Some notes on this thing - I can't embed pictures or videos in the text. What a pain. BTW, got to Orange Walk after a million stops in the chicken bus. Guess what? They've moved the bus station. Usefully it's no longer near the hotels, but on the other side of town. Cue yet another long sweaty walk in a long sweaty day, to find the worst (i.e. last) room in an otherwise lovely hotel that's only availabe for one night. Not sure I can face another bus today....

After a pleasant evening repaying small debts and drinking wine and a sound sleep and nice breakfast, I meandered the 5 minutes to the bus station. Naturally I passed the taxi touts who had enjoyed a little extra business at my expense upon arrival. I smirked a firm "no" as I was offered a ride and went to the counter, safe in the knowledge that the cabbies of Playa del Carmen would get no more of my hard earned. As often happens, I got the last ticket on the ...

Thought I might as well update while I have 10 unexpected minutes on the 'puter. I think this town is meant to be the relaxed alternative to Cancun and I imagine it is. It's also meant to be a bit upmarket and the 'designer' shops show that. There's a lot of building going on - all apparently designed to up the ante. However, the sheer tackiness of lots of the shops are a turn off - why would anyone want a t-shirt saying "I'm in Playa, b****"? Still, I can't ...

So anyway, it was an uneventful trip to Playa del Carmen, even if the plethora of all-inclusives that litter the coast got in the way of any Caribbean views. And so to the inevitable taxi thing. I do love an inevitable taxi thing and this was a fine one. PdC bus station - lacking a local area map but containing an information woman who simply says 'Taxi!' when you ask if she knows where your hotel might be... Now, I knew the hotel wasn't too far away, but j...

No idea how this 'write space' thing works, but as I'm on my first Central American bus, might as well not do anything useful like plan stuff, but just write some crap in this space. Obviously, delays are immediately incorporated into the journey. After an uneventful flight (films: Django Unchained - comedy violence and the ridiculous character of Brunhilde: Life of Pi - unsure really: Ted - three jokes at best), the whole of the Virgin crew delayed me gettin...