1. The music everywhere
2. Speaking Spanish
3. Mexican soup
4. How you always get a bowl of halved limes with everything
5. The beautiful colonial buildings
6. The bright colours. If the house next to you is painted orange, paint your house purple. If the upstairs is green, why not paint the outside of the bottom half pink?
7. The tropical plants and luscious vegetation
8. The smell of coffee
9. The cafes and bars of Xalapa
10. The hilly cobbled streets of Xalapa (impossible to walk in heels)
11. The friendliness of the people
12. Comida corrida
13. UV campus
14. Street food. I crave a torta de tamale con salsa roja
15. Having a maid clean for us everyday
16. Mexican long distance, first class buses
17. Chilaquiles
18. Our friends in Xalapa
19. The snow capped volcano that you could see from our apartment
20. Someone did my washing for me and I didn't iron at all
21. Cafe con leche at El Peroquia
22. Freshly squeezed orange juice
23. The pharmacies where you can buy everything - including beer!
24. The relaxedness (I know this isn't a real word but you know what I mean)
25. People really say the "mi casa / tu casa" thing and mean it!
26. Empanadas
27. Cowboy hats
28. Fields of edible cacti
29. People riding horses and donkeys in small towns
30. The incredible Totanaca ruins that are rarely visited. It's like they are a secret.
40. Beaches
41. Cheap cinemas
42. Chili seco sauce
43. The sound of corn tortillas being shaped (slap, slap, slap)
44. The smell of corn tortillas being cooked
45. Easy access to wireless Internet
Anything I wasn't so excited about? Not much. I loved Mexico, but here goes:
1. My usual tea complaint. I'm like a broken record. Not Mexico's fault.
2. Xalapa weather
3. Traffic
This concludes my Mexico blog. I might try and keep up with my Japan one this year.... http://jomynard.blogspot.com/
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Last day in Mexico - famous houses
There are so many ways we could have spent our last day, but we didn't fancy too much travelling as we have been on a lot of buses lately and we have a long long journey ahead of us back to Japan on Thursday.
We opted to do some city stuff and started by taking the metro to the neighbourhood of Coyoacan to visit some famous houses. The first thing we saw down in the metro station was a group of about 20 vulnerable-looking Japanese tourists with a guide. They are safer in a group I suppose. We jumped on Linea 2 bound for Universidad, changed at Higaldo and took Linea 3 straight to Coyoacan. I liked how each station had a picture - very easy to spot your stop! Many of the stations were names of generals and revolutionaries. I liked the picture of Zapata the best (because of the hat).
Have a read at another blogger's entry about the choice of metro stations - very interesting (and funny - you can also see the picture of Emilianio Zapata) http://dayeffay.blogspot.com/2007/11/metro-station-history-of-mexico.html
As we came out of the metro station, we spotted a Starbucks..... yeah, in we went.....I know, I know. I can't get over how friendly everyone is - people always ask where we are from and we have a bit of banter. It's refreshing as in Japan, people in shops and cafes never deviate from the script.
We took a taxi from there to Frida's house. You couldn't miss it as it is the brightest blue you can imagine. We enjoyed visiting where she lived with Diego Rivera for 25 years and where they both worked. Many of their paintings were there and a lovely collection of family photographs.
From there, we walked to Trotsky's house. It was also easy to spot - the windows had been walled up for his protection (so much for that). I'll let the pictures speak as I was allowed to take photos inside for a small fee. http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/MexicoCityPart2
Me at "La Casa Azul" (home of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera)
We opted to do some city stuff and started by taking the metro to the neighbourhood of Coyoacan to visit some famous houses. The first thing we saw down in the metro station was a group of about 20 vulnerable-looking Japanese tourists with a guide. They are safer in a group I suppose. We jumped on Linea 2 bound for Universidad, changed at Higaldo and took Linea 3 straight to Coyoacan. I liked how each station had a picture - very easy to spot your stop! Many of the stations were names of generals and revolutionaries. I liked the picture of Zapata the best (because of the hat).
Have a read at another blogger's entry about the choice of metro stations - very interesting (and funny - you can also see the picture of Emilianio Zapata) http://dayeffay.blogspot.com/2007/11/metro-station-history-of-mexico.html
As we came out of the metro station, we spotted a Starbucks..... yeah, in we went.....I know, I know. I can't get over how friendly everyone is - people always ask where we are from and we have a bit of banter. It's refreshing as in Japan, people in shops and cafes never deviate from the script.
We took a taxi from there to Frida's house. You couldn't miss it as it is the brightest blue you can imagine. We enjoyed visiting where she lived with Diego Rivera for 25 years and where they both worked. Many of their paintings were there and a lovely collection of family photographs.
From there, we walked to Trotsky's house. It was also easy to spot - the windows had been walled up for his protection (so much for that). I'll let the pictures speak as I was allowed to take photos inside for a small fee. http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/MexicoCityPart2
Me at "La Casa Azul" (home of artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Back to Mexico City
So here we are again over a month on. We took a first class pullman bus from Puebla to get here (no more 2nd class Mexican buses for us) and checked into this fine hotel. Loving the last bit of luxury before the loooooooooong long journey home tomorrow.
