Wandering the World Part 23

David Paul
Jul 23, 2017 · 54 min read

Mexico

My trip to New York City had been a little unusual compared to how I normally travel. It had been limited to a single city which for me is unheard of. When I was ready to continue travelling I would go back to travelling around, never staying in the same hotel for more than a night or two.

South America and the area historically referred to as Mesoamerica are two regions whose history has interested me for some time. On television, shows such as the Mysterious Cities of Gold covering pre-Columbian civilisation only encouraged that. So far I’d been to Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina and had the opportunity to see the ruins of some of the civilisations that had called these places home.

Whilst Machu Picchu offered a glimpse of what Incan structures were like, Mexico would be different. From various documentaries and books I had seen I knew that places such as Chichen Itza and Palenque would provide a glimpse of Mayan culture and architecture.

There is also Teotihuacán — a place we still know very little about, not even the name of the civilisation that built it. One thing that is known about it though is that when the Aztec civilisation found it they were inspired by it. My hope was that in addition to Mayan ruins we would also get to see some from the Aztec.

Since my last trip I’d run the marathon I’d been training for, and had also completed the London Marathon. On the day after my birthday I set off to explore as much of Mexico as we could manage.

My flight connected through an airport in Toronto where I met up with a friend and we arrived in Mexico City just before midnight. By the time we got to the hotel it was the early hours of the morning, but we could see some restaurants were still open — something to remember should we be in need of one at some point.

After only five hours of sleep following twenty-six hours of being awake I was ready to get on with seeing the city. Whilst eating breakfast from the hotel’s restaurant on the tenth floor I could see across the city through the smog to the surrounding mountains and volcano.

The roads were empty — apparently every Sunday morning the roads are mostly car free and are taken over by cyclists and runners. It’s an incredible thing for a city to do — it cuts back on pollution just that little bit whilst promoting a healthier lifestyle. Part of me wanted to be outside and joining in on the running.

At the start of our tour the guide took us to the Hidalgo metro station to get us to Zócalo. The official name is Plaza de la Constitución but the locals know it better as Zócalo, which in Spanish means “plinth”. During the precolonial times it was the ceremonial centre of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan and today remains a major gathering place in the historic centre of Mexico City.

The metro station can apparently get quite warm and is not air conditioned so they have barrels of water there which the locals can drink from for free. I got the impression that it’s pretty rare for the locals to see ghostly white tourists on the metro, as we were looked at constantly, but our destination was only a few stops away.

Our first tour was the National Palace — the residence of the Mexican President built under the orders of the Spanish Conquistador: Hernán Cortés. In precolonial times this was also the site of the royal palace of King Montezuma — the ninth tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, who reigned from 1502 to 1520 during the Spanish conquest of the New World. To construct this place, the Spanish had used the stones from Montezuma’s original palace — a practice we’d seen in other Spanish conquered settlements such as Cuzco.

Whether or not we could visit the palace was dependent upon whether or not they had enough guards for them to open. In Mexico, May 10th is Mother’s Day and it is common for people to not turn up for work on this day as it’s celebrated there in a big way. Even in the early hours of the morning when we arrived in the country we’d seen people starting to celebrate.

The National Palace does not allow the wearing of hats or sunglasses, or the carrying of water. Once through security our guide sat down on the only chair in the garden and spent the next fifteen minutes in the sun talking about types of cacti, and using the agave plant to produce tequila.

After the garden we moved into a large courtyard that has an impressive fountain and some steps up to the second floor. At the top of the steps on the far wall is a large mural created by the Mexican painter Diego Rivera in 1932. As we wandered around the second floor we could see more examples of work that depict Aztec life in Tenochtitlan, the settlement that became Mexico City.

One of the murals also depicts how Tenochtitlan was once a floating city built by the Aztecs around an island in Lake Texcoco. The Spanish occupation resulted in this lake being drained meaning it was a floating city no more.

National Palace courtyard

Although I’m not a big fan of art, I did find these paintings to be interesting because of what they were depicting. I couldn’t wait to see what they had in the Anthropological Museum, but we had to delay our visit due to reports that it was overcrowded.

Instead our guide took us to another local museum — the Museo del Templo Mayor. The outside section of this consists of some Aztec ruins of pyramids discovered during some construction. They demonstrate how every time the Aztec needed to increase the size of a temple pyramid they built over the top of the existing one. Inside the museum they have a lot of archaeological finds from all over Mexico City. Eventually our guide left us to go around the museum by ourselves so we could concentrate on photography and then met back up with him outside.

Our private tour thus far had been moving slowly so that a service taking place in the cathedral could finish. This cathedral is known as the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. Quite a mouthful.

It’s not just the name of the cathedral that’s big; apparently it’s the largest cathedral in the Americas. It has unfortunately been a victim of one of the common problems in Mexico City — subsidence. From the outside it’s not easy to spot the damage as some work has been done to reduce the amount it leans by. We were told that at one point the pillars inside were noticeably leaning and the government had to spend a lot to try and save it. At the time we visited their attempts had not succeeded — they were only prolonging the inevitable.

Although when we arrived the service was still going on, we were permitted to enter. According to our guide there are several services every Sunday so it was little surprise we encountered one.

Another short metro ride later we returned to the hotel, stopping by the local Subway for food, so that we could continue by car for the afternoon. Benjamin, our guide, drove around and pointed out the sights along the way. There weren’t that many of them though, except for an impressive archway not long after leaving the hotel.

At the end of this drive we were dropped off at the Anthropological Museum at our request. We’d missed out on seeing it as part of the tour as intended, but at least we had time for a self-guided tour of it. We’d just need to make our own way back to the hotel — something I was confident we could do. There was the option of a bus for 11 pesos, or a four kilometre walk.

Admission to the museum was 64 pesos, which seemed good value for money considering the size of it. On one side of the museum it covers the stone age with exhibits such as a partial woolly mammoth skeleton, and then proceeds from there all the way through to precolonial times and eventually more modern years. There were also a lot of artefacts carved in stone and in obsidian, some of which were humongous.

Outside in the courtyard they’ve also set-up an Ōllamaliztli court, a Nahuatl name which in English is known as “the ball game”. This was a game that the Aztec people used to play and is believed to represent the passage of the sun. An example of this game can be seen in the DreamWorks animated film “The Road to El Dorado”.

Even at our “break neck” pace around the museum it took us almost two hours to cover the majority of it. For those that want to make more of a day of it there’s also a restaurant that serves food.

On the walk back to the hotel we stopped to photograph the arch we’d seen during the driving tour of the city. This archway is known as The Arch of the Revolution. It commemorates the Mexican Revolution which began in 1910 and then continued for the next decade. This revolution was not just a revolt against the government but was also a civil war with much bloodshed on both sides.

As we got closer to the hotel we could hear the low rumble of thunder. Whilst we’d been out the sun had been warm, and it’d been humid. Whilst we’d been in the museum it’d clouded over, yet it never started raining whilst we were out. At least not this time.

