Mexico DIY
My second trip to Mexico, in 2005. A few skinny notes, it’s not a real travel diary Hotels, perhaps the worst slums ever seen, with a very bad quality / price ratio, if compared with Southeast Asia. In Laos, the year before, with $ 3 I stayed in better places. The prices are the cost of a double room
Great food. Perhaps, along with India, the best one I’ve ever found. Although August is not the best season, we did not find bad weather, much more sun and less rain than expected! In the evening, in Taxco, Puebla, Oaxaca, San Cristobal it was even chilly. The first time in Mexico, it was March 98, in the Yucatan was even cold, even during the day .. In my opinion absolutely better August, although there is greater risk of rain. However, I found clouds in March as well, despite the so-called “dry season”..
August 6
We arrive in Mexico City at 6.30, and immediately take a bus Estrella de Oro with destination Taxco. Beautiful city, a special light, clear skies, bright sunshine. Hotel Central, nightmarish. 80% of the time without water, it is since the departure from Turin that we do not shower, in addition we had a long stopover visiting the center of the torrid Madrid, so you can imagine how dirty and sweaty we are. Go to bed without washing, we finally can shower late on the next morning, after I went to the reception screaming that I want our money back (90 pesos) 
We eat dinner and breakfast in the market. In the evening, a very animated and celebrated Fiesta of Jesus Father, ends with fireworks and bullfights with paper mache bulls!
August 7 Taxco
Stroll into town, and in the afternoon bus to Puebla (141 pesos) Hotel Victoria 140 pesos, next to the Cathedral, a little bleak, but not bad
August 8 and 9 Puebla
Beautiful city 
Day trip to Cholula in public bus (5 pesos one way)
Bus to Oaxaca
Hostal Don Pedro (300 pesos, nice but expensive)
August 10 – Oaxaca
Bus to Monte Alban 
We move to the cheaper hotel Meson de Angeles, a hoax, a pure hell, a dump, dirty, noisy because located above a nightclub and infested by drunkards, fortunately not harassing. The door did not close and one of them came into our room at night!!! The worst of the holiday, together with the Taxco one
Nice city, anyway
August 11
Public bus to Mitla, 12 pesos
and then Hierve El Agua (50 pesos return)
August 12
Stroll around Oaxaca and then leave at 21.00 to San Cristobal de Las Casas (booked the day before – 320 pesos)
August 13
Arrival in San Cristobal 8.30 Posada San Augustin, very pretty. The doorman of the Grand Hotel Camino Real, after some smiles and simpering from our side, allows us to get a look at the cloister in the garden. Magnificent!
The city is beautiful, but perhaps because of the weather (a little cloudy, but no rain) did not impress me like Taxco, for example …
August 14
Daily trip to San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan (150 pesos) 
August 15
Day trip to Canyon del Sumidero – 2nd class bus 70 pesos return (entrance fee 95 pesos).
At 23.00 we leave to Palenque
August 16
Arrival at Palenque at 4.20
Posada Aquila Real 300 pesos, cute
Day trip to Agua Azul, Agua Clara e Misol Ha (120 pesos + 35 for entrance). Due to the season, water is like shown in the pictures, that’s to say brown
August 17
Ruins in Palenque (38 pesos + 10 entrance national park), perhaps the most beautiful ruins we have seen, better than Chichen Itza, in my opinion. Go by ourself, with a colectivo Transportes Palenque (20 pesos return) 
In the aftternoon at 17.35 bus to Escarcega (late). 2nd class bus to Xpujil at 22.30
August 18
We arrive at 1.00 in Xpujil, the bus stops in a square where we see a hotel, a bar, a few houses, all surrounded by an incredible stench of sewage. The hotel, Posada Victoria, has extortionate prices (350 pesos), and even in the room there is no good smell. We go out and, walking on the main road, in complete darkness, with all the dogs barking behind us, go in search of a more affordable accommodation. We meet a police patrol, they suggest some cabanas at 100 pesos, we knock at the “reception” but no one opens, so, always harassed by dogs, go back to Posada Victoria. What are we doing in this shabby hole, forgotten by everyone? Simple, we would like to visit the ruins of Calakmul, on the next day. After sleeping a few hours, I make a few phone calls around to see if there are colectivos to take us to the ruins, but we find only private taxis at 60 US dollars. All hotels seem empty, and in fact around we can’t see any tourist, so we can’t share the costs. We then take a bus at 10.30 to Chetumal (40 pesos) Hotel Ucuni 200 pesos, cute, with swimming pool. Bus 17 pesos to Balacar lagoon, return 20 pesos by taxi
Heavy downpour which forces us to run away from Bacalar earlier than planned. The weather recovers quickly, so we have a walk in Chetumal, no big deal.
