Cabanas Paraiso Tulum

... to meet my Argentinian friend Christina and she showed her book which was a coffee table book with beautiful pictures of the town of Bariloche and its surrounding region. It looked like a stunning place to visit and I promised to myself that I'd try to get there. After saying farewell to Christina I headed back to the hostel. That evening myself, Ian and the Germans had quite a bit of fun drinking and playing card games. Well it was the low season and so not much else to do outside the hostel.

... the steps to the top of the castle noticing all the iguanas that were posing for us on the rocks. I took a few pics then made my way down to the grassy area in front of the castle checking out the Temple of Columns and the Palace along the way - loving the spray of the sprinklers that were on.. the water was a relief from the humidity. My final stop was the Temple of the Paintings which still has some murals on the side of ...

... are very nice. But the most impressive thing of all is the near by beaches. It is definitely in my top 3 beaches I´ve ever been, maybe #1! Unbelivably white sand like sugar, amazing turqoaze waters, calm, warm enough... Just perfect. Tomorrow I´m going to Valladoid to go to the famous Chichen Itza ruins.

... a mother howler monkey with her baby. Apparently, the mom serves as an alarm clock for the tourists by making the most unearthly sounds imaginable at about 8 a.m. each day. From Palenque we traveled to Merida, an old colonial town that was built on top of an abandoned Maya city. The buildings in the main square were constructed from the stones of the old Maya buildings. Merida is a laid back place that serves as a base for day trips to sinkholes, the beach ...

... carvings atop are barely visible to us from below. The rear of the Castillo faces the sea, and has 2 tiny windows in the middle, which were used as a lighthouse for their tradesmen-when candles lit in them (Hmm...One if by the conquistadores will arrive by land, Two if by sea?); they locate the exact position where a break in the reef is, allowing their boats safe passage back to the city. Right behind the Castillo is a path that leads through beautiful ...

... it was a littel spooky. A minute descending through the thick cloud and everything became clear again. I had popped out under the sulforous cloud, into the salt water. I was at 40m, and looking down, there was stilla black abyss below. The light beam is swallowed up in blackness. Looking up was surreal, as if we were diving just under the clouds, with the murky glow fromthe sulfur cloud above ourheads. After a few minutes freaking out at the effect, it was ...

... to your room and turn the light on, they scatter. Sara did not like the cockroaches,so I became the brave boyfriend ( since we were without one on this trip) who made sure that the coast was clear before all could enter. Its funny, they really did feel her fear and she found a couple in her stuff,and one in her shoes, but no harm came to anyone, including the cockroaches.The lights go out at 10 am in Eco land.

... they lit**ally sold human flesh down at the meat market. Ev**ybody he contended was poor. They would kill you for only 5 dollars Am**ican money. He said that his friend was held for ransom in a large contain** which they doused in gasoline. Imagine, only one cigarette and he would be a gon**. Of course *****ia attracts anyone looking to make a nice buck. Especially people working for the major oil rigs that extract millions ...

... Hung around the beach for a couple of hours but totally put off by the fact that many of the couple were going stark bollock naked - really don't want to see a random weaner when I open my eyes! Decided Tulum may be a bit dull if not with a crowd of people so packed our bags and headed to the ruins. Ruins pretty impressive in their setting - right next to crystal clear blue sea - but so, so, so hot and full of Americans so felt a ...

... is supposed to hit!!) and we were stuck in our room, listening to rain and wind outside and hoping that some music would keep us company. (And, just because a hurricane is on the way doesn't mean its not still ridiculously hot outside, making our powerless -- more importantly, fanless -- room not exactly inviting.) The hurricane did hit south of cancun around 1am and we mostly slept through what was happening in Cancun -- lots of rain and wind. Monday: day after the hurricane ...