Yucatan by my parents rental car
| Date: | Tuesday 14 June 2005 - Saturday 18 June 2005 |
| Temperature: | 25-35 °C |
| Weather: |  |
The car was fast and air conned, but my father had to get used to the Mexican way of driving. 
Crazy cab and bus drivers and streetlights on the far side of a crossing making us stop on the crossing quite a few times or driving through red lights. We had to get used to badly marked one way lanes and even worse marked bumps in the road. We've been driving too fast over those 'vibradores', 'tumuluses' or 'topes' quite a few times and I am still waiting for us to take a small flight. One time we had to tank from a bucket, because fuel stations are not so common here in the jungle.
It was great fun. We visited some nice site using Cancun as our base. Playa del Carmen, Tulum's ruins and beach, and Rio de Lagartos, which was a National park with red flamingo's as its top attraction. After a direction wise confusing ride, 'helped' by many Mexican's, one even got a lift out of it, we found out that it was more actually! After some hard bargaining the three of us took a boat through mangroves, seeing many beautiful flamingos on the way, even more beautiful when flying. 
There was a place with 'red' seawater in which I floated like it must be as in the dead sea in Israel. Afterwards I took a Mayan bath! Rubbing myself in with some white clay, let the sun dry it feeling my skin to shrink and wash it of with water out of a fresh water source. I felt years younger afterwards. On the way back we visited the ruins Ek Balam, which had some surprisingly nice and intact sculptures and a huge pyramid, making my father scared of the heights. Further more we visited some local beaches, which were disappointing, I showed my parents the hostel I stayed in and we watched two pirate ships doing its touristy trip.
On the way to Merida we saw the disappointing cennote Dzitnup and the impressive pyramids of Chitzen Itza, before finding a hostel for me and a hotel for them in Merida. They actually thought about staying with me in the hostel for a night, but when my mother heard that the doubles were taken and she had to sleep in a dorm with other 'strange man' we found a quite nice air conned hotel. Dinner in a comedor near the park, a very nice national folklore dance and enjoying drinks in outside bars were our evening entertainment. Next morning they went back to Cancun and I stayed a bit longer to enjoy the park, the outside bands and finding some new friends to travel around with in the hostel.
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