Emma and Roland's Little Adventure: Week 2 Mexico

Tuesday - we headed out on a little adventure on the bikes...woo hoo!!

We rode to one of the cenotes in the area -Gran Cenote - and had a little swim in the rather large natural water well.

We then rode to the main Beach area and found a really lovely secluded spot and relaxed here for the rest of the day.

On the way back to the hostel nightmare struck !! My bike got a flat tire and we were over 10km away from out hostel! I rode back to the hostel as fast as I could to ask Mama Chelo for help...she is such a lovely lady and without any questions, she picked up Roland and the poorly bike, and drive us all back to the hostel.

In the evening we ate at El Mariachi, a restaurant recommended in lonely planet...quite cheap but I much preferred our finds yesterday, which were a lot nicer and cheaper too! 2 beers guacamole and 2 mains cost us 300 pesos.

Wednesday. It was time for another bus trip, only 1 hour this time and for 100 pesos the bus took us to Coba.

We really liked the ruins here as they were in the middle of a jungle area and there were many paths leading you to lots of different areas. Entrance fee was 57 pesos and it took us about 3 hours to explore the whole area ... well worth the money.

We climbed the tallest ruin to get some great views of the surrounding area, we were joined by other tourists and the resident iguana!

The climb made us really sweaty and because it was so humid we were soaked for the rest of the Coba trip! Just after we finished the Coba adventure and were waiting for the bus back, a massive storm rolled in and it absolutely poured down!! Got to watch the lightening stick over the nearby lake!

The evening was spent in an Internet cafe - 4 hrs and 70 pesos (guess what I was doing!). Afterwards we found a really cheap restaurant which looked like only the locals went to....6 tacos and 2 drinks 120 pesos. Bargain!

Thursday. Annoyingly, I keep waking up really early, 6am this time! I waited patiently for Roland to wake up, so that I could convince him that we should head off to the ruins in Tulum and be the first ones there.

8 O'clock sharp we were the first at the entry gates, paid 60 pesos and had the place all to ourselves.....for all of 20 minutes. The ruins are set amongst beautifully manicured gardens and were very picturesque against the Caribbean sea.

The third person to enter the site was an Ozzy named Mike who we chatted to for a bit ... nice guy who seemed to be on a constant travelling adventure. I have a feeling that we shall be bumping into him again some point this year as we are all on the same travelling route. He gave us the tip to splurge out and visit the Corn Islands as they were amazing ... mental note embedded.

We spent about 1.5hrs here then headed back for breakfast... Hmmmmmm

Mama Chelo kindly offered to wash our stinky clothes for 40 pesos which filled Roland with joy. Once they were out hanging to dry, we headed out to the beach. Roland used his negotiating skills and landed us a boat trip to the coral reef ( the second largest in the world...) for 200 pesos. We snorkeled for about 1 hour and then relaxed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon.

It’s a good job that we are leaving Tulum tomorrow, I have discovered the best bakery in town, called Carmen, and seriously, the cakes are good ... no more than 10 pesos for a massive slab! I have sampled quite a few of them, and the custard doughnuts (5 pesos) were my fav. I just hope all the cycling will burn off the extra consumed calories.

When in Mexico eat Mexican food...we strayed away from this in the evening and ate pizza (125 pesos for a 10 inch). It was gross and I wished I hadn't eaten it! In fact the mozzies were having a much better meal feasting on my arm and legs...forced to by mozzie repellent for a rip off of 110 pesos..grrrrr.

Friday ..bye bye Tulum we have loved staying with you! We could have quite happily have stayed here for a few more days but the time had come to make our way to Mexico City. We thanked Mama Chelo and her Sons for a fabulous stay, I am really going to miss the breakfasts!

Mama Chelo

We are now starting to settle in to the travelling spirit and actually spoke to other people at breakfast. (A little shy to start with). We met a really nice couple from Costa Rica who we shall meet up with again as they run an adventure tour agency there, Nathalie and Fabio. The other couple were from Italy and were also nice. They are on the same travelling route as us so I am sure we will bump into them again.

We caught our first 'collectivo' and took ‘The Bags’ and us to the ADO bus station for 20 pesos. Before we headed off to Cancun Airport, I had to make one last trip to The Bakery. 2 muffins 2 custard doughnuts and 2 ham and cheese rolls which cost 50 pesos!!...not all for me ;-) Lunch and dinner sorted for today.

I was quite relieved that I had correctly booked our flight tickets with the Mexican budget airline, Volaris, and the lady at the check in desk took a blind eye to the fact our baggage was over by 3.5 kg (same can't be said for Ryanair). We were even served free drinks and snacks during the flight! I am pretty sure you would only get lime flavoured crisps in Mexico!

Cancun from above

We arrived in Mexico City about 4:30pm, and navigated the metro system with ease to find our hotel (believed to be a 'love hotel' according to Roland). First impressions, I guess you get what you pay for ... only cost us £12 a night ... the room was clean but did smell a bit, especially the bathroom. It was OK for the 4 nights we stayed there.

Saturday and Sunday. The whole reason we came to Mexico City was to attend The Corona Music Festival, mainly to see Jake Bugg, but as it turned out there were quite a few good bands on.

In summery....we saw some great acts, drank gallons of corona, danced a lot, got sunburt, experienced 'the Mexican death drink' (Mezcan), got sprayed with paint powder chatted to randoms and had a great time. If you ever find yourself in Mexico and this festival is on, I would fully recommend going.

As the festival was on in the afternoon we made the most of the mornings and did some site seeing around the historical centre.

Street food!!!

So many police! apparently guarding gift aid following the recent hurricanes

We have totally blown the budget this weekend..but it was well worth it!

Monday. Our last day in Mexico. We decided to visit the popular district known a Cayoacan. It was really lovely here and I would recommend staying in this area if you are in Mexico City.

We enjoyed exploring the area, following the below walk.