Hasta Leugo Mexico!

Otto in Valladolid

​We leave Mexico tomorrow for Cuba which, by most accounts, may be an internet oblivion. Who knows how the memorial and funeral gatherings may disrupt an already tricky to travel country, so best to post now whilst we can.

Ek Balam a well deserved rest at the top.

Mexico has been the ideal destination for family travels. Valladolid was a great town. Good, cheap restaurants and great accommodation, good to cycle around, and it has a number of nice playgrounds in plaza Candelaria and plaza Santa Anna, plus it has enough sites nearby to keep you busy. With a friendly, relaxed atmosphere that makes you feel at home, like us you'll probably wish you were staying longer. In fact we were staying slightly longer than anticipated as it was the change to Yucatan province meant we were an hour behind Holbox where we'd previously been and we failed to realise this till the day we left! In the last four weeks, we've spent three, unwittingly on the wrong time. Oops!

We ticked off our must see sights by visiting Ek Balam where we got to climb vertiginous, Mayan ruins (which is forbidden at the more nearby, more famous Chichen Itza) and swim/ plunge into a Cenote (a natural swimming sinkhole). Otto tried to sacrificially offer himself to the Mayan Gods as he completed a couple of belly flops off a 2mtr high platform before his blown up float suit deflated enough for him to realise that horizontal is not the ideal way to enter the water. ​

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Cenote at Ek Balam (you can just spot the sacrificial diving platform)

​Mikey and I egged each other on enough to dive off the cliff side from about 15 metres high but the gods were kind and we all lived to tell the tale. We even got chatting to some lads from Redcar! Teessiders are hard to find on round the world travels, so it was good to hear some fellow smoggies!

From Valladolid we bussed it back (air-con-movies-toilets-reclining seat-luxury) to Tulum where we have splashed out on an apartment (Maya Pax). It's a few km from the beach, but we need the exercise that the cycle provides us, and for all of us the space we have seems enormous. We have stayed in some small places over the last 14 months, often our 'home’ has only just been big enough to squeeze in a double bed, our two backpacks and our two littlelife cot tents (which have been a godsend) but here we've had a bedroom, a living area, a dining area and a full kitchen complete with breakfast bar.  Basically it's a one bedroom flat in the UK and before we left London, it would have felt small to fit a family of four. But after a year and a bit on the road, it feels palatial. Jess was gobsmacked when we arrived 'What? All this is our home? Just for us?’

Add to this we have a shared pool, a sunset terrace, and the beach, a cycle ride away, is one of the best I've ever seen… Tulum is getting the thumbs up.

Maybe we should stay for another fortnight rather than rough it travelling around Cuba. But flights are booked, paid for, and it may be a truly once in a lifetime experience due to the timing of Fidel's death.  So we're off. Once again leaving before we're ready but it's a big old world out there!

We've perhaps gone a bit over the top in our stashing of stuff and cash but we've heard so many rumours of lack of goods and ATMs we thought we'd try and be a bit prepared. So we head off with $2000 worth of pesos, 60 nappies (diapers to our stateside friends) and a tonne of chocolate cookies. Bring it on!

Tulum beach. Perfect for gemelos (or Jess & Otto)