A gruelling 18 hour bus ride had taken me from the Guatemalan border up to the beautiful beaches of the Yucatan. Stumbling out of the bus station (still with bike helmet tucked under my arm), I jumped on a ferry to the Isla Mujeres, a small island off the coast of Cancun.

I found myself in a very sociable backpacker's' hostel, sharing a dorm with six blokes from five different countries. After there being just the two of us and almost no other travellers around it feels strange to be surrounded by other English-speaking people. I spent the next couple of days swimming, enjoying life on the picture-postcard beaches and sipping pina coladas (always my drink of choice in the Caribbean) as the sun went down.

But the paradise had to end and I was soon saying goodbye, heading back to the mainland and flying out of the airport and into LA which felt distinctly chilly after southern Mexico. I'm installed back in my comfortable bedroom at Evren and Erdem's apartment and answering their questions about my travels with Savas.

To my delight Kosta is also here, waiting to collect his bike from Customs. We're not sure what happened with the shipping agents that his bike is here and mine isn't when they were supposed to have travelled on the same boat. I don't think we will ever get a straight answer to that question.