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Mexico 🇲🇽

January - February 2024
A 57-day adventure by A and Js World Adventure Read more
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  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    2
    Day 1

    Arriving to Mexico

    January 2 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    So the decision to head to Mexico next was made. The small issue was we hadn’t spent any time looking at where in Mexico we would go first. As our time in Canada started to come to an end we opened the laptops and found our way back to our trusty skyscanner.com. We were wrong to expect that the cheapest flights would be to the capital Mexico City. The cheapest flights we found were to Puerto Vallarta which is on the western Pacific Coast of the country. And conveniently the cheapest flights also departed from Calgary which was the closest international airport to Revelstoke. It seemed that our decision was made.

    After the past 2 months in the winter of Europe and Canada, arriving to a perfect 28C in Mexico was pure bliss! We landed mid-afternoon and were excited about the sunshine, beaches and barefoot living that would be the next chapter of our trip. We both immediately felt more at home.

    The airport gave us the first impression of Puerto Vallarta. Endless crowds of American and Canadian tourists! We didn’t realize it at first but now it makes complete sense. If PV is the cheapest place for our last-minute flights, it was likely the first choice for North American residents seeking an easy winter destination south. To avoid the massive queues waiting for the taxis we took on our first challenge of finding our way into town and to our accommodation by local bus. Initially, it was an easy enough walk about 700m out of the airport to the main highway. The highway passed by the entrance, and we found a crowd of very much more local-looking people waiting at a bus stop. From here it got harder. Reminisent of both of our previous times in Central and South America we realised that the local bus system was pretty chaotic. There we were with 2 bags each, and every bus that came past was already well beyond capacity. As we considered ditching the idea of catching the bus and just waving down the next taxi a bus pulled up almost empty. I hadn’t seen the front sign, so I didn’t know if the bus was going the right way. I grabbed my bags and yelled to Jessie, “Let’s go!” With my last-minute decision, I figured that all the buses would at least go some of the way we needed. We could figure the rest out as we went. By absolute fluke, the bus passed directly past where we could hop off. We walked the remainder of the way to our apartment for the next few nights. Massive win!

    Finally by about 7pm we had checked in and were keen to get out for dinner and an explore. We were staying in Las Glorias, a quieter suburb than the more touristy Zona Romantica. It's just a short 20-minute walk to the main beach strip. Being a more local area we had passed a few local taqueria’s on our way to the apartment. A Taqueria is simply translated as “a restaurant that sells tacos”. We grabbed a chair in a shed like place with no walls and a fire grill smoking at the entrance. A communal serving bar in the middle had various salads, condiments, and salsas. It was a self-serve arrangement to add to your taco. We bumbled our way through ordering with our limited Spanish and finally kicked back to enjoy a beer and the warm tropical evening air. Mexico, Come on!!!    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    1
    1
    Day 2–4

    Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

    January 3 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    The next 2 days were spent exploring the city of Puerto Vallarta and enjoying finally being in the tropical weather. After constantly moving for the past 4 months we were keen to reduce the pace of our travel from here on. On the list of “Mexican must-do’s” was:
    1. try street tacos,
    2. drink tequila,
    3. have a Margarita, and
    4. Hit the beach!

    So on day 1, we did just that. We walked from our apartment to Malecón, a large water-front promenade that is the main attraction for Puerto Vallarta. The promenade is lined with restaurants, bars and boutiques to cater to all the North American tourists. On our hunt for our first margarita in Mexico, we could only find well-overpriced, and ridiculously oversized, cocktail-sized options. We finally found a place on the sand that looked like it would do the job. Not quite but at least we knew it would be smarter just to keep making our own at home like we’d always done. (The troubles of living with a career hospitality professional and a lover of quality drinks 😜)
    * have a Margarita ✅

    Our tacos for dinner the night before would certainly have met the requirements to tick this one off the list. But it’s highly likely all of these are going to be repeated on a regular from here on. Street food stalls are almost on every corner and the tacos are all amazing! We didn’t realise how many different ways there were to prepare a taco until now. Seemingly every region of Mexico has a different way of preparing them and we are in heaven! Our lunch was at a colourful place called Pellizcadas, translated to The Pinched. A super authentic place that we loved so much that we came back the next day.
    * try street tacos ✅

    By chance, we found a nearby place offering Tequila tasting as a complete experience with an explanation of how it’s made. Being so close we dropped by to see if they had availability. We arrived at the bar hosting the experience just as the last session was finishing. However, they were happy to talk us through a private session right then. With an old Mexican guy as our host we soon realised that for every tasting he gave us, he would also pour himself a shot. And it was obvious that he had done the same for the previous 3 sessions of the day 😂. Despite his increasing intoxication, we had a lot of fun. We tried 5 different types of tequilas with some very generous pours (because our host told us it was happy hour 🤷‍♂️)
    * drink tequila ✅

    As for our final must-do… well basically everything else we did during our time in Puerto Vallarta was around our sessions kicking back at the beach. so Hit the beach! ✅
    We found out in the coolest way that the area is known to have a lot of turtles nesting along the coast here. One afternoon a family next to us had a couple of baby turtles emerge out of the sand next to them. I’m assuming they weren’t meant to hatch at that time of the day however we did our best to get them to the sea.

