On April 27th, we went to Isla Mujeres (the island of women) which was a small island next to Cancun. This Friday,I had 2 new experiences. One was swimming with Dolphins and another was driving a mini golf cart.

Going to Isla Mujeres in the morning

First, we went to the meeting point for the company ” Dolphin Discovery”, then they took us to Isla Mujeres by ferry. I was so excited and scared about Dolphins at the same time. Andreas did not join the Dolphin Swimming.

Thank you for waiting!
playing with Dolphins @ferry

It was really tiny and a few hours zooming around with the cart would give you the entire tour. We started from Northern end and went to Southern point of the island to see nice view

@Southern point

me driving

YES, I got my first driving experience!! It was very fun and exciting But I saw that one kid was driving the golf cart It was so scared and he was just in front of us…Could not belive this face. In Mexico, everything is possible, wow wow!

kid driver

**Our guide was very friendly and nice guy

Finally, both of us were on good condition ,so we decided to go out to CoCo Bongo The place was like a huge club and show As usual, we had a trouble with a fat lady. She was dancing next to us, but she was pushing at the same time And she was so big and pushing us so much. One American lady was also complaing to her. I was standing with her attack around for 10 mins…Then we could take her out because we told the security guy. This night club had always a long line so I was expeting something very nice. I had a very nice evening there

Miss Universe 2007 of winner is a Japanese woman, wow wow! Congratulation-de-arimasu

Still I am writing about my Mexican trip from last month. On April 26th, we went to Chichen Itza with a bus tour. The tour guide was an old man, and he did not explain in English on the bus at all. That was bad because I was very interested in the history about so…But Andreas helped me what he was saying!

Chichen Itzan is located between Cancun and Merida. It took to get there around 3 hours by bus. It was quite long trip and far away from our hotel. It is an ancient Mayan site. Over 40,000 people lived this site and Mayan people lived until the Spanish people came in 16th century.

You see, how far is from Cancun?

the map of Chichen itza

After we reached, they took us to Mayaland hotel and had lunch The foods were okay but spicy
The day had been very hot and the sunshine was strong. I was ready to get brown!

Inside of the hotel

The tour started with a young man and he was from Merida. My father, Enrique-san is from Merida where is located on the opposite side of Yucatan Peninsula. He said that he could read Mayan letter and the school taught him at school.

Entrance

It is really in the jungle!

Smaller version of the pyramid.

The first stop was Observatory. It is also called ” EL Caracol(snail)” because of the shape” See below. Three slots in its top level point due south and toward the setting sun and moon on the spring and autumn equinoxes. For this structure, Mayan peopld had a perfect calendar to know the seasons.

Next stop was “Castillo de Kukulcan” which is an awesome and cool pyramid. According to the guide, another smaller pyramid encloses an older pyramid. I could not climb onto the pyramid…I was expecting to do that The pyramid is called kukulcan pyramid. The steps are 91 steps for each side so the total step would be 365 steps. Those are for all symbols of the intricate Mayan calender. Anyway, the pyramid was incredible.

with us

Jaguars

The last stop was a Ball Court and built in AD864. This court is the biggest in Mexico. It has exceptional carvings( see below). The players were trying to get the ball go through. If you are the chaptain of the winner team, the players have heads cut off. The sevenspurts of blood shot from their necks would be transformed into flowers according to Mayan mythology.

You had to do dunk shot there, just kidding.

big court!

 

Temple of the Warriors

This area was supposed to be market place.

Then we had some free time to take a look around the ruins. The sunshine was very strong so Andreas got Insolated…After we saw a couple of ruins, we went back to the Mayanhotel and took a rest for night show. Unfortunately, we had to stay longer time there for the night show. The show presented history of Chichen Itza, and lights show. Well, another long day was over My heart was a full of touching sights!

different colors of the pyramid

My Cancun trip was half done on April 25th.This day was a very long day. We went to Xcaret (pronunciation is SHCA-ret) with a bus tour.

