Mexico
Mexico week 1 - Discover Cancun and Chichen Itza
Cancun en Chichen ItzĆ”
Discover
How nice that you came across this story! We, Sigrid and Bryan, left for Mexico exactly one week ago. Our first week we stayed in Cancun. We will let you know how that went and how we experienced our first week in this country. Here you will also be able to read some tips to prepare for your next trip. Would you like to follow our story? Then read on!
Although it was 2.30 in the morning when we had to get up, we left for the airport in Zaventem (Brussels) in good spirits and full of energy. Sigrid just managed to close her 25 kilogram suitcase and Bryan checked for the tenth time whether he had packed everything. We had been looking forward to this for a long time. Our big adventure.
Discover Cancun
When we arrived at the airport, everything went smoothly. From checking in our luggage (our 25 kilogram limit was not exceeded! Applause for Sigrid!) to boarding the plane. It was a pleasant start to our journey. Unfortunately, the aisle separated our two seats on the plane, so we were facing a long flight next to two strangers. Or not? The two seats next to Sigrid remained free as the doors of the plane closed. Hallelujah! We moved very quickly to the two free seats next to each other. What a peaceful and comfortable flight! Close together and not fall asleep next to strangers. Hurray for the empty seats!
The flight, despite our optimal luxury and many chances to sleep, lasted long. Sitting still for twelve hours is not easy. We had a stopover in Cuba and it took a very long time before all the passengers had disembarked. It also turned out our seats were taken. So we had to spend the last hour of the flight separately again. Fortunately, most of the flight was already over. One hour and a lot of turbulence later (the kind that makes your tummy tickle), we finally landed on Mexican soil.


Learned young
done old
Accommodation
The house where we stayed this week is located in a typical Mexican neighbourhood. Here you will see only colourful houses with nice front gardens. Our neighbourhood is also secured with a doorman. Apparently, several districts have a doorman who keeps an eye on the traffic going in and out of the district. The house where we are staying is quite large for a typical Mexican house. It has several bedrooms (logical if you rent through AirBnb) and a roof terrace with two hammocks. Yes, it looks great!
Spicy, spicier, spiciest


We want to go to the beach!
Road trip to Chichen Itza
One of the activities on our to-do list was a visit to Chichen Itza. This wonder of the world used to be a Mayan city and the remains are a Unesco World Heritage Site today. This is what we want to see! This trip did require some planning, since we did not want to book a day trip with the (too expensive!) organisations from Cancun. We chose to get there ourselves as the tourist organisations were limited in time in certain places. We want to choose how long we stay somewhere so we took the ADO bus, about 10 minutes’ drive from our accommodation, straight to Chichen Itza. Very easy and super comfortable!
How it really is


Life in
Cancun
We were already told by our AirBnB hosts that real Mexican life is not like that in Cancun. We will find out in the coming weeks. Here, everything revolves around tourism. And although our stay is far outside the touristy hotel zone, this too is not the “real Mexican life” according to them. We are curious to know what it is!
We are starting to feel more and more at home here. We go shopping in the local supermarket daily, we take the bus like most people do and we are not afraid to try new dishes. We spend most of our time on the beach. It is breathtakingly beautiful and quiet. At least in some places. We recommend avoiding the middle of the hotel zone. At the beginning and the end, you will find quieter beaches. Shopping, too, is best done outside the busiest zones. We choose to avoid the tourist centre because it is crawling with American partying tourists, loud music and desperate salesmen.
We think Cancun is an insanely beautiful place, but we are also looking forward to the next few days that we can spend in Isla Mujeres. Sun, sea and beach, but also peace and quiet and the island life.


Discover Cancun and Chichen Itza
Would you like to follow our travel stories? No problem! You can follow our travel stories through Mexico on our travel blog, but also on Facebook or Instagram.