    So after our first couple of days in Mexico, we had happily adjusted to the warm weather and ticked off our short list of Mexican experiences. Puerto Vallarta had been a great starting point but it was much more touristy than we had expected and been looking for. Time to see what else it had to offer.    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    Day 4–9

    Sayulita, Mexico

    January 5 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    With Jessie’s birthday coming up we were determined to have some accommodation locked in for longer. We needed a place where we could relax and not have to worry about packing and moving right away.

    Mitch had told us about a small hippy town on the beach just north of Puerto Vallarta called Sayulita. It turns out this little "hippy" town has become more known to mainstream tourists since Mitch was here. But it was still the perfect spot to stay and explore for the next week.

    For something a bit different I found an apartment listed on booking.com that was marketed as a treehouse. Set about a 10-minute walk away from the touristy centre and beachfront, the apartment was awesome! While not actually a treehouse, it definitely captured the essence of being above the trees. It is like a modern studio apartment built fully open to the fresh air without a front wall. The kitchen, bed and shower all with a view over the treetops.

    We caught a bus from Puerto Vallarta easily enough and after piling in with our bags we set off for a hot 1.5-hour ride north. Once in Sayulita, the walk from the bus station to the Treehouse took about 20 minutes with our bags and crossed the entire town. There was a Main Street lined with boutiques and restaurants/cafes and a park with markets in the centre. Immediately we liked it here more than in Puerto Vallarta. This was a barefoot, beach vibe and exactly what we had been looking for.

    With a week here to relax and explore we set about with basically the same list of must-dos we had in Puerto Vallarta. One advantage of the many tourists in Sayulita is the abundance of local street food stalls and carts near the main square. We tried out different taquerias for most lunches and dinners. We couldn’t believe how fresh and delicious they all were. With a great variety of kebab-style marinated pork (“al Pastor”) and fresh fish or prawn tacos, we had plenty to keep us busy.

    We had passed by one cart a few days in a row that looked a bit different to the others. He had a big pot of broth on a gas burner and was lightly frying the tortillas on a flat grill. Finally, we passed by at the right time of hunger and decided to give it a go. Despite its basic appearance, our curiosity got the better of us. It turns out they were our favourite of them all! The pot of broth was actually a slow-cooking meat that was being shredded to fill the tacos. And tortillas were being lightly fried in the fat that was forming on the top of the broth. And then to top it off, once they were fried to a crispy tortilla they were served with a cup of the broth to use as a dipping stock as you ate. Wowie!! It turns out that this is a well-known style of tacos from the NW of Mexico called "Tacos de Birria". 100% going to try replicate that at home!

    The main beach directly down from the square was packed with a haphazard collection of beach chairs and umbrellas set up in front of the beach bars along the beach. This spot catches the majority of tourists as they first enter the sand. As you walk along the beach, the crowd thins out leaving empty sand and towels on the sand instead of chairs. On our first evening, we walked along the beach to escape the crowd and found a very cool beachfront bar to kick back and watch the sunset over the water. In true Mexican fashion, we paired our Cervezas with nachos and were set - Pure bliss!

    The next day we made our way over the southern headland to Playa Los Muertos, or Beach of the Dead! Contrary to its name, the beach was a beautiful, sheltered cove with fewer people. Turns out the ominous name comes from the cemetery that you walk through on your way there. Seems logical enough I guess. Being a Saturday (as I was reminded by the guy selling beers to us on the sand) we kicked back for the day and soaked in the sun and perfect 26°C water.

    The Sunday we set off early for a hike along the beaches to the next beach town San Pancho, and then it was finally Jessie’s Birthday!    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    Day 6

    San Pancho, Mexico

    January 7 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After our time in Europe and Canada, we were both pretty keen to give the bodies a reset. We’d spent the past week intermittent fasting, and as such skipping breakfast.