1,5hours from our hotel, not too bad

Xcaret is a popular eco-archeological theme park. The place has Underground Snorkeling River, Dolphin Pools, Sea Trek, Mayan Village and Ball Court, Turtle Pools, Live show, etc…The park is over 200 acres so it requires a lot of walking I felt this place is a huge amusument park like a water version of Disneyland We spent an entire day @ Xcaret!

Map of Xcaret

First thing we tried was Snorkeling in the underground river! There were two courses for snorkeling, either 30 or 45 mins. Of course, we took the longer course because today’s highlight was snorkeling,hahaha
It was so pretty and fun The water color was cobalt blue and clear.I saw so many fishes inside,wow wow! I really liked it so next step was going to the different course. Well,this short course was not nice so we changed back to the long course after 20mins. In the end, we did 3 rounds. Yes, we exhausted, but had so much fun

Snorkeling in the caves, that was so cool! I felt like I was an adventure

Then we had late lunch at the restaurant. (The foods were included with the admission.) Since we were quite tired, we took a rest and walked around. BUT Andreas wanted to do one activity. I don’t know how to say, but walking on the rope. —> See the pic. “You know, kids can make it so I CAN make it too!!” Well, I did not believe that he was gonna make it. Actually, he made it That was cool! I was proud of my husband at that time!

Our guide recommended to take a boat so we did that too.

Boat trip

There was a field of plants for Tequila. The plant is called Agave. I took pics with that plant. Now time to drink Tequila!!

We did not see the Horse Show, but I saw Lady riders (”Adelitas”) . They wore the mexican traditional colorful clothes.

I guess she was practicing.

Flamingo

Finally, the Night show The show was pretty good. The first show was starting with a amazing Mayan Ball games.The next one was history of late Mayan civilization. The Spanish people came to Yucatan peninsula, and Mayan people thought they were gods, etc…

Mayan Ball game

My favorite part was traditional dance from each region in Mexico. The dancers were wearing very typical Mexican costume. I recorded video of almost every region’s dance, because it was so cute and nice. I will upload my videos very soon

As usual, we falled asleep on the way back to our hotel

3rd day in Cancun(April 24th), we rented a car and went to Tulum and Xel-ha(pronunciation is shell ha)

Today’s driver

Tulum is Matan ruins as well. It is located 120km south from Cancun. It took us to reach there almost 3,5 hours from our hotel. It was loong driving. I was sleeping at the car,hehehe

Xel-ha is 30 minutes away from Tulum by car.

I saw some performance at the entrance.

They are very brave! This performance calls “Voladores de Papantla (Papantla flyers) “It is a ceremony worshipping the sun god and performing from 30 meters in the air. The 4 flying men represent the four elements earth, air, fire and water.

Mayan temples built on the top of a high cliff overlooking the Caribbean sea so that you could see the ruins and sea at the same time! Very nice The ruined were built between 1200 and1450. We spent all morning here.

-> —>First destination, Tulum—>

History of Tulum

<–Iguana-chan–>

The ruins @Tulum

More ruins

and more

Playing with the sea

Fresh coconuts drink! Yummy!

Then we moved to next destination, Xel-ha. Xel-ha ia an ecological water park.The park has a snorkel park, forest, and beach.

I wanted to snorkel here, but we ended up with River Float We got a water tube (inner tube) for 2 people. Yes, now testing our strength of teamwork. From the beginning to the end, it took easily around 1,5 hours. It was very long I wanted to do one more around for snorkeling, but did not have enought energy left… So we decided to snorkel just a little bit. At least, we had some experience and saw colorful fishes inside. It was amazing

At the beginning, Andreas was so scared with fishes, hahaha. That was so funny. We also took some pictures using a waterproof camera.

@Xel-ha

On April 23rd, I was feeling better than last day I could walk without feeling pain and having headache. It was very hot and humid, so that the weather did not help my sickness.

From the morning, we were supposed to meet Andreas’ friend, Sergio (nick name is Borreguito). I have met him in Mexico city when I traveled by myself 3 years ago. Now He lives in Cancun and works as a tourist guide. I am jealous of him because he lives in such a nice place in my opinion.

