Well, Chichen Itza was amazing - a Wembley stadium of ball courts and climbing up several pyramids again - I (Ann) must be getting fitter! There are various theories about the ball game they played; some say the loser was sacrificed, others that the winner died as a sacrifice with honour whilst the losers were just killed - not much fun either way! We then stayed in Cacun on the Caribbean coast for two nights. We thought this was a horrible typical costa del tourist coastal resort with nothing but hotels and no character whatsoever (as Lizzy had warned us). The festivities on the beach nearby, disco music and loud speakers, went on past 5am so sleep was not of the best. However the next morning Rick suggested that we might take the bus down the coast for 35mins or so to Puerto Morelos where we could take a boat out snorkelling. This was fantastic! A lovely little cove and pier with few tourists and boats that took you out to the reef (only 5 minutes from shore) for one and a half hours for 25 USD. The coral reef was the best we've seen yet - wonderful varieties of coral and many fishes. It was very shallow - I was worried about touching the coral as I swam overhead! Iain found an enormous crab, more than a foot across. Apparently we learnt afterwards that this reef stretches right down to Honduras and is the second longest barrier reef in the world. We then had a lovely seafod lunch in a small Mexican restaurant, recommended by our boatman and frequented mainly by locals, before returning to a dip in our hotel pool. The following day we visited Tulum, a Mayan site perched high on the cliffs and very scenic but rather overun with tourists, before arriving at Chetumal, a small seaside town with a quiet hotel (bliss) and an unspoilt waterfront. Yesterday we traversed Belize and arrived in Quatemala (after unfounded rumours of a holdup on the border because of a teachers strike) and made our way to Flores, a picturesque town partly on an island, where we have a lovely view from our balcony over the sea. It is much hotter and more humid here and we both tried out the hotel pool as soon as we arrived! Today, I (Ann) think, was our best day yet - we visited Tikal in the jungle and climbed up two pyramids to see a host of ruins rising up through the canopy, familiar to some from some shots in the Star Wars film. The first was the tallest but Iain says the second had an almost vertical ascent using wooden ladders with seven stages.We also saw a striated woodpecker, spider monkeys and two lots of howler monkeys (the first time Rick had seen these here although he has often heard them). We were able to walk on small trails through the jungle which was much more exciting than the wide tourist routes. Whenwe got back to the hotel we tried to ring home without sucess because of poor internet signal and relaxed by the pool for a couple of hours. We then had another excellent dinner at the same restaurant as we frequented last night - when you find somewhere really good why change?! We are off to Antigua tomorrow; an eight hour drive across Quatemala but will try and phone people when we can and blog if we are too late to ring...we have heard that there was an earthquake on the Mexican/Quatemalan border but we never felt anything. We have also heard that there may be trouble in Mexico City that may affect some of our group going home but we are moving to Costa Rica so it shouldn't affect us. Further to Lizzy’s comments; Ann has written this with additional comments and proof reading by Iain....lots of love to all ..Iain and Ann