After we hopped off the floating esky that was our boat across the Mexican/Guatemalan border, we were officially in Mexico. Not that anyone in Mexico appeared to care - you could literally hop in a taxi at the shore and drive straight past immigration if you wanted. Nevertheless, we popped our head into the Mexican immigration office and had the pleasure of listening to two Argentinian girls argue with the sole immigration official for an HOUR about why they weren't required to pay the 295 peso exit fee.
We then hopped in a random taxi, asked them to take us to the nearest '
collectivo' (Spanish for death-mobile) to Palenque. He gladly took our pesos to drive us 50 metres up the road to his mate's van, where KG bartered incessantly over 30 pesos to no avail. The don't call her 'Big Boss Man' and 'Black Bag Lady' in Bali for nothing. A sense of reality was restored when Tom reminded KG she was bartering over $2 and she reluctantly gave up the fight. As was becoming common fare on our public bus trips, Tom was stared at the entire journey by a startled small child who clearly had never seen a giant bearded ranga before.
Highlights of Palenque included seeing a Dutch girl walk into a glass door, listening to two old ladies hammer the shite out of the poor guy behind the counter over the lack of tea towels available in the kitchen, and watching Father Ted on our laptop. Exciting times. Oh, and the ruins! Very cool stuff. We read plenty about a bloke named King Serpent Jaguar II, and KG decided that her Mayan name would undoubtedly be Queen Chips and Dip I - the Queen would have been renowned for her love of crackers, sweet chilli philly and hummus. 3 things severely lacking in Central America.
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| Striking a pose at Palenque |
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| Random pretty waterfall at Palenque (ok... we are a bit short on photos) |
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| Not a bad lunch spot - view from our perch atop a ruin in Palenque |
We then headed off to Merida on a REAL bus. Now, as we have said before, the term 'bus' gets bandied around a lot in Central America, but this was a proper bus. We even had our own seat, and an actual ticket. We spent one night in the lovely colonial town of Merida, checked out the square, ate some fajitas, drank a couple of Sols, and headed on our way to Chichen Itza.
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| The Spaniards sure knew how to build a church - Merida |
Once you get past the hoards of sun burnt, rude tourists and pushy vendors trying to sell you useless crap, Chichen Itza is actually an awesome place. It is one of the 7 'new' Wonders of the World, and we could easily see why. Tom also picked up the nickname 'Mr Whiskers' from one delightful stall vendor.
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| Spot the tourist... oh wait.... |
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| World Wonder #3 for the trip |
We then arrived in Cancun and discovered very soon that it was
SPRING BREAK!!!! (Please read loudly with abrasive American accent). We reunited with some friends we met on our tour a few weeks ago, and were soon on our way to party in downtown Cancun with the college kids at Coco Bongo. The ticket included a 3 hour acting and dancing show that would put Las Vegas to shame, and included all-you-can-drink booze. This provided endless entertainment during the show intervals. Apart from a rather 'handsy' American knob end that KG nearly tackled to the ground (missing rugby perhaps too much), it was a fantastic night - we can now say we have partied in Cancun on Spring Break. Keep your eye out for Tom on Girls Gone Wild. He's the big girl with a beard.
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| We weren't brave enough to take our camera to the chaos that was Spring Break, so here's some pics kindly supplied by Google Images.... |
Stay tuned for the blog post on our last 2 weeks in Cuba... what an experience....
