A different destination: Mexico
Hi guys! Even if my vacation ended a few weeks ago, the memories are still in my heart and it is time to share them with you.
This time we took a longer vacation. Travel addicts as we are, we wanted to see as much as possible. Our idea was to arrive in Miami and then work our way to the West Coast. We decided to take a slight detour through Mexico and spend a couple of days experiencing new places before weâd arrive to LA. Why do I say this was sort of a different destination?! Tune in and you will find out âș
First stop was Mexico City,
We flew from Miami to Mexico City and arrived sometime around midnight. The first shocking thing to see was the line at passport control. It took us 2 hours to get pass that. Needless to say that there wasnât any place where you could buy even a bottle of water while waiting in line in an unbearable heat.
The show began when we exit the airport in the middle of the night. How to safely arrive to our hotel? we thought. Everybody told us how dangerous the city was, so we took a âTaxi Seguridadoâ from a cab agency at the airport, paid in advance and hoped for the best. During that ride, the neighborhoods we passed by made me realize what everyone was talking about and my thoughts were: â If we are not kidnapped by some drug cartels and end up sliced into pieces in a suitcase, then weâre lucky.â So be prepared for some interesting scenes like the ones you see in the movies.
We stayed at Grand Fiesta Americana hotel in Chapultepec. Weâve been told that we should mainly hang around La Condesa and Polanco as these are safe neighborhoods and that we should stay away from areas like Doctores and Tacubaya.
If you go to Mexico City you should know that it is advised to keep a low profile and wear clothing that doesnât draw too much attention.
In the first day we went to the historical center. In the Plaza de la Constitucion which is very impressive, you will find the marvelous Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace in which you can see the famous murals of Diego Rivera. Also nearby you can find the Aztec ruins of the Templo Mayor.
Be aware of the horrible traffic which will take up most of your time while visiting the city.
On the second day we visited the Chapultepec Castle and the Anthropology Museum.
On the third day we took a tour from the hotel to the pyramids. The pyramids are unbelievable, really spectacular. They were built by the Aztec people more than 1000 years ago. I cannot imagine what infrastructure they had in those days in order to be able to build those massive structures. There are 2 main pyramids in the complex: The pyramid of the Moon, which is the small one and is only accessible to the first level, and The Pyramid of the Sun, which is the bigger one and we went all the way to the top. The view from up there was really fantastic, but climbing all those steps wasnât easy. Because Mexico City is situated some 2000 m above sea level, one gets easily exhausted.
The other stop on the Mexican territories was Cabo San Lucas.
We stayed at the ME Cabo hotel which is one of the best. We chose it because of the parties at the Blue Marlin Ibiza summer club, which is located on the precinct of the hotel. They bring a lot of cool DJs there. We stayed mostly at the pool and we didnât leave the resort except for short strolls on the beach. I for instance I was scared to swim in the ocean because the water got deep very close to the shore and the waves were pretty big.
One day we had an amazing experience taking a short boat trip to see The Arch of Cabo San Lucas.
To summarize our stay in Cabo, in the end we realized that everything was too expensive for what we got. One thing that we are not used to (by âweâ I mean mostly Europeans) are the mandatory tips. I know that for Americans this is normal, but for us to be expected to leave a tip even at breakfast (which was included and paid for already) is outrageous in my opinion. Even at the end of the boat trip we were told not to forget the tips although we paid for the ticket at the agency. So if you want to go there be prepare to leave around 15-20% in tips for literally everything.
I start thinking: âGood thing they are not asking for tips because they say Hello to usâ. And I donât want to be mean but I really think it was too much.
In my opinion you pay too much for that resort, considering that we went there during extra season. It is beautiful, but if you go for the landscape there are so many other beautiful places to see for less money.
In conclusion, Mexico is different than other places that I visited so far and I expected it to be more affordable, but it is actually pricy.
Even so, I still want to go to Cancun someday âș
WOÄ°S MAG