Favorite country Mexico

In Mexico City, the time should begin for me, during which I travel through Central America until Panama, from where my return flight starts. It was convenient that I had reserved a hostel near the Zócalo, the city's main square, to walk through the historic center and reach all the places in the city. In contrast to Lima, for example, it was immediately noticeable that the city is much quieter and there is less honking, which I liked very much. In addition to the city center, I also visited Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo's house, the Tequila and Mezcal Museum, Chinatown, Coyoacán Park, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and Chapultepec Castle. In Mexico City, I particularly liked the architecture, fashion, relaxed atmosphere, and street food. However, during my first visit to a taqueria, I learned that not all green sauces are guacamole, but sometimes they are made from jalapeños. In short: I had to cry because the sauce was so spicy and I had scooped it onto the tacos with a spoon. What I noticed about fashion and shopping is that it is incredibly difficult to buy shoes if they are larger than size 39. Most shoes are even displayed in size 35 because apparently, the women are all so small. However, you can still buy clothes very well, especially since Mexico is surprisingly very cheap.

From the capital, I traveled to Puebla de Zaragoza or Cholula, where I could sleep in the home of a Mexican friend I met in Cusco. Together with his mother, I took a trip to the most beautiful churches in the city, including a church that was built on an underground pyramid. She kindly drove me to the city center of Puebla, where I had time to walk through the streets on my own and then take a city tour in a tour bus with her. The next day, we took a trip to a beautiful park with a little castle, which is about an hour away from Puebla. Even though or especially because Puebla de Zaragoza and Cholula are quite small cities, I think it's more than worth visiting them because they are very colorful, clean, and manageable, and I had neither bad experiences with the residents nor was I disappointed by the sights.

After 2 nights in Cholula, however, I spent the third night on the bus again, this time on the way to Mérida, where my Mexican friend Ferdinando lives. He and his mother both warmly welcomed me into their home, sacrificed time for me, showed me the city, made trips with me, entrusted me with the house key, and much more, for which I am incredibly grateful. I think the two of them contributed to making Mexico possibly my favorite country of my trip. Ferdi showed me the most important and beautiful places in Mérida, went swimming with me at night at the beach in Progreso, made a trip with me to Maya temples and a cenote (an underground water reservoir), and drove with me to Celestún, where I took a boat tour and had the opportunity to see hundreds of flamingos and also crocodiles and swim in another cenote. In the evening, we visited various bars, a club, and a mezcalería with his friends and a group of French people who were also staying at his house, where there was a live band playing and salsa dancing.

The highlight of this week, however, was the weekend when we went to the island of Holbox, located on the border of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. I myself had never before seen such a white beach with such clear water. Of course, there wasn't much to do there, as it is only an island, so we spent most of our time on the beach and in the water. It wasn't until Sunday that it was time to leave again, and our paths diverged. He went back to Mérida and I continued to Cancun. In this beautiful city, I visited even more beautiful beaches with turquoise water, but the waves in the sea were too high to swim. I also took a tour to Valladolid, a huge cenote, and Chichen Itzá, another very famous Mayan temple.

The last city in Mexico that I visited was Tulum. There, I visited ancient ruins in the Tulum National Park on the coast, went to the beach, which was surprisingly ugly, as there were algae everywhere. In addition, it was incredibly hot, and I was already dripping with sweat from all the walking, so for the first time, I went out of the sea because the water was too warm for me. And those who know me well know that that says something.