Mexico!

When I first got to Flores, I planned on staying there for a couple of nights. Seven nights later I finally left. Destination: Palenque, Mexico.

In company with my friend, Asian Andy (his words, not mine) I took a bus to the border, crossed the river in a tiny , local boat and then a bus onwards to Palenque. The border-crossing itself went without a hitch, but the journey took ten hours or so, we were quite exhausted when we got there.

The town of Palenque itself doesn't have anything special to see, but there are some quite nice ruins nearby. The Mayan city of palenque was quite big, with temples, palaces, towers and all. In addition the nature there is beautiful. Worth a visit. After a couple of days here I caught the bus to Campeche, a few hours north. And for the first time in ages I was actually on a real bus! All the buses I've taken in Guatemala was minibuses, so it was nice to relax in a big, airconditioned bus with reclining seats and movies. It's more expensive than Guatemala, but worth it. And besides, it was quite fun to watch Fast Five dubbed in Spanish.

The bus rides themselves are also quite eventful. During my six busrides, my bus has been stopped five times on routine inspections. The cops are looking for drugs, illegal immigrants and weapons. They are very polite, and there hasn't been a problem yet, but they always have their hands on their guns, ready for everything. Quite different from back home.

And speaking of police, I've discovered that Mexico is organized quite like the US, in fact, the official name of Mexico is "los estados unidos Mexico". It's probably all well and good, but it has to be a judicial nightmare. Tourist police, local police, state police, federal police and the military. I'm glad I don't have to deal with all that.

Anyways, Campeche is another nice city. It was the first place Christopher Columbus touched land on the Yucatan, and ever since then, it's been a big, Important, and last but not least, a wealthy city. This caused the city to be a hot target for pirates for decades, until the Spanish decided that enough was enough, and made Campeche to the biggest fortress in the new world. The defenses consisted of big walls, fortresses and outlying batteries. You can still see quite a lot of these today, and they have several museums dedicated to this, the pirating, weapons, ships and a lot of other stuff. During my second day in town, I visited no less than three of these.

After a few days in Campeche, I took the bus north to Merida, another colonial city. I spent a couple of days strolling around town, visiting museums and other touristy stuff. Then I spent a day In the city of Valladolid and the ruins of Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is probably the most famous of the Mayan cities, and I think it's onof the new seven wonders of the world. It is quite spectacular, but I must admit I got a bit disappointed. I think that after visiting the ruins of El Zotz, Tikal and Palenque in two weeks, I've just seen too many stones and pyramids in too short time. #firstworldproblems.

But since I've been such a good tourist lately, I have decided to do something else for a few days. That brought me here, to lovely Cancun. The city of Cancun is basically built as a city for tourists, and there is an abundance of big resorts, malls, clubs and bars, kind of the Mexican Las Vegas. But whereas Vegas is in the desert, Cancun is by the ocean, and the beaches are amazing! Pure white sand and crystal clear water. Definetly a good place to start tanning. Cancun is also similar to Vegas at another point - the partying. Europeans go to Greece and Spain during the summer for partying, and American students (and everybody else) comes to Cancun for the spring break. During March and April, the city is packed with students, all out looking for a good time. The clubs are awesome, and the parties fantastic! Yesterday I went to Coco Bongo, the biggest place in town, and the show they put on was very, very good. Actors, dancers and acrobats, smoke, lazers, confetti, light and sound - you name it. The atmosphere was accordingly, and people didnt leave untill it started to get light outside. The downside with all this is that you are so busy having fun that you dont notice how much money you are spending untill its to late. "Insuficcient funds" is not a good message to get when you are trying to withdraw money... Im just glad that I booked my tickets to Cuba before the weekend and not after, haha. And yes, that's right - Cuba. Since I only did one month of Spanish school instead of two, I now have time to go there as well. My flight is leaving in an hour, and then I will spend the next ten days chilling at the beach, while drinking rum and puffing a big cuban cigar. Life is good!

-Magnus

PS; my internet sucks, so unfortunately Im not able to post any pictures at the moment. Ill try to do it later.