It was completely remiss of me to fail to update you on the distinguished history of our tour guide. I organised for a driver (Luis) for Mexico City and was pleasantly surprised to find that came inclusive with our personal tour guide - Xavier.

After being bemused by the number of people who came up to talk to him along our way I quizzed him about how he knew so many people and he revealed that he used to be a famous matador and that people would just come up and say hi!

After another great breakfast of street vendor tacos (even mum had some), chocolate danish and Starbucks coffee we were met by Luis and Xavier and taken to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. There was a bit of scepticism amongst the travel group however we were pleasantly surprised by the extraordinary quality of artefacts discovered and preserved from around Mexico - some magnificent pottery pieces dating back 3000 years. Xavier provided a fascinating history lesson along the way.

We headed off to the town of Coyoacan, south of the main city centre. Quite a nice town on the outskirts of the city and home to an extraordinary church dedicated to John the Baptist.

After a snack of our new staple food (ice-cream in a cone) we headed out to Xochicalco, about an hour south of the city, to the (supposedly) magnificent National Heritage site of the floating gardens. For those who don't know their Mexican History, the site of Mexico City, was an ancient Aztec island in the centre of a vast lake. Over many years the lake dried up and the huge expanse of the modern Mexico City is built on dry land which used to be the lake floor. A very small body of water has been maintained and protected. A site where Aztec farmers built floating garden beds to grow vegetables and plant trees. Over thousands of hears these have merged and tree roots have grown down into the lake bed to form an island

The local people have turned this location into a major attraction with literally thousands of brightly coloured punts which take locals and tourists around the island.

Mum really enjoyed her lunch of tacos ....

........ and then we set off for our trip around the island. To say it was tacky would be a minor understatement! 

But at least the beer was cold

We got back to the Hotel at around 5 and then some more shopping by the ladies followed by exploring the streets with Pizza for dinner and you guessed it - ice-cream in a cone - for dessert.

I am not sure if was Jacqueline's complaints about cold showers last night but they have beefed up security today at the Hotel foyer.

We should sleep safely tonight.

Cath we are missing you - hope that dodgy knee is feeling better!!!

Off to Cuba bright and early tomorrow morning. Not sure when the next blog post will be.