From White Sands to Saguaro

I'll be honest, whenever the word Roswell comes to my mind, I directly connect it to aliens and UFOs, so I was expecting a whole lot more alien related places and decor all around. The street lights are adorned with cute alien eyes and McDonald's went all the way architecture wise with its spaceship structure. But I guess that I was hopeful that the whole place lived up to perpetuate the buzz around the 1947 'incident'.Sometimes things don't live up to your expectations, and I generally tend to underestimate them so I don't get disappointed. And after my disenchantment with Roswell, White Sands National Monument was wonderful and so much more than I could have ever imagined!Surrounded by mountains that peek from afar rise the fairest dunes. And where the soil is plane, the minerals of which it is composed of, with the casual help of some water pools, reflect all that is possible to see like if it was a flawless mirror.After some hanging around the desert, we went towards Tucson, Arizona. We arrived at sunset and we couldn't have chosen any better time. No wonder most of the car plates have purple mountains and cactuses with a sunset behind them. That purple is really there. We went to Saguaro National Park to watch the sun slowly hide behind those mountains and though there were some clouds in the sky, I can tell you that it was one of the most amazing things I've seen in my life. I was so sad that our photos taken with a phone could't even capture half of the mystic and all the vibrant colours graciously moving towards dusk.The day after we explored Saguaro National Park further more. All those huge cactuses that already made part of my imaginary turned real and there are thousands of them, everywhere, with their arms twirling around their bodies and rising up to the sky.We wanted to end our day in Salvation Mountain, in Southern California, so we decided to cross the border to Mexico. To do that we passed by the Sonoran Desert National Monument and through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, which are really worth exploring.

After crossing the border easily to Sonoyta, Mexico, we started our 2 hour drive up to San Luis Rio Colorado. In the middle of the way we got a flat tire, the road was super hot and I was a tiny bit scared. There was desert all around us and we hadn't seen any gas station or business since we left Sonoyta. The weirdest thing was that on the week before I was talking to Luis about how to change a tire. We couldn't have been faster but this huge truck stopped (this is where I thought about all the ways I had to defend myself). Against all the horror movie scenes going through my mind that included an alone couple/woman in the middle of a deserted road, the guy was actually super nice. He took our flat tire to check if it was possible to fix it right there and as we were talking to him, a police car stopped as well. My hyperactive imagination resumed the thoughts I was having before, only this time with nasty cops. Ultimately, they only wanted to check if everything was ok and they were actually really nice.

In some parts of the way it was possible to see a wall dividing both countries which made me think about how difficult it must be for Mexican illegal immigrants to engage in such an adverse path. It took us some time to cross back to the US again, as there were tons of cars doing just the same. As always in this trip, everything went smoothly and after a tiny bit we drove from Arizona to California.<3

Dreamy Turquoise

We arrived at Playa del Carmen late and stayed at a lovely renovated place just 2 streets away from the beach. After we explored a bit we came to the conclusion that most accesses to the beach are made through the hotels, so most of the beach area is "private". This bugged us a bit, but made us explore the coast on the following days.We visited the Mayan ruins in Tulum and it was freaking hot, so we had to hydrate and didn't miss the chance to have some natural fruit sorbets! After that we went to the beach in the surroundings and got to scuba dive in the Mesoamerican Reef. After it, we had dinner at Antojitos La Chiapaneca, an amazing traditional restaurant with great local food. I also got to buy a red dress with embroidered flowers and a blanket in pastel colours.We visited a pretty cool turtle sanctuary and hung around the beautiful turquoise water beaches that exist between the huge resorts. There are no people there because you can only go by car and also because people from the resorts don't bother to walk a lot to find their place in the sun! 🌞If you're into ethnical clothing, accessories and decor, you'll go nuts because there are so many beautiful things in the shops. I specially loved a shop called Rosalia. They have amazing clothing, tapestry and other cool things from all around Mexico and the concept is really cool. Can you spot the iguana in the picture below?With this post I close my first Mexican chapter, hoping to get back one day and explore the whole country. ❤️

