Chichen Itza

Chichen-Itza-El-Castillo

Being a history geek, I couldn’t leave the Yucatan Peninsula without visiting its most famous archaeological site – especially as it was on the way to our final destination.  I was pretty blown away by the scale of the site and the beautiful carvings and buildings to be found all around Chichen Itza but there were definite downsides as compared to the ruins we had seen the day before.

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A fleeting visit to Merida

Merida---Pacheco-staircase-mural

As we had very limited time for this part of this trip I only managed a couple of hours sightseeing in Merida and, while I did fit a lot in, this town really deserves more love and attention as there is so much to see and the atmosphere is so vibrant and yet relaxed at the same time.

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Wonderful Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Another lovely colonial town, Oaxaca boasts beautiful buildings and a thriving art scene.  

I blame the London restaurant’s incorrect spelling for the fact I pronounced Oaxaca wrong for an embarrassingly long time.  Luckily I discovered it is actually pronounced ‘Wahaca’ (as per the restaurant name, not as the correct spelling looks) before I crossed the Mexican border  – Oaxacans are (rightly) proud of their beautiful city so it would have caused some serious rouge-cheeks had I not been corrected!

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Picturesque Puebla

Puebla

The next stop on our mini tour of Mexico was the lovely colonial city of Puebla.  Set in a valley and surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the bus journey from Mexico was almost as stunning as the UNESCO world heritage city centre.  And, as the city centre is quite small you can easily get a real sense of it in just a day or two. 

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