Fiesta mexicana and other Caribbean adventures

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Hola!

So the time has come and this will be my last entry… for this trip at least!😉 But let’s start from the beginning of this last month…

I stayed a whole week in México D.F. (City) with Sebas, where we had a great time. We discovered the theme park Six Flags with its amazing roller coasters, went to a local Spa in a nearby hotel to relax and work out a bit to lose a bit of the weight I put up due to all the delicious Mexican food his family made me try. My spice level is surprisingly high now and I even enjoy it!😊 You just can't refuse the spicy Tamal breakfast wrapped in banana leaves for instance....

Sebas father invited me to come to a family get-together in his home town Toluca with all his brothers and sisters. This was another real Mexican experience. I already got used to all the staring Mexis out on the street and being the only blue eyed… but having a first Tequila at 11 o'clock in the morning was still a bit unusual let's say! But the later it got, the more my Spanish improved – at least I thought so!haha

I have hardly seen any tourists, which is probably due to the security issue... Me personally I haven't had any bad experience so far and felt quite safe in the area the Miranda family lives and wherever they took me. Mexico is such a cultural rich country with quite a diverse history. The best way to discover all that is in the Museum of Antropology in Mexico City and then make a day trip to Teotihuacan to see the impressive Aztec pyramides. My next destination was Oaxaca, one of the poorest regions in Mexico, a 6 hours bus drive from Mexico City.

Then I moved on to San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas, another poor region. The overnight bus ride was an experience itself due to the stones on the road washed in by the short and heavy showers (it is raining season). The nearby canyon Sumidero was impressive. We went on a 2 hours boat ride through it and even saw crocodiles (yes, real ones… without any cage around it). As one of the centers of the Maya medicine, San Cristobal has an interesting Museo de la Medicina Maya and they also offer ‘una limpia’, a kind of cleansing service. Always up for something new I could of course not miss that experience of showing up with a bunch of herbs and a fresh egg in the morning to be cleared from my negative energy after a 10 min prayer of the Mayan doc Don… (I already forgot his name) – he did yawn several times. The interesting thing is that they claim to obtain their knowledge in their dreams… so no need to study. Just be lucky and have the right dreams. The diagnosis of the negative energies can be seen in the egg itself. And mine showed a huge clump, which was biig envy Mr. Don XY explained to me… But no need to worry, I am rid of them now it seems after hitting me with the bunch of herbs right into my face, aggressively on my belly and on my shoulders etc…

After a night out in San Cristobal among the (sometimes a bit annoying) Mexican Latinos I went to Guatemala (another 10 hours of bus ride). After thinking a lot about it whether it is smart to go there or not because of security issues, I can now say: Go there, use your common sense and travel experience and don’t miss out on that beautiful country! I ended up spending a whole week at the Lake Atitlan in the San Pedro community. It is just such a quiet and chilled out place there. The lake is surrounded by three volcanoes, one of them is called San Pedro and is 3200 m high! So guess who hiked all the way up there and had reeeally sore legs for a few days?😉 I spontaneously decided to do a 3 days intensive Business Spanish course after finding out how cheap it is. 4 hours a day, only you and your local teacher for 15€… that’s a real bargain guys!

Oh, and yes, Guatemala can actually be a dangerous place… when it comes to bacteria! Some people caught a virus in San Pedro! And so did I! A whole week I missed out on that delicious food, the fresh fruits and juices etc… but well, I’m feeling better now and I’m already looking forward to my first Leberkassemme back home!😊

After a one night stop in beautiful Antigua watching a local Catholic ceremony, I then headed north again to the little Flores island to visit the famous Mayan ruins in Tikal. The whole site is actually a whole Mayan city and quite impressive. And it happens to be in the jungle with different kinds of wildlife, like monkeys! You could watch them hanging out in the trees and bouncing around making strange noises… I loved it! On my way up to Cancun (where my return flight is leaving) I needed to go through Belize and spent 2 nights on the little island Caye Caulker, which is just amazing. You can walk from one end to the other in about 10 minutes time or even less and the water is just fantastic! Near there you can find the second biggest reef in the world after the Great Barrier. So the opportunity to go on my first real snorkeling trip! I apparently booked with the best operator in town and we headed out on a sail boat with Kevin and Ellis (two black rasta guys) to explore the ocean with raggea music, rum punch and fresh shrimp cocktail. I got to swim with sea turtles, big fishes and even sharks! Don’t worry, they were vegetarian anyways.

My last stop was Playa del Carmen in Yucatan. A bit touristy full of gringos (Americans), but I now understand indeed why people get married or spend their honeymoon there… the beach is just soo beautiful with its white sand, not to speak of the colour of the water… Like in Belize, the water is bathtub warm (seriously, I don’t exaggerate) and even during the night the air is so warm that you keep on swetting when dancing the night away in one of the open air beach clubs hardly wearing anything anyway… Aw, I’m gonna miss it!

So yeah, in a few hours I will 'already' be back in Europe. And I don't know what destiny has in mind this time... so we will see where life will take me next. At the moment I don't have any plan at all to be fair... I don't have a home or a job waiting for me - only my car in Munich with an empty battery, a fresh double degree in International business and loads of stories to tell and valuable experiences to share... There are some places where I could imagine to live next... but I don't dare to speak of settling down!😊 I guess there are just too many options now… oh, and have I mentioned that I hate making decisions?😉 At least I will get to see some of you and, before entering into the next big step of my live, probably spend some of the summer back home in the lovely Bavarian forest for a change. It's been a while anyway...

It’s been one of the longest trips of 3 months in a row. One could argue even a 4 months trip with the 2 weeks break back home after being in Argentina and Chile. I saw a lot of different things, met a lot of different people, saw some of my friends again (expectedly and unexpectedly), made some friends and what means a lot to me: In all those years I have been away, I haven’t lost any of my friends, especially the ones back home. Thank you so much, guys! I really appreciate it! I love you all! And special thanks to my sister, who is always there to listen to me, cheer me up and keep my mind clear when I’m once in a while struggling with my nomad life and one of its biggest challenges linked with it… haha!😉

Oh, and Carl… I remember you asking me once (I think it was after I came back from Asia) if my trip was life changing. It’s never really been so far I think, at least not that I was aware of… but this time I needa say: maybe! We’ll see, only destiny knows at the moment…

Time to board my flight now and finally get some sleep after a last long night of fiesta mexicana…

Hasta la vista bébés!=)

Kat(l)

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Photos

Photo 19
map of Mexico

Photo 2
seperate security section for women and children in Mexico city's metro