… one country at a time!
We arrived in the first country of our Asian trip, Indonesia, at the beginning of October. The country is famous for having a lot of fantastic diving spots and volcanoes to climb. We spent almost two years without doing any dives as it is much more expensive in Europe. We were looking forward to start diving again among colorful fishes and corals.
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All along our trip, we had the opportunity to discover many different local traditions. Several times, ancient pre-Colombian stories and customs fused with the Catholicism brought by the Spanish, a process generally known as syncretism. From the Virgin Mary represented as the Pacha Mama in Bolivia, to the guinea pig at the last supper in the cathedral of Cuzco, and the peculiar customs of the Chiapas indigenous people, we were surprised time and time again. We knew nonetheless an example of syncretism well before our trip: the día de muertos celebration in Mexico. As a matter of fact, we organised all our trip around that day. We wanted to discover the holiday’s folklore onsite!
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Guadalajara is the second-largest city in Mexico. It is also the place where Caroline lived for 5 months during her studies as part of an exchange program. She really enjoyed living in Guadalajara, so we had to make a stop there during our trip. We had arranged to stay with some of her friends. Her former roommate even came all the way from Canada. Quite a reunion!
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The city of Oaxaca, located in the homonymous state, could be described as the most typical Mexican town. For any fan of the famous Pixar movie Coco, this is THE place to visit, as a lot of the movie’s scene are inspired by it. Here’s four things you can do in and around the city!
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Even after exploring the Mayan ruins of Copan in Honduras, Tikal in Guatemala, and Tulum, we were not yet satisfied. Plus, after our visit to Machu Picchu in Peru, we realised we had the possibility to see another one of the seven wonders. So we naturally decided to take our time while travelling to the north of Mexico. On the way, we stopped twice to visit as many ruins: Chichén Itzá and Palenque.
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Following our exploration of the southeast of Mexico, we moved towards the rest of the country. That is how we reached one of its most southern states: Chiapas. After a lot of bumpy roads, we stopped in San Cristobal de la Casas, the main city in the region. It is the perfect base to explore the area.
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We definitely fell in love with the Riviera Maya. So much that we decided to extend our staying a bit more. To change settings just a bit, we moved to an island: Cozumel.
To get to the island, we first took a bus from Tulum to Playa del Carmen. From there, we took the ferry to Cozumel. During the whole ride you can enjoy a beautiful view of the spectacular Caribbean sea and all its colors. The water takes all the shades of blue and green, already from the harbor!
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We planned from the very start to dedicate more than one month of our trip to explore Mexico. We entered the country from the Belize border, and we were welcomed by the famous Riviera Maya: fantastic beaches, cenotes, and Mayan ruins! Here is a summary of our explorations.
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While on our way to the North of Peru, we passed by two other cities that offered some really nice attractions: Lima and Trujillo. They were not the highlights of our time in Peru, but then, between Machu Picchu and passing our diving license, we set the bar quite high. In any case, it is nice to visit this region of Peru, especially if you are interested in the pre-incan civilisations.
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When we were still living in Paris, we offered on Couchsurfing our relatively comfortable sofa-bed. We had the chance to host a lovely Colombian/English couple for a few days. They offered to return the favor if we were passing by Medellin. And just like that, Medellin became a mandatory stop during our trip.
After some months we finally had the opportunity to discover the city, partly through their eyes, thanks to their amazing hospitality.
Continue reading “Five things to do in Medellin”