First stop: El Cuyo

English below

It has been exactly one week since we arrived in Mexico, so it's high time for the first 'real' post. For the past few days, the Wi-Fi in our house hasn't been working until the technician repaired the receiver on the roof in a daring action yesterday.

Jonathan did well on his first long-haul flight, keeping himself entertained. It was fortunate that it was an afternoon flight so he was able to sleep through the last four hours of the flight.

Overall, everything has gone smoothly, except for the security check in Frankfurt (20 families with strollers = 75 minutes waiting time) and the issue of a baby seat in Cancun (Europcar didn't have one, so we had to search through some stores on the first day and ended up buying one).

There's not much to say about Cancun itself, except that our little water lover had a great time splashing around in the cold pool - and he drove a car without a car seat for the first time (on the way to the department store).

El Cuyo, on the other hand, is amazing and highly recommended. It is a sleepy peninsula two hours north of Cancun. The beach houses belong to Mexicans who use them as holiday homes and rent them out to tourists. No one has sold their property to hotel operators yet, which is a good thing and hopefully remains so for a long time. Due to jet lag, we were waking up at 6:00 am in the first few days, which worked out perfectly because we were staying in a small house with its own beach access and could walk towards the sunrise...

Here, time literally moves a bit slower: on the way here, we suddenly noticed that our phones were showing the time as one hour earlier than the car. Mexico actually has its own time zone for the coastal area around Cancun! The reason is so that the beaches can be used by tourists for longer in the evenings. Similarly to our summer time.

Furthermore, in El Cuyo, almost all shops and restaurants close by 6:00 pm (due to the time difference, it is already pitch dark by then). The only exception is the bakery, which opens at 5:00 pm... makes sense!

In all the restaurants (six in total), you can get good and inexpensive food. We went to the seafood-specialized 'La Conchita' twice. The news that a white baby was visiting had already spread to the kitchen, so we had to make a stop there again before leaving :-)

El Cuyo is a kitesurfing paradise, as there is a strong breeze throughout the year. It's fun to watch the kiters, but my preference lies underwater. I managed to sneak out for some snorkeling in a moment of calmness, but the visibility underwater is unfortunately zero. So far, the only sea creatures we have seen are the 'pescado frito' on our plate and a huge dead loggerhead sea turtle washed up right in front of our house - R.I.P. Schildo :-(

This place was the perfect choice to start and relax a little. The first tacos treated us well, it was Jonathan's first time in the sea and he sucked on his first lime. Next week, we will be in Akumal - there, we will definitely not have the beach to ourselves, but at least the water will be crystal clear!

We've been in Mexico for one week now so it's time for the first 'real' article. Jonathan did very well on his first long-haul flight and entertained his surrounding in the best way. All went well except for the long wait at the security check in Frankfurt (20 families with strollers = 75 mins) and the lack of a baby seat at Europcar (we had to search at several malls the next day to buy one).

There's not too much to say about our first day in Cancun, except that Jonathan had a lot of fun splashing around in the cold pool.

El Cuyo, however, is beautiful and absolutely worth travelling. It's a very remote place two hours north of Cancun by car. The houses at the beach are owned by Mexicans that use them as a holiday escape and rent them via Airbnb throughout the year. Luckily, there are no big hotels so far. We stay in a tiny house with own access to the beach so we are able to walk towards the sunrise in the morning. We almost had the beach for ourselves. Our next locations will be way more crowded I guess...

Most shops and restaurants close at 6pm sharp but you find everything you need and are served good food at a very reasonable price, especially seafood. Only the bakery is open till late, as it only opens at 5pm... I think it's the first bakery I see that is closed in the mornings!

We liked the seafood at 'Restaurant La Conchita' a lot so we went there twice. Also, they were very lovely with the baby. We even had to stop by in the kitchen to say Hi before we left.

El Cuyo has strong winds throughout the year which makes it a kite surf hot spot. We're having a blast watching the kiters. Since I prefer the underwater world, I'm looking forward to our next stop Akumal which will be way better for snorkeling and/or diving. The sight in the water here in El Cuyo is very poor due to the strong winds and you always have to watch out for kiters. Consequently, the only sea animals we saw so far were the fish on the plate and a dead loggerhead sea turtle on the beach :-(

This village is the perfect place to slow down and relax. A good choice to start our trip!