A Little Jaunt in the Yucatan...

...or maybe it's more accurate to say 8 insane days criss-crossing all over Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Isla Cozumel! We managed to keep it cheap by buying tickets way in advance and staying in 12$/night hostels. The occasion was Semana Santa, or the Catholic holy week, celebrated all over Latin America and parts of Europe. During this time EVERYBODY is on vacation so it is literally impossible to find any accommodations in coastal towns unless you book way in advance. Luckily Sallie had the foresight to get plans started in early February. Two friends from my business program, Utsav and Anosh, were also able to join and I'll forever be indebted to them for teaching me how to manage a moped (more on this to come). Anyhow, as many of our Mexican friends told us beforehand, Cancun definitely won the prize for prettiest beaches. 

Baaaammm!  (Click ^ = bigger) 

So the first day in Cancun we found the public beach access sidewalk, immediately cut across the beach, and plopped down right in front of the RIU Palace, one of the 50-some 5-starrers in the area. I must admit it was a tad amusing to see the looks the faces of the people around us when they realized they DIDN'T have to spend three hundy a night to lounge on the those beautiful beaches. 

The water in this area stayed knee deep over 200 meters out with zero waves. Get! Outta! Here!

But after 2 nights in Cancun we were pretty ready to take off. Besides the beaches and giant clubs there is surprisingly little to see. We were staying in the downtown area which felt like a small Mexican town, with little cuisine outside of the native Mexican and few bars and areas of interest. We decided that Cancun is mainly for Spring-breakers and people looking to stay put at luxury hotels. The following morning we hopped on a bus for the hour drive to Playa del Carmen. Tickets were 45 pesos a pop, or around $3.50 USD. 

When we arrived we found the town much more to our liking. The beaches were still outstanding and you didn't need a hotel wristband to join in one of the beach soccer or volleyball games that are always popping up.

Sallie trying her best to look grumpy after I woke her up from a long beach nap.

The nex day we made it to Tulum, a historic area with ruins right on the coast. Gotta love flute-playing colorful dudes way up on top of a giant pole. Why not, right?  http://youtu.be/19ILtzlr8So

And it was super cool of them to let people swim in the ocean below the ruins.

Also managed to find some killer Indian. Place was called Curry Omm for those thinking of visiting.

After 3 days in PDC we were still sad to be leaving. Luckily our last night of the trip was still unbooked and we managed to convince the hostel to squeeze us in. Thus we took a 20-30 min ferry to Isla Cozumel. A sleeply little island in the Carribean. You can actually get a great view of the island from a cool rooftop bar called Azotea Lounge on 5a, in PDC.

Nicest hostel of our trip, Amigos Hostel. The owner, Kathy, was super helpful.

Bright and early the next day we rented mopeds to save on taxis (the island is surpisingly big, at 10 miles across and 25 wide). We had heard the Cozumel was the best place to snorkel so we headed South along the coast until we found a spot recommended by Kathy. Utsav and I especially were looking forward to this and it ended up being even cooler than anticipated. It turns out that you can snorkel almost anywhere on the West coast. All you need is a mask and some flippers and you're soon chasing around schools of colorful funny fish and watching a crazy underwater drama unfold as all the sea fans, blow-fish, crabs, and unknown creatures try to stake their territory. The Little Mermaid would not have been at all out of place there and after swimming behind a long barracuda for a while I wouldn't have been surprised if she turned up. Sadly, we didn't think to buy underwater cameras so all you have to go on is my not so fanciful description. Did I mention all the animals were singing 'Under the Sea'? 

Aww... best friends forever!

Preach it!

Followed a random path off the side of the road to find another fly snorkel spot.

There's mucho fire dancing at night in the main square. All of the dancers were very talented and I can say that with confidence. After 3.5 months in Mexico I've seen a crazy amount.

Morning ride to the East side of the island. The waves were monster.

Hmm, can't quite put my finger on it...

The island was perfect for just taking it easy after all our tramping around on the mainland. Here's a clip from our fairy ride back to PDC:  http://youtu.be/Fu1hRg_9dlg

                                           

The trip was undoubtedly an adventure I will remember for years and likely the longest such vacation I will have time to take for a while. I can also say that none of it would have been worthwhile without the outstanding people that came along with me for the ride. In particular, I have a great deal of gratitude and love for my wonderful girlfriend and traveling companion, who without fail has always been there to make my life easier so that I can finish my work in high spirits and then head out again with her to see what other new things lie-in-wait out there in the universe.