Around the corner from the hotel was Sanborn’s cafe — a local restaurant where none of the staff spoke English. Ordering took some effort, but we got there in the end. Even with a reasonable tip it was a cheap meal; but that’s the advantage of eating where the locals do. It being cheap meant we even indulged in some chocolate sponge cake for dessert.


Next morning we were met by our guide once more to take us out of the city. Our first stop of the day was at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas — our guide said this name comes from the buildings belonging to Aztec, Spanish, and Russian cultures. If the internet is to believed, our guide was wrong and the third was not strictly Russian but one belonging to the Mestizo nation — a Spanish term describing people of mixed descent.

Although the tour company said this place was included, we didn’t go inside — we were taken to a place where we could look through the fence at it. Perhaps they decided it wasn’t worth the extra expense for what was there; if that was the case though we weren’t told.

It’s quite a drive to get from there to Teotihuacán, so it could be they just didn’t want to waste too much time. If it meant more time at Teotihuacán then it was a good trade. This drive passed many small settlements, and finished with a cobbled road that led to a shop. It started off as a talk on the agave plant and it’s uses, and also about how they use obsidian to produce tools and statues. This is when the tour started to remind me of visiting East Africa and China — it was followed by a chance to buy what they produce.

It can be difficult to know what is actually produced onsite and what is produced elsewhere, but I bought an obsidian statue of the Mayan sun god, Kinich Ahau. I could see them working on similar products so I felt a little more confident that what I was buying was locally produced — though sometimes appearances can be deceiving as I’d found in China.

After leaving the shop we passed some cave dwellings that are some of the earliest signs of settlement around Mexico. These are only a stones throw away from where we parked up for walking around Teotihuacán.

As soon as we left the car we could hear the constant drum of fireworks being set off from a nearby village that was celebrating. I could also see a steady stream of red ants marching alongside the path to the pyramids.

When we reached the Avenue of the Dead our guide said he’d meet us at the crossroads in two hours. That seemed fair enough — though so far our guide had worked hard at doing as little guiding as possible. It was a good job I’d read about Teotihuacán before starting this trip.

It is not known who built the city of Teotihuacán — it was once thought to be the Toltec civilisation however with it beginning construction in 100 BC it was far too early to be from them. It is known however that the Nahuatl word “toltec” also means “master craftsman” so does not necessarily refer to that civilisation. The current name for this city was given to it by the Aztecs, a culture which were likely to have been influenced by what they found here. One popular theory about it’s downfall is that famine and drought led to an uprising which caused the temples and pyramids to be burnt by the lower classes.

The smaller of the two pyramids, the Pyramid of the Moon, was the first one we climbed — it’s the one situated at the head of the Avenue of the Dead though not the tallest. I could see tarpaulin covering archaeological excavations underway at the foot of the pyramid, but it was still okay for us to climb these steep stairs to the top. For those that weren’t as steady on their feet there’s also a handrail to help.

It wasn’t the case for me though — I ran up the steps to the top and turned around at the top to look back over the pyramids of the avenue. The view reminded me of what I’d seen in documentaries; the only difference being that when I’ve seen it on television it’s not been populated with tourists.

After descending we made our way over to the Palace of the Jaguars and the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl via a plinth in the middle of the plaza. In the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl some of the walls are painted in different shades of orange-red; my assumption is that this is mostly restoration as opposed to what was originally there. The colours seemed too bright to be the original, but it gave a glimpse of what it would have been like in it’s heyday.

Palace of the Quetzalpapalotl

The Pyramid of the Sun seemed considerably higher than the Pyramid of the Moon and looked like it would take more of an effort to climb. After the first set of steps there is a platform you can walk around — this is repeated a number of times until reaching the pinnacle of the pyramid. This climb was harder than the last — the steps were steeper and already being at altitude was making a difference.

At the top of this pyramid I noticed something odd — a number of black butterflies flying around. What made this odd was that we hadn’t seen any others anywhere else around Teotihuacán even though they’re depicted in “The Paradise of Tlaloc” in one of the palaces. The butterflies could be seen here though due to an insect behaviour known as “hill-topping”.

Pyramid of the Moon

When we reached the bottom of the pyramid after a slow descent we left the Avenue of the Dead behind us, and headed in the direction of the museum. We decided we didn’t have time to go in, but it was more or less where we thought the guide would be meeting us.

We sat at the top of one of the sunken terraces for a while thinking we were at the meeting point. When we gave up waiting we walked further down the road and found our guide resting under a tree. He advised us to go off and climb to the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent.

The climb and subsequent descent of the Adosada platform in the heat was worth it to get to this temple. It was more like what I was hoping to see in Mexico — an impressive style of architectural detail with decorated snake heads protruding out of the stonework.

This temple may not have been Aztec in origin, but it summoned a memory from infant school when this same imagery was used in a theatrical production about Aztec culture. I think that may have been the first time I’d learnt about the Aztec and their encounter with the Spanish Conquistadors.

Eventually we had to leave this world heritage site behind us to look for food. We exited through a market area and found a local restaurant where our guide advised us to try their cactus-based foods. It being this early into the trip I didn’t want to risk a dish that may have been washed in tap water so went with the safe option — enchiladas.

They then brought out some green hot sauce which we were told was very hot. I grabbed a tortilla and scooped some of the sauce up and swallowed it in one go. The guide and restaurant owner thought me crazy, though I didn’t think it was that spicy — I could handle it anyway. Over the years I’ve become accustomed to eating spicy food and it rarely bothers me now.

Having eaten some proper Mexican cuisine we headed back to Mexico City, delayed by an overturned oil tanker we’d seen earlier. Whilst we’d been at Teotihuacán it hadn’t been moved and was now causing problems for the traffic. Time seemed to pass slowly, but we did eventually make it to the Basílica de nuestra de Guadalupe.

The afternoon sun had broken through the clouds, and cleared the sky of them. It was getting warmer, and being out in the direct sunlight was starting to burn us. The guide wasn’t bothered by the sunlight though so stood in the middle of the plaza and told us about subsidence causing that much damage to the old church that they had to physically split the building up.

What we were there to see was the new church, Basílica de nuestra de Guadalupe, which has a very modern design. Our guide told us this is the busiest church in the world even though it wasn’t that busy when we were there. Our guide wasn’t always that accurate, so it’s possible he was exaggerating.

I think us turning a bright shade of red gave the guide the hint he needed that we were slowly being burnt alive, so he moved into the shade to finish the end of his story about Guadalupe. He led us into the new church and was surprised by the uniqueness of the interior. The ceiling was very high, and behind it’s alter was gold leaf that extended from floor to ceiling with an intricate pattern detailed into it. Protruding from the ceiling around the alter were a number of hexagonal lights that let out slits of light around the side and shone underneath. I was confident I’d never seen anything like it before.

We sat with the guide inside the church, watching people pray, until we were told to leave him behind and to go to the old church. We decided as we’d got time we’d look around the area first and then look in the old church. I didn’t think it was that impressive though; I’d seen better in South America. Though I was amazed at how many buildings in this area were used for worship.

