Update 20-Feb: comment function is now open. Sorry guys!

Dear diary Whatever. As promised, here`s a post which - in terms of quality - should exceed the previous two. Can`t be too hard, right? At least my predictive capabilities (”worst viewed posts ever”) still seem to work after all these travels, which feels like a delight ;)

Well then, so after having fun on Cozumel and spending most of my time in fairly small places, I felt it was time for some big city life. The place of choice: Mérida, famous for Yucatec culture, its “bustling” weekends, markets, architecture, people, surroundings… in other words: quite the place to get stuck in for a while! What can I say… the weather was nice (nothing but sun, 28C and rising temps), the company was very pleasant (hi guys!), the food was great and the beer was cold - what more could you wish for?

The city functioned as a base for exploring nearby cenotes (3 in total) - which was both fun and stunning. The latter is because in order to see one of the cenotes you need to climb down an 8-meter ladder… and the top step broke while I was climbing up, so I was almost part of yet another bodycount (sounds familiar?). I keep wondering how the people that were still down there got out though! :)

Also, we visited the Chichen Itza ruins (yes, more ruins), which were a bit of a Disneyland-experience but still pretty impressive. Other than that the city itself was good fun, providing basically everything one could look for. Cultural events such as traditional Yucatec dancing - which seems boring at first but then all of a sudden gets impressive - provide a little extra.

Still happy about cities, I moved on to Campeche and hooked up with some people I also met in Merida… yes, I`m still on a well-trodded trail at the moment! Campeche is nice but VERY quiet, the old city centre feels like walking through a candystore with all those hard-coloured buildings. Anyway, the company again was very good! Next day took a night bus to Palenque and after a nice little ride and even less sleep went to visit (MORE) ruins! Anyway, these were the most impressive so far and by now I`m getting a little ruin-tired (and so should most readers) so I promise I won`t post too much on these things anymore.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures (bigger series this time too, whoo-hoo!!) and on to… CARNAVAL! (This way, not this way!)

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One very weary traveler

This is how the Maya kept their kids under control

Chichen Itza skyline

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… or whatever way you’d like to pronounce yet another word for “island”! Arright once again! After almost a week of gray skies, it’s time for a little more sunshine, blue skies and oceans, palm trees, reggae, yah man, etc! (Look here for more terminology!)

After a little bus-and-boat ride we arrived on Caye Caulker, home to everything which is slow, sunny and very Caribbean! Time to continue enjoying the sun, swimming, snorkeling and … surprise … diving! The first few days mostly consisted of “decelerating” - after all the motto down here is to go slow. This appeared to be pretty easy, even wildlife seems relaxed when approached! We also made a brief visit to San Pedro… Madonna might have fallen in love with the place, we sure didn’t!

Our “plans” sort of separated after a while; Mayo went off to do an Open Water Diving course, however due to a cold she could not complete it. Yes - Caribbean nights can get chilly - trust us! She’s happy to receive some comforting messages from you guys though ;) René (that’s me!) on the other hand did another six good dives at the Turneffe Atoll, the famous Blue Hole and some other keys (or cayes…). Yep - the diving counter has really started rolling now! :)

Right now we’re off to the jungle again, back on the mainland (in the hills, even…). Our main “concern” at the time being is where we should be celebrating Mayo’s birthday (Jan 27 people - don’t forget! ;))! Any suggestions are welcome or course! And again, enjoy the pictures and to all you guys in Northern America and Europe - good luck with the weather!

Take care!

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Our house! ("on the middle of the beach")

Our view!

Rene's hammock + content!

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So here´s a little ´exit-post´ - tomorrow (that is today by the time you guys in Europe read this ;)) Mayo will be making a final part of her trip, back to NL, back to the joy of cold weather and grey skies. Ain´t it wonderful!?

Once again we´ll update you on what we did, though most of it consisted of a chill-out (she can´t come back all burnt out!) . On our final day in Puerto Jimenez we decided to make a little walk and came across a small ´eco-path´… curious as we were we went down there. The sign said ´max 15 mins presence´ - and we soon figured out why; a large, happy family of crocodiles seemed to be living on and next to the path. Sounds like fun - and it was! See the pics for some happy shots - fortunately these crocodiles felt just as lazy as we did so we could walk out without any stress.

The day after consisted of a huge plan, which however didn´t come to execution due to … right … inclement weather! We regret writing our last post now… No kayaking, dolphin/whale watching etc. The beach was still fun though and we managed to get airplane tickets back to San Jose, thus making it easier for us to get out of this corner. After flying not-so-high we ended up in rainy San Jose, after which we decided to head (back) to Peninsula de Nicoya for a final few days of chill-out. The only flight available went to Benidorm Salou Chersonissos Tamarindo. Just stayed there for a day and off we went to laid-back Samara for a few days of real chilling. No big stories, it was just that.

The planned return trip by air had a fun twist to it as well; due to circumstances we wish not to comment on the weather, our flight got cancelled so we made a fun road trip, along with two Americans and a rented car. Alright, so we ended up where we wanted though it took longer than the planned 35 mins - but hey! it was a lot cheaper ;)

So Mayo is flying back off to you guys tomorrow and will be 100% available to all requests ;) Talk to you then!

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One Happy Crocodile

Our (almost) private airplane

Proof we were actually up there

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