Going South.

So having sadly said our goodbyes and leaving Cancun we headed down to Playa del Carmen, party captial of the east coast. We caught Playa del Carmen on the last day of a massive festival so things were still pretty lively despite seeming to shut down a little early for our liking (4am). We went to a chain club called Señor Frogs which can only be likened to Flares. On arrival (we were sucked in by the swing seats at the bar) we were forced into a conga and fed tequila before we´d even had one swing. Anyway, that pretty much set the tone of the night.

So after a pretty heavy one, we went for some ´down time´at a little island called Cosumel. Its supposed to be a bit of  a snorkelling hotspot, but as we´d already done a bit on the reef we decided it would be fun to take on the roads in true Mexican style.

Oh yes, the VW i always wanted. The hardest thing I have ever driven, cranking back between fourth and first whilst driving on the wrong side of the road with angry Mexicans behind you was a little stressful. But, we got there in the end and had a lovely cruze around a beautiful island. That topped off with beers for 12 peso, or about 70p made our stay at Cosumel definitely worth the ferry trip, even if we did experience and extereme journey on the way back!

We had our first glimpse of rain (booooo) and that water was CHOPPY.

Our beautiful view from the boat. I´ve never experience anything like it! it took about half an hour just to land the thing! But never fear, the freeeezing bus is here....

That air con was COLD, we froze our way to Tulum where we finally did a bit less beaching and a bit more culturing. And we know what that means... more ruins. We have decided that these were our second fave. So we rate it Ek Balam, Tulum, Chitchen Itza. WHich is suprising considering that Chitchen Itza is what everybody raves about. But the whole problem is that they´ve gone all health and safety (unusual for Mexico) and after a few people fell from the top decided to act like the British and cordon the whole thing off.

Tulum´s setting is beautiful, its right by the beach so the views are stunning, and the ruins themselves are only 500 years old and have a much more gardeny feel! If you fancy going stay at The Weary Backpacker hostel. Its brilliant fun, you can bbq your own food with cheap drinks all night, and an amazingly cheap taco place just outside! Book in advance as it seems pretty busy, but definitely worth a go, we bumped into all the people from our Cancun hostel there so it seems the place most are heading.

And that takes us up to today. We´re off to watch some Flamenco tonight and then are honeymooning it up in a beach hut for tomorrow night. A little bit of Laura, Hannah bonding time! And then we´re going to hunt down a more local town, avoid the tourists for a bit before we take on Chetumal.