Nathan and Danya's Adventures: Ruinas, Playas and Hora Feliz!

We started the Mexican part of our holiday in late October, heading from the Texas border all the way down the Gulf Coast to the Yucatan, then across the mountains to the Pacific Coast.

Firstly, let’s start with the Texas border crossing… Well, I must admit our Spanish was pretty poor at this point – we got by on “No intiendo” (which means “I don’t understand”), much to the exasperation of the Mexican customs officials who were trying to guide through this multiple step process. Nevertheless, we made it through, and were suddenly confronted with the fact that we were driving a large campervan through Mexico and couldn’t understand a single thing. Our lives flashed before our eyes as we swerved between a chicken bus and a pothole the size of a VW. All this in the first hour. Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore!

Our route took us firstly down the Gulf Coast (aka the “crappy” coast of Mexico), so we put in a few hard days of “driving” (riding speed bumps and dodging donkeys). We managed to find an absolute gem of a beachside campground in a spot called the Emerald Coast. We wished we could have stayed longer but unfortunately we learnt an important lesson about the Mexican banking system – nada. We had to depart early because we ran out of cash and couldn’t find an ATM nearby.

Moonrise over the Emerald Coast

Nevermind as the next stop was Campeche – a gorgeous Spanish colonial town marking our first point of call in the Yucatan Peninsula. This was the first place in Mexico that we felt comfortable enough to free camp for a couple of nights outside the tourist bureau and within easy walk of all of the towns delights. Walking along the malecon whilst watching the sun setting over the Gulf of Mexico, we thought: if the rest of Mexico is half as good as this, we are in for a treat. Here we tried one of the national dishes – Pollo Mole Poblano – which is similar to chicken enchiladas but covered with a chocolate & spice sauce, which is a very interesting combination of flavours!

Spanish colonial streets of Campeche

About a thousand years ago the Yucatan Peninsula was a major political / cultural / religious centre of the ancient Mayan civilization. Hence there are ruins everywhere – with each one claiming to be either the biggest, oldest, tallest, most triangular or whatever. The first two that we chose, Uxmal (pronounced like “ush-marl”) and Chichen Itza (pronounced like “chits ‘n eats her”), were doubly impressive due to their night-time sound and light shows and day-time abundance of iguanas. We spent many hours at each - pouring over, climbing up and walking through the ruins: here are a couple of pictures.

Some of the Uxmal ruins (with an iguana in the foreground)

Chichen Itza's Light & Sound Show

Skull reliefs at Chichen Itza

So having knocked two of the ruins off our list and feeling like intrepid travellers we headed for the flashy and very-fake town of Cancun, still in the Yucatan Peninsula, but this time along the Caribbean coast. You may have heard of Cancun before – it’s a place of international cruise ships and 5 star hotels where rich folks can enjoy a beachside holiday without having to speak a word of Spanish. Unfortunately our budget excluded us from the 5 star set, but we did manage to find our own paradises on nearby Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen, where we tucked into the happy hour (Hora Feliz!) 2 for 1 beers & cocktails with gusto!

Enjoying a couple at Isla Mujeres

Deciding to give our livers a break, we headed to a lovely beachspot a few miles further south. This was my idea of the perfect beach – beautiful fine white sand, very warm water (say 28 degrees or thereabouts), a coral reef just off shore for snorkelling, and a few restaurants along the beach perfect for people-watching. We made friends with the Canadian couple in the campervan next door and mostly did a whole lot of nothing. We did, however, take a day out of our nothing-ness routine to do a spot of scuba diving in a few of the nearby cenotes. The Yucatan doesn’t have any rivers, and all the fresh water travels to the ocean via a natural underground network. A cenote is an above ground opening into this network. It was marvellous diving – the visibility was unlimited, the roof & floors of the caverns were covered with stalagmites and stalactites, and the sunlight shone through the opening of the cenote creating god-finger rays in the water.

Perfect beaches along the Yucatan Peninsula's Carribean Coast

Our campsite (Daisy's on the far right)

With much regret we said goodbye to the perfect Caribbean beaches and headed inland to the mountains, stopping of at our third ruins, Palenque. The geography of Palenque, being set in mountainous jungle, was very different from the ruins we had previously visited. Many of the ruins were completely covered by jungle, giving an “Indiana Jones” feel, especially with the local howler monkeys providing the soundtrack!