It came as certain as a Quesadilla without cheese is not a Quesadilla (Mexican existential and philosophical discussion): our Goodbye.

We had already returned to our home base in Metepec with the best feelings about our mini trip. But, lastly, there had been so many things left to do there that the last days flied like hell.

For that reason, and to give a sweet ending to this blog series, I solely would like to share some fotos with you.

As for this moment we already have arrived back to Germany – enjoying a flight itinerary over 24h including destinations: New York, Istanbul and Bremen.

Finally, a big thank you and we hope you enjoyed our readings.

¡Hasta pronto, mucho gusto y muchísima gracias!

Adrián & Alexis

Hola and welcome back to our little travel blog – yes, still running! 🙂

Today I would like to share some further great experiences with you about: Huatulco, Oaxaca.

When day 1 of our 3-days trip slowly fade away we knew Huatulco Is amazing.

And that is precisely what was confirmed the following day: at our Bahía Tour.

In the small haven of Santa Cruz we embarked with about 100 Mexicans on the “Katamaran” called Tequila. The sun burned relentlessly and everybody was excited to visit the 5 planned bays + beaches.

Promptly, our tour guide Hannibal introduced the crew and himself to the crowd, raising the mood further by announcing free drinks. Hannibal, a born entertainer from the region, turned out to be one of the nicest and most honest persons ever. He gave great advice about the city, explained the economic situation and, ultimately, was just a super happy lively guy.

Anyhow: it’s a overall scheme in this place – honesty. People without exception deliberately give you directions & recommendations, restaurants do not bother/harass you to enter if you don’t want and also taxis keep their standard rate without trying to rip you off. It’s just a great experience and reveals so much about the country and people.

A small story to showcase this: toilets at the dock. When we were at the dock yesterday, wandering around, there was the urgent need to find a toilet. None was available, expect of the one at the small harbour. But.. it was already closed as the operations of the dock also were. Point is: when the police man in charge of security saw us he right away (against his initial thoughts) opened it again and helped us out. Afterwards, we thankfully briefly chatted with him and he turned out a super friendly guy. – Together with Hannibal, the blogs motto is over and over confirmed: the individual people we meet everyday make the difference.

Back to the Bahia’s tour. First stop: snorkel bay. We received a brief introduction to snorkeling and it’s materials by Brian. Brian btw was a diver originally from Los Cabos, Baja California. The landscape was amazing: virgin beaches, sea turtles, cristalin bright blue water and a cool jungle-like surrounding. After jumping into the blue, we took a nice uncoordinated snorkel tour over the reef solely enjoying every aspect of it.

Fun fact: there were even people joining without knowing how to swim. Scary – but can you decline them this experience in this awesome place? After all they were chained to a floating ring and under close surveillance. Win-win.

Next up: 2 more beaches, hour long cruises along the scattered coastline, nature and a boat full of good mood and happiness. We saw creatively, and surprisingly accurately, named stone formations, more virgin beaches and even some dolphins jumping next to our ride!

To round it up, we visited a last beach hosting some touristy restaurants and enjoyed a shrimp cocktail and some paletas (lime, mango chamoy).

When we had returned to the docks the sun already had given us a sweet touch and we ended this perfect day and 3-days trip with some esquites (maíz).

¡Hola gueys! It turned out that writing a post per day is not really feasible – after all it’s vacations 😉

Therefore, I will skip the Sunday visits to La Pulga market and abuelita’s house in Xalatlaco and come directly to the juicy side of life: our 3-days trip.

If you think about México which images appear in your mind? Summer, sun, swimming shorts, palms and beaches, right?

Well, and you are not mistaken. Places like Cancun or Acapulco, indeed, are like that. Surely, that is also the image some organizations want to convey. But, ultimately, what is about the other 119 Mio people all over the country?

Mexico City for instance. In the day time temperatures above 30°C with burning sun can be enjoyed… In the nights, however, it’s cooling down to jaw-dropping 10°C. A delta of 20 degrees within one single day. (This is mainly due to its altitude of +2.200 meters). Therefore, don’t always expect México travelers coming back as Bronzen gods…

So, when Alexis announced that we will go on a 3-days mini trip, you might understand why I (while wearing pullover, long pants and house shoes) got pretty excited.