Inside Basílica de nuestra de Guadalupe

Upon our return, the guide led us through a Catholic shopping area before taking us back to the hotel. I usually like to try different restaurants, but with the weather forecast the way it was it seemed sensible to try somewhere local for food so went back to Sanborn’s Cafe. For this meal, unlike the previous night, they brought out bread rolls and tortillas to eat with the meal — something we’d later find out to be a staple of Mexican meals alongside refried beans.

In Mexico City at this time of year it is common to get thunderstorms because of their geography and how humidity would rise. The thunderstorm for the day arrived early and started whilst we were eating. With a flight to Tuxtla the following morning neither of us wanted to be packing wet clothes in our suitcases. The solution was to run as fast as we could through the heavy downpour to get back to the hotel. Sometimes being a runner is useful.


Unlike most airports, the one in Mexico City requested that I removed my cameras from my backpack before putting it through their x-ray machine at security. Once we’d boarded the plane it was only a little under two hours before we’d arrived in Tuxtla for the second part of the trip where we met the driver for the day.

The driver didn’t speak English though — we’d been warned this would be the case but the tour company had assured us this wouldn’t be a problem. What they hadn’t thought of though is that he might need to give us instructions and wouldn’t be able to do so. Fortunately one of the other passengers understood English just enough to give us an idea of what was being said. I thought if he’d written it down in Spanish we could have translated it using our smart phones, or he could have drawn pictures to convey his meaning.

With the language barrier seemingly behind us we set off for Sumidero Canyon, a place located in the Chiapas region of Mexico. We kept our eyes fixed on the driver and the road as he spoke on his mobile phone whilst hurtling around numerous bends of a winding road at speed. In the UK it’s illegal to use mobile devices whilst you’re driving, though it would appear either that’s not the case in Mexico, or it just doesn’t bother them.

This white knuckle ride came to an end when we boarded a small boat on the Rio Grijalva at midday. For the next two hours we were on the boat with no English speaking guide, and nobody able to translate for us. At various points the guide stopped and gave a description of the area — this much we could tell, just not what he was actually saying. Being told we wouldn’t need an English guide for this day was seeming to be an outright lie.

When we first boarded the small boat the shoreline was flat, but after passing under the road bridge we’d been driven over just before, the scenery changed to high canyon walls.

Sumidero Canyon

The boat stopped a few times along the canyon so we could see a crocodile, some vultures, the highest point in the canyon, and a statue of Maria de Guadaloupe. It seemed we weren’t going to be stopping for pelicans or for cormorants even though I was pointing them out.

Eventually we got to the Chicoasén hydroelectric dam which meant we could go no further. It was now 14:00 and I’d not had anything to eat since a light breakfast seven hours before. Here at the dam was a small dugout boat selling a dark-brown coloured drink called “Indio”, and packets of tortillas covered in dirt. I thought it best to not trust food that questionable so early into a trip.

Once the others had bought what they wanted we turned around and started the voyage back. Just after we paused to photograph some pelicans it started to rain. Although only a light rain, it made the return journey feel miserable — we couldn’t shelter from it, and our waterproofs were in our suitcases on the bus. We just had to live with it.

From the shore it was a five minute drive to the centre of Chiapa de Corzo where we stopped for about an hour. This city was originally named Chiapa de los Indios, but was later renamed in honour of a politician. Although initially a Spanish settlement and later left to the indigenous peoples and the Dominican friars, the site of this city was settled upon far earlier. It is believed that it was settled on at least as early as 1400 BC and is of archaeological importance as it shows evidence of an early Mixe-Zoque-Olmec culture before the split from Olmec civilisation.

We weren’t completely sure how much time we had as it was difficult to figure out what the driver was saying with our limited Spanish — but it sounded like he said fifty minutes. Just in case we decided not to go too far so only wandered as far as the Santo Domingo church.

Santo Domingo Church

As it appeared to not be open we went back to the main plaza to look around the shops. It was a chance for us to buy a snack to keep us going until we reached our destination. The prices differed greatly to what we’d see in the UK. A drink that would normally be about £1.30 back home was 8.50 pesos here — so around £0.40; and a chocolate bar that would be a similar price to the drink was 23 pesos. I was surprised how much cheaper it was.

After I’d eaten I wandered around the plaza some more to get photographs of the clock tower and the La Pila fountain until it started to rain again. This time it was torrential so we ran for cover in front of the shops until it was time to get back on the minibus.

From Chiapa de Corzo we headed up into the mountains along a road that weaved around the edge of the mountain. It took us higher and higher until we were above the clouds, and we could no longer see the valley below.

Along this road there were various signs which people familiar with the highway code would know indicate that you’re not supposed to overtake. It seems our driver, and many other drivers didn’t seem to realise what this sign meant, nor that you shouldn’t straddle both lanes and overtake in heavy rain on a winding road with a very long drop on one side. I guess it’s one way to make sure passengers stay awake.

The city of San Cristobal de las Casas has an obvious Spanish colonial feel to it. It’s roads are a combination of cobbles and stonework, and the buildings have wrought iron balconies and red roofing tiles. There is no conformity between buildings and most are painted in either neutral or bright colours.

When travelling you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for directions, and that is how we managed to find a restaurant to eat at near the Zocalo. Through an archway into a small hidden square we found a small cafe that did warm food. I went for Pechuga Empanizada which is a type of breaded chicken breast, and that with a drink came to only 105 pesos.

San Cristobal de las Casas

In the morning it was far quieter than it had been during our stay in Mexico City — the traffic was comparatively non-existent. Here they served what they described as an American breakfast — watermelon, toast, refried beans, and scrambled egg with bits of ham mixed in. I wasn’t overly fond of the breakfast, but fortunately I’d got some cereal bars with me just in case. Sadly this would be the best of the breakfasts we’d have between now and the end of the trip. Though most would be similar.

Today’s excursion was only thirty minutes away in the nearby village of Zinacantán. In the Nahuatl language this translates to “land of bats”, though whether they actually have bats there I couldn’t say. Most of the driving time was to get around the one way system in the town — our destination was only about ten kilometres away.

At the time it would have taken me just under fifteen minutes more to have just run there myself. It may be a way around the traffic, though carrying my camera equipment would have been a problem.

This village has it’s own laws, separate to the rest of Mexico. Everyone, foreigners and Mexicans alike, have to pay 20 pesos to enter. One of the most notable laws here is that you cannot take photographs inside churches, and can be imprisoned if you’re seen to. It would be a bad idea to try and take a sneaky photograph — you could be caught and the consequences would be harsh.

Our first stop was at their main church, San Lorenzo, where we went inside and wandered around for a while whilst our guide spoke to the Spanish speaking portion of the group. Once he’d finished with them we returned to him and he gave us a shorter version in English. At least today we had a new guide, and one who could speak our language. Outside we then took a few photos before moving on to the chapel where the guide followed the same pattern as before for translating.

San Lorenzo, Zinacantán

After the chapel we were all bundled back into the minibus, but were only driven two hundred metres down the road to a house. Why we couldn’t have just walked that I have no idea. Well, I did have one thought — perhaps they’re used to tourists that don’t like to walk very far.

As we walked into the front room of the house the guide took it in turns to talk in Spanish and English again to talk about how they live, and the clothes and other cotton products they make.