From Merida to Uxmal

 Here's a pic of the party I talked about on my last post! People have such cool faces! I can't get over them. So, we arrived in Merida at around 8 pm and proceeded to have dinner in a delightful restaurant called Oliva. Then we took a stroll around Merida's historical center. It's a very alluring city with a lot of things going on. There's a square where we had a couple of beers called Parque de Santa Lucía, which has a bunch of busts from famous singers of Serenatas Yucatecas and music to go with it. On our way back we got to try marquesitos from a street food stand and they are superb (it's like a thin wafer rolled like a crepe, usually with goat milk caramel and cheese inside).  It would've been amazing if we wouldn't have to leave the next day so we could explore even more this youthful city. If you go there, be sure to hit the Lucas de Galvez market.We stayed at this wonderful airbnb Colonial Villa. The room was huge with lovely antiques and the bed was like a fluffy cloud with tons of pillows. We couldn't resist a midnight swim on the beautiful swimming pool.We had an early swim and breakfast and headed towards Uxmal (always through secondary roads). Did you know that most little villages have their own tortilla factory? A real meal doesn't come without tortillas, how would you grab your food otherwise?Uxmal is a beauty hidden in the jungle. There were almost no tourists, so the place was very quiet and those otherworldly buildings were just standing there, waiting. It's understandable that in other monuments alike they don't let you climb the stairs of the tallest pyramids. We got up the great pyramid fine, but going down was seriously dreadful for me as I'm a bit of an acrophobic and the steps are so steep that it looks like you'll fall straight to the ground below.Going back to the coast we visited Izamal, the Pueblo Magico, a pleasant little city with a very cool monastery. From there we calmly went towards Playa del Carmen, to spend some days at the beach.<3

Hola Mexico!

Luis and I arrived in Cancún at lunch time and as soon as we picked our super cheap rental car we started driving towards Valladolid. We didn't take the highway, so we got to drive in a road that connects little villages. And what a road! We drove through the wonderful jungle and met the people from those pueblos, who are actual Mayans (some of them don't even speak Spanish)! We saw the most amazing pink sunset and took our time absorbing little things that crossed our path, from Mexican red rump tarantulas to amazing birds (Altamira Oriole) and their hanging nests.Just a bit before we got to our destination we found a village that was having a traditional popular party. We had dinner there and that was where our gastronomic journey began! Maybe because we were the tallest ones over there, there were a few people staring at us. I guess they're not very used to having tourists attending their parties. Mayans speak really low, so apart from the music you could almost hear the crickets. Everybody was warm and beautiful in their own way. Women were all wearing the famous Yucatan traditional dresses, blouses and skirts embroidered with amazing flowers, which I'll forever be in love with.Valladolid is a very cute little city, with a stunning tiny park (La Mestiza) in front of the church (San Gervacio). It was late when we arrived so most things were already closed. We took a stroll around and came across Coqui Coqui's perfume shop and hat shop (they also have a restaurant and hotels, where I would stay if I go back, for sure). Both shops are amazingly decorated and made me want to live there without even knowing their products!The next morning we visited Chichen Itza, which is much more than a big Mayan pyramid! It is a city, a civilisation, there are so many thing to see and to feel over there. It's so mystical and beautiful. By the way, if you're thinking about buying cool souvenirs, don't miss the opportunity to bargain.One thing that amazes me is how Mexicans use colours! They are surely not afraid of them and they write on the walls to publicise a vast extent of things, from Coca-Cola to the next parties in town.  We stopped for lunch in a village and we ate a mix of amazing food! Don't be afraid with the looks of the Loncherias, the more simple and humble the place looks, the better the food will be. Everything is so fresh and tasty! Imagine how hysterical I got when I learnt that every meal should be accompanied by Agua de Jamaica or Horchata (two of my favourite beverages in the world).We decided to drive around and found these pink salines. They're the first pink ones I saw in real life, and what made them even more special were the flamingos in the lake nearby, in Dzemul. As if pink lakes and flamingos weren't enough, we were able to see some pretty cool pelicans in Progresso.After this we got in the car and started driving towards Merida, our next stop. <3