Unlike the other capitals I had visited, Mexico City just seemed to appear. There was no view to look out over the city, but just a gradual increase of houses and traffic. Mexico City was built on a drained lake and as a result the City has massive problems with flooding and subsidence. This was apparent as we reached the city limits and encountered the road completely covered in water. Vehicles were slowly edging through it and the water definitely came up to so...

My first thought about Oaxaca was how the hell to pronounce it. Put simply it is Wa-ha-koh. Obvious hey! This town appeared to me to be a larger more cosmopolitan version of San Cristobal. I found I was staying in a lovely hostel, and combined with the relaxing nature of the place, I was soon feeling a lot better.Theoretically Oaxaca is the heart of a region whose highly creative populace produces the country's finest range of crafts and some of its most exciting...

Still feeling a bit worse for wear, I took a day bus to the stunning town of San Cristobal de las Casas. Fortunately the simplicity and serenity here did much to restore my health. Set within the mountains and surrounded by pine trees it had a very Swiss feel about it. The grid like setting of the town also afforded views of beautiful houses, painted in pastel colours or window sill in more stronger blues and reds. It was clean, cool, sunny and just very pretty....

An early morning bus took me into the jungle of Mexico to visit another Mayan ruin, this time Palenque. Unfortunately I had somehow managed to develop a bad case of a cold and did not feel like doing anything. I had booked into a hostel in the jungle itself and luckily it was cheap enough to have a room to myself. The hostel was lovely with paths running between the trees and a stream running alongside. After dark however, there was not much to do which in itsel...

I took a local bus from Chichen Itza to the town of Merida, the cultural capital of the provience. Most of the places I have stayed at have been not been worth mentioning but the hostel I chose this time is worthy of a mention, mainly because of the owner. He was a local and proud of his town. The house was typically Mexican, but had been ornately decorated with local paintings, statutes and earthware. It was beautifully done. Before I had had chance to unpack, E...