After looking at the products they had for sale we were led into another room further back. The room wasn’t as well lit, but light was shining through the holes in the wall to illuminate a log fire they had burning against one wall. On top of this fire they had placed a large metal dish which they were cooking tacos on.

Next to the log fire they had a small table with a collection of bowls. I wasn’t entirely sure what any of their contents were. As they didn’t speak English and I don’t know many words of Spanish I couldn’t find out either. I tried each of the fillings, but found them to be incredibly dry and powdery.

It was nice of them to make lunch for us, and once we’d all eaten we carried on further back to where they had a greenhouse for growing flowers and beans. They’d sell these to companies for export, but would make almost nothing from their produce. It’d be the businesses that would make all the money.

Our final destination for the day was Chamula — another nearby village which is mostly inhabited by the Tzotzil Maya people. This culture has stood up for itself for a long time — first it didn’t accept fealty to the Aztec Culture, and then it refused to be taken over by the Spanish during the conquest of the neighbouring areas. This area reportedly takes the law into it’s own hands and will beat and burn it’s criminals.

Again it was illegal to take photographs inside the church, though this time we had to put our cameras away in bags as well. On the outside of the church they had erected scaffolding to repaint the front. Inside the floor was covered with long grass cuttings with some areas cleared where the locals were praying with lit candles. It was quite a sight between those and the banners draped from the roof; it was quite a shame we couldn’t take photographs. There were that many candles I was a little amazed that they’d not had any accidents and set fire to the grass.

Once our guide had finished speaking in Spanish we rejoined him, and he told us a little about the place in English. One comment he had was about how the locals consider the church to be a hospital and that everyone in this church would be there to pray for someone to be healed.

They don’t always pray themselves either, sometimes they will go to a person who will pray on their behalf — what was described to us as being an expert at prayer. Though the guide made a point of mentioning that they don’t like being called a shaman. Apparently they find this very insulting; though I guess it would be the same as incorrectly calling a vicar a guru — a similar job, but a different belief.

It was just after midday when we were dropped off at the Zocalo in San Cristobal de las Casas. It was about a mile away from the hotel, but there was no choice — the tour company simply wasn’t dropping people off at their hotels. They wouldn’t even point people in the direction of where they needed to go, they just told us to get off the minibus there and drove off.

We were lucky that we’d been exploring the evening before so knew how to get back to our hotel. As we were in the area though we decided we’d take a look around the Santo Domingo Cathedral first. It was quite plain in comparison to the ones we’d seen in Mexico City, and even to the ones we’d seen earlier in the day.

Dark clouds had been rolling in over the mountains surrounding the city for some time. We didn’t let that stop our exploring though, we carried on and climbed the stairs up to another church which overlooks much of the city. I thought this one was actually more interesting than the cathedral we’d just been around.

With much of the afternoon still ahead of us I decided it’d be a good idea to go for a short run. As we were at an average height of 2,200 metres above sea level I knew that it would be harder work than normal and as I’d not run for several days either I didn’t want to push too hard. Even though it was only two miles I was stopping frequently for crossing roads, and in some places for passing pedestrians. Although the footpaths were raised much higher than the road they weren’t that wide so every now and then I’d have to look out for passing cars, jump onto the road when clear, and then hop back onto the path after passing pedestrians.

I found the easiest way to avoid getting lost was to remember where I needed to get to in terms of a clearly visible landmark — in this case it was the church that was high up on the hill.


Even though I’d only just familiarised myself with the place, the following morning was an early start to move on once more. It had been a sleepless night caused by noisy people, and a 04:30 start felt too early. It was too early for breakfast, but the hotel had packed one for us to take on the bus.

We’d been warned it would be cold in the morning, but we were still in shorts and t-shirts. It wasn’t as cold as they seemed to think though. The drive through the countryside and into the mountains was dark, windy, and bumpy. Every half a mile along the road we’d hit a severe speed bump in the road which would cause the driver to slow to below 10 mph.

Eventually the sun started to rise and illuminated the mist that was rising from the trees in the valley below us. This area really reminded me of my time in Peru and Ecuador — it had a very South American feel to it.

As the drive continued we passed people walking to work carrying machetes. It’s not something you’d see on your average commute in England. Maybe in some parts, but not anywhere I’ve seen. Eventually we descended down into the mist to a cafe in the small town of Ocosingo.

We’d got forty minutes there for breakfast, and food was available for purchase. As we’d got a packed breakfast we thought we should at least try that. The cafe staff were all wearing surgical face masks. I guess it was to try to avoid catching colds and such; but they weren’t actually wearing them right so wouldn’t have been effective.

The journey continued on after breakfast, stopping briefly at a military checkpoint where locals had been emptied from their bus for it to be inspected. Not far from this we stopped again at Agua Azul and was told we had just ninety minutes there.

There’s a lot we could do — we could look around and take photographs, swim in the clear waters of the falls, eat, or shop. Time was limited so we decided to get the photographs we wanted first, and to then see what we could fit in afterwards.

The water flows over many different waterfalls at different levels creating a large number of different sized pools that you can swim in. The falls range from three metres to thirty metres and there are over five hundred around this area in total. Patrolling some of them they also have a coast guard keeping an eye over the people swimming.

I assumed it was the flow of water that was keeping the water so clean and free from algae. It may also be the reason why there didn’t appear to be any fish swimming around.

Once we were happy we’d got the shots we wanted there wasn’t that much time left, but it was enough to take my shoes off and walk out into the water. On the way back to the bus we looked around some of the market stalls, though the quality of a lot of the items wasn’t brilliant. I was tempted by an ornament until I found it was actually badly damaged.

It was a shame we couldn’t have spent more time at the falls. We knew we’d be getting into Palenque early afternoon despite this being clashed as a full-day trip. Getting to swim at these falls would have been a good way to cool off in the sweltering midday sun. It would also have given us time to have some lunch. It seemed that missing meals was becoming a common occurrence on this trip — do Mexicans not eat at midday?

Our next stop was at another set of waterfalls — Cascadas de Misol Há which in the Ch’ol language means “waterfalls”. I guess the name is descriptive and to the point. To see everything here in the thirty five minutes we had meant we had to move quickly.

To start with we viewed it from the front where you can see tons of water pouring down from thirty-five metres above. It wasn’t the most impressive waterfall I’d seen, but this one had another path that would take us behind it. We followed the path behind the waterfall, and across algae-covered rocks until we reached a twenty metre cave. From here we could look across at the waterfall from the other side, though to do so would cost 10 pesos. It seemed quite cheap, but as we were short on time we didn’t really have time to queue to go through the cave.

We headed back along the algae-covered path behind the waterfall and returned to the minibus for the next section of the journey. By the time we reached Palenque the temperature had risen to thirty-seven degrees Celsius and eight-nine percent humidity. Even inside the hotel it was only a couple of degrees cooler.

Cascadas de Misol Há

After a swim we went exploring this town and found it to be the least “touristy” place of the trip thus far. Every step we took out in the sun felt like we were being cooked like lobsters. At any rate I probably looked like one by the time I’d been out in the sun for a few minutes but we had to find somewhere to buy more water from. After about ten to fifteen minutes we found an air-conditioned supermarket — exactly what we needed at that time.

