Indulgence in thoroughly modern Mexico

The night bus to Mexico was pleasant enough, apart from the multiple stops at the border and the bright lights on the bus turned on to wake us up each time. Suddenly it felt like we were back in the first world, as roads had signs, lights and markings and bus drivers wore uniforms with ties! The border crossing was organised and trouble free although Ali questioned the wisdom of Leila rifling through her medicine collection to take her malaria tablet whilst sat in the customs area. Everyone has to push a button which lights a green or red light, for random searching - very amusing. We arrived into a couple of hours early into Merida, not normally a bad thing but, after only a short amount of broken sleep, arriving so early that you can't get into your next hotel room is also far from ideal. Leila, looking scruffy and exhausted, passed out on one of the sunloungers in the hotel grounds at 6am, with the caretaker taking pity on her and bringing her towels to use as a pillow. Ali meanwhile was on a mission back to the bus station after the discovery that he had left his Kindle on the bus! Not entirely his fault as the sudden arrival into Merida was the only time when the bus lights did not come on and we were rushed off the bus in darkness having just woken up. He headed back to the bus station and made it to the depot within an hour of our arrival only to find that the Kindle was nowhere to be seen and the cleaners claiming complete ignorance and directing suspicions at the bus driver who had already left. Not the greatest start to our short time in Mexico!

After re-immersing in the Spanish language and sampling local bureaucracy whilst filing a police report, we ate a hearty Mexican breakfast we headed out to explore Merida, another old colonial town but with more of a Mexican flavour. We only had the afternoon to see a few main sights but at least half of this time was taken up by talking to friendly locals who for one reason or another were determined to recommend local sites of interest and talk enthusiastically about the city's history, receiving three differing accounts about the local cathedral, all told with equal conviction. Maybe we were just being cynical but we smelled a rat as each finished directing us to a local craft market, but since everyone was so enthusiastic though it was hard to walk away!  The city is very attractive and in the evening we saw a local dance performed by young people in the main square which attracted many applauding locals.

Our next stop was the Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá, reportedly the Eight Wonder of the World or one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, depending on who you speak to. We had to haggle to acquire a guide at a bearable price and in the end an older guide called Miguel ('I am Miguel - remember!') came through. He took us on a tour around the large pyramid like structure, half fully restored, half in a more original state which was used to mark the Spring and Autumn solstices and various other smaller Mayan ruins. Unfortunately visitors are no longer permitted to enter the pyramid and see the jade jaguar inside. But this did not stop Miguel reciting the old opening hours at least three times. From Chichen Itza we were lucky to catch a collectivo, a very reasonably priced shared minibus on to Valladolid where we were just in time for the bus to our final stop in Central America, Cancún.

We were overwhelmed arriving into Cancún, and particularly when we got to The Hotel Zone. Huge high rise hotels and luxury shopping malls line the road along the a long straight with beautiful white sandy beaches and clear sea on both sides. We had booked two nights in one of these large all inclusive resorts to chill out and treat ourselves before flying back. After the previous eight weeks it just seemed like the Land of Excess with extensive facilities including multiple swimming pools, huge buffet meals, and snacks and cocktails available 24 hours a day. It was all a bit much, although Ali was sure to get his money's worth at breakfast, and with the free cocktails and nachos at the pool bar!

This is where our Central American story should end. However unfortunately, so close to the end of our travels we had the worst air journeys either of us has ever experienced. Going into extensive details would take too long and be too painful but the main details are as follows:

- Maintenance issues in Houston meant the plane from Cancún was 2 hours delayed
- Storms in Newark meant we could not land and were running out of fuel
- Refuelling by diverting to North Carolina delayed us further and lost us our place in the queue to land at Newark
- US immigration took so long we missed the last three flights back to Europe that night (by 5 minutes!)
- An 'electrical smell' identified just before take off on the runway of our flight the next day caused the flight to be cancelled
- More bad weather delayed our third attempt to leave Newark
- All in all we were 26 hours late and thoroughly unimpressed!

Fortunately we have two weeks in Norway to come and hope that will enable us to end on a high!