    The town next along the coast was about 7km away by road but via an inland route. With a few headlands between us, we decided to head off early and see if we could follow the beaches all the way. The first beach was easy enough as it was just following the main beach from Sayulita. We found a path up over the headland and down through a palm tree forest before dropping back onto the next beach, Playa Malpaso. A completely undeveloped stretch of beach with only a handful of people. Crazy to think it could be so touristy on one beach and 10 minutes later you could have a beach to yourself.

    Once we reached the end of Playa Malpaso, we came across a padlocked gate. There, we saw what appeared to be an abandoned old resort built on the headland. There was a clear way into the jungle and over the fence so we assumed it was just the way to go. But as soon as we entered the secured area we ran straight into a security guard 🤦‍♂️. With some quick broken Spanish, I told him we were heading to San Pancho and he enthusiastically showed us the opposite gate and told us it would be suitable to pay him for the access. Oh, and also on our way back through could we bring him some beer 😂. Fair to say the payment for access wasn’t an official arrangement.

    From here we were basically at San Pancho. Still, with some beach bars along the sand, it was a more laid-back beach than Sayulita. We strolled up into the town to check out the main strip of shops and then went back to a beach bar for a Michelada. Made from Clamato juice, a dash of hot sauce, lime and beer a Michelada is a Mexican version of a Bloody Mary. The perfect refreshment after a couple-hour hike on an empty belly.

    By now we thought it was probably time to find something to eat. However, we still don’t know how, we ended up in a bottle shop that specializes in Tequila and Mezcal. We happened to find ourselves in this shop with a guy only too keen to have us go on a full-tasting journey of his best bottles. Easily 10 drinks each later we had to excuse ourselves and actually find some food. It was now almost 12 pm 😂

    Thankfully after a cafe breakfast and a snooze on the beach, we were ready to head back to Sayulita. Our personal gate opener was enthusiastically ready to welcome us back through with our gift of beer and the walk home was pretty smooth from there. Gee this beach life really is our vibe 🍻😎    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    1
    Day 7

    Jessie’s Birthday

    January 8 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Of all the places we’d been over the past few months, I couldn’t think of anywhere better suited to spend Jessie’s birthday. The longer stay booked in our treehouse had let us settle in and enjoy being off the road for a change. And as well as that, we were in Mexico, at the beach and it was warm!

    Having done a big hike the day before we woke up early and simply relaxed for the morning. We had researched the best cafe in Sayulita and found a cute place tucked into an alley with a fantastic menu. A Mexican classic Huevos Rancheros and a deluxe French Toast had us sorted for most of the day.

    We had planned a beach day however the day turned out to be the cloudiest of our entire stay. We made the most of having a full kitchen in the treehouse with some fresh fruit and plenty of Tequila from our tasting the day before. My specialty cocktail since meeting Jessie and her all-time favourite is a Margarita. (Well played I hear you say 😆). So in the land of Tequila and limes the afternoon was pretty much locked in. We eventually made it back to the street for lunch and found another incredible taco place. This time it specialised in fish and prawn tacos that had a selection of toppings and hot sauces to kinda build your own. But the fish and prawns were incredible.

    In the afternoon we wandered down to the beach and caught the sunset as the clouds cleared just for us. Feliz Complianõs mi Corazon ❤️    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    Day 9–10

    Sayulita to Mexico City

    January 10 in Mexico ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Leaving Sayulita was always going to suck. But unfortunately, it was too expensive for us to stay long term. We were surprised at how expensive everything was and both Puerto Vallarta and Sayulita had been more touristy than we expected. Our goal was to follow the Pacific Coast south however we couldn’t find any feasible bus routes from where we were. It became apparent that we would need to head inland to the next city Guadalajara, or even the whole way to Mexico City. It didn’t matter what we tried but we just couldn’t seem to find a reasonably priced option. Flights with luggage were at least $500 each and buses were ridiculously expensive as well. On top of that, we couldn’t get any website to take payment and confirm tickets.

    Eventually, we decided to just make our way to the Bus terminal in Puerto Vallarta and see what we could get. It turned out that would be a 14-hour overnight bus to Mexico City. And it would cost $150 each 🤢. The only consolation to the cost, and the 5-hour wait we had at the terminal, was that it was a super deluxe coach.

    Something I was completely oblivious to before this bus trip is that Mexico is mostly 1000m above sea level! Basically, it’s a beautiful tropical coastline surrounding a massive plateau that fills the interior. The bus departed at 6:30 pm and by midnight we had slowly wound our way barely a 10th of the way to Mexico City. Along with the windy roads, there was a ridiculous intermittent alarm that went off almost every 20 minutes that the driver seemingly ignored for the next couple of minutes before it turned itself off. So any chance of sleep was pretty much dead.