Even at 19:00 when we were back at the hotel after having gone to a nearby restaurant for tacos it hadn’t cooled down that much. With the air-conditioning in the room on full it was just bearable.

We were getting close to a day when we had nothing planned and so we used the hotel’s Wi-Fi to get online and see what sort of trips were available. There was a lot to chose from, but ultimately the one that stood out the most for us was a trip to Uxmal — so we got that booked and paid for that evening.


In the morning we had one of the most unique breakfasts of the trip. It wasn’t the content of the food — that was the normal “Americano” breakfast. A breakfast of two rounds of toast each and some eggs scrambled with bits of bacon that came with refried beans. It may have been of worse quality than the previous hotels, but what was unusual was that they wouldn’t let us sit inside — they made us sit outside where we were being bitten by insects. Our best guess was that they wouldn’t allow people wearing shorts indoors. This was also the first time we had to sign for the included breakfast.

I didn’t really care though as the day ahead of us would see us visiting the UNESCO World Heritage listed ruins of Palenque — one of the largest cities of the Mayan kingdom. We’d gotten used to travelling around in minibuses so that was what we’d been looking out for. Instead a taxi driver that didn’t speak English collected us, and only knew it was us when the front-desk called us over.

The drive to the the ruins was only ten kilometres at best, and an English-speaking guide was there waiting for us. The first thing he said was that our day’s tour would be one hour, but for an extra five hundred pesos each we could have an optional one hour excursion through the jungle.

This came as a complete shock — the tour company had indicated we’d be spending the day here which is why’d we’d made an effort to get extra water for what was likely to be a very warm day. We were sure we could easily spend more than an hour here, so we agreed to pay the extra. What we’d learnt was that if we ever used a tour company for a trip in future we should ask about the length of different excursions to avoid any ambiguity.

Once we’d paid the additional fee we were led through the trees to our first Mayan temple. The largest of the ruined temples is the Inscription Temple where they found the remains of K’inich Janaab’ Pakal — or as we’d more likely know him, King Pacal the Great.

The name of this funerary monument comes from the tablets that were found inside the temple which have helped to translate Mayan words and give a greater insight into their culture. Unfortunately this is not a temple we were allowed to climb due to some damage. Next to this one was another where his wife had been buried — this one we were allowed inside to see a partially pulled down wall from when they found her sarcophagus.

We then continued on to the “palace” which was a series of darkened rooms that were the sleeping quarters for the aristocracy. Each room had a window in the shape of an upside down “T” symbolising that this was thought of as the underworld. They also acted as air conditioning of sorts as some of these windows would remain cool despite the outdoor temperature. What ancient civilisations could achieve through their architecture is incredible.

Our journey around these ruins continued at a pace that left very little time for taking photographs. We hung back when we could, taking the photographs we wanted and I think our guide grew impatient with us; but we weren’t going to let this opportunity pass us by. We moved quickly through the courtyard and passed the observation tower until we’d seen all of the palace.

We crossed a bridge and an aqueduct of sorts, and climbed some stairs amongst some trees until we reached more temples. Here we were standing at the foot of the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Cross. We climbed to the top of the Temple of the Cross and could see an impressive view of this Mayan city.

The hour was almost up so our guide rushed us back to the Temple of Inscriptions. He disappeared briefly, and when he came back he led us through a roped off area to begin our jungle hike. Almost immediately he pointed a plant out to us that had orange-coloured berries hanging from it. He explained that this plant was used by the Mayans to paint the walls of temples. Today there are very few Mayan walls that show this original colour.

Our guide set off at a pace which was pretty fast; possibly faster than we would have gone if the guide had not been there — and we often tour places faster than most would.

We could see how the trees and other vegetation had taken over the buildings there and had destroyed them. It is believed that only 10% of the buildings at Palenque have been found and that there are in fact thousands.

For most of our time hiking through the jungle our guide was trying to find howler monkeys. He was gazing up through the trees, trying to find a telltale sign that some were about. We could hear their calls echoing through the trees, but we couldn’t see them. What we could see though was a large termite mound protruding from the side of a log with hundreds of them scurrying about their business.

Eventually the guide gave up and led us to what he called “the forgotten temple”. It was a relatively intact temple in the middle of the jungle, but some of the lower parts were damaged by tree roots growing through it. Starting to feel like Indiana Jones we climbed the stairs of this hidden temple to look around.

The “Forgotten” Temple

Near the temple were steps down to a man-made pool — or at least it was a sunken pit that was now filled with water and leaves. We could only guess what it was once for. Following the trail away from this and crossing streams we reached a stone cave.

Crouching in front of the small opening into the cave I could just barely see some bats roosting on the ceiling. I’d got my flashgun with me so got it out ready to try photographing them before realising I’d left my batteries for it back at the hotel. Sometimes it’s worth checking and double checking camera equipment before leaving out.

With no chance of photographing the bats we moved on and got our first glimpse of a howler monkey. It was high up in the tree canopy and well concealed — but it was most definitely there. Every now and then it’d move and we’d see it’s tail swing below a branch. I was convinced there were others around due to the way the trees were moving.

Eventually we left the jungle and found ourselves on a mountain road that led down to where we’d been dropped off earlier. Over the edge of the road we could see out across the trees below, and when we got back to the site entrance we found the entire tour had only taken ninety minutes instead of the two hours we’d been told. We couldn’t head straight back though as we were earlier than the taxi driver expected — we had to wait for him to finish drinking his beer first.

Not quite midday and we were back at the hotel with nothing else to do other than to explore the nearby town in the blazing midday sun. We passed places selling live chickens, and all varieties of shops — none of which you’d normally see in the more popular cities. This gave us a better idea of what the “real” Mexico was like or at least the more remote parts of it.

Downtown Palenque

Our next day was the start of us moving further around the coast to see more of the culture. Although the tour company said that all transfers were included, we had to make our own way from the hotel in Palenque to the bus station. We’d also been told our eight hour journey to Mérida would be on an air-conditioned bus. It wasn’t air-conditioned, though it looked like the bus may once have had this feature.

During the course of the day, the bus stopped a few times to drop people off and take on new passengers — we were never stopped for more than twenty minutes though. This was why it was essential we bought supplies from the supermarket in Palenque before setting off so we’d have something to eat and drink on the way.

In addition to our passenger stops we also got stopped at two military checkpoints where they boarded the bus to check passports. The first time took quite some time as they couldn’t find the entry stamp in my passport, but it was hidden amongst the stamps from China. For the second time I knew to help them find it.

Time did pass relatively quickly, though the closer we got to our destination, the more the insect bites I’d gained in Palenque started to irritate me. When we eventually arrived in Mérida it was thirty minutes late and we were directed out onto the streets. Our transport from the bus station to the hotel was nowhere in sight so we paid 60 pesos to get a taxi there.

Our hotel for the next couple of nights looked like it had been left behind in the 1970s with it’s drab shades of browns in the decor. The furniture looked like it hadn’t been replaced since then either. As we sorted our camera bags we got a call from their reception.

