Mexico: Part 1

Mexico: tacos, sombreros and arriba arribas? Not quite. Having completed our time in the first destination of our trip, I can tell you that our Mexico was more prostitutes, mutant ninja mosquitoes, ghosts and skeletons. And it's been one of the most fun fortnights we've ever spent together! But let's start at the beginning.

After a teary and sob-filled goodbye at Heathrow airport ( and that was just Imran)* we excitedly arrived in beautiful Mexico City. From there we travelled to Puerto Escondido, a quaint fishing port and jungle on the Oaxacan coast before moving on to Oaxaca City. Merida came next, the state capital of Yucatan, before we road-tripped to see the ancient Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza and Tulum. Playa Del Carmen was our final stop where we mentally said goodbye to Mexico and got ourselves ready for Ecuador.

Mexico City is great. It really smells. And I mean it smells damn good! Never mind on every corner, there are street food stalls every twenty steps. The aromas of freshly rolled and cooked tortillas, chicken rotating on makeshift skewers over a tin bin fire and trolleys of sweet perfumed oranges next to street juicers.. all these are constantly filling your nostrils. We were there at the weekend which meant the streets weren't chock-a-block with traffic and the rush of working people but filled with families leisurely wandering around the handicraft markets outside the Cathedral and Palace and the massive 'bookstore' that occupied the main square. The central area is really clean and filled with incredible architecture; as is apparently the case in all the countries on our trip, Mexico is home to some magnificent churches. We prayed in one. I don't know if the Catholic God will listen seeing as I always talk about my lack of belief in organised religions but I hope my own version of God accepted my pleas for world peace and cute babies.

Wanting authentic Mexican food, we got a recommendation for a local restaurant called Cafe Tacuba. It just looked the part (and if you read the post about our eating adventures, you'll find out if it tasted the part.) It looked like real Mexico: mosaic tiles, seriously high ceilings, stained glass windows and pictures of Saints; and it sounded like real Mexico: a group of dark haired mustachioed men walked through the restaurant amongst the tables buzzing with chatter, strumming on guitars of all different sizes, singing traditional songs. At one point, Imran joined in and started singing along to 'Guantanamera'. I looked at him in surprise, wondering where this cultured and refined man had come from. "How do you know this song?" I asked, suitably impressed. He stared at me with an incredulous look on his face, disgusted by my ignorance. "Everyone knows this, man!" he replied. "Wyclef covered it."

Remembering our pact of saying yes to everything, we dismissed all inhibitions and got up to sing and play pretend guitar with the band. Fantastic fun!

Puerto Escondido is a charming place south of the capital. You'll be lucky to find more than one person there that speaks English. It feels like you're stepping back in time here a few decades. You know how in the movies they show a black and white photo of some moment in the past and then turn it to color and bring it to life? That's how it constantly felt during our time here. Every scene I saw felt exactly that way as if we had just arrived to live in this past moment, Back To The Future III style. On our way to the jungle, I saw a man standing outside a run-down brick building, one foot resting up on the wall behind him, wearing bell bottoms and a cowboy hat. It looked exactly like a photo from the 70s. It was only when he smiled and the sun shone even brighter that I remembered this wasn't a picture. And I was brought right back to the present when I noticed a big blue 'e' painted on the wall to signify Internet availability. It was a really beautiful moment for someone as sappy as me!

It was great to be in a place where they didn't speak English. It often feels like we go to places expecting the locals to cater to our every need, especially when it comes to language, without making much of an effort to step out of our own comfort zones. How refreshing to be in a 'developing' place where they didn't worship the ground we walked on and treated tourists exactly as we do back home: generally acceptable but an annoyance if they get in the way. We became awesome at charades here! Hey, if we can manage to get a Mexican who doesn't even know the English for 'yes' to understand "Is this juice freshly squeezed?" and "What do you recommend I use for a mouth ulcer?" then I think we're entitled to say we're pretty good!

Going back to my mention of the jungle, Imran and I trekked through parts of it on horseback to get to some healing hot springs. What an amazing experience! Neither of us has been on a horse before - they are truly gorgeous animals. I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to steep rocky areas but our horses made us feel really safe with their strength and elegance. We went through rivers where even on a saddle we were knee deep in water; through tiny clearings where we could hear nothing but the buzzing of insects and the scurrying of lizards, and had to duck under branches and push cobweb-covered low-hanging tree vines out of our way. Other times we were making our way down narrow paths where it was a short, sharp drop onto the rocky rapids of the river running alongside of us. I could tell by the grin on Imran's face that he felt like Indiana Jones! And I was right. Later I asked him: "Were you scared when we went down the really steep bits?" His response? "Hell, no! I felt like I was in Temple of Doom!" and proceeded to recite Short Round quotes.

But the 'action man' journey was worth it when we finally came through the jungle clearing out to an incredible expanse of nature. Jaws dropping, we gazed in awe at the stunning scene in front of us. Imagine having just spent nearly two hours on horseback in dark, hot, sweaty conditions with all manner of insects flying in your face. And then forcing your way out through a mass of bushes to suddenly open up into a place where the sun blazes down on you, the sky is a deep Cornflower blue, all around you is lush tropical greenery against a backdrop of forest-green hills and mountains, with a calm river serenely flowing below and butterflies of a rainbow of colors and variety of shapes and sizes floating everywhere. I can't even describe it in a way that does the scene justice. It's just simply one of the most stunning things we've ever seen.

Tying up the horses, our walk to the hot springs wasn't quite as fantastic. We squelched our way up wet and muddy hills barefoot, slipping all the while on green smelly things we couldn't identify. I'm not a hot tub kinda gal anyway but the smell of rotting algae combined with the disgusting feet of the person on the trip with us meant I didn't go in the healing hot springs. Imran wasn't such an arse and enjoyed them for all their worth. Perhaps if I'd gone in I would've been healed of my snobby attitude. But I did appreciate the beauty of the springs. This was nature at its finest and most realistic: hot streams of steamy water arising from seemingly nowhere, the sweet perfume of flowers everywhere combined with the lovely aroma of horse poo and rotting green stuff. We loved it all!

It was the best way to enjoy Puerto Escondido. And our guide, who hilariously was named Ismail, was great although he couldn't understand why we laughed so much when he told us his name. "Ismail," I said. "Meet Ishmail." He looked quizzically at Imran having just been introduced to him correctly. Totally deadpan, Imran said: "The name's Ishmail... DJ Ishmail."

* Apparently for legal reasons (I can only imagine the threat of divorce for ruining his reputation) Imran would like me to admit that the part about him sobbing at the airport is a blatant lie. In reality, he was too excited to cry and skipped to security rubbing the butts of the guards out of sheer joy along the way.