Sharks and Ruins – Just don’t get burned.

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

Eh, the chaise-long, the sun, the send…. Snore. The Mangorita in my hand was melting, and so was I together with any desire to move my ass and do something interesting or useful. Yeah, sure, Shelly and mom needed their rest, but enough with this mind numbing sunbathing in the fresh air of a beach resort to the sounds of pool water escaping crashing demise by tourists doing aerobics. Enough! NOt trying to be judgmental, or anything, but this is just not for me. Shelly, you are in Mexico for a week, so go climb a pyramid, swim in a Cenote, or snorkel with a Whale Shark (if your mommy lets you.)

( And so we did! )

Tags: ruins
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Bargain-mania

Monday, August 27th, 2007

“Mommy!” I squeaked like only a little girl who hasn’t seen her mommy for a really long time could. My mother and 12-year-old sister Shelly came to Cancun area for a vacation and to see us in the middle of our trip. We had a bit of a misunderstanding, where my mom got scared we will not make it in time to meet her and booked an all inclusive vacation for the whole week in a place named Puerto Aventuras – a made-for-tourists gated town with nothing but overpriced hotels, restaurants, and gift shops.

Wanting to scout out the area, we came here the day before my mom’s flight to see what is what. “This place makes me gag,” I told Shurik right away as yet another sunburned tourist went by us complaining loudly about something. This was a large 5 star hotel with two pools and a beach where screaming children fought for the privilege of climbing a blow up mountain. I knew that by this time, I have began finding touristy-tourists with nothing better to do but travel to exotic countries only to stay in the same kind of luxurious hotels, stuff themselves with anything edible in sight, and consider yelling at a chamber maid to be a great interaction with a local – to say the least, irritating, but this was an overload to my system and after getting some useful information from construction workers about where to camp in the area, we left in search of cheap meal.
( more… )

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Dean Damage

Saturday, August 25th, 2007

Witnessing hurricane Dean’s damage as we drive through Bacalar – a town on the coast.

( Two More )

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Palenque

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

Just like our cabaña, Palenque’s ruins were almost all drowned in lush jungle. The main buildings were cleared, but we had the most fun in the ones we had to hike up, or climb to. We were in the mood for ruins, and as soon as the gates opened made our way to the top of the highest pyramid in sight, clambering like monkeys.

( Pictures and Mischief )

Tags: ruins
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Away to Palenque!

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

San Cristobal’s hold on us was strong, but we had to be stronger. Backpackers here were dropping left and right, unable to resist the extra cool vibe it exuded. Like flies to a sticky fly catcher strip they would just land here and stay for weeks realizing resistance is futile.

Not us though. We had to keep going. My mother was about to fly in to Cancun area with my little sister for a week, and I was not about to miss it. Well… that, and the buckwheat she was smuggling into the country for me.

We had to leave some soldiers behind. Denis and Lucia (from Holland) have been on the fence for days now about going with us to the ruins of Palenque, but on our last night in town have made the decision to stay for yet another day and join us in there the next day for a road trip to Tulum. I told them that they are welcome, but this is never going to happen as Cristobal’s hold on them was unbreakable, but nonetheless we made plans to meet in Palenque and left the next morning with only one extra passenger – Carolina, a flower-child spirit from Hawaii.

( Away to Palenque! )

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Chamula and Zincantan

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

I was worried that having GreenGo will sort of turn us into tour operators, but our first time taking people on a day trip along with us wasn’t that bad at all. In fact, I am much more outgoing when I feel other people are in my responsibility (even if they are not).

( more… )

Tags: culture, kids
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Getting Robbed but Staying Happy in San Cristobal

Monday, August 20th, 2007

A quick stop in Sumidero Canyon which was not that impressive even if there was no garbage floating in it, and a night in Tehuantepec, where I dared not take pictures of the locals and instead just went around the market to snap a shot of their colorful clothing which is still worn here every day, and we were in San Cristobal.

( in San Cristobal )

Tags: market, party
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And then there were two

Monday, August 13th, 2007

No Sergey, no Gombergs, only us dos to face the road and – with it – Mexican traffic. We would have set out of Mexico City a day earlier, right after visiting the ruins of Xachicalco with Nadia, but it turned out to be a hoy no circulo day for our GreenGo. In effort to reduce smog and traffic in the city, each day of the week cars with license plates ending in a particular number cannot drive. And our final number 3 meant no go for GreenGo.

( Four day road trip to the coast )

Tags: food, market, ruins
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Not so secret admirer #2

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007

Our second not-so-secret admirer that we know of is lentochka’s son Garrik. Looking lovely if I might add. :)

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Mexico – The City

Monday, August 6th, 2007

It’s nice to have friends, who have friends (or relatives), who don’t mind trying you in the role of friends who stay over. Especially for as long as a week. The Gombergs (kon_ka,gomberg, and little Masia) have returned from their ten month long sabbatical in Spain the same day we rolled into Mexico City, and in two days were already ready to receive guests! My hat is off to them. Also was my backpack and the rest of our stuff now washed and resting outside the cramped space of our packing-cubes.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say Frida Kahlo to Mexico City is like Tango to Buenos Aires – it’s everywhere. You cannot escape it. Our few first days in Mexico City that is all we saw. Even on our first night we managed to grab the twenty last minutes of her exhibition in the Fine Arts Museum, and, I bet, this is just as much as sereshka could handle of her work. His vacation time was ending, and in few days we waved goodbye as he went back to his life in Canada, and we continued to explore Mexico City. It was such a shame he couldn’t stay longer! The Gombergs were not only ready to host, but to take us on the town. We spent day after day chasing Andrey down the streets, multitasking between snapping pictures and listening to his vast knowledge of architecture, politics, and economy.

It’s all a big mess in my head now, but I will not be waiting till the dust settles (places to go, people to see, as you know) and try to at least jot down a photo report of the architecture, crafts, and food we’ve experienced in the past week. One particular segment should be really interesting as it is an excursion to a small local food market where we ate quesadilla with everything from Calabaza Flowers to Corn Mold. Yum.  

( seven days in Mexico City )

Tags: food, market
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