It was the tour operator — they claimed they’d sent someone to pick us up and had been waiting at the bus station for two hours. We can say without a doubt that when we exited the bus station, he was not there. If there was more than one exit to the station it wasn’t something we’d had a choice about either. He met us at the hotel with details for when we’d be picked up in a couple of days time, and gave us a map of the town.

Streets of Mérida

Exploring this city we found it being the capital of the Yucatán state gave it a very different feel to Palenque. This city was obviously wealthier, and had a more Spanish Colonial feel to it. The pavements seemed to shine, and each of the buildings we passed were painted in a different colour.

Around Hidalgo Plaza there are restaurants and shops of many varieties. Here I was able to get some antihistamine from a pharmacy to help with the insect bites. Inside the church there we found that there was a wedding or some other sort of ceremony taking place. There was a lady at the altar in a long flowing pink dress, with her back to everyone, and singing.

We couldn’t enter the cathedral though as there was a mass in progress. Even outside the building we couldn’t do much as the sun was in the wrong place to photograph it. Instead we found a restaurant to eat at and called it a day.


When the morning arrived we didn’t know when we’d be picked up by the tour company. This tour was one we’d booked whilst we were in Palenque and I’d asked the tour company to email pick-up details to us and to let the hotel know just in case we couldn’t collect emails — they’d done neither.

We got to the lobby of the hotel early, thinking that we could be collected at any moment. Whilst waiting I was able to get an internet connection on my phone for the first time in days. Overnight I’d had an email from the tour company to say we’d need to phone a different tour company to confirm we'd got a place on the tour, and what pick-up times would be. This was despite having received an email from them that confirmed everything other than the pick-up time.

A little confused and exasperated we called the tour company asking them what was happening and they claimed that the pick-up was at 08:45 despite there being no one there to collect us at that time. They then confirmed they’d be at the hotel in another twenty minutes, so around 09:30.

When they arrived they then decided to tell us that they in fact hadn’t attempted to collect us, despite their earlier attempts to say they had. The reason they gave was that we’d not confirmed we were doing the tour, despite the emails, and had now missed it. I stayed calm, and replied with a sarcastic “great” to show in a very British way how unhappy we were.

To resolve the problem they decided they’d pick us up in the afternoon, just after lunch, to go on a two hour tour of Uxmal. The meal would now include a drink at no extra cost, and to apologise for their mix-up they decided they’d take us back to the ruins after the meal for a sound and light show after dark.

It’s times like this that prove it’s good to be adaptable to change. Our plans were easily moved around and instead we’d spend the remainder of the morning exploring the Yucatán capital.

Not far from the hotel we found the entrance to the Government Palace. We asked the policeman guarding it if we could go in, and he waved us through. It was a little similar to the one in Mexico City except the paintings on the walls were about the slave trade and more recent history.

This palace also has a large hall with larger paintings adorning it’s walls, and a polished floor. This room felt very European, though it should be little surprise considering it would have been built by the invading Spanish.

Back at the hotel we were collected on time, and met with four Argentinians who were on the same tour. Thirty minutes later we’d arrived at Uxmal — an ancient Mayan city that is now one of the most important archaeological sites in the country.

The first thing I saw was an iguana scurrying across the path. Not realising we’d see many more, I was quick to get my camera ready and to start photographing it. When visiting this place there is little doubt that you’ll see many iguanas — it’s surprising just how many call these ruins their home.

For the next couple of hours we wandered around the ruins — passing the Pyramid of the Magician into the courtyard and out into the trees alongside a pok-ta-pok court. This was the same sort of court that we saw in the Anthropological Museum in Mexico City, though this one was in it’s original location.

Uxmal — The Pyramid of the Magician

We continued through the trees and around the many iguanas to a temple which we were allowed to climb up. The rest of the group, even my friend, didn’t bother to climb it but I figured that it was worth climbing just to get a good view of the Uxmal area. The others were impressed with the speed which I climbed it in, but on the way down I was more cautious as tripping over and falling to the bottom would have been far from ideal.

Back at the bottom I picked my camera backpack up from the floor where I’d left it, and realised I’d lost one half of the chest strap from the bag. I looked around the area where I’d taken my bag off before climbing, but couldn’t see it. It was annoying, but I tried to forget about it whilst we carried on to the palace ruins.

For all of the time we were going around the palace ruins I was thinking about where I could have lost the strap, and where I was when I’d last used it. I just couldn’t remember though I was sure I could backtrack along more or less the exact route I’d walked around the ruins. As soon as the tour was over I ran off following the route in reverse until I’d made my way all the way back to the entrance. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it anywhere.

The meal was quite nice — there was a vegetable soup for starter, followed by pork in a local Yucatan sauce with rice. The dessert was a locally produced ice cream sorbet made with mamay fruit. It was incredibly sweet, and I was probably a little over cautious after my Egyptian experience so didn’t eat that much of it.

Once the meal was over we’d got some time to spare so got a ride over to the nearby Chocolate Story museum. This cost 120 pesos per person, and we were led as far as the first hut by our guide before being left to look around by ourselves.

The first few huts told us about how the cocoa beans are gathered, and how they are processed. The trail through the museum then goes passed a cage of monkeys, and then shortly after to another set of cages — one with a male jaguar and another with a female jaguar.

Just as I was getting ready to take a picture the female jaguar launched itself into the air and ran straight towards the glass before stopping, turning away, and laying back down. This all happened so fast that I couldn’t get my camera ready in time to photograph her, but I did at least get a few photos after she’d sat back down.

Female Jaguar

The reason for having captive jaguars is that they were being used to demonstrate the dangers that Mayan chocolate makers would have experienced. Even today there are wild jaguars in the jungles of Mexico — it’s just that we never got to see any wild ones.

The last part of this tour then took us to a final hut where they demonstrated the process that the Mayans used when producing chocolate. We got to try the final stages of the process ourselves where we could combine the various ingredients they’d use to produce a chocolate drink. They had an array of different additions that the Mayans would use — annatto, cinnamon, allspice, hot pepper, and sugar — after adding all of these it started to taste a lot better, but still tasted quite different to what you’d eat in the UK or even in the USA.

When we arrived back at the ruins after this tour the sun was setting, and we had to begin queuing for the light show. Once open we were led through to rows of chairs on the high walls of the nunnery.

The Pyramid of the Magician, with it’s unusually rounded walls was illuminated. As the last of the sunlight left the sky they turned on more lights that illuminated parts of the nunnery quadrangle and the light show had begun.

Although the sound and light show is advertised as being available in both English and Spanish, it was in Spanish that we saw it. This was a story told through lights with a prerecorded voice-over. Different coloured lights were shone on different parts of the ruins to indicate where the story was taking place and to a degree reflect the story being told.

My Spanish is not particularly great, almost non-existent in fact, so I couldn’t really understand the majority of what was happening. What I could understand of the dialog indicated that there had been a drought, and then I believe it talked about a priest offering a sacrifice to the gods and this being answered with rain clouds that saved their crops.

