterflies, iguanas and flowers at every turn, even though the ruins themselves were really impressive. We then headed to Ciudad de Carmen on the Gulf of Mexico coast for my final beach of the trip. Today we drove to Palenque - the site of probably my favourite Mayan ruins so far. I don't know if it was all the trees there (and some with the most beautiful orange-red blossom), or that it was so quiet and empty, or that the jungle was trying desperately to reclaim the temples and palaces that made the site so magical and serene, but it really was a very special place.

So, soon my thoughts will be turning from ancient cities to rather more modern ones... the real world will definitely hit hard! Until then, I'll be getting as much out of Mexico as I possibly can and not wasting a single minute. From here we head to more Mayan ruins tomorrow, followed by a few days in San Cristobal de las Casas, which everyone has told me is beautiful. Then onto Veracruz (it was meant to be Oaxaca, but since the revolution last year it's not that safe there at the moment) and finally Mexico City - or D.F. as it's known here.

It will be sad in some ways when my big adventure comes to an end, but I am truly looking forward to coming home and seeing you all. Let's hope I can bring some of this lovely Mexican sunshine home with me!

See you soon.... lots of love
Nikki xxxxxxxx