Hi guys! Welcome back, glad to have you here. Your in for a goodie, we are here to talk about Mexico!!
Myself and Fallon booked Mexico for the 17th March-28th March. A week after the ski season had concluded. Most people on the mountain go to Mexico at the end of the season because we are so deprived of the sun, after being in the snow for 6 months.
We flew from Vancouver - San-Fran - Houston - Cancun. It was about an 24 hour travel day. But we choose to get the cheaper flights with all the layovers. We flew with United Airlines so no free food, it's all about getting your credit card out.
We arrived into our hotel which was about 50m from Coco Bongo, so if you have been to Cancun you will know we were pretty central. We really liked that. Fal being the best travel organiser, said we were on our honeymoon and our room got upgraded to a huge suite. With a huge shower, luxurious bath and massive bed.
We got ripped off with our Taxi Driver from the Airport to our Hotel it was 690 Pesos. I knew I should have researched how much we should be expecting to pay when we arrived in Cancun but it slipped my mind. I was pretty exhausted from all the travelling.
So heads up if you go, don't say its your first time in Mexico otherwise they will stitch you up. Your looking at 200-300 Pesos to anywhere in the hotel zone.
Myself and Fal were on a kind of Mexico diet, we wanted to just eat smoothies and salads, considering it was so hot and all the fresh produce tasted so delicious.
We looked on the internet for hours trying to find a place to get acas bowls for brunch. There were none in the hotel zone. Absolutely none. So we worked out the buses to get downtown and go to this place called The Bowl Bar. It was delicious and we went everyday we were in Cancun. So much variety of choice and everything we got was so delicious. I used to get dinner their and take it home.
Buses from the hotel zone cost about 15 pesos so about $1-2. They were always so frequent as well.
One of my many acas bowls, yum it inspired me to make some when I get back to Canada in summer.
This was a Roman Bowl, zucchini pasta, cherry tomatoes, dehydrated tomatoes, cos lettuce, toasted pecans and goat cheese, drizzled with a rocket dressing.
Walking around Cancun it is very commercialised, I didn't even really think I was in Cancun because all the locals spoke such good English and everything was advertised in US dollars not Pesos. I didn't like this, I just felt like I was on an Island where all the Americans go to holiday. Don't get me wrong Cancun is great if your staying at an all inclusive resort with a group of 10 people partying and drinking each night.
This place was called the Palace and all the Americans were staying here. I looked it up online and your standard room is about $700 a night. And that is why we didn't stay there.
I met some Americans and they took a photo of me, while I was around the streets taking street photos.
This is the back alleys of our hotel, I thought they were very authentic, no cars driving past, I would see an old lady sitting in her sun chair having her Nanna nap in the same place each day, bikes tied up to post.
That is the back of our hotel, the top left windows was were our suite was.
I remember getting up early to get some footage, and I found it really hard to find aesthetic appealing scenes because everything was so commercialised, shops and hotels. This was a sweet little walkway I did find and captured.
Another big resort overlooking the beach. When it got dark, I put all my camera gear down and went for a swim when the sun had set. It was the most beautiful and peaceful time.
Capturing the Cancun sunset. Cancun is good if your staying all inclusive and looking for just a relaxing holiday, with not much exploring or adventuring. But for me as a photographer I was bored after the first day.
Now to get to Tulum from Cancun, you can easily catch and ADO bus. They run so frequent, one every hour. They are super comfortable and cost about $25 for a 2.5 hour journey. I slept both ways.
This is what I am talking about, side stalls with bags, jewellery, accessories and lots of colours.
Cute little backyard cafes, with foundations.
Side stalls, selling anklets, bracelets, necklaces I love seeing all the detail and colours.
Surprising I saw about 3 of these shops, with all different tequilas, different ages, different bottles and different sizes. I remember walking past this shop, and the shop owner was passed out on his seat having an afternoon nap. So I got some pretty good shots without someone disturbing me.
Colours on the shops, and palm trees in the middle of the road.
Kids on bikes and side streets.
Side walk graffiti.
Lots of tourist were on push bikes, and many of he locals were on motorbikes, this guy had just finished work.
