"Viaje" in Spanish means journey. This is a short blog to scribble my memoirs of our journey to Mexico. It's been a while since we did a major trip. We decided to visit Mexico for a few reasons. A: we don't need a visa (if you have a legal US visa or permanent residency). B: we have heard about how beautiful the nature is.
As excited as we were in planning the whole trip, to be honest, we were a little scared too. Mainly because it's the first major trip with our l'il one and there is this stigma that Mexico is not at all a safe place. To my surprise, at least four of my friends had the same exact exclamatory question to me sounding like "why are you going to Mexico ? It is full of drugs, crimes and mafia and it is not a safe place to visit with a toddler". We dismissed those questions with the confidence you get only through interacting with people of different cultures and with the wee bit of travel experiences we were blessed to have. Our elderly neighbor who already visited the place gave us a piece of advice: "Use common sense. Take the same precautions as you would take in any major city in the world". That sounded fair !
It was the thanksgiving long weekend. As expected, the flights were overbooked and delayed. After a dramatic turn of events and itineraries, finally we reached Cancun, Mexico. Wow! Let me begin by telling you that whatever be the prejudice and reproach about the country, we could see the airport pouring with tourists from all over the world speaking so many different languages. Then itself we made up our mind that if those many decided to spend their thanksgiving in Cancun, there must be something amazing waiting us.. The first thing that attracted us was the attitude of the locals. There was a warmth and inherent innocence in their approach towards us. I had read that you would be bombarded by locals trying to sell tourist packages of different sorts and many other stuffs. To our surprise, what we could see was them holding their placards of different tour companies (about different packages) and not bothering us at all, let alone bombard us !!
I wish I had the time and energy to explain all the details of the different places we visited during this trip. But my toddler doesn't give me that luxury :) so, i'll make it short. We took a full day tour to see one of the New list of 7 Wonders of the world, Chichen Itza, Yucatan. It's the cornerstone of Mayan civilization. We learned and experienced more about ancient Mayans on that single day than we ever read or learned at school ! It is definitely a must-see-and-feel in a lifetime. Again, the locals treated us pleasantly, gently and cordially.
The nature mesmerized us everywhere. Overall, it is a very green place. We took a dip in some of the most beautiful underground rivers in the world. The water was blue-green. There was gentle misty waterfalls falling from far above towards the water we swam. And the air was as if we gave the "soft glow" effect to a picture ! It felt like we were in a dream or something. We spent a whole day in Xcaret, the eco-archaeological Park, which is known as the majestic paradise of Mexico. It was definitely a majestic paradise with all the nature and some of the most beautiful creations of God. I always feel that journeys like this take me closer to God, the Creator and Sustainer of this world. We experienced spa right in the lap of nature, seeing and hearing the lullaby of gently falling waters. Another thing I absolutely loved is the Fish Therapy, which is basically a pedicure done by so many tiny fresh water fishes. They love to eat the dead skin and the result was amazing smooth feet ! And the day was royally culminated with a two hour long cultural extravaganza. It was a true feast to our senses with all the different kinds of traditional Mexican music, songs, dance, folklores and dramas. Every single sequence was done gracefully with so much attention to detail, sincerity and true passion. We learned about the native past and present of the country and how they beautifully married together.
The food is something which caught our attention everywhere. The part we visited has a tropical climate. We are basically from a tropical state of India. We noticed a lot of similarity in the dishes and the method of presentation. They used plantain leaves to serve many of their dishes. We found dishes very similar to "ilayada", "kadukka nirachathu", "ari pathiri" and some tropical cool drinks, which are the delicacies of Kerala, India (Can you believe it ?!) The food was very diverse and savory. I always got this feeling that we can understand how rich the culture and heritage of a place is by looking at the variety of traditional dishes the place offers. Again, the hospitality and earnestness of the locals was heart warming. We did not see any arrogance or greed for tips, which is usual in tourist destinations.
We did some other touristy stuffs - went in a sub-sea exploration submarine, got the experience of an All-Inclusive Resort ( when you see endless, perfectly presented yummy delicacies and a not-so-big tummy, that's a genuine dilemma !! ). We felt that the locals really loved to entertain our l'il one...
Everyone was happy to assist and took as their responsibility to guide us (of course not for money). Needless to say, we used our common-sense safety measures. As our elderly neighbor rightly said, the same ones you take when you visit any major city in the world. All in all, we fell in love with the people, food, nature and rich culture of Mexico. It was truly a different (in an amazing way) experience compared to what we thought or heard or what some stigmatize about Mexico. In all the places, we felt that everyone including taxi drivers, tour guides, restaurant waiters, staffs at different places they all had the same eagerness in welcoming us to Mexico as if they are welcoming to their own family. They kept their right hand on top of their heart when saying "bienvenida" (meaning welcome) or "Ola" (meaning hello). They addressed us by calling "amigo" (friend).
We saw smiles instead of drugs, innocence instead of guns and kindness instead of mafia.... We felt that their tourism slogans are very meaningful and apt - "Mexico, The place you thought you knew", "Mexico - Live it to believe it". Given a chance, we will absolutely visit again !