**Hola! It was nice to see you again in Cancun

Yay!! We would go around Cancun with nice guide. He explained what would be nice to go around and how to take a bus,etc… First place he took us was market place called “Mercado 28″ . It was located in Downtown Cancun, like city center. There were Mexican crafts, cloths, shoes, and souvenirs. I bought some T-shirts, magnets with Cancun logo, and a dried Sea Star (Seafish).

Entrance of Mercado 28

Sea Star-kun. Now my room smells like the sea because of this guy!?

**You can try to bargain with them. Well, actually you have to do that Some of the prices were terrible, but it was very fun time for shopping

Then, we decided to go to Playa del Carmen where was the different town and the third biggest city in this area. It took to get there around 1,5 hours by bus. The bus was quite comfortable compared to the buses from Mexico city.

Borregito took us to a shopping street called ” fifth avenue” There were many shops, restaurants, and bars. We found some funny bar and had some drinks. The chairs were so cute! I loved them From this shopping street, it was close to the sea. We just went to the Town beach. We could see the island called ” Isla Cozumel” In fact, this Cozumel island is the biggest island in Mexico. We reserved for going there for next time Also I wanted to do hair braiding. I was scared with this, so Next time

” fifth avenue” Cobra—

At the bar—>

Slightly, there is Isla Mujeres on this pic.

On the beach.

After this, he took us to the Xaman-Ha Mayan Ruins. Several temples survives. Most of them were around the Playa Carmen area. I could go inside and climb onto the ruins. Oh, that ’s what I really wanted to see and feel Mayan ruins since I was kid.

Going to see ruins. Lots of nature

About Xaman-Ha

—>
Can’t believe that Mayan people really exist there!

Maybe used to be their house?!

Some ruins with me

remaining of color

On October,2005, Hurricane Wilma came to Yucatan peninsula.The damage was 21 billion USD.These trees were hit by that Hurricane …

pretty color of flowers

nice view

On the way back to the hotel, I had a very big smile on my face because of the Mayan ruins.

On April 22nd, my first day in Cancun was not good starting, hehehe. Both of us were feeling sick from the morning…I even had some fever at night on this day…For this reason, we could not do so many thing in Cancun. Of course, it was only the first day

From Mexico city, it takes 2.5 hours to reach there by plane

Our hotel was located on the coner of peninsula. Everything was close to this hotel, e.g. shopping center, disco, market place, and etc. This map does not have all of the hotels located on this skiny island. Actually, there are tons of hotels next to each other.

Cancun is famous for the best beaches, diving, Mayan ruins, etc…

When I was studying in the US, many students went to Cancun for spring break. Yes, it is also popular for the American students to go there during Spring break! Since my visit was not during spring break time, I did not see so many American students. It would be fun to hang out with them

I am really impressed with the Caribbean ocean. The sea had nice blue color and the sand were white It was my first time to see nice sea and sand at the same time. You know, the sea in Tokyo is grey and the sand is not nice at all.

Here is a pic from the first day in Cancun. I am sorry I really did not feel like taking a photo. As you can see, there are less pics than usual

Each hotel had private beach and pool This pic is our hotel’s pool.

Napping time for Andreas

I wanna go back to Cancun again!!!!

My brain was a little bit crazy. I took my Finnish exam yesterday. Even that was Finnish exam, my brain was giving me the Spanish words instead of Finnish words… That was sucks Anyway, I passed the exam

Lately, we bought new furniture from IKEA. Our room now is getting nicer　My husband is becoming a home slave and carpenter at the same time,hihihi.

