Once upon a time in México (part I)

Day 1-2: Pitstop: Cancún / In continuation: Isla Mujeres

Wohoo! After 10 years I had finally found my way back to México. This time I had three weeks, 21 days, to explore more of this amazing country. First quick stop was Cancun where my intention was not to stay long. Arrived pretty late at night and got accommodated in the Cancun centre, not the beach line that is. The first mission on the first morning in México was to find myself a nice cup of good mexican cafe con leche to get my machines going. After having found that I was alive and well - IN MÉXICO cojones!!

Sat down to a street to smoke a cigarette and started talking with a local girl sitting next to me. I honestly did not remember Mexican people being so friendly but this girl and her boyfriend offered to give me lift to Puerto Juarez where you can take a ferry to go to Isla Mujeres. But first, this nice Mexican couple offered to go to the Cancún airport for picking up my old friend arriving from London. How nice was that?

Then me and Aino headed straight to Puerto Juarez and from there to the island of Isla Mujeres. Sweet Caribbean Sea and a full day of doing absolutely nothing were waiting for us.

At Isla Mujeres we stayed at La Joya hotel which was located in the south end of the island. A very nice and quiet hotel. And just a view steps from the Caribbean Sea! All we did was sun bathing, swimming, sun bathing, swimming... and enjoyed some pretty damn good fish at a restaurant nearby. What a perfect day to start the adventure with.

The true bitch beach

Day 3-5: Off to Valladolid for the weekend of Dia de los Muertos

One of the reasons I scheduled my trip to México to this time of a year was Dia de Muertos. I always have wanted to witness it and now I finally got to do it. The best and very traditional place for spending Dia de Muertos would probably have been Patzcuaro in Michoacan, but I was definitely on the wrong side of México for doing that. My direction therefore was Valladolid which was more or less on the route.

Bus ride from Tulum to Valladolid took ages since we got second class tickets and it stopped on every possible busstop and for every possible sales person climbing aboard. And of course the bus driver turned out to have a fetish for 90´s pop music. So yes, the ride was pretty painful. But finally, after several hours of bad taste of music and a bumpy ride we arrived to Valladolid.

Settled in to our hotel, El Zaguan and headed to the centre of Valladolid hoping to get my face painted! And it just so happened that we walked in the first bar near the zocalo and they were just painting Dia de Muertos faces to the bartenders and waitresses there. Of course I had to ask could I be next and I could! Happy go lucky!

Valladolid turned to be quite a calm place for any kind of fiesta. Surprisingly few bars and restaurants. But i got Corona beer, a mojito and my face painted - I was satisfied for now!

The next day I did some exploring in the city and some shopping for skulls and stuff. Then in the afternoon decided to visit two of the potholes in Valladolid - Cenotes Xkeken (Dzitnup) and Samula.

Went to the Cenotes with Aino and we had a truly relaxing afternoon there - what a refreshing place on a hot day in México!

The potholes can be found 10 kilometres from Valladolid and they sure are worth visiting. The best time to visit there is around 12 AM when the light hits the ceiling and the water in a most beautiful way. You can swim with fishes and snorcel in the cenotes. The water is amazingly blue and clear.

After having enjoyed the cenotes and some nice frozen margaritas it was time to head back to the centre and head for a cemetery! It was Dia de los Muertos weekend after all and I wanted to see some serious mexican cemetary behaviour.

When we got to the cemetery the sun was getting down already. There were people bringing flowers and food to the mausoleums and tombs, but fixing and painting the tombs and tombstones, having family gettogethers; eating and drinking at the cemetery. And not one sad face around.

Dead is taken bit more differently in México. It is taken more with humor but hope too. Dead is seen natural, but also colourful, hopeful and alternative in a sense -

Dead does not have just one face, it has several. And those are all options for you and your next lifes. Oh so very cool.

Picture: A mausoleum not so full of sadness and sorrow

Mexican way is to take care of the tombs and mausoleums of their family and loved ones. Some of the people I talked to were calling it a pact.

The guy in the picture is painting his mothers tombstone to honour her memory on the day of the dead.

And of course he was doing this with a big smile on his face.

I wish dead could be more like this in my country as well. More happiness on the fact that the person once existed and affected in our lifes. Added with some more colours, more irony, more feelings. We all die anyway, why not with a smile?

We got to end our Valladolid days with some sunday night entertainmant in the form of salsa dancing at the zocalo. There was a pretty big band playing latin music and people of all ages dancing on the streets. Everyone was dancing. Alone, as a couple, as a threesome, as a group or as a gringo like I did. It was so great to be part of that all: To witness a great atmosphere, passion for salsa, tradions and genuine people getting together. Everyone was warmly welcome - even the gringos :)

Oh yes, definitely some salsa in the air

To be continued on part II - thanks for sharing México so far with me :)