All good things must come to an end . . . .

 . . . . and so after the most incredible 90 days, we reluctantly fly home from Cancun to Gatwick on Tuesday.

It is so difficult to answer what will be the most frequently asked question: what was the best bit?  So we thought in Oscar/Award style we'd nominate a few of our favourites,

Favourite Country - has got to be Nicaragua for its diversity including, lakes, volcanoes, colonial towns and nature.

David Attenborough Award for wildlife  - Caiman spotting in the dark on the Rio San Juan in Nicaragua when our guide leapt out of the boat, light on his head, and wrestled a caiman just so we could see it close up.  Missed opportunity - HJ being too scared to stroke it. Close runner up, seeing a three toed sloth on the side of the road in Costa Rica and getting an amazing photograph (it's sure to be a competition winner).

Best dramatic scene - Lake Atitlan in Guatemala when HJ thought she was going to be burnt to a crisp as the raging mountainside blaze headed towards her.

Most romantic moment - when William (who wins prize for the best guide in Central America) bought chocolates for HJ on Valentine's Day.

Award for the most active blog commentator - Marginalia who has kept us amused with his witticisms.  He wins a pub crawl around E17.

Award for the most active blog commentator in a foreign language - VP accepting on behalf of Google Translate.

Snappiest dresser - RM for nearly wearing a crocodile skin suit whilst swimming in a cenote.
So what are we looking forward to on return?

Obviously it has to be catching up with friends and finding out all the gossip.

Putting our KEEN sandals away after 90 days wear and having a signiciantly larger wardrobe to chose from.

Doing our own cooking after constantly eating out.

Swapping rice and beans for a take away curry and bacon butty.

Sleeping on the same side of the bed every night (HJ always bags the loo side) and knowing where the bathroom is without the light being switched on.

Choosing a bottle of SB knowing that it won't be their last one.

Being able to wear Chanel No 5 and Aramis and not Eau d' DEET (to keep mosquitoes away) and in the same vein, only having to take malaria tablets for 4 more weeks.

Not constantly having to pack and unpack.

Hasta luego and thanks for following!

Crocodile Dundee

To escape transforming into sand sculptures on the windy beach, we went to investigate a cenote, said to be a ten minute walk from our hotel.  We set off, map in hand, counting down the hotels to where the cenote was said to be. But having walked for twenty five minutes and hit the arched entrance to the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, we knew we had missed it - not difficult when you have no idea what you are looking for.

On the way back, HJ noticed a camp site entrance which appeared to give access to the cenote, so we investigated and sure enough, for a cover charge of 30 Mexican Peso each (£1.80), we were in and told we would find it if we walked though the tents to the back of the site.

Having passed a sign, we arrived to find a small wooden deck and floating wooden jetty on a fairly narrow stretch of water that was surrounded on the far side by red mangrove trees (after all our naturalist expeditions we are now adept at naming flora and fauna).

The water was extremely clear but very deep (10m) and you could see the fish swimming.

The water did look inviting, and we were debating who should go in first when HJ spotted a sign with a few 'dos and don'ts' i.e. do have a shower before you enter to remove sun cream to keep the cenote pure.  However, one 'don't' caught her eye - do not swim within 5 meters of the crocodiles!  Now we know what the entrane sign meant when it said 'Swim at your own risk'. There was now no debate, RM had to go in first.  However he was still a bit jippy about it, until we saw a couple of young Americans approaching. 

Not wanting to appear a wimp, in he jumped, whilst at this stage HJ still hadn't taken off her shorts. RM swam around for a bit and eventually after much careful consideration and a full discussion on whether crocodiles were noctural or not and whether they would attack you, the couple decided to join him.  Two girls arrived, and were likewise persuaded so HJ took on the role of official photographer, still keeping her shorts firmly on.


The peaceful silence was only shattered once when RM swam backwards and got tangled in what he thought was a passing snake, but this turned out to be the rope mooring the jetty in place.

We retired back to our hotel (HJ never having taken off her shorts) and spent the afternoon on the beach.  If you really want to know what a cenote (or ceynote as I think they call it in the UK) you will have to Google.

It's the way I Tulum!

We finally managed to drag ourselves from the beach to visit the nearby Maya ruins at Tulum, the only site not enveloped by jungle and the only one on the coast.

Although we arrived an hour after it opened at 9am, the site swiftly filled up with coach loads of tourists, mainly American, who true to cultural form, took a quick glance at the architecture, and promptly jumped into the sea.

It was a change wandering around a site with palm trees rather than jungle, and we saw a number of iguanas.  Fortunately for us, a number of the ruins were roped off and so there were no steep steps to climb,

Having spent a couple of hours around the site, we took the opportunity to call into Tulum village, although we would probably call it a small town.  We stocked up on sun cream, had a reviving drink and headed back to the beach.

The weather has turned remarkably windy, and because the sand is so fine, it is blown everywhere.  Once you have sun cream on, you're quickly covered in a cocktail of sand from the beach and salt from the sea. A name for our cocktail is invited.

Rain is forecast for today, but at the time of writing, the sun is shining and the wind still blowing.

We are hoping to discover what a ceynote is today.