Puebla
We only had one day in Puebla, but we fitted loads in. The best thing to do is to wander randomly looking at the beautiful colonial buildings and tile work. Here are a few other things we did:
- visited the ruins of the church of San Francisco
- visited the massive cathedral (it reminded us of the ones in Granada in Spain and Cusco in Peru)
- listened to live music at cafes on the Zocalo (main square)
- tasted mole poblano (very rich, a bit sickly actually)
- visited the ex-convent of Santa Rosa. We had a fascinating guided tour of the museum and visited the kitchen where mole poblano was first made!
- visited the victorian arcade
- visited the artist's quarter and bought some ceramics
- walked along the street lined with shops catering for festivals and parties
- visited the amazing and beautiful old library in the cultural centre
- bought some famous "dulces" (sweets)
Here is a picture of one of the main shopping streets (5 de Mayo). More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/Puebla
- visited the ruins of the church of San Francisco
- visited the massive cathedral (it reminded us of the ones in Granada in Spain and Cusco in Peru)
- listened to live music at cafes on the Zocalo (main square)
- tasted mole poblano (very rich, a bit sickly actually)
- visited the ex-convent of Santa Rosa. We had a fascinating guided tour of the museum and visited the kitchen where mole poblano was first made!
- visited the victorian arcade
- visited the artist's quarter and bought some ceramics
- walked along the street lined with shops catering for festivals and parties
- visited the amazing and beautiful old library in the cultural centre
- bought some famous "dulces" (sweets)
Here is a picture of one of the main shopping streets (5 de Mayo). More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/Puebla
Monday, March 15, 2010
La Purificadora
We have stayed in hundreds of hotels over the years, but I don't think we have ever stayed in a "design hotel". The hotels in Puebla were quite reasonable, so we decided to stay somewhere really flash. We chose La Purificadora because it looked so different. It features in loads of design books and magazines and has apparently hosted televised events such as beauty padgents in Mexico. I couldn't wait to see it. (Hotel website: http://www.designhotels.com/lapurificadora)
It's basically a converted 19th century water bottling factory, tastefully restored/renovated using many of the original materials. It must have been really fun to design and it was a really fun place to stay. My favourite features were:
- the open air lobby with fire places (see picture below)
- the mixture of monochrome/neutral materials and bright purple fabric
- the glass floors
- the glass-sided swimming pool and roof bar
- the onyx shower room
More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/LaPurificadora
It's basically a converted 19th century water bottling factory, tastefully restored/renovated using many of the original materials. It must have been really fun to design and it was a really fun place to stay. My favourite features were:
- the open air lobby with fire places (see picture below)
- the mixture of monochrome/neutral materials and bright purple fabric
- the glass floors
- the glass-sided swimming pool and roof bar
- the onyx shower room
More pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/LaPurificadora
Bus to Puebla
There are buses every 20 minutes or so to Puebla so we didn't bother making a reservation. We heard that it only took 2 hours to get there....
It was a bank holiday so the bus station in Xalapa was busier than usual. The next first class bus with free seats wasn't for another 2 hours so we thought we'd take a second class bus. Puebla was only a short distance away and the 2nd class bus was leaving right away. It was a bit cramped, but fine until it broke down 10 minutes into the journey and for a while we contributed massively to the horrendous Xalapa traffic. The driver asked for all the "caballeros" to get off and push it off the road. David jumped up to help and I stayed behind with all the other weak women. We stood at the side of the road for a while and listened to everyone's stories. "Ive got to be in work tomorrow", "This is the last time I'm travelling AU", "Last time this happened, the replacement bus was even worse".....our replacement bus was even worse and took AGES to arrange and get going. We stopped in a place called Perote for AGES and the journey ended up taking around 5 hours. Ugh!
The journey was interesting however. Lots to look at - fields, mountains and fun things for sale along the way. More pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/BusToPuebla
It was a bank holiday so the bus station in Xalapa was busier than usual. The next first class bus with free seats wasn't for another 2 hours so we thought we'd take a second class bus. Puebla was only a short distance away and the 2nd class bus was leaving right away. It was a bit cramped, but fine until it broke down 10 minutes into the journey and for a while we contributed massively to the horrendous Xalapa traffic. The driver asked for all the "caballeros" to get off and push it off the road. David jumped up to help and I stayed behind with all the other weak women. We stood at the side of the road for a while and listened to everyone's stories. "Ive got to be in work tomorrow", "This is the last time I'm travelling AU", "Last time this happened, the replacement bus was even worse".....our replacement bus was even worse and took AGES to arrange and get going. We stopped in a place called Perote for AGES and the journey ended up taking around 5 hours. Ugh!
The journey was interesting however. Lots to look at - fields, mountains and fun things for sale along the way. More pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/jomynard/BusToPuebla
The salchicha woman
This is the last little vignette from Xalapa! This is a picture of the main building of our hotel. Can you see where the crowd has gathered? This is street food that will make David salivate any time you mention it. The lady sells longaniza sausages topped with spicy sauces which are incredibly popular. She calls David "joven" (young-un) ha ha ha.
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