This one.

Guanajuato:"It's like walking inside a postcard"

Ever since we arrived in Mexico, people have been insisting that we visit Guanajuato. We've always asked them, "Oh yeah? What is there to do there?" Often, the answer is, "It's just really cool/beautiful/charming etc..."(Also, we heard some stuff about mummies) So...given the ambiguity of what made Guanajuato so special, it took us awhile to finally plan a weekend trip to check it out. And i'm SO glad that we did. Danny didn't have class this past Monday, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a long weekend away from the big city and explore more of this beautiful country.

On Friday morning, we took the ETN bus for the four hour journey to Guanajuato, which is also in the state of Guanajuato....Guanajuato, Guanajuato: A place so nice they named it twice (god, I'm nerdy). We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast owned by a woman named Margarita and as soon as we arrived, she insisted on making us (tasty!)quesadillas. After lunch, we set out to see more of the city and we walked down the numerous(!!!) stairs in order to reach the bottom of the hill. Once at the bottom, it was about a 15 minute walk to the city center. The walk wasn't bad in the morning when we were fresh, but after hiking hills all afternoon (the city is located in a valley and all of the alleys and roads are extremely narrow and winding), we opted for a taxi for the trip back most afternoons (and then we had to climb the seemingly infinite sets of stairs to reach the B&B at the top of the hill).

View of the stairs leading up the hill to the B&B...almost there

Guanajuato is gorgeous and we took SO MANY pictures. Everywhere you turn is a photo op and the city feels more like somewhere in Italy, than anywhere in Mexico. Here's some photos of our first day exploring:

We walked around the first afternoon in complete awe of every little alleyway and plaza. Later that evening, as we were heading out to celebrate St. Patty's Day with a few drinks, Danny joked that we should look for an Irish pub. Even in a large city like Guadalajara, I only know of two Irish pubs and I felt that this was a long shot. However, after walking an hour, without finding a cool place to have a drink, we followed the sound of live music to...an authentic Irish pub! Even more surprising, there was a man wearing a kilt (BONUS!). I approached him asking for a picture and he introduced himself as the owner. He left Ireland in the 70's when he fell in love with a Mexican woman and hasn't been back since. He teaches at the Universidad de Guanajuato and even taught rugby to some of his students. Danny had several Irish Car Bombs to celebrate. As we left later that night, we could hear bagpipes playing on the pub's roof.

The next morning, we rode the funicular up the hill behind Teatro Juarez to check out El Pipila and the beautiful view from the top. El Pipila is a local legend who set fire to the public granary (Alhondiga de Granaditas) during the Mexican War of Independence. Feel free to wiki him here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_P%C3%ADpila. I especially liked the quote at the bottom of his statue that says "Aun hay otras alhondigas por incendiar". There are still other alhondigas to burn. He was quite the little anarchist, apparently.

Teatro Juarez

El Pipila

At the top of the hill, we took in the beautiful view and had a mini photoshoot with the city.

In lurvz.

After El Pipila, we had lunch in San Fernando Plaza and did a little people-watching. Guanajuato has several plazas with little cafes where you can have an afternoon cocktail or snack and be serendaded by guitar-toting musicians who approach your table and offer to play you a song for a few pesos. There are also students dressed in what I can only describe as "Shakespearan" costumes (I think it's a nod to Cervantes) who sing in Plaza Union at night. Here's a short video that Danny recorded in Plaza Union of the end of "Cielito Lindo". You can see just how many people congregate here in the evenings (despite the small size of the plaza): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sfgrx5FjEc

Walking in Plaza San Fernando

Guanajuato is particularly famous for it's Mummy Museum. It is morbid and odd, but people LOVE it. When I told people I'd be visiting the city, they insisted that I had to check it out. A famous B movie was even filmed about the mummies of Guanajuato starring El Santo (possibly the most famous luchador in Mexican history, clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soZLle-X7DU). Danny was reluctant, but after some convincing on my part, we started to make our way through el centro, towards the museum, following street signs. However, after walking for a considerable amount of time (stopping for a snack of corn-on-the-sob from a street vendor along the way), we still hadn't made it. We reached the base of a large hill and saw a sign for the museum pointing ahead. Since we'd been walking all afternoon, we decided to abort the mission and head back to the B&B for a long siesta. We ended up not venturing out for the rest of the evening, deterred by the inevitable climb back up the hill to where we were staying.