Now, I will tell a strange and funny experience I had in Mexico. In the end, that day made my holiday painful

3rd day (April 21st), Andreas wanted to take us to the local bar and restaurant. He explained to me that “The bar is were local farmers go to drink. They really drink alot and get totally wasted. Sometimes they are even sleeping at the bathroom” I could not imagine how it looked like at all

His brother, Saul and two of his friends, Azael and Moses also joined us. It took 30 minues to get to the place by car. OMG, I had never seen such a funny place in my life. It was really like shortage room but bar. There was one guy who served a drink for customers. He was very friendly and nice guy. The time we went there, only two local people were drinking at this bar. The price was very cheap, about average price was 15 pesos( 1.5 dollars) for half a liter of strange alcohol drink But it looked bad and weird.

Funny colorful drink

Menu from this bar. It was amazingly cheap. But the owner gave some free drinks

The smell was bad so—>>

Salud—–> —–>

After spending 2 hours, we went to the local restaurant. The foods were very good at that time, but actually everyone got sick from these foods. I think the reason why…it was dirty place and outside. At night, I was suffering with strange stomach pain. I could not move and prepare for Cancun trip starting the next day. My stomach sounded like gruu gruu, very strange sound…You can imagine right?! That was my second sickness in Mexico. Last year, after I left in Mexico, I got sick with Mexican foods as well. I knew how painful would be…. Anyway, now those funny and painful stories are good memories from this trip

More Salud

Enchilada more info. about mexican foods HERE

Tacos.

**Each tacos had different inside. (i.e chicken,pork skin, and veges.)

I am keeping my travel diary from Mexico. I just realize that my honeymoon diary in Spain is not completed yet Oh dear, I have to do it too!

2nd day(April 20th), Andreas took me to the seafood restaurant in his hometown.His friend, Azael, also joined us My breakfast was mexican seafood Well, I actually had never seen a big shrimp cocktail. Also here in Mexico, people drink beer with shirimp cooktail, Wow wow. There were many shrimps, oysters, hot source, lime, and salt. I think, Mexican people like to put lime and salt on absolutely everything. The taste was much better than without those additonal seasonings. I tried to taste this beer shrimp cooktail. YES!! It was very TASTY But I was drinking beer from 10am, hahaha. It was like Mexican attitude,hihihi.

Mexican hot sauces

Mexican Shrimp cooktail, big right?

Itadakima–su

At the restaurant. Azael–kun

<–Cactus fields–>

Andreas & Azael

In front of this restaurant, there were a field of cactus　In Mexico, people cook the cactus like vegetables. The taste was like Okura (Lady’a finger) After eating breakfaste,we went to Downtown in this town. We found very big and cheap Mezcal, which is basically a cheap Tequila. Tequila is famous alcohol from Mexico and has 35-55% alcohol. Margaritas use Tequila.

Wow, big tequila bottle. Can you see it?? It was like 20 pesos,like 2 USD.

Town Square. At the church.

**I am so happy to take a photo with Andreas. When we travel, the pictures are only one person always.**

Icacream shop, so colorful

Cokes cost only 6 pesos(60 cents).In Finland, costs 2 euros. In Japan, costs 150yen, appr. 0,9 euro.

We stopped by Azael’s house. As usual, Arjona-kun falled asleep on friend’s bed

Then said ” Bye Bye” to Azael, afterArjona-kun woke up. That night our parents had a party for their anniversary in Mexico city. It was very nice night The restaurant was clean and foods were very safe and safe. I was really really appreciate to this nice restauran. You will understand why I wrote this comment now after you read next diary!

Party place in Mexico city

Arjona Family

Oh….I was sitting around this table. First time to be as Arjona last name

Nice place and foods in Mexico

“mi familia”

I finally came back from long trip last Saturday. This trip was quite long, but I had done so many things Also,I escaped from the cold weather for three weeks. It was very fun and nice trip.

At the same time, my friends are leaving from Finland very soon. Monday’s night I contacted with my friend, Hope by messenger. Our schedule was not fitted at all , so I decided to see her that night.She gave me some cakes and snacks.  We promised to travel to each country It will be in three years, but if my program has the exchange program to Singapore, I want to take it, hehehe!

Here is the picture with Hope

 It was very nice meeting to you

Oh, I will write my travel diary after I come back from Stockholm. I will go to Stochkholm for 4 days from thisWednesday