Not really understanding what was going on made the show feel boring, but it was over in forty-five minutes and gave me the chance to photograph the pyramid in a different light.

Pyramid of the Magician

The journey back to the hotel after took forty-five minutes longer than the journey there had. This was caused by one of the roads having long queues where the police were breathalysing every driver. We also encountered a fire in the bushes that had started due to the warm and dry conditions of the day. It was burning through the shrubs and trees on the side and sending smoke billowing across the road. Apparently this is fairly common at that time of year.


I was tired after the late night of the light show, but we had one last journey to make. We needed to make our way to Playa del Carmen via the UNESCO World Heritage site of Chichen Itza. On the New7 millennium project list this amazing site is one of the new seven wonders of the world.

Our guide today, by some remarkably strange coincidence, was the same person as the day before but through a different company. On the drive to Chichen Itza we were given the chance to visit a cenote called Ik Kil for an extra seventy pesos. Although I’d be scuba diving in some later in the week, I really didn’t want to pass the opportunity up so gladly paid the extra.

A cenote is a type of sinkhole — a place where underground erosion has caused the ground above it to eventually collapse. In the case of a cenote the collapse has revealed groundwater. This particular cenote is sixty metres in diameter and sinks to twenty-six metres before you reach the water which is then around forty metres deep.

Around the edge there are a number of long vines hanging down into the hole. For those who want to take photographs, swim, or just get closer to the water, there are steps which go underground, down to the level of the water.

Ik Kil

It took us around forty minutes to look around and get some photographs, and once back on the bus it didn’t take very long for us to reach Chichen Itza. The plan was to spend the next two hours looking around the ruins so that we’d be having lunch at 14:00.

The first ruins we saw was a temple called “The Temple of the Thousand Warriors” where there was supposed to be a column for each. I’m not sure if there actually are a thousand, I doubt it, but I agree there are a lot of them — maybe a couple of hundred.

These columns are on top of a pyramid which has architectural features from both Mayan and Toltec civilisations. I think given a little more time I could have put more effort into the photography there than what I did, but with no shelter from the sun I was glad when we moved on.

Almost immediately after seeing this temple we were led to El Castillo, the famous temple pyramid that Chichen Itza is famous for. Hindsight can be an amazing thing as I realised that with a tripod and a neutral density filter for my camera I could have taken a long exposure to remove people from the photographs. Instead I had to sit and wait for it to be free from roaming tourists. When considering I wanted photographs from different angles you can imagine how much time this took.

Two of the sides are in excellent condition, whereas the other two are undergoing some restoration work as they’re in bad repair. There are ninety-one steps on each of the four sides adding up to a total of 364 steps, with one final step at the top to make it equal to the number of days in the year. It’s an incredible example of ancient architecture.

El Castillo, Chichen Itza

Near to the temple pyramid we found that this site too had it’s own ball game court with impressively high walls on either side.The path from there led passed another side of El Castillo and through the searing heat of the midday sun to El Caracol — the observatory.

This building is rounded like modern observatories and has a single entrance with multiple windows in the damaged roof above it. It’s name is actually fairly accurate as the Mayans did reportedly observe the night sky from there.

This was followed with a short drive to lunch in a nearby hotel. The dining room was filled with tourists from many different tour companies, all there to eat a buffet lunch. The food included types from all over the world, including of course some local Mexican dishes. As we ate, some of the staff performed a traditional dance as entertainment.

After lunch we transferred to a larger coach and continued the journey on to Playa del Carmen for another three hours. This is where we’d be for the next few days, though unfortunately we found that they wouldn’t be serving breakfast on any of those days until 08:00 — too late for us.

That evening we walked around some of Playa del Carmen — not venturing too far from the hotel. We opted for a mixed grill at La Barbacoa where they were having a “Guns n Roses” music night — streaming their hits from a playlist on YouTube.


At 08:00 we were picked up by the scuba diving company and taken to their dive shop. There we had to fill in the usual waiver forms for diving, and then confirmed we were medically safe to be diving. We loaded some scuba gear on to the back of their pick-up truck and was then driven twenty minutes out of town to a cenote called Chac Mool.

The first part of any organised dive is to be briefed about where you’ll be diving. This is important to plan your dive, so you can dive your plan safely. This included a safety briefing, and being shown to the two entrances we’d be using.

Back at the car we prepared the diving equipment and then headed to the entrance for the Kukulkan cavern system. We did our usual buoyancy checks and then began our descent into the cavern. As with all cenotes in Mexico we needed to follow the guide ropes to avoid getting lost.

Some of the route was pretty dark but it was impressive to see the beams of light shining down from the cavern entrance. Around the entrance there were also some rock formations that were impressive, but I found them difficult to photograph as the camera struggled to focus in the dark.

Chac Mool

As the dive approached half way we descended to around thirteen metres and I found that my right ear was struggling to equalise. This started to cause some pain in the ear, but repeatedly trying to equalise didn’t help it. It wasn’t until we started to ascend a little that it started to feel okay.

We then toured a little around the area near the opening before surfacing. On the surface I found my right ear wouldn’t clear but thought nothing of it — it’s not that uncommon for ears to take a while to clear.

Back at the car we drank some water and prepared for the next dive. Due to these being shallow dives and in freshwater we were told that the surface interval didn’t need to be as long as normal. When we headed back to the cenote we entered the “Little Brother” system instead.

This time the entry felt colder, presumably because this entrance is underground already so is out of the sun. We’d have lost some body heat during the first dive anyway, and wouldn’t have warmed up fully during the surface interval.

Again my right ear just wouldn’t equalise and at one point was getting painful. I wanted to ascend a little but the stalactites underwater made that difficult. Eventually we reached an air pocket in the middle of this route where we could take off our face masks and regulators and talk. The most noticeable feature of this underwater air pocket was the tree roots protruding from the roof above our heads — some of these extended down into the water.

Underwater air pocket

After a quick chat we put our masks back on, and cleared our regulators. When we next reached the surface it was at our exit point, though as I approached the rocky exit my friend accidentally kicked me in the face with one of his fins.

Once out of the water, my friend exclaimed: “He’s covered in blood again. Why is it he’s always covered in blood?”

This was a quote from Ginny Weasley in “Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince”. The reason for this was that my face was covered in blood. At first they thought it could have been from the kick to the face, but after washing it off in the water we found it was a nose bleed — likely from the issues with equalising. At this point my ears still wouldn’t clear so I wondered if I’d done damage to them.

With our dives complete we returned to the truck and carefully packed our equipment away ready for the next day of diving. With this all sorted we stood around in the sun, getting bit by insects, and eating the lunch they’d provided. The food wasn’t too bad and they’d even provided a pack of cookies for us to eat as well.

For the remainder of the afternoon we relaxed by the hotel pool and slowly burnt. My thoughts were on how my ear still wouldn’t clear, and how the noise from that ear was making it difficult to hear clearly with the other. I couldn’t help but think I wouldn’t be able to do another day of diving if they didn’t clear as the blood kept making me think I’d done some damage to them. It wouldn’t be a great idea to risk making it worse.

