Viva Mexico!

Hello again! We have been away for a while, but now it is time for us to share with you a bit of our vacation in Mexico. The main reason for flying there was to attend to the wedding of our good friends  Anais and Sergio, two Mexicans who live in Stuttgart and we have been knowing for years, and finally got married in March 15th. But, using this as an excuse, we decided to stay in Mexico a bit longer, and enjoy the good weather and the beach before coming back to the snow :)

Our first experience in Mexico was not the best one, we arrived to the  International Terminal in Cancun airport, and just in the exit you are surrounded by several taxi drivers desperate to offer their service (and charge you 10 times more than the real price, of course). They really were intimidating, and although we had already been warned before, it was still scary. Fortunately, we just wanted to be in Cancun for the night, since the next day we are flying to Tampico, in Veracruz, where the wedding took place, and arranged with the hotel for them to pick us up from the airport. Other German friends didn't do that, and had to play 40 USD for the drive, although it was not longer than 10 minutes. Like I said, not the best impression. But funny thing, the next day we were flying with a national company, and it is located in a different terminal, and the situation was not at all like the first day. It is a bit sad, but it just seems like the taxi drivers know with whom they can make more money, and abuse their power...

When we already arrived to Tampico, we met with the rest of our friends from Germany, that also travelled for the wedding (and as well, stayed longer discovering other parts of the country). It was hilarious to meet all these people in the other corner of the world :) And we had to make use of our rusted German speaking skills and update each other with the news in our lives. It was the day before the wedding, and we spent some time at the beach, meeting Anais and Sergio's friends and family.

The next day was pretty much a relaxing morning until the time of the wedding. Anais and Sergio chose a big hotel to celebrate the wedding, and it was very convenient, because almost all invitees stayed in the same hotel for the night.

We really enjoyed the wedding, the ceremony was beautiful, the dinner was very enjoyable, and well, the party afterwards... I will just say that the Mexicans can really party! The pictures that we share don't really represent the delightful experience that was for us, but at least you can get a small sample of it.

The newlyweds entering the room after all invitees had entered.

The first dance, first both alone, and then with their parents.

This is what happens when you mix happiness and tequila..

Andres should change his picture in the resumé and use this one instead..

The next day, Anais and Sergio had a second celebration that took place in the town she grew up. Since we were around until the following Monday, they invited the whole "German fraction" to attend this second, even bigger celebration. Here the whole town was invited to come by and celebrate with the just married couple. It was really authentic, with great Mexican food, music, and many, many people. It was a pleasant afternoon, and I have to say that Anais and Sergio's family and friends treated us extremely good, we are so glad to have had this chance.

The following Monday we flew to Cancun, and got picked up and left in Playa del Carmen. It was the spring break week, so we were expecting everything full with "gringos", but it was really not so full, maybe it was a good idea to stay in Playa del Carmen and not in Cancun Center. There the story might have been different. Our hotel was a bit outside the town, and we had to walk around 30 minutes to the main streets, but it was a pleasant path along a nice suburb that reminded me of my grandfather's house in Huelva. The see color is this magical turquoise so characteristic of the Caribbean area, that I had not experienced yet.

There were pelicans on the beach, who were not afraid of humans at all. They were hunting for fish.

We used one day to visit the Mayan ruins in Tulum, located one hour away from Playa del Carmen. The place is really interesting, as is the culture. Unfortunately, the bigger ruins of Tchichen-Itza were just to far away, it would have been a four hour drive one way, so we decided not to go, but Tulum really enchanted us.

After that we rented bikes and visited the Grand Cenote. A cenote forms when the limestone ground collapses and falls, exposing groundwater underneath. Some parts of the cenotes are open to the sky, but some also connect among each other underneath the ground. Their waters are very clear, and contain minerals, since the water comes from rain filtering slowly though the ground.



On our last vacation day we headed to a beach called Akumal, well known due to their sea turtles. We rented a snorkeling set and swam around to search for turtles. It was not hard to find some enormous specimens. Since we did not have a water-proof camera, I'll just pull up one from the Internet. It was a magnificent experience.

And the next day our vacation came to an end. This week and a half left us a great impression of Mexico and the Mexicans, even though we didn't have the chance to explore further. However, our sensible skins were not used to the direct sun, we turned red back then, and now we stepped in the phase of peeling of like the snakes. But it is worth it. We are looking forward to the next vacation, hopefully for Good Friday...

Thanks for reading,

Lita & Andres