The ruin you've all been waiting for

Chichen Itza, the most famous and popular ruin sites of Mexico. 

And you can see why. 

After having looked at so many picture if this site, i was glad to finally see it in person, and it didn't disappoint. The main pyramid was stunning and my favourite stand-alone ruin of the trip. 

The site at Chichen Itza used to be is own town, the mud and grass huts in which people used to live are since long gone, but the main buildings still remain. 

The playing field was definitely another highlight. the site where an ancient Mayan game was played where two teams each had a 10kg ball that must be bounced off the floors and walls and put through the hoop on each wall. The Mayans only used their bodies to move the ball, so you can imagine their strength, using only their hip to launch a 10kg ball 4 meters in the air! 

Look familiar to anyone?

Another cool thing was the acoustics, you can stand at speak at one end (where the umpire used to sit) and hear it clearly across the playing field. 

Next we visited the market...you're going to use need a little imagination. 

We bid our last goodbyes to the majestic pyramid and went to cool off in the local cenote. Of course! 

Don't you just want to jump right in? 

Hacienda

Today we're visiting a hacienda. An old, historic house where they use traditional methods to make cotton out of the agave plant. We were taken through each stage of the process and were shown how each machine works and the vital steps needed to create the final product. The machines were slightly modernised here, running on electricity rather than the traditional steam engine, but the processes were still the same! 

The plant is cut and stacked and separated into the machines where it is stripped,

Next it's hung out to dry, ready to be thinned,

After the material is smoothed with a massive hairbrush, it's turned into rope..

 Or other little gifts for the tourists to take home

A simple and fascinating in site into how a common plant in Mexico can be turned into a host of useful items. 

Next, we visited the sites very own Cenote. An almost completely covered body of water lead to a very cold swim, but we just couldn't resist! 

Cenotes really are gorgeous, such a unique feature of the Mexican landscape, needless to say this wasn't my last visit!

Can you see the Flamingo?

Another day in transit means there's not a lot to update you on, i'm afraid. But we did make some stops along the way. 

First up is Uxmal, another ruins site and actually one of my favourites, our guide here was really friendly and got the balance right between overloading and oversimplifying the information. It was a very gentle site to walk around with few steps and hills, a definite plus in my book when we were also dealing with sticky heat! 

Next we took a trip down the river at Celestún, with the promise that we would see thousands of flamingos. 

There was one. 

Can you see it? I promise you it's there...just. 

We later discovered that the flamingos often migrate during the rainy season as the water levels at Celestún are too high and they prefer shallower waters. If only we had known this before taking the detour! 

The river was still lovely, and i was particularly entranced by the branch jungle, as i like to call it; the reflective quality of the water making you feel like you were in some sort of mystical land. 

We arrived at our destination, just in time for the sunset