Enjoying his street corn in el centro

On our final day in Guanajuato, I insisted we just take a cab to the museum so that I could at least say we'd seen it. It was weird, And a little sad. And mostly creepy. Apparently, several decades ago in Mexico, the family of the deceased was required to pay a fee (sort of like rent) to the cemetery each year for perpetual burial. If the family refused to continue payments, or no one was left in town to speak up for someone, they were removed to make way for new "guests". Mortified yet? Sooooo after a severe outbreak of cholera, space became even more in demand and a large amount of bodies were exhumed from the crypts. Upon their removal, it was discovered that the climate in this particular part of the country, produced a natural phenomenon which preserved the bodies like mummies. And then they put them on display and charged people money to gawk and stare at them for eternity.
Some of the mummies' hands and faces are contorted which our tour guide merrily informed us was probably due to them being buried alive accidently. Even though I was the one who was all eager to see it, I have to admit I was a little freaked. Especially when I saw the "angelitos", aka baby mummies. Yep, that's right. These people have no shame. The baby mummies is where I lost it and Danny and I started to feel officially "icked".

This is the only picture of the mummies I feel comfortable posting. Because it's far away and out of focus. You're welcome

Oh, did I mention Danny found a small scorpion in our room? Well, he did.

Hasta la proxima!

Festival Internacional de Cine

Last week, Guadalajara played host to an international film festival at several different venues throughout the city. It lasted an entire week and I was determined to attend, so I was really excited when my spanish teacher, Luz, told us about a cool American movie that was playing. The movie is called "Mariachi Gringo" and the majority of it was filmed in Guadalajara. Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjXdxj4_b3I. Danny and I saw the movie last Thursday at Cinepolis and felt like it portrayed the city and Gringo experience in Mexico fairly accurately. We left the theatre humming the music and feeling pretty proud of our adopted city. We will defintely be purchasing it on DVD ASAP. Here's a picture of me at Cinepolis before the movie:

They were giving out little paper glasses that looked like the promotional poster with the green chile. Cool.

It's getting to be quite warm here during the day (especially on a crowded bus). The mornings are still a little cool, but around mid-day the sun is almost unbearable. I've noticed that Mexicans are experts (whether knowingly or not) at finding the most shady spots. The cool seats on the bus are always the first to go and the shaded side of the street is always the more popular. I feel bad complaining when I see pictures of people on Facebook with their houses buried in snow, but sometimes the heat is too much. Oh well, maybe another trip to the beach is in order? Quien sabes?

Hasta la proxima!

Whomp whomp whomp...

Saturday morning headlines. La Perla is what people call GDL & I'm pretty sure you can figure out the other word on your own 

 Sooo this has been a little bit of a wacky weekend, to say the least. On Friday afternoon, Danny and I returned  from eating a late lunch and were greeted by Moizes at the door who asked us if we would be going out again for awhile. We told him we were in for the afternoon and were probably going to just take a nap. He then informed us that several public transit buses had been set on fire thoughout the city in an organized effort by the cartels to create confusion and fear (it kind of worked)). Apparently, a similar thing happened about a year ago in GDL and there were some shootouts in the evening. Danny and I were pretty freaked out (as were most of the foreigners and a lot of the mexicans) so we decided to stay in for the evening just to avoid any "wrong place wrong time" situations (look at those street smarts, mom!)

