Hotel Caribe Merida

... one of the few people in the group who had not yet succumbed to stomach troubles. However, the loo on this bus was so horrific it almost made me vomit. Going to the loo on a bus in Mexico is always an adventure, as the roads are mainly really winding, so you kind of have to hang on tight and hope for the best. It could go so horribly wrong.

The next town was Merida. I wouldn't recommend this either. The hotel was called 'Hotel Mucuy', which I called Hotel Mucky. It was filthy ...

... So I went and found the tour guide, along with a couple of Parisian guys Bruno and Kevin and out came more Tequila before 5 Oclock. Walked the few blocks north to the stadium and watched a couple of hours of crazy mexicans doing all sorts of fake but impressive and hugely funny acrobatics. The Mexicans are mad for it. Had a couple more beers at the venue and when we got back sat down for drinks with a local couple in the downstairs lounge. They were quite a strange couple ...

Merida ligt maar een 200-tal km van Campeche, dus vandaag valt de autorit wel mee. We hebben dus nog wat tijd om wat aan het zwembad van ons hotel in Campeche te liggen alvorens weer in te pakken. De laatste dagen hebben we redelijk veel km in de auto afgelegd en hebben we ...

... thoughts are in Merida but I am actually in Montreal, Quebec. It is a beautiful sunny autumn day (November 5, 2009) with early morning temperatures hovering above the freezing point. It is a good day to write a short blog before I start a long drive to Victoria, BC via Seattle, Washington. On second thought, any day is a good day to write a blog since it brings back such great memories of our trip to Mexico.

As it ...

... cardinal directions of the Earth (very sacred to the Maya) without much attention to Jesus who is oft left out. The belief is that during the Dia de Muertos (actually 3 days in Yucatan, one for children, one for adults, and one for people who died without anybody knowing) the souls of the dead can return to visit the living, with the living providing altars with favourite foods and drinks for them. We saw some of this on the central ...

... The group is mainly kiwis and aussies, I am one of only 3 brits out of the group of 16! They are a mixed crowd but hopefully it will be good fun - we{ll wait and see...... Oh - the most exciting thing was the earthquake!! It was only a baby but I hvae never experienced anything like that before...... sat in my room and I thought I was jsut really dizzy but the curtains were swaying and the floor felt as though it was moving!!

... We then headed to the hotel pool for a relaxing swim and laze by the pool. We had an early dinner in the hotel (ham and cheese sandwiches served with cabbage and beans) and headed to bed early after packing. Tuesday We were up at 5am, and caught a taxi (a much more sedate one this time thankfully) to Havana airport for our 7.30am flight. There was one check-in desk open and it took us about an hour to check-in. I was looking around the airport ...

... great pyramids in Eygpt and some others in Central mexico that haven't been exivated. I've made lots of friends at this hostel and will be sad to leave. I've teamed up with Felicity, a 23 year old medical student. We are going in the same direction so will probably share the journey. This might be trouble as we get into space cadet mode sometimes, already missed tube stops and walked the wrong direction down streets. We got ...