Feliz Navidad

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone. As keen readers may have noticed, we always run a couple of days behind on this blog. Whether you spent it on the beach (heard the weather was great in Sydney for once) or in sub-zero UK/Europe/North America, hope you had a great time with friends and family.

Christmas while travelling is always relatively low-key, being so far from family, and for us typically consists of some kind of meal with people we don't know well, a few fake Christmas greetings and a phone call to our parents.

This year was no exception, if anything the most low key Christmas ever, owing to the fact that we'd forgotten that European types (including Mexicans) celebrate on Christmas Eve. We'd spent the entire day travelling, first on a ferry back from Isla Mujeres to Cancun, and then a 7-hour bus trip to the majestic Spanish-colonial city of Merida, on the other side of the Yucatan peninsula.

Christmas was in full swing when we arrived. Huge crowds throbbed through the narrow cobbled arteries, busily finishing off their shopping as the day died away. Firecrackers and bloated star-shaped pinatas were being sold on every street corner. The main plaza was buzzing with activity as street vendors sold games, toys and the ubiquitous Mexican hot dog stands did a roaring trade.

We were a little too exhausted to join in the merryment, and having only just arrived didn't know anyone in town. So we took off to a restaurant in a smaller, more peaceful plaza and had our Christmas dinner - a big cheesy pizza.