Beautiful Virgin of Guadalupe tile art in the cafe's patio

walking in Providenia

 On Saturday, we went to a coffee shop in Providencia--a cool/cute neighborhood in the north of GDL--to get some internet time (no internet at the hostel for 5 days now) and some lunch. We were planning on going to see Avicii's (a european DJ) show at Foro Alterno that evening, but when we got back to our place one of our friends texted Danny saying that he'd heard a rumor that the show had been cancelled due to security concerns related to the cartel violence of Friday afternoon. We were skeptical, but without internet, had no way to confirm. Sooo we headed up to Pig's Pearls, located just at the end of our block, to mooch off their internet. We were sitting on a bench right outside the door of Pig's Pearls, where people wait to be seated, while I frantically used my iPhone to look up any news about the show(CANCELLED). Out of nowhere, two guys on a moped pulled up onto the sidewalk in front of us and the guy on the back reached out to grab my phone from my hands. Fortunately, I had heard the moped coming and thought it was weird they were pulling up so close to us, so I was already on my guard a little. The guy had a good grip on it and almost took my phone right from my hands but I managed to pull it back. Before we even knew what was really going on, the two guys were gone and Danny was on his feet thinking they had the phone. Everyone in the restaurant saw what happened and people came out to make sure we were okay, but it was pretty crazy. Apparently Danny had seen the guys drive by and turn quickly to double back and drive in front of us to steal the phone. In a way, I'm glad it happened because I still have my phone, yet I still learned my lesson. I will definitely be much more careful when I'm in the street with my phone or iPod (same goes for on the bus). Danny and I agreed that we've gotten a little too comfortable after two months without incident and we are going to try to be more aware and cautious of our surroundings. So like I said, it was sort of a weird weekend. Overall, Mexico is great and we love it here, but this weekend it definitely lost some cool points.

Chapala

Last Saturday, we took another excursion with Conexion GDL and made a day trip to Lake Chapala, a HUGE lake about 45 minutes from Guada by bus. We had to be on the bus by 11am which was quite a feat considering we had been our the night before celebratin Kinjalk's birthday until about 5am(?). However, we did make it to the bus ontime, grabbed some coffees before boarding, and napped a little on the ride there. We arrived around noon and everyone filed off the bus. As we entered the party, guys from Conexion were waiting with large bottles of warm tequila which they then poured directly in our mouths (it's the mexican way!), but I'm not gonna play the hero, it was pretty brutal to have warm tequila in my mouth before 5pm. The location of the party had a pool, a slip-n-slide, open bar for several hours, and was located right on the waterfront with a spectacular view of the lake. After a few drinks, we went down the slip-n-slide several times and Danny even got to "walk on water" in a giant inflated ball.

Mud people

Super pumped about the slip-n-slide

By the late afternoon, a mud fight had broken out and there were muddy people everywhere. Danny and I were pretty tired from the night before and all of the day's activities so we sat in the shade and watched the chaos. When the bus pulled into Guadalajara, we grabbed a quick dinner and then limped/crawled home to our cozy bed.

Hasta la proxima!

The GDL Subway System/Grocery Shopping in Mexico

The other morning I was heading to class and hopped on a bus heading to (what I thought was) downtown. However, the nice french foreign exchange student on the bus next to me told me that it would actually be turning and stopping by the subway station instead. She told me I could then take the train from there to downtown and catch my second bus out to Tlaquepaque. I had heard about the subway system in GDL, but never had experienced it firsthand (Danny still hasn't been down there). There's only two lines and they run N-S & E-W, but it's much cleaner and faster than the bus as long as it's going somewhere you're wanting to check out. Here's some pics of a couple subway stations:

Not bad for a "third-world" country. Don't come to Mexico guys...it's dangerous. You might end up paying only 6 pesos for a quick, cheap, environmentally-friendly jaunt around town. You've been warned.

Onto the super-mercado...

Grocery shopping in a foreign country is one of those things you do for the first time and, as soon as you walk in, suddenly realize how very different the experience is going to be. At this point, we've obviously visited the supermarket a few times since we've been here, but EVERY time I'm there, something surprises me (Moizes bought pre-cheese-stuffed hot dogs wrapped in bacon today). I wanted to take some pictures to show you folks at home the oddities we've found at our local Aurrera (owned by Wal-Mart, ofcourse). 

Lots of tequila...verrrrry few whiskey and vodka options.

La Panederia. Tons of doughnuts and pastries. Just sitting out in the open.  I can't even trust myself to walk near this section

Flavors of popcorn abound. They even have a Valentina flavor, which is a local hot sauce in GDL.

Oddly colored pastries.

MMMMMMM...

Double MMMMMMM...

Boxed milk. Kind of like in Europe. Not sure how it's possible. What do I look like, a chemist?

We've yet to find hummus in the store near us, and there are basically no frozen food options (which I suppose is for the best). No soy or almond milk. No feta cheese. Lots of beans and tortillas. It's always an adventure at the Aurrera. We also ended up buying what we thought was regular laundry detergent, only to dicover after a whole month why our clothes were not getting cleaned (it was fabric softener. cue forehead smack.) We'll have to fill you in on our day trip to Chapala in the next post.

Hasta la proxima!