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Other entries in Mérida

Traveller stereotypes? Guilty as charged

I did two things in Merida that some people at home may cringe about and think to themselves (oh my god, what a w*nker). But then, most of them are stuck on a trading estate in Slough, and I'm not, so I couldn't give a monkeys.

Firstly, I bought a hammock (where are you going to use that in England? I hear the cries) and secondly, I drove around in a classic VW Beetle listening to the Beach Boys and Bob Marley at full blast.

In my defence, the hammock was only 10 quid for a top quality one (they are made on the Yucatan peninsula) and will come in useful throughout Central America; and the VW Beetle was one of the best days out on my trip so far.

Infact, the day out in the beetle was the sort where you sit back at the end of it with cold beer in hand, and a smug smile on your face - which is exactly what I did. We hired the bug for the day for the sum total of 250 pesos, including insurance (about 13 quid!!). With Mitch at the wheel, and the aforementioned on the stereo, we drove out of Merida to the coastal town of Celestun to see wild flamingoes.

Once we arrived we paid for an hour long boat ride along the Rio Celestun through part of the Rio Celestun Biosphere Reserve, sharing out boat with an Austrian couple to keep the costs down. The ride was very relaxo and we saw several large groups of flamingoes - although nothing like the thousands I've seen on TV with David Attenborough narrating in the background. We also saw loads of other birds that I don't know the names of, but which would have very probably given Bill Oddie a woodstock if he'd been there.

We rounded off the trip up river with a quick dip in a pool surrounded by mangroves, and then burned it up the road in the bug to Celestun itself - which was essentially a shabby, one street sort of place. We had a quick swim at an unremarkable beach and then got back in the car and drove for 20km up a dirt track to an isolated lighthouse that had been recommended by the owner of the hostel in Merida. It was a peaceful place and had great views of the Gulf, and Mitch urinating into it.

Bloody Dutch, can't take them anywhere.

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