    We eventually arrived at about 8 am and immediately realised the difference between sea level and 2000m elevation. It was cold! We raided our bags for the jumpers we’d thought we had packed deep at the bottom and set off for our hotel. With only 2 nights here we booked a room in a hotel close to the bus terminal and also easy for us to head to the airport from there. Fortunately, when we arrived, the receptionist allowed us an extremely early check-in and we crashed out for a well-overdue nap.    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    2
    Day 10–12

    Mexico City

    January 11 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    While Mexico City was always intended as just a stopover, we gave ourselves a few extra days. We had both heard that it was a great city worth checking out while we were there. After our mid-morning nap to catch up on the sleep we lost the night before we made our way into the centre. I’d read that the suburb of Juarez was a cool place to check out so we made our way in that direction. We had no idea how the public transport system worked so jumped on the first bus heading in our direction. Immediately, we discovered that payment is only possible by pre-purchased MetroCards. The driver was nice enough to allow us to ride for free to the next stop which by chance was a Metro station and had an office we could buy one. Once we had that sorted, we realised that the subway went directly to Juarez so we jumped straight on the train from there.

    By this time it was mid-afternoon. We wandered the streets for a while and didn’t find much of a vibe. I expect this is because of the time of day and it would come alive a bit more later on. Still pretty tired, we made our way back to the hotel for an early night before a tour we’d booked to Teotihuacán the next day.

    The next afternoon we went back into the centre to check out a few other areas. We first grabbed a beer in a square where we had been told to go to see Mariachi bands playing. When we arrived we found groups of men gathered carrying around their instruments and dressed up in traditional Mariachi clothes. The small open plaza was fronted by the large two-story Tequila and Mezcal Museum. Unfortunately, the upstairs terrace was closed however it was still a cool area to grab a beer and people-watch. From there, we walked into the historical centre to check out some of the more colonial-era buildings.

    Jessie had heard that Roma Norte was another pretty cool place to check out and fortunately, it was all pretty close together. It turned out to be the pick of all the places we saw. A great bustling evening spot with a main street lined with restaurants and bars. Deciding to take the opportunity to eat something other than Mexican, we checked out Felix Pizza. Lucky to get a seat at the bar it was a very cool bar layout and the pizzas were amazing. Finally we understood why we had heard how cool the Mexico City bar scene is.

    From here, the next morning we were off to the airport to head back to the coast 😎.    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    Day 11

    Teotihuacán Archeological Site

    January 12 in Mexico ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Teotihuacan is a vast archaeological complex northeast of Mexico City. Believed to be built and occupied between 1 AD and 500 AD, it was the largest city in the Americas. It's considered to be the first advanced civilization on the North American continent. Teotihuacan is known today as the site of some of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids. With names like the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Moon, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Avenue of the Dead, I was very keen to check it out.

    Ever since my earlier travels to places like Machu Pichu in Peru and Tikal in Guatemala, I’ve been interested in the Incan, Mayan, and Aztec civilizations. Although, admittedly, I’ve never really got my head around how they all fit in together, and in which epochs. So the chance to visit this sight was another great opportunity.

    It turns out, as we were told by our tour guide, that neither the Aztecs nor the Mayans built Teotihuacan. It was built by an earlier civilisation known as the Teotihuacanos who deserted it and disappeared before the Aztecs discovered it 1000 years later. And the name Teotihuacanos was apparently given to them by the Aztecs. Confused yet?! To add to the mystery, the names of the Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, and Avenue of the Dead weren’t the original names of these monuments. They’re the modern names used for them, so likely have no relation to the original purpose of their construction!

    So basically, we spent the morning walking around the site in awe of the magnitude of these constructions but with no greater understanding of the who, when, and why they were built. Not to mention still being unable to say the name 😂. What is certain though, is that these places always impress me. Always leaving me with more questions than when I arrive.    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    Day 12

    Arriving to Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca

    January 13 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Funnily enough, Oaxaca State in Mexico had been recommended to me by my Physio back in Sydney. I’d never heard of it until he came back from a holiday there and was raving about how great it was. For ages, I couldn’t even pronounce it (it’s wah-hah-kah). The state itself is the 2nd most southern state in Mexico and covers some incredible Pacific Ocean coastline. However, like our bus trip from Puerto Vallarta to Mexico City, any possible bus trip around here would be very long and tedious. We scored a cheap enough early flight direct to Puerto Escondido. As soon as we arrived at 8:30 am we felt the warmth of being back on the coast. Perfect! Our research had drawn us to this particular town as it was known as a surf beach with waves that catered to both beginner and advanced surfers. The main town was at the northernmost end of a 3.5km long sandy beach that stretched down to a smaller village called Zicatela. Along with our plan to find somewhere to stay a bit longer term, this would hopefully also be where we could get in some regular surfs.

