Goodbye to Mexico

After two months to the day, I have waved goodbye to Mexico and begun my journey south. The time has gone scarily fast and I have loved just about every minute of it. Some of my favourite things done, seen and visited include:

Guadalajara- of course. My home for 7 weeks, a cultural centre which forced me to learn spanish. Meeting Rosie and her family, their crazy dogs and experiened first-hand the ups and downs of close-family life. I befriended the locals, went to some crazy house parties, got some writing experience and frequented the art gallery. I saw my first humingbird. One day I will go back, fluent in spanish,and finally have a real conversation with theboy in the corner shop, from whom I bought far too many hershey's bars and who humoured my terrible spanish.

Puerto Vallarta- My first dip in the Mexican pacific, too many coctails and a fiesta featuring a transvestite show.

Mexico City- The weekend which spurred on my hunger to travel around, and completely disproved my expectations of danger and unfriendliness in the big city.

Cancun- a crazy few days of partying and emotions. I met a kitten and some people that I will never forget.

When I first planned this trip, it wasn't Mexico that I was particularly excited about. I came here purely for my internship and as a stepping stone to Central America. But I have completely fallen in love with the place- despite their obsession with tortillas, lack of kettles and the way they use their ovens to store tupperware. I also came prepared to trust nobody and stay hard as nails, but Mexicans are the friendliest, kindest people. There is no concept of personal space or understood problem with calling me "white girl", but the people are honest and almost always have helpful intentions.

From Playa del Carmen, I headed down to Chetumal yesterday. Chetumal is a funny place- the capital of Quintana Roo (best name for a state ever) but there is absolutely nothing going on there. Because my plans were fairly spontanous, I turned up to one of the two hostels found online without a booking. It was basically a family home with a couple of rooms, but was comfortable and friendly. The landlady served me a big plate of lunch as I came in, despite the fact that she wasn't expeting me and it wasn't included with my stay. She was a kind lady with a very knowing look about her- I didn't have to explain anything to her for her to understand me.

I shared my room with a fierce looking German girl. We had a good chat though, and she encouraged me to de-clutter my life a little. This was a physical necessity however, because my bag had split on the journey down and somehow caught my leg and given me a war-wound. We set out for the one supermarket, which sold one suitcase... I took it and reorganised myself before leaving to get the daily passenger boat to Belize.

Leaving Mexico felt odd, a little sad, but the natural progression. Chetumal already had a very tropical feel to it- only remaining Mexican by principle and law. The port was decked out in palm trees, signs warned me about the crocodiles, and Bob Marley songs could already be heard- the doorway to the caribbean.

Two bracing boat journeys later and I am in Caye Caulker, Belize. We were met off the boat by locals with dreadlocks and coconuts, welcoming us to paradise. I am staying in what is essentially a treehouse in a cat sanctuary (no joke...) and have already met half the islanders during my short trip to the bank. I'm excited for what tomorrow will bring.