San Cristobal and palenque, Chiapas

We arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas at 6 in the morning and checked in to our dungeon of a hotel in the main street. It was freeeeezing! After a little nap we went to the indian market that surrounds a grand church. I was in heaven! J Leather, wool, figurines, JEWELERY! Happyyyyy!

BEAUTIFUL!!

WTF??

<3

We didn’t have much time left as we needed to be in Xalapa by Saturday. So after some discussion and bus schedule checking we had the next 2 days planned down to the minute.

The Sumidero Canyon is a must when in San Cristobal. You need to get in to Tuxtla Gutierrez to get to the boats, but as we didn’t know this we hired a driver from the hotel which was crazy expensive.

The Canyon is a 90 minute experience on a fast speedboat with some stops underways to explain what were seeing. It was gorgeous and so nice and fresh to drive with the wind in ur hair.

There are also big crocodiles resting on the sides of the river that we got pretty close to. Super!! :D

The next morning we moved on to Palenque to see the grand mayan ruins. Which are the most amazing ruins I have seen yet in my life. AND you can walk on them, inside of them, under them. So beautiful! (Btw: These are the ruins that are photographed on the front of the latest lonely planet for mexico, and a MUST see:)

My mom is cool :)

Mandatory bridge picture on the ruins ;)

A manifestation on the road where they put out planks with nails so people had to pay to be able to pass.

Since we had to be in Xalapa the following morning and we were still a days trip away we didn’t have much time and had to jump on a bus to Villa Hermosa where we had time for dinner and then the nightbus to Xalapa. The supreme highclass nightbus to Xalapa I must add J Ur own tv, reclining seats, eyecovers, pillows and blankets. None of us had sleept this good in weeks J

We got to Xalapa at 6 in the morning as my family checked in to this gorgeous posada in the centre and I went home to my apartment for a little nap. I was pretty excited for my family to see the town I have been living in for the past 8 months and for them to meet some of the people I have been talking to them about for months.

And as I also expected, they loved Xalapa. 

Then the time came to say goodbye :( 

<3 <3 Thank you for an amazing vacation! <3 <3

Oaxaca City

My experience is that traveling always takes more time than planed, everywhere in the world. And Mexico is no exception, but we got there happy and ready to see this beautiful city that everyone loves!
We settled in at our beautiful, quiet, flowerfilled hotel that everyone should stay at when in Oaxaca, Los Golondrinas. http://www.hotellasgolondrinas.com.mx

Absolutely perfect J 

As the sun was about to set when we got there it got freezing cold very fast! Very hot during day and very cold during night.

This is when the shopping started! we went to the markets and bought colorful blankets, ponchos, pants, scarfs and so on. At the end it looked like a mayan had thrown up on us :P The handycraft is beautiful and we filled our bags with hammocks, figurines, jewellery u name it.

Peterman taking a nap while the ladies shop :)

A wonderful artist that peterman bought a piece from. Loved this guy!

                                               
                                         

sleeping beauty #1

Sleeping beauty #2

My mom, the hammock addict ;)

Street painting with threads! pretty cool! 

Monte Alban are beautiful ruins located on a mountain that rages over town. (A mountain they allegedly cut the top of so they could built on it. How does that work?)

There are minivans that goes from the city bus station that costs 20 pesos a head.

Truly impressive and higly recommended if ur in the area.

Another mandatory attraction to see in Oaxaca is Museo de las culturas in the old convent of Santo Domingo, located next to the GOLD covered Santo Domingo church.

There you walk through several rooms that takes you through the history of Mexico. The convent is gorgeous and the artifacts are impressive.

WTF?!

Many cozy rooftop terraces in Oaxaca :)

A Oaxacan snack, and now that ive tried it i dont really recommend it, is crickets. Nasty little buggers...

skeptical...

After two beautiful days the show went on to Chiapas and the cute little town of San Cristobal.

The blonds takes on Mexico! :)

The time I had been waiting for was finally here! My mom, sister and Peterman was finally in MY country! I went to meet them in Mexico City where we spent the next 2 days hugging, catching up and seeing the city.

<3 <3 <3 <3 

Now as u all know, Mexico City is humongous! Since I had already been there a couple of months ago I had some idea on what was where.

We went to the palace to see the magnificent mural of Diego Riviera, highly recommended as it shows the different eras of Mexican history. 

We walked around Condesa and had delicious seafood lunch, took the subway, tram and buss around town (great way to get an overview of the city) 

Palacio nacional

Diego Riviera

I LOVED this man!! "No estoy viejo, soy un clasico" (im not old, im a classic:)

cruising around town

Micheladas!! :)

Monumento de revolucion

Our travel plan for the next two weeks were pretty efficient, so we needed to make arrangements for the next destination. Puerto Escondido on the Oaxaca Coast, some 13 hours from DF by bus. So we all decided to catch the night bus not loose days on traveling. Traveling by bus in Mexico is incredibly cheap, and for the most very comfortable. http://www.ado.com.mx

Off we go! J