One thing I can recommend is to hire bikes, there are about 5 stalls we would walk past each day hiring bikes. They are about 50 pesos each. ($3.5 CAD) for 24 hours. They are really good to get to places without getting in a taxi. I actually got on a bike and couldn't remember the last time I rode one, it was like all my childhood memories were flooding back.
I remember every Sunday evening, around 5pm myself and Dad would go on a bike ride around all the farms in the neighbourhood. I always tried beating him, he would be winning the whole bike ride, and then we would come to the home straight (which is our driveway 1km) and I would have been saving my legs and sprint past him to win.
My family is very competitive even if it is just a bike ride.
I parked my bike up at this restaurant I went their for dinner every night, they had superfood smoothies and a really nice salad I would get. The waiter got to know me really well by the end of the trip.
This was the salad, came with a side of dressing (I think a lemon vignette)lettuce, beetroot, pecans, cranberries, goats cheese and avocado. Plus a superfood smoothie it would all cost me $13 CAD plus add a tip, $16 CAD.
Ohh look at that Bokeh. Beautiful lanterns hanging from these stalls when I was walking home after a thunderstorm and a bit of soul time eating my salad.
One attraction I enjoyed was the ruins. Very beautiful, and I felt like I was in age of empires.
It was a super hot day, 33 degrees, we arrived at the ruins at 9am after a 20 minute bike ride. We were sweating already. We walked around the ruins twice, trying to find the best one to get a photo in front of. Once we did that, I went down to the beach and jumped in the water. The water wasn't even cold which I was disappointed about. But I turned around to a spectacular view of the ruins from below in the water.
The beach and the ruins.
Beautiful palm trees and colours in this photo. This photo gives me such a summer vibe and I love it.
Back onto our bikes after a nice tour of the ruins and a dip in the water.
And I love this photo with all the contesting shadows and foliage. The patterns it makes all over the ground. Magical.
Age of Empires. Funny I bring that up, I remember playing that game on a brick of a laptop. Like I am talking a brick. Like the base was 10cm thick. Placing the CD in for the game. And my brother teaching me all the cheats, like Ctrl Alt L was like you get these black car shooting cars. Haha good times.
Back to the hotel, we stayed at a beautiful one in downtown, because all the hotels on the beach were inclusive and all very expensive for us. We both choose this accomodation together because we thought there would be so many photo opportunities. And we weren't wrong. It was beautiful.
Another touristy day. I was in charge of this one. I had seen on instagram all these fresh water pools with beautiful colours in the water. They are known as Cenotes. And there is so many of them! There was one only a 5 minute drive from our hotel. It was called the Grand Cenote, we tried to arrive early so we could beat the crowds, but we had to wait and be patient with the light anyway.
This cenote had two pools, and we ended up spending 5.5 hours here, getting photos and footage because it is very authentic to Mexico. There are some really cool cenotes, like some really big ones more inland. So next time I think I would base my trip around visiting those.
They were beautiful and refreshing and I am so happy with the photos and footage we manager to capture there.
Yum, more and more salads.
Green walls and green tops. Behind here was a salsa dancing class.
Side streets, had kids kicking balls on the street, construction workers having smoko, a couple of stray cats running around. And probably some bike food stall peddling around trying to find somewhere to pitch up and sell his food.
Another corner store, this one is build into the ground, but most of them were on push bikes. I don't know how they are allowed to serve food like that. They had chicken out in the middle of the hot weather.
That day was a scorcher, while we were working for our salads but walking to a new restaurant to try their salads.
Our accommodation in Tulum was so cute and small, I loved it. I felt like I was in the jungle it was so peaceful.
Beautiful street graffiti down the other side of town.
Everyone uses bikes to get around Tulum and I love that. Pedalling with your bikini on after a dip in the pool to come into town and get some lunch or dinner.
Tulum was magical, we extended our stay there so when we got back to Cancun we stayed in a cheap hostel which cost us $7.5 CAD each. We then got up at 2.00am to pack up and catch a taxi back to the airport. We bargained him for 250 Pesos saying that was all we had, because we had saved 600 pesos thinking that was how much the taxis to the airport generally cost.
Mexico was amazing and I know I will be back.
I am busy updating my blog, and making it more updated and once that is done I will be editing our Mexico Video. Because whats a trip without a vacation video!
Stay tuned xxx