In the evening we wandered around to see if it was an option to photograph the sunset, but it wasn’t a very good one so decided not to bother. Around this area there were performers in Mayan costumes dancing and playing instruments underneath an archway. Eventually we went looking for somewhere to eat as another day came to a close.


Another 08:00 start, and another missed breakfast. Unfortunately my ear still hadn’t improved meaning that I thought I would have to miss this day’s worth of diving. I mentioned this to the guide, who was a different one to the day before, and he insisted that if I took it slowly and stayed as high as I could it’d be okay. His reasoning was that he’d had similar before and that time it was just inflammation in the ear from frequent equalising when doing multi-level dives. It actually made perfect sense so I decided to trust in his judgement.

For this session we’d be using the same entry point for both dives at Dos Ojos — a name meaning “two eyes”. This name refers to there being two cenotes being connected by this one cavern system.

The Dos Ojos system is one which has featured in various TV programs and is still being explored to a degree. What is known so far is that there are eighty-two kilometres of caves with twenty-eight cenote entrances. Through the use of tracking dyes they’d also determined that it exited into the ocean, though no human has yet been able to follow it all the way through.

Once the forty minute drive from the dive shop to the cenote entrance was complete we were briefed on the entry, the plan, and the safety requirements. Once we’d assembled our equipment we also carried our second air tank to the entrance so that we could make a quick changeover after the first dive.

Things didn’t go quite to plan though. After entering the water I found that since I’d last used it, something had happened to my BCD to cause it to leak air so wouldn’t keep me afloat at the surface. When I spoke to the guide he looked at the BCD and the tank and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it and suggested I should dive anyway.

To me, diving when your equipment has a known fault is just crazy. Yes, I could probably have gotten away with it but it’s not worth the risk in case the fault gets worse. Instead I exited the water and the guide from the previous day was with another group and was able to help fix the BCD. I don’t know what was wrong with it other than being told it was “faulty” but after taking a tool to it he was able to fix it. Sure enough when I entered the cenote I was able to inflate the BCD correctly.

Dos Ojos entrance

The first guide line we took allowed me to stay higher than on the dives at Chac Mool and Little Brother. I did experience some issues with my ears, but nowhere near as bad as before. Half way through this dive we reached what is known as “The Bat Cave”, and the other cenote entrance before looping back and exiting where we’d entered.

Again my face was covered in blood, and again it was determined to be a nosebleed. I noticed that I more or less had working hearing in both ears which was a nice surprise. Even if it was short-lived.

We swapped over air tanks as quickly as we could whilst still performing our safety checks. When we reentered the water we took the second guide line which is known as the “Barbie line” due to there being a Barbie doll tied to a rock at the far end of the line.

This time there were some tighter gaps between rocks and stalactites where I had to be careful not to snag any of the hoses on them. I enjoyed this dive far more than the previous dives. I was more in control, and was able to work on technique whilst trying to keep my air usage to a minimum.

The experience was incredible — we were underground with no exit in sight. In some places the cave system was so dark that you could only see where your torch was shining, or shafts of light where other divers were swimming with their own torches. It was like being in an abyss of nothingness.

Even though I’d not had an issue with my ears during this dive, I still surfaced with a nosebleed.

For the first twenty minutes after surfacing my ears seemed pretty good. By the time the equipment had been packed away and lunch eaten I noticed that sound had started to become muffled once more. Once we’d arrived back at the dive shop it was feeling the same as the day before, but at least now didn’t feel like they were filled with water.

We paid the dive company and were driven back to our hotel for another afternoon of relaxing by the poolside. Our other task for the afternoon was to find something to do on our last day in Mexico. We browsed the internet and found many suggestions, though nothing was quite what we wanted to do.

Unsure what to do we decided to head out in search of an evening meal. On our way we stumbled across a portable tour kiosk so we thought we’d see what they had to offer. Buying from stands is something I’m usually unsure about, though we saw they had a snorkelling session for US$89 in Puerto Morelos. It sounded like the prefect way to end the adventure.


On the third morning in Playa del Carmen we were finally able to see what their breakfasts were like. The breakfast room is on the roof of this hotel which reminded me of Mexico City, but the breakfast wasn’t as good. Once again the only choice was scrambled egg with bits of ham mixed in, and those dreaded refried beans.

When we arrived in Puerto Morelos we had to wait for other groups to arrive before we could be briefed. Whilst waiting we paid the US$4 conservation tax, and was advised to check our valuables into a locker. This locker was actually a bag that they dropped into a large chest which would be locked for most of the day.

The briefing explained that nothing would be a rush, we could all take it easy and things would just happen. Sounds easy to me.

Puerto Morelos

We collected a life vest and fins, and everyone else collected a snorkel. For everyone else their masks would be provided on the boat, but I’d got my own prescription mask and snorkel to use.

The first snorkelling session went by quite fast with the guide hurrying people along so that they couldn’t spend too much time looking at the fish. This first spot was quite shallow so we could get quite close to the reef and the fishes, though we did of course have to be very careful not to hit the reef.

The boat took us to a place further out and once again we entered the water for another snorkelling session. During this one I came across a barracuda and got quite close to it. I didn’t know at the time that these creatures of the sea are known for their ferocious behaviour. I got lucky though and wasn’t attacked by it.

Although not really a problem, it was becoming clear that most of our group hadn’t snorkelled before. I noticed that many were spending most of their time kicking up sediment with their feet, and not keeping their backs straight. Some also weren’t that great at staying aware of their surroundings and were charging straight into other people.

Back on the shore it was time for the buffet lunch — a piece of chicken and a pork fajita with some rice, salad, and bread. I did hope that they’d have ice cream too, but it seems they didn’t really have any interest in doing desserts.

There was then an announcement about beach volleyball, but from what I gather it was a case of either that or going for a third snorkelling session — so of course I went out again. It was a rush to get ready though as they hadn’t made it clear what time the next session would be. There was a lot of rushing about for something where we’d been told wouldn’t be a rush.

On the third snorkelling session most of what we saw was the same as what we’d seen previously but I had more time for taking underwater photographs. I tried to photograph a swordfish as well — I’d positioned myself to take the picture and was floating near it with the current, but then the group swam between me and the swordfish which frightened it away.

As soon as we arrived back on the shore we were told we’d got ten minutes before they’d be taking people back to the hotels. This gave us ten minutes to hand equipment back in, dry off, get changed, and collect our valuables. How did they expect that to be possible?

We were the last to be dropped back off at our hotel so it took some time to get back. Upon arrival it was necessary to do our best to clean our camera and snorkel equipment and to get it dry before the next day’s flight — the same also being true for swimming trunks and towels. In the heat of Playa del Carmen though it seemed likely this would be possible, even if they had to be left out overnight.

For our final meal in Mexico we stayed away from Mexican cuisine and went to a nearby steakhouse. Not including the tip the steak was 500 pesos per person, so easily the most expensive meal of the trip. It was expected though — steaks cost more, and this was the most tourism-centric place we’d visited.

All that remained now was to pack for our flight to Toronto.

David Paul

Written by

Web developer from Leicester, UK. Travelled to all 7 continents. Ultra marathon runner and scuba diver.

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