Thoughts about Mexico

After our trip to Oaxaca in Mexico, we spent the rest of our time in Campeche with our families and friends. We all finished and passed our courses with certification, and then took off for a couple more days on the beach in Playa del Carmen and Tulum before heading back home to Canada. I didn’t blog about any of this because once I was home I was so excited to be home, and felt being in the moment of Canada was the best for me at the time. Now that I’m back in that part of the world I can once again reflect on my time spent there.

To sum up a bit of Mexico I’m going to do my favorites…

Favorite trip: Oaxaca/Puerto Escondido. This trip was planned because we couldn’t go to Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Tulum and Isla Mujeres on our week off due to a hurricane. It was during Day of the Dead celebrations and there was so many amazing things going on in the cities and towns we were in. We spent the majority of our time on a beach trying to surf and eating amazing food!  This trip stood out by far.

Favorite adventure: Cenotes in Merida/ horseback riding in Oaxaca. Both these experiences were once in a lifetime, incredible adventures. Swimming in the bright blue water of the water holes was surreal. Horseback riding during sunset in the mountains of Oaxaca was terrifying, but a moment I will never forget.

Favorite food: churros, charritos, and pan de cazon. Churros are long deep fried sticks covered in cinnamon, and you can add vanilla or chocolate to the centre (much like donuts but in the form of a stick). Charritos are chips only made and sold in Campeche. There is no way in describing them, but they are amazing and different from any chip I have ever had – you’ll just have to go to Campeche to try them! And finally, Pan de Cazon is another dish typical to Campeche. You take a tortilla cover it in refried beans, then baby shark, then tomato sauce. You repeat this three or four times until you have a mound of tortilla, beans, baby shark and finally cover it all in more tomato sauce – delicious!

Favorite drink: horchata. This is a sort of rice/coconut milk, milkshake. It took me a while to like it, and it’s very typical in Campeche. But once we found an amazing restaurant called Portales that sold horchata to die for we were drinking it almost every night.

Favorite beach: Puerto Escondido. You just can’t compete with that beach. It’s not too touristy like all the beaches on the east coast (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, etc). It was completely worth the 30+ hour bus ride.

People to remember:

My amazing family. Addy, Enrique, Kike and Gely made me feel a part of the family. I will never forget their hospitality and their kindness. I feel so blessed to have met them and had the pleasure of staying in their beautiful home.

Ave, Kike’s girlfriend, and now my dear, dear friend. Ave took me under her wing and introduced me to all her friends, drove me around Campeche to help me get my bearings, and above all became a truly amazing friend to me. She would help me study Spanish and always had patience with me when I was struggling with communicating. I know our friendship will last a lifetime.

Irving, a friend we met along the way who lives in Campeche. Irving introduced us to all of his friends and took us out with him. It was so nice to have someone our age show us the good places to dance and eat. We had so much fun as a big group – so many memories and laughs. 

This experience was one I will never forget. I was so scared and nervous at the beginning of the trip, but it turned out to the best 3 months of my life. I missed my family and friends so much, but adding together all the experiences and all of the people I met within those three months I cannot think of an experience similar. I took lots of pictures and kept a diary of everything and everywhere we went so one day I can look back at these three months and remember all the small things that made this trip what it was – amazing.