Mexico Diary - Paradise Holbox

Hello there, adventurers and dreamers! I hope you're all having a great weekend. I was pretty busy all week long so today my boyfriend and I are just chilling at home and I'm working a little on my blog. I have some photos of our last stops left in Mexico before I will be posting about more recent events and my beloved home Mallorca again.
Today's post is about one of my favorite places in Mexico, the beautiful island of Holbox, a true paradise for beach and art lovers like me! All over the island you can feel the free spirit. There are no cars but golf carts and bikes on sandy roads instead, most of the buildings are small, made of wood and painted in joyful colors, there are palm trees, hammocks, graffitis and beautiful handicrafts made with the typical sea shells called 'conchas' everywhere. Holbox has been my personal favorite among all the wonderful places we visited in Mexico. Its secluded beaches, slow life and laid-back vibes allowed us to finally realx a bit after almost three weeks of traveling through Mexico. Holbox is still more quiet and by far less touristy than other islands of the Yucatan peninsula. A world without pressure and worries, so to say a bohemian paradise, an island where time seems to stand still.

How to Get There
The most common transport to use is the ferry which takes less than an hour from the small coastal town of Chiquila. The ferry runs every half hour so it's never too crowded and it's the cheapest way to get to the island too, we paid 140 Pesos per person, about 7 Euro per way. You can also take a private speed boat or even a plane to the island if you're feeling fancy.

Where to Stay
You can either stay at hip, laid-back and less expensive hostels and 'cabañas' that are located in the island's only town or you spend the night at one of the fancy hotels that are located along the beach and all embody simple luxury. We spent two nights at Casa Frida, not just because I'm a huge fan of Frida Kahlo, but also because we loved their apartments we saw on Booking.com. We were not disappointed when we got there. We had a spacious private and fully equipped kitchen (I loved the fact that I finally had a blender to make smoothies), a small dining table and two comfy sofas, a bright and spacious bedroom with two double beds and a large bathroom with a walk-in shower. All apartments had a shared garden with palm trees providing shade, hammocks and swings which I personally loved. I included some photos of Casa Frida in this post so you get an idea of what it looks like.

What to Do
Explore the island by golf cart, you can rent them everywhere and it's so much fun going for a bumpy ride on the sandy roads. Or go for a bike ride along the beach, stop whenever you feel like it and relax in one of the hammocks or on the swings you will find in the water. There are lots of activities offered as well, you can learn how to do kite surfing, go stand up paddling, snorkeling or kayaking. Holbox also has a reputation as a great spot for watching and swimming with wild whale sharks. I personally would have loved to see and swim with them! I mean, hello, I don't get to see these beautiful giants in Europe (or at least not in the Mediterranean sea). However, the whale shark season was already over when we got to Holbox so we unfortunately didn't get a chance to see them. After enjoying the shallow water, white sand and Mexican sun at the beach for a few hours go discover the little town (the only one on Holbox) with its colorful shops, art galleries, excellent restaurants and cute cafés. Taste the local cuisine or sip a delicious cocktail, buy some souvenirs, art and boho or surfer clothes.

I hope this post made you dream a bit on this February Sunday, a second post about our adventures on Holbox will follow soon! Have a relaxed start of the week, my dear readers, and don't forget to wander once in a while, even if it's just in your mind ;-)

Mexico Diary - Las Coloradas

Hello there, hope you're all having a fantastic Sunday! Mine is pretty relaxed, my boyfriend and I had a tasty smoothie for breakfast, did some cleaning this morning and now I finally have time to write a new post about another beautiful place we visited during our Mexico trip. While we stayed in Valladolid we visited the colorful lakes of Las Coloradas, which I had seen on Leonie's beautiful blog Ohh Couture before, so I wanted to share some tips and photos of this trip with you guys.

What is Las Coloradas?
Las Coloradas is actually just a tiny and quiet fishermen's village that is not very touristy but there is a huge saline, a working salt factory, next to it that is responsible for the brightly colored lakes. Keep in mind that this is not a natural wonder but a private place so you are not allowed to go anywhere you like.

How to Get there
Starting from Valladolid it took us more than two hours to get to the colorful lakes. We took a bus to a small town called Tizimin in the morning and from there another bus to Las Coloradas. We were told this last bus goes to the fishermen's village and returns to Tizimin only once a day so we were a little worried that we wouldn't get back Valladolid. However, there are taxis coming to Las Coloradas a few times a day that will take you to Tizimin from where you can take the bus back to Valladolid. This is how we got home too.

