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joshandmary

14 Blog Entries
1 Trip
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joshandmary's Travel Blog

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Hey everyone! So it's finally our turn to travel! For the next six months, Josh and I will be traveling into the unknown world of Central America. Full of Mayan pyramids, white sand beaches and jungle walks, Central America is a dream come true for us backpackers. So, for all of you at home, we would love for you to follow along on our adventures on this nifty blog. We'll try to update where we are with pics and quirky descriptions (Josh is in charge of writing about the culinary aspects of our trip) so that no one is left out of the loop! Until next time... Hasta Luego!


Awesomness in Mexico

Tulum, Mexico

Nov 11-15
So from my last blog entry in shitty Playa del Carmen I can now redeem myself because Tulum is awesome. We arrive a bit travel weary by bus to our hostel aptly named The Weary Traveler where we can immediatly feel the hippy\backpacker vibe running through our veins in this well-aged hostel. We stay in a dorm room where a rather unfriendly Australian girl is staying (she later leaves because she hates americans). The hostel is fitted with a giant courtyard and huge picnic table used by everyone to chill at night. The British guys in the hostel take their chilling seriously where they are never without a joint. The hostel offers free breakfast and a free bus ride to the famous beach of Tulum next to some Mayan ruins. The first evening we meet Zach, a cabinet maker from Brookyln, John, a tree-planter from Toronto, and Elian, a swiss girl who has happened to get robbed twice and have bed bugs all in the last three months. We hang with everyone for the next three days on the beach, and what a beach it is. I will be posting pics as soon as possible. The sand is powder white, and the water, turqouise blue. Mayan ruins stand looming in the distance. The beach is famous (and free) so there are tons of gringos everywhere. For three perfect days, we all lived by the beach. Two lesbian Canadian girls later joined us where they were seen happily frolicking topless around the beach. Pics will come shortly (of the beach not the Canadian girls). Burned and beached out after four days-we head towards Merida tomorrow.

permalink written by  joshandmary on November 11, 2009 from Tulum, Mexico
from the travel blog: joshandmary's Travel Blog
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Playa......Mexico´s own amusment park.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

So we fly into Cancun and immediately take a bus to the town of Playa del Carmen (aka the cheesiest place I have ever seen outside a Chucky Cheese Restaurant) This place fucking sucks. It´s essentially made so tourists can take a short trip to Mexico, and not actually see Mexico. If you went to a theme park and Mexico was an attraction- Playa is what it would look like. Surrounding us, on a three block strip are Italian, Thai and American restaurants with Mexican music playing in the background. Not sweet.
We stay in a hotel that is completely empty. I´m wondering if the reason for this is the fact that a man singing Eagles covers plays in the bar next door every single night. I walk around the strip watching people buy, at outstanding prices, fake-looking Mexican sombreros and moroccas to bring back to their families. I looked at a tag of one of the sombreros and noticed it was actually produced in Taiwan.
The beach by Playa is in fact, rather nice- and I wouldn´t be complaining about these tourists should I be staying at one of the many all-inclusive resorts. But I´m not. So I am. We end our first night here with dinner (at a Thai restaurant) and 2 for 1 cocktails at a Metal bar where an adorable little Mexican is dressed up as Spiderman and doing random tricks for money....hmmm begging- Maybe the toursts here did see some of the REAL Mexico I was hoping to see. Off to Tulum tomorrow.

permalink written by  joshandmary on November 9, 2009 from Playa del Carmen, Mexico
from the travel blog: joshandmary's Travel Blog
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Campeche- A Mixed Bag

Campeche, Mexico

Ok. This is back Nov 22ndish??? I´ve been pretty behind on blogging (sorry!!) so I´ll have to remember all that has happened since this date. (It´s now Dec 11th)- Campeche is a beautiful city on the gulf of Mexico and I believe it´s real claim to fame was that is once had a huge pirate problem (back in the day) Apparently, the problem with pirates was so bad that the peoples of Campeche decided to build a Stone wall around the city to protect it from the pirates. Today, a piece of the wall still stands and is now labeled a UNESCO site.
This is all good and interesting. Nice city. Pirate wall. Supposedly good shrimp.However, perhaps the most interesting thing that occurred in our short stay was that Josh got his credit card taken. BOLLUCKS. We had already purchased our bus tickets to Palenque and we were really really looking forward to getting there. Immediately, Josh called his bank and they assured him that they would be sending his card within 24 hours to Mexico. With sound mind that the card would eventually make it Mexico-we moved on from Campeche. More to come...

permalink written by  joshandmary on November 3, 2009 from Campeche, Mexico
from the travel blog: joshandmary's Travel Blog
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ZAPATISTALAND

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico

So I´ve lost all record of dates for now. All I know is that we arrived in San Cristobal around Nov 24th? and stayed for 10 entire days!!! That´s huge for us. I think we became honorary residents of this place- but in the end, that was fine with me. Showing up in San CritObal in the late evening, I could already feel an excitement that I hadnt felt before on this trip. For those who don´t know, in the early 90´s, some rebels upset with the possibility of a NAFTA free trade agreement with the US, decided to ¨have a revolution¨and the rebels chose San Cristobal as the background. It´s a special city located in the state of Chiapas- the poorest state in Mexico. With the background of the Zapatistas, and the influx of indigenous Mayan peoples living in and around the city- I was sure that this would be a hippie capital. Boy was I right. I have never seen such a collection of hipsters (spanning North America, Europe and Australia) in my entire life. All dudes sporting long hair and beards to match (think Dazed and Confused) and all chicks with Mexican arm candy. Our hostel here was the stage for this hippie hangout, for there was a bonfire each evening. Hippies from high and low would surround the bonfire nightly-Mescal (A type of tequila but way crappier) in hand. At first the fun of the city (interesting knowledge of the Zapatistas, good falafals, deliciously strong coffee) excited our spirits. However, the excitement shortly wore thin as we sat waiting in our hostel for Josh´s bank card to arrive. The upside of being stuck in our hippie haven, was that we did start Spanish lessons with an extremely colorful Mexican Minerva. I began to look forward to our lessons each day, as Josh grew more frustated with Citizens Bank each day. The kid even lost his appetite. For those who know Josh, and more importantly don´t know his appetite- you can believe how distraught he was. We really were starting to believe that we would NEVER make it to Guatemala.
An entire week came and went. We started looking for teaching positions in the city believing the card would never arrive. Some told us to just move on to Guatemala. But come on people. If FEDEX couldnt find us in Mexico- how the hell was it going to get to us in Guatemala. Then, with no hope left. The card arrived and we were off to Guatemala.Hasta Luego Mexico!

permalink written by  joshandmary on November 3, 2009 from San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico
from the travel blog: joshandmary's Travel Blog
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