Hey girl hey! I’m here to share my travel experiences with you. I grew up in a small village in the south of the Netherlands, which has always been too small for me. On my nineteenth I went to London for an internship, where I lived in a hostel. I was so fascinated by all the people I met who where traveling around the world, I wanted to be just like them. Now -10 years later- I’ve been to over 40 countries and I am looking for a new home in South America. My biggest dream is to start my own hostel. In this blog I will share my adventures from Mexico! – XOXO Kris
MXCD, Puerto Escondido, Mexico:
Baby turtles and city life
I only spent a little over two weeks in Mexico and I did not realize how big Mexico is… Big! Mexico is big. I came in from Guatemala by bus and spent the first night in Tapachula, not a nice city. I soon found out that a good beach was almost a 20h bus ride away. I was not prepared for the long distances, so I decided to visit less places and stay a bit longer.
If traveling from Guatemala to Mexico, print out a hotel reservation that you have in Mexico. I didn’t have a hostel reservation which gave me some trouble getting in the country. White privilege saved my ass on this one. One guy had exactly the same problem, but they didn’t let him in. The only difference was the color of our skin, they can be quite racist at the border.
I did not like Tapachula at all. It was extremely hot and men wouldn’t leave me alone. Even in a restaurant an old man started talking to me from another table, he wouldn’t stop! Eventually I just left. The bus I booked to Puerto Escondido left at 10pm. If you arrive during the day, check if you can catch a bus the same night.
Puerto Escondido was great, the beach is beautiful and the town is very laid back. I stayed in Vivo Escondido Hostel; friendly staff, made friends quickly and breakfast was included. The temperature in Puerto Escondido is so high, specially after a beach day there is no way of cooling down! The hostel did not have air conditioning, so the only place to cool down was in the supermarket.
The waves at Playa Carrizalillo are great to play in or to surf. All day long there are surfers in the bay and the waves are perfect for beginners. To get to the beach, you have to take a whole lot of stairs giving you a great view over the beach. Walking up is at bit harder in the hot sun. If you walk to the end of the beach, the shade of the trees will protect you from the sun. It is possible to rent a sun bed with umbrella, but this costs around 10$. There are some restaurants on the beach with plenty of shade. When you are in Mexico you must drink a michelada: beer with tomato and lime juice, delicious!
Playa Zicatela is also really nice, take a taxi there from Puerto Escondido. Most of the time, when buying a drink or eating something at the restaurant, you can use their sunbeds. The sea is really rough, I was a bit afraid to go in and the red flag is up most of the time. Just after the waves it is really nice, and if you time your way back to the beach, it will save you a lot of struggle with the waves.
The absolute best thing I did in Puerto Escondido was setting free some baby sea turtles. Someone on the beach was selling tours, we decided to go on our own and took a taxi there. We only paid 5$ for this amazing experience.
We got our own coconut with a baby turtle in it, instantly I felt like a proud mama. Setting my baby free was a bit emotional, I found it just so beautiful. Somehow these turtles find their way back to the same beach when they are ready to lay eggs, even after years of not returning to that beach.
Mexico city is just so big, so so big! I stayed in three different places. First, in the cultural Centre with a friend I met before. The coolest thing we did was taking a trip to Xochimilco and taking a Canal boat. The boats are extremely colorful and brighten up the whole river. We had to pay for a whole boat so we went on the street to find more people. We ended up paying 600 pesos for two hours, which took a lot of hustling and walking away. On the canal you see people celebrating birthdays on the boats and just having a good time. There a plenty of boats with live Mexican bands, food and drinks.
The last hostel I stayed in was Stayinn Barefoot Condesa. I’m not really a big fan of going on tours, but I wanted to meet some people and decided to go on a Mexican Wresting tour. Lucky me, I met some amazing people. We were in the tourist section in the stadium, the show was a lot of fun, drama and hot bods! After we went for some more drinks and of course Mexican food. Having a massive hangover the next day, we decided to take an Uber to the Pyramids, which is way cheeper than booking a tour. I didn’t even know that there were pyramids so I was pleasantly surprised. We went quite late during the day -having a hangover and all- so it was not extremely busy anymore.
If you go to Mexico City, do a little research before you go. The city is so big and there is so much to do, so it can be a bit overwhelming. It is much easier if you know in what area the activities are you want to do so you can book a hostel close to that area. After dark (around 8 -9 PM) the streets are already empty, it is not nice walking around at that time.
People had told me not to take taxies, because sometimes they work together with gangs and you can get robbed. I only took Ubers, that felt safe for me. I even ended up going on a date with my Uber driver, he took me to a nice park and castle.
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Top 3 Activities |
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Xochimilco canals *** |
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Wrestling show |
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Pyramids |
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Top 3 Restaurants |
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Streetfood** |
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Restaurant at Modern art Museum**** |
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Taquería Los Parados** |
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Nightlife |
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Mono |
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Travalas Friendly |
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Favorite travel quote
‘Never stop doing things for the first time’