MEXICO CONTINUED

Helen, Josef, Megan, Christine and Glynis all arrived on time on 3rd August at Mexico City airport having taken over an hour to persuade immigration to let them in! We then had time for drinks aplenty in our room, a naughty trick really as they were in the first few hours at altitude.

Our fews days in MC were busy, starting with a Guide Friday type city tour which was interesting inititally but after 3 hours we all agreed we were bored!  The Aztec ruins at Teotihuacan proved more interesting and we managed to climb the moon pyramid in scorching heat. We passed on the sun pyramid deciding it had nothing new to offer, some of us were very pleased about that decision. The women and children then had a day trip to Xochimilco specifically for a boat trip on the canals; Rob found a guitar shop to while away a few hours. It seems that half the population of the city also took to the water that day and we had great fun watching families of up to 50 people share a picnic in the brightly coloured boats. We settled for beer and freshly cooked corn purchased from floating canoes.

Our first visit outside of MC was to Taxco, once the thriving centre for silver mining, and now the best place to shop for silver and shop we did. The town is perched on a hill with narrow cobbled streets and it had a great atmosphere, well worth the 3 hour bus journey. We managed to get rooms in an old monastery, a wonderful old hotel with roof top terrace and spectacular views.

Next stop Oaxaca, supposedly a must-see colonial city. The hotel and food were good, but there was little else to report other than a trip to the Monte Alban ruins above the city. These are Zapoto ruins and as it was a compact site we enjoyed being able to view everything from one point.  We did see another smouldering volcano en route though, so the trip wasn't entirely wasted. 

Our final bus trip, an 8 hour stretch was to the coast at Huatulco where we had booked a three bedroom house with pool, aircon and a juicer to make margueritas!  We now had it made. Huatulco is a new build resort just outside a small town called La Crucecita and is in its infancy at the moment.  However huge amounts of building are aleady in progress and it will not be long before it loses its appeal. We found a great French restaurant, lovely clean beach and enjoyed 10 days of R and R here. We managed to fit in some snorkelling over corals to see some unusual and brightly coloured fish, a walk or two to the town, but mainly we slobbed around eating and drinking and moaning a bucketful about the mosquitoes! Primary rain forest has been destroyed to build the resort and we understand conservationists have managed to persuade the authorities to contain and control developments, lets hope they do.

We flew back to MC in one hour, the alternative being an 18 hour bus journey, for our last few days and once the packing is done - no mean feat - we set off for Gatwick. We remain homeless and unemployed at least for the moment.