Now the twist: she didn’t disclose our destination, only giving rough directions: “it’s a domestic flight; we won’t go north; it’s not Cancun and neither Acapulco”. Right away canceling out my two hottest guesses…

Me going all-in to get it: Veracruz, Tulum, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Tuxtla … All wrong.

Taking an Aero Caminante bus, we arrived to lovely Benito Juarez International airport in DF and entered the boarding area through the security. When I was finally able to check the departures I thought I had it. Tapachula / Chiapas.

Well, to make it short: just at boarding I saw that we were heading towards Huatulco, Oaxaca. – And me having 0 ideas of what to expect.

1 hour flight and we arrived to freakin’ paradise!!!

Coming back to our mexican stereotype: palms, sun, blue sky and moisty humid heat. I only can refer again to the photos below…

We took a taxi to Las Crucecitas, a small town very close to the Pacific ocean, had some amazing seafood at the marisquería Lared right next to our hotel and enjoyed the rest of the day + sunset at the beach of Santa Cruz.

100% perfect day with a 100% worked out surprise.

Thank you!

¡Cualli tonaltin, icniuhtli! (“Buenos días, amiguitos” in Náhuatl an Aztec language of Central Mexico).

Today I would like to guide you a little bit towards an aspect of Mexican culture which is often overlooked, rarely known and sometimes even marginalized: it’s indigenous background.

Mexico definitely IS all about hispanic culture! The Catholic Church, with its values, misas, fiestas, ferias, procesiones and values, is at the center of Mexican culture. Also Mariachis play traditional European instruments such as violins, guitars and brass instruments. And, lastly, the major chunk of people HAS a direct Hispanic background; which is also clearly reflected in their given names (Maria, Juan, Fernanda, Pedro, etc.) and surnames (Torres, Perez, Ruiz, Garcia, Cortes etc.). In short: Mexico is Hispanic.

Nevertheless, I wanted to to point out that Mexico is an unsuspectingly heterogenous country – and that is shown in many smaller and some bigger aspects.

In the end, what else can you expect from a country with that huge colonial influence (Hispanic side) and still spanning a larger area than Europe with a rich and colorful prehispanic history (indigenous side)?

• First off (and the most obvious): tribes and indigenous minorities.

Today, Mexico officially recognizes 62 indigenous languages as “national languages” equal to Spanish. In population 25 mio people identify as indigenous and ca. 7 mio minimum speak one of those languages. Number 1 state is Oaxaca with 1.1 mio, 34% of the entire population speaking other languages than Spanish. Indios are a topic in politics, and they are an essential part of society. Some language names to have heard of: Nahuatl (Aztec), Yucatec Maya, Mixtec, Huichol, Zapoteca.

• Names: cities, pueblos, sights.

You might have seen them in our previous posts: weird sounding and hard to pronounce names. Related to the indigenous background (mentioned before), every single place here has a long history. From Xalatlaco, Alexis’ fathers home village, Xochimilco, a famous and beautiful lake area near Mexico City, Popocatépetl, the famous volcano, and many many more: Coyoacan, Ixtapan, Naucalpan, Taxco… the google maps picture below shows it all.

• Virgen de Guadalupe

The Virgen is one of the most praised and followed symbols in Mexico. Ok, clearly she is a Catholic figure. But contrary to Virgen Mary she is a Latin version with non-white skin. Kind of a localized reference to colored non-European people, no?

• The elefant in the room: Día de los Muertos

Celebrated all over Mexico, the day serves to preserve the memory of passed relatives. It is Aztec origin and it is believed that it opens a kind gateway through which the dead can return to the world to enjoy their ofrenda. For more details, go and watch that movie “Coco” 😉

• Food & Cuisine

Mexico without Chile? Without maiz? Without mole? Unthinkable… Basically, these three key pillars of Mexican cuisine are 100% local and of pre-hispanic origin. Aztecs were Masters in agriculture enjoying strong and spicy food already hundreds of years before Europe obtained spices from their colonies. Finally, also cocoa was first cultivated in the Americas – and who does not love a hot chocolate at a cold winter day?

To round it up, other indigenous remains include: the Xoloitzcuintle dog and varios legends which have influenced lots of children stories about nature, myths and un-natural appearances.

I hope this (bit lengthy) post gave you some nice out-of-the-box insights to México, which you have not expected before.

A happy rest of the day, resp. good morning in Germany. 🙂

Adrián & Alexis