    The early arrival gave us plenty of time to find our way out of the airport. Being quite a small regional airport it appeared that the taxis had established a monopoly on the transport options from there. The fee for a simple 5-minute trip was ridiculous. We had read that if you walked out to the main road you could pick up a cheaper fare. Fortunately, once we got to the main road there was a taxi willing to offer a ride for a third of the first price we were quoted. We took the ride into the main street of Puerto Escondido and found a great little coffee to reset for the rest of the day.

    We had booked a cheap cabana at a place down in Zicatela. As we’d learnt from earlier experiences, we had initially booked just for 2 nights. Our idea was that we would check it out and then decide whether to extend our reservation. It had a shared kitchen and was less than a block from the beach. Sounded perfect. A week earlier when I booked it, it had availability for a couple of weeks past our arrival so I was hopeful we would be able to extend once we’d arrived. Because we were arriving so early in the day I messaged the owner to ask if we could check-in once we arrived. The answer I got in return was simply “Check-in is at 3 pm”. From the photos, it looked like there was an outdoor area where we’d be able to do some work and hang out until then. So when we’d finished our coffee we grabbed our bags and made our way towards the Cabanas.

    Fortunately, when we arrived there was a bench outside in the shade where we could set up our laptops and do some work. While waiting to check in we met the other people staying there and all seemed like this was going to be great. At 2:30 pm I decided to message the owner and let him know we had arrived and asked how we could pick up the key. This is where it all started unfolding. The owner replied that there had been a mistake with the reservation and that there were no longer any rooms available. Our issue was we had already paid at the time of reservation. So now after sitting and waiting for almost 5 hours, we find out that we don’t even have a place to stay. And this tosser is nowhere to be found and not answering messages or phone calls.

    At about 7 pm, I contacted booking.com directly to explain the situation and seek a refund directly through them. While they were extremely helpful, and tried to find us an alternate room for the night, it was already too late and there was nothing we could do. Eventually, a gardener arrived at the property with the cabanas and arranged a tent in the yard for us to stay for the night. Being our only real option, we set ourselves up for an extremly restless sleep. Certainly not how we hoped to start our time here but I guess thats all part of the journey.    Read more

  • TravelerMexico 🇲🇽
    Day 13–19

    Emuna Guest House, Zicatela

    January 14 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Our sleep in the tent was terrible. Mosquitos, motorbikes driving past on the street outside all night, a party going on somewhere, dogs barking. It had it all, except sleep!

    We got up early and went down to the beach for a swim, hoping to start the day with some fresh energy. The beach of Playa Zicatela was amazing! 3.5km of sand and incredible 27C turquoise water! We found some available places on booking.com and made our shortlist to go check out in person. The first one was just around the corner.

    The front entrance to Emuna Guest House was a rickety gate across the driveway. We rang the buzzer and were greeted by a Dalmatian dog with a boisterous bark. The owner and host of the Guest house, Roberto, welcomed us in to grab a seat and explain our situation. While I was trying to explain the issues I was having with getting our previous nights refunded etc, Roberto cut me off and said, “Just stay here for however long you want and it’s free for the nights you’ve already paid.” Well, that sounded much easier to me than chasing refunds! What a legend!

    It turned out to be an amazing place. Our initial 5 days we requested turned into 7 because we had finally found somewhere we felt both relaxed and productive. Very much what we’d been looking for. By the end of our stay, we’d come to feel like it was our home. With our very own Dalmatian puppy “Marley”. Almost every night we would have home-cooked meals with Roberto and chat till late into the evening. Every day we would go for a run on the beach before getting some work done at the table next to the pool. When it got too hot in the afternoon we would head back down the beach and wait to watch sunset over the ocean. Absolute bliss!

    The house itself was quite basic. Built in a traditional Mexican method called a “Palapa”, it was very much outdoor living. It had a palm frond thatched roof, air gaps between the walls, floor and ceiling and none of the windows had screens on them. But in this weather it was great. The plunge pool became a ritual multiple times a day because it was the only water cool enough to actually be refreshing. Despite the shower only having one cold tap the water was still warm enough.

    By the end of the week, we really didn’t want to leave. Our next stop was going to be the next beach town where we had hoped to find a cheaper room to rent for a bit longer. But it was certainly with some sadness we packed up on our last day.

    Our stay with Roberto and Marley had been an experience we had both been yearning for. Slow pace, perfect weather, sunsets over the water and finally, a chance to feel productive again.    Read more

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