Valladolid

With only a few days left in Mexico we decided to head in land rather than hit the beaches of Playa Del Carmen or Cancun, neither of which really appeal. So we headed to a small town called Valladolid, which is a much more Mexican experience. We´re staying a fantastic hostel – certainly the best one we´ve stayed in in the whole of Central America. We have a nice room, breakfast´s great and we met some cool people (and there´s free salsa lessons!). In this part of the country there are lots of underwater caves, called Cenotes, which it is claimed were created when a huge meteor hit the Yucatan peninsula some 65 million years ago. This morning we visited two of them - Cenote Dzitnup and Cenote Samula. They are both stunning caverns with bright blue freshwater pools in which you can swim. They both have small holes in the ceiling which let a shaft of sunlight in and great long tree roots hang down to drink from the water.

Only a couple of days left in the Yucatan before we catch a flight from Cancun to Mexico City. Then we head up to San Francisco for a week in the US which should be really great - every American we´ve met seems to love California and Big Sur particularly.