Central Mexico

We have now travelled about 39,800 km (24,700 miles), which means we have travelled roughly the circumference of the Earth! Quite a cool statistic (thats more than Ewan and Charlie's round the world trip - 19,000 miles)!

From the warmth of the lowlands, we travelled inland into the mountains to Teotihuacan to see some very large, ancient pyramids (about 200 BC). Unfortunately, they are not very photogenic.

The town of the same name next to the ruins was a real dive, it even had police patrolling in fully armoured cars (like a tank without the gun)! The police and army are normally in pickup trucks, with men standing in the back with automatic weapons or sometimes a machine gun mounted behind the cab. Anyway, we stayed nearby in San Martin.

Not quite sure what this was all about!

We are now travelling through some regions which are supposed to be dangerous due to the feuding drug cartels so we are staying more on the main roads than we do normally. Problems are mainly between drug gangs but tourists have been targeted.

The beautiful Laguna Larga, but at nearly 3000 metres and in a room with no heating, so we only stayed one night!

There are a lot of hot springs in this area, also used for power generation, so at least we could have a warm swim in a pool beside the lake.

We stayed for a few days in the capital of Michoacan state, Morelia, which is really nice. Is different, as all the old buildings are made with pink stone. Our stay coincided with the annual classical music festival.
One evening we saw the National Indigenous Sports Games awards, which were opened by the army's band. The square the event was on was surrounded by police and army complete with riot shields!
There is an amazing library in Morelia...Phil says it looks like something out of Harry Potter!

Dee's favorite treat, 'Churros', sold on the street or in this case a specialist shop - yum! They are a bit like a thin donut.

On our way north on a toll road we came across another protest blockade where the protestors had taken over the toll booths. In this case all lorries were blocked but lucky for us, pickups, cars and motorbikes were being allowed through. And we didn't have to pay the toll!

Off the gringo trail

After leaving lovely Bacalar, we headed out of the Yucatan into some interesting places well off the gringo trail.

These ancient stone head carvings by the Olmec's are from around 700 - 400 BC!

And some other heads that are still alive!

Earlier, at Balamku, we had a quick stop to look at another small Mayan ruin. It was quiet impressive but also had an amazing Stucco (plaster) freize inside one of its pyramids. It was still being restored while we were there and we were the only visitors.

We stayed overnight at Minatitlan, an oil refinery town. This was the view from our window. You can see a burning flare stack on the right. We could hear it roar from our room!

Richard is 20, works in a shop, loves Coldplay and speaks very good English. He learnt it by listening to English music and a little bit at school. It made his day to meet someone from England!

A goldfish, tank, filter and food - this street seller has it all covered!

We met this bloke in a traffic jam, with what looks like all his belongings and even his small dog in a bag hanging under the handle bars!

Tlacotalpan is a lovely town on the Rio (river) Papalopan.

Leaving the next day we were treated to a colourful procession celebrating their revolution.

Beautiful turquoise waters

The Yucatan is basically a flat marsh, but it has loads of beautiful waters to swim and mess about in. This is Dee in the sea at Tulum....Mr Robin is in there somewhere!

The Mayan ruins at Tulum were worth a visit but mainly for their location overlooking the Caribbean. The lovely beach beside the ruins was a good place for Mr Robin to try to catch a wave!

We visited another Cenote, called Dos Ojos (two eyes), this time a partially closed type, like a deep cave system filled with water. It had some interesting rock formations and was a lovely place to swim.

The pic below shows a large limestone pillar (when a stalactite and stalagmite meet) with Dee 'snorkelling' beside it. We bought a good pair of swimming goggles recently so we can see underwater - we do without a snorkel.

Further south, Laguna Bacalar is as beautiful as the Caribbean sea with its clear, blue waters. Very unique in that it has several Cenotes within the lake connecting it to the water holding aquifiers below. A great place to kayak and swim - it is the perfect temperature.

It's also one of only a few places in the world where Stromatolites are found. These Giant Stromatolites represent the earliest life forms discovered on earth.