August 19
Bus to Majahual 45 pesos, company Maya B, arrival at 14.30. Cabanas del Doctor 200 pesos, with shared bathroom. Very nice and quiet, several mosquitoes in the bathrooms. They massacre me during the shower! 
Little quiet village, beautiful, few people, even the main road is unpaved. Really very relaxing. I bet it will not remain so for long ….
August 20
Majahual. Weather is so and so
August 21
Caribe bus up to Limones, then maya B bus up to Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Hotel Esquivel 200 pesos, very hot. In the evening in the main square there is a fiesta, with a beauty contest. No foreigners around, just me and Paola. Paola is a blue eyed natural blonde, all the local people, especially children, look at her as if she was a martian
August 22
Departure at 10.00 to Punta Allen, 100 pesos in collective taxi. Utter desolation, no one around, it seems an uninhabited village. Get to know some Italian people with jeep car, who came here from Playa del Carmen, they give us a lift. The coast is wild and beautiful. I know this area, and I know Playa del Carmen, where I had been in 1998. We ask to be left in a zone far from the sea, where we think the guesthouses cost slightly less. Mar Caribe Hotel 300 pesos, cute, and the owner is very kind. After seven years, Playa del Carmen has totally changed, I barely recognize it. Some shops and restaurants still have the same name, but are totally renewed. Luxury, electricity and cement, in the same places where, years before, we ate under the palm branches, barefoot on the sand and with candlelight. Very commercial, dizzying prices
August 23
Colectivo 15 pesos to Xpu-Ha and again 15 back to Playa. The beach has been recommended by the owner of our guesthouse. Immense, and very little populated
August 24
Colectivo to Tulum 24 pesos, 20 for the train and 38 for the entrance to the site, as magnificent as I remembered it in 1998. Back to Playa with 25 pesos
August 25
Maya B bus to Valladolid 71 pesos. Hotel Mendoza 195 pesos, bike rental 2 pesos for 3 hours. Visit to Cenote Xkeken 25 pesos. Valladolid is not bad, with few tourists around. They usually go to Chichen Itza directly with a day tour from Playa del Carmen…. On the contrary, I don’t mind to spend some time in these “off-the-beaten-track” places!
August 26
Bus Oriente to Chichen Itza, we leave very early, so that at 8.00 we are already inside the complex. Very few people. Entrance 88 pesos
Bus Oriente to El Ideal 34 pesos, 15 pesos taxi, another bus and then ferry to Isla Holbox 40 pesos. Posada Los Arcos 200 pesos
August 27 – Holbox
Bad weather, it is the depression that will originate the Hurricane Katrina. Few people around. Perhaps because of the clouds, I did not like that much. One thing bothered me: cars are banned, in theory for ecological reasons, that would be great if it was sustainable, but it’s not. The main means of transport are those little vehicles used on golf courses, but here they are not electric, they have gasoline engines that make an incredible mess! (and pollute like normal cars)
August 28
Ferry at 11.00 (40 pesos), Mayabus at 13.45 to Cancun (65 pesos), colectivo from ADO bus station to Puerto Juarez 5 pesos. Ferry to Isla Mujeres 70 pesos return. Posada Suemi 200 pesos. Not bad. Very hot, but we have 3 windows and air can circulate inside the room
The island is pretty. The main beach is crowded, I do not understand why everybody stays here, you just move a few hundred meters, and it’s already much quieter. For 100 pesos, we rent bicycles, to visit the Punta Sur, and the Mayan ruins. The coast is rugged, windy, deserted.
We go back home on September 3