19th December

Mikey strolled in at 3am, vomited in the bathroom and fell on top of me before I kicked him towards his half of the room. Funnily enough when I got up at 7 he was fit for nothing. Today we were off on another tour of the region. Our guide, Ivan, drove us firstly to a Tule tree that was around at the time of Jesus Christ. This thing isn't that tall but boy is it wide! The Mexicans not wanting to miss out on a peso were charging 3$ for a photo but my camera isn't so bad that it can't take a photo from 100 yds. 3$ saved. We left Hilary buying anti-histamines with the guide whom she seems to have taken a shine to.

Next stop was a textile factory. Great demonstration of weaving and dyeing using cochineal bugs (red) and how you can add lemon juice to make purple and bicarbonate of soda to make pink. I got done by a seriously good sales pitch and I now have a rug I neither want nor am able to carry in my rucksack. Still the colours are nice. Jesus, I have been with the women 4 days and I am now turning into one!

Stop 3 were the Mitla ruins. These were once inhabited by the Zapotec indians thousands of years ago before the Aztecs and then the dirty Spanish arrived. The ruins are famous for the intricate stone designs on the temples and palaces. It is only up close you realise how they must have nailed geometry far more than I did at A-level.

Had a spot of lunch in the car-park. For the last 4 months I have been warned off eating street food but the allure of fresh tortillas was too much. Had mine with cheese, mushroom and avocado. Mighty fine, so had another with extra chilli sauce. Also had a brief chat with the guide who wanted to know where I learned Spanish etc.

The penultimate stop were the petrified waterfalls at hierve de agua. The word "petrified" caused a lot of confusion on the bus. "How can water be scared?". I had to set the record straight. Due to the high mineral content of the water when it cascades over the cliff it solidifies causing the effect that it is frozen in time, hence petrified. There were also mineral pools nearby, the water was like ice but the views amazing. Hilary is now asking the guide to take her hand on every occasion.

The final stop, and one for the boys, well, me, was a Mezcal factory. The most famous type of Mezcal is obviously Tequila but there are many other options. We were shown the original cactus, how the "pineapples" (ie the roots) are cut (and the worms removed!) and baked for 4 days. Then the roots are pulped with a mill pulled by donkey and the gunk is fermented and distilled to produce the wife-beating qualities of Tequila. Next came the tasting, worms included. Out came the salt and limes and luckily down stayed the lunch. Bought a T-shirt and a few bought some bottles for friends and family.

We arrived back late from the tour and by the end I decided I wanted a night away from the giggling and relentless Asian photo-shoots so had a very early night with Mexican TV and a bag of chicharron (bit like pork scratchings).