Journey through Mexico

While living in London, we decided to travel to Mexico. At first I wasn’t too keen on visiting Mexico. Because of the movies I saw on TV, I thought Mexico was too dangerous to travel to. Lots of gangs and shooting!!! Everything changed when we arrived in Mexico. We had nothing planned. We arrived with a backpack each on our backs, got a taxi and were off to find accommodation for the night. We woke up the next morning and just wanted to get a coffee. They only give you black coffee unless you ask for milk. We didn’t know any Spanish (yet) and the waiter didn’t understand English, so we ended up making noises like a cow for them to understand us. We finally got our coffee with milk, called “café con leche”. Mexico City is a beautiful city, there is old and new to explore and is perfectly safe if you stick to the tourist areas. After spending about 3 nights in Mexico City, we took a bus to Acapulco on the West Coast of Mexico. We again arrived at night and took a taxi from the bus terminal to the Acapulco beachfront. This time we wanted to spoil ourselves with a beachfront hotel. The next morning we were up bright and early to go and explore this vibrant city. When I walked out of the hotel I almost fainted. They don’t call it “Acapulco Heat” for nothing!! We headed up the west coast to a small town called Zihuatanejo. Zihuatanejo is the dream "getaway" talked about in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption". This is an old World Mexican fishing village nestled around a small bay dotted with beautiful protected beaches and no high rises. We had such a great time here. Further up the west coast, we visited Manzanillo, also great beaches with huge waves and good markets. Our next stop was Puerto Vallarta. They say that paradise is a state of mind. When all of the ingredients are of the highest quality, it can also be a place. Puerto Vallarta qualifies for this high distinction. We headed cross country (by bus) to Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city. This city is the ultimate fusion of the past and present. Guadalajara is the capital of the Jalisco State and the birthplace of tequila. Now I can’t drink tequila, but in Mexico it is so smooth, and you get so many different varieties. It’s definitely not the same as what we have here in SA, so an absolute must! This city is great for everyone in the family. From Guadalajara we took a bus to the Yucatan Peninsula, visiting Veracruz on the way. I was so excited to be going to Cancun as I’ve heard so many great things about it. We arrived in Cancun and I was not too impressed. I found Cancun a bit too commercialised. I wanted to experience the Mexican Caribbean in a true Mexican village. We chatted to a few locals and they suggested we take a ferry (about 20 minutes) across to Isla Mujeres (called Island of Woman). This is where you will find long stretches of perfect white, silky smooth beaches, with crystal clear turquoise water and swaying palm trees. You can hire scooters and explore the island easily within a day. There are many accommodation options (much cheaper than Cancun), including beach cabanas. At night the centre of Isla Mujeres is very lively and bustling with bars and restaurants. We found our favourite eating spot, which was actually one of the local’s houses that they open up at night for you to come and enjoy true local Mexican cuisine. Yum!! From Isla Mujeres we took a local bus (no aircon, filled with local Mexicans and their sombreros, making music on their “vihuelas”) to Tulum. Here we stayed in a beach hut, situated on a secluded beach. Just imagine, the sea sand as your carpet, hooks for your hammock and electricity until 10pm, that was what the beach hut consisted of, but wow, was that an experience! All you hear is the waves and the swaying palm trees with the crystal clear water about 60 meters away from our hut. Tulum is famous for its Mayan ruins. After 2 months of backpacking, our Mexican journey sadly came to an end. Mexico is truly a place of great people, great food and great beauty and it has so much to offer and so much to experience.