Landing in Merida we managed to get a taxi from the airport to our Hostel which was more budget hotel than hostel. Nothing against Merida but feeling like we were already blessed with the charms of Puebla and Oaxaca, Merida comes across as generic and a tourist trap with 4 - 6 tour agents per block. We wondered the city for a few hours before collapsing into bed to have a fresh start in the morning!

We joined Fernando for a walking tour (even bumping into our Irish friends from lusk we met on a walking tour of Mexico City......If you havn't guessed I'm all in on these walking tours!). We learned alot from the tour but nothing too stand out about Merida, save 2 points:

1 - This is the land in which the meteor that killed the dinosaurs hit (400km diameter crater split half and half between the land and the gulf of Mexico) and this is why the surrounding land is so flat (only 10m above sea level)!

2 - The land was given to a Spanish family during the 16th century and the only thing of value they seen was the material the Maya's got from the agave cactus and set up plantations for the growth of the plant. The city has many colonial style plantation houses all around.

That evening we were treated to a public display from the local Maya community in the main Zocalo - we seen fire dancing, regular dancing, drums and importantly the traditional Maya sport (insert name is you can remember Gareth) in which a two teams hit a rubber ball to one another trying to pass it through a ring stood in the middle but only using their hips or elbows! (Think from El Dorado and you'll remember it!) and the even more exciting version where the ball is on fire and you can only use your hands! (Convinced the Maya's had a really good cure for second degree burns!).

We (foolishly) said we would do a full day excursion to Chichen Itza (one of the 7 new wonders of the world), why I say foolishly as there were 4 stops with a completely full van crammed like sardines for a combined 7 ~ 8 hrs on the road.......First stop being the Izamal a famously yellow town advertised as the Golden City or Magical town (The only thing magical was the amount of shite they tried to sell tourists who are being bussed into the town). The next stop was a cenote (Which was good will give props for that one!), a large opening in the surface leading to the underground rivers and lagoons which run through Yucatan. It was about 45m deep and despite protests that I can swim I was made wear a life jacket....... (it completely clashed with my swimmers!). But we dived in and had a cooling swim while Sarah hide behind me as I fended off the curious fish! Heading to the main place itself Chichen Itza we paid the excoriate entrance fee (Yes we had already paid an excoriate tour fee aswell....) and toured around the ancient city before getting a few pics. The central pyramid itself is massive and like a russian nesting doll has layers upon layers to it (365 steps, 9 tiers of the pyramid, built ontop of a platform ontop of a cenote!) and the surrounding structures making up the ancient town of Chichen Itza! The final town was.........V something.......it'll come to me.......but it was another "magical town" but more targeting the evening travelers with food and again.....shite..... eventually getting back we cranked up the AC and went out for something to eat. Shock horror on getting back, the AC unit was leaking directly into Sarah's open rucksack.....it was a long night of changing rooms and trying to dry clothes as we had a bus first thing in the morning ......

The cherry ontop was Sarah leaving her wallet in the uber to the bus the next morning but that's a story for another day (Still too raw here!). Onto Bacalar for hopefully some better luck!

Hasta Luego!