What to Do
Once we arrived at Las Coloradas we had to walk about two minutes to the salines which didn't look very pink at first sight. However, we kept walking a little and with the changing angle of sunlight the water changed it's color from a greyish tone to a beautiful cotton-candy pink. There were also other lakes that had an intense orange color. You can walk by the water for about half an hour up to an hour depending on how many times you stop for photos. You can also find some flamingos there and watch them for a while. Even though some tourists take a dip you're not supposed to swim in the lakes. Most of the lakes are fenced anyway and even though this is becoming a more and more popular spot (thanks to social media) the salines are not meant to be a tourist attraction. No need to say that the lakes are extremely salty and the water touching your skin might burn if you have cuts or wounds. Other than admiring the colorful water there's not much else to do around there. It is only really worth the trip if you're into photography and unique, less visited places.
Remember, take lots of sunscreen and water with you, since there are no shops and trees around the lakes so there's no shade.

I personally loved the pink lakes. I had been to the salines in Es Trenc on Mallorca before so it wasn't the first time for me seeing colorful, salty lakes. However, my boyfriend and I were glad that we visited Las Coloradas because it surely is a romantic, beautiful place. I hope you liked this post, let me know if you have any more questions about our Mexico adventures ;-)

Mexico Diary - Chichén Itzá and Valladolid

Happy Friday, everyone! Did you all have a fantastic week or was it as stressful and long as mine? ;-) Lately we have so much to do at work that it's impossible for me to find time to write a new post or keep up with social media or even sleep! In case you didn't know I'm working at a villa rental agency here on Mallorca and people are booking holiday homes like crazy in January. And you know, after spending eight hours in the office concentrating on names and numbers and staring at the screen I don't really want to spend more time at my laptop when I'm home. Do you know this feeling? Do you have similar jobs and also have to spend hours in front of a computer? Anyway, tonight I finally had a quiet hour for myself to get some blog work done so now you get to see some new pics of my Mexico trip.
After spending a few days in Tulum my boyfriend and I stayed in Valladolid for three nights and explored the beautiful city, some ancient Maya ruins and pink lakes (yes, pink lakes, I will write a separate post about them). We arrived in Valladolid late in the afternoon and just did some food shopping, took showers and went to bed early on our first day. The next morning we got up early and went to the ADO bus station, the taxis to the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá were waiting right next to it. So we got on a collectivo that took us to the ruins where we waited in line for about 20 minutes, paid the 20 Euro entrance fee for both of us and started walking. The archaelogical site of Chichén Itzá is huge and really impressive. I really didn't want to miss it because it's one of Mexico's largest Maya cities with tall, beautiful buildings including the famous pyramid called 'El Castillo', several temples and a ballcourt. Even though visitors are not allowed to climb the buildings or go inside anymore Chichén Itzá is totally worth a visit, I couldn't believe how well preserved the buildings are. You learn so much about the Maya culture, their history and architecture, you can literally feel the mystical vibes of this site. Walking through the 'city' admiring the huge buildings and details on the stairs and walls made me imagine what it'd be like wandering through an ancient Maya city seeing all its inhabitants work, play, holding ceremonies in the temples and just living their life. Sometimes I wish I could turn back time to see how people lived before. My boyfriend and I spent hours exploring the archaeological site, there was so much to see! Did you know that Chichén Itzá is one of the seven new wonders of the world? I'm so glad I got to see it!

After spending hours in the sun exploring the whole archaeological site of Chichén Itzá we were super hungry and tired so we took the next bus back to Valladolid and spent a quiet afternoon there. We changed in the hostel (we had a really nice apartment-like room at the Hostal Gayser) and went for a stroll through town. We stopped by a few shops, had some amazingly delicious pitaya lemonade (gosh, I miss it so much!), visited the museum of cacao and had some street food for lunch and dinner. Sorry, I forgot the name of what we ate but I can tell you it was super tasty, haha! Valladolid is such a lively, colorful colonial town with lots of pretty buildings, cute shops and fantastic restaurants and food stands so I recommend you spend at least one entire day there when you travel to Mexico. I hope you liked this post, wishing you all a fantastic and relaxing weekend!

Our room at the Gayser Hostal

The beautiful Casona de Valladolid

Tamales for dinner