Around the World with Charlie,Leon&Woods

So its been a while since we updated our blog, yes we've heard the complaints so here goes a massive entry all in one go, all about wonderfull Mexico - hmmm i think that almost rhymed...
So after a 6 hour delay in Vegas (spent lying on the airport floor with all our luggage because we couldn't check it in till 3 hours before the flight) we finally arrived in Mexico city in the middle of the night.
Waking up in hour kookie hotel right in the heart of downtown mexico was a slight culture shock after the massive glitzy hotels of the Vegas strip and we were immediately swallowed up by people - Mexico city is we've been told by several tour guides the most populated city in the world or something. I vaguely remember 20 million people - basically australia in a city.

We had 5 days there - saw some cathedrals, went out and made friends with some mexican cover bands, found almost every diego riviera museum we could find and made the pilgrimmage to Frida and Diego's house in one of the most beautifull suburbs of Mexico city.
We also went to Teoti.... some ruins just outside of mexico city which we were dissapointed to find out were only 15% real but proceeded to climb all 3 pyramids nonetheless.

at the end of staying in Mexico city we met up with the Gap group that we were doing the tour with who all turned out to be a great bunch, we were definately sad to see them go at the end.

So with the group we started to make our way into central Mexico staying at some awesome little towns and villages along the way, travelling mostly by bus.
From Oaxaca we went to a Zapoteca (Indian) reservation, swam in salt water springs in the mountains overlooking a valley and petrified waterfall, and walked up a mountain along a very hot and windy road to some ruins at Monte Alban.

We also visited a rather interesting town called San Christobal which is best described as a mini european village in the middle of Mexico populated by French hippie tourists that decided never to leave - or brush their hair.
We went to some traditional mayan villages - in San Juan we actaully saw a chicken being sacrificed in their church by chance which was fairly amazing and a little confrontational, pretty sure we all looked away before the neck was broken.
We also spent a few nights in the Jungle in Palenque and went to i think the best ruins we saw in all of Mexico - right in the middle of the jungle it looked like something out of Jurassic park and sounded like it too with Howler monkeys making dinosaur noises in the background. You could climb all the pyramids and even see some of the original reliefs and stucco at the tops - pretty wow.
From there we went to Merida, and visited the local ceynotes which are like sink holes underground, basically you catch a horse drawn cart whcih runs along rail tracks into the middle of nowhere and climb down a ladder into an underground caves with crystal clear water you can swim in and bats and stallectites up above.
very special.
I (Charlie) even jumped from above the ground into one of them and after stepping off and realising just how far it was till i hit the water could be heard screaming 'fuck' the whole way down.
On the way to i think it was Merida we stopped at Chichen Itza - now up for one of the wonders of the world, although i have to say not the most impressive ruins we had seen by far, but probably one of the most famous in Mexico - its the one where on the equinox you can see the shadow of the snake climb around the pyramid.

From Merida we finally made it to the beach! which was a blessing as it was damn hot and humid the whole way along. We ended the tour in Playa del Carmen, where the tourists and prices tripled. We had a birthday celebration night there for a couple of the people from our tour and got pinyatas (spelling?) and tequilla and had an awesome last night, which we all regretted the next day.
After we said goodbye to our fellow travellers me leon and woods headed off to Cancun on our lonesome where we stayed downtown for a few nights before heading to Isla Mujeres for a night which was a small island about 45 minutes by ferry from Cancun. I think we all wished we could have spent a few more nights there, the whole place had a really good atmosphere - despite having no doors on the bathroom to Woody's horror.

And thats it. From the island we are now in Chicago - the windy and bloody cold city. but i'll save those stories for another entry.
Love to you all from all of us xoxo