Its Cancun Baby!

Hola! Buenos dias! Welcome to turquoise blue, white sandy beaches of the Carribean right on the shores of the Yucatan peninsula! Our ten day trip to Cancun was a well deserved vacation and a long awaited honeymoon. And we were not cheated even for a minute.Equipped with books that we wanted to read in a long time, shades, bathing suits and sun screen we hit the Carribean.

A must do thing at Cancun is to get lost, to experience true Mexico. Otherwise the "Zona Hotelleria" a part of land extending into the ocean as a narrow strip, is Las Vegas on one side and Hawaii on the other. Its buzzing with activity of swimmers, surfers, water skiiers during the day and party on the beach during the night. Not so much into dancing away till 2:00 AM, Sai and I would stroll into a leisurely walk by the ocean after dinner. Sometimes with moonlight, others with hooters and dancers.

Everyone you speak to will say, "Don't miss Chichen-itza" one of the wonders of the world. Taking their advice and wanting to tick mark a wonder, we visited Chichen-Itza - representing the left over of the Mayan civilization. With a guide who will not give up until he has provided an exaggerated version of Apocalypto, I for one ended up with a terrible migraine . It was a wonder nevertheless, could have been prettier if the temperature was 60 instead of 80.

In my opinion a must see spot was tulum, Mayan ruins by the beach. Mayans built it to protect their city of Coba from invaders and like other forts, was beautifully encrypted and felt like the walls had a story to tell.

While in the Carribean don't get carried away so much by history that you fail to jump into the ocean with your snorkeling gear. There were three things that I did for the first time in Cancun. One, snorkel, two para-sail and the third was to swim in the ocean. If you get over the initial fear of claustrophobia underneath the snorkeling gear, its a paradise of a world underneath. The coral reefs with schools of fishes, star fish spotting etc snorkeling is a must do. Fighting waves and trying to stay in place in the middle of the ocean, is a skill I haven't mastered yet though.

Locals in Mexico, are extremely warm and we were the target of many of their light hearted jokes. Being the only brown around, the "namaste" never missed our ears. But we truly felt at home with friendly and "nakal aduchufying" hotel hosts.

Shopping is a must thing in downtown Cancun at market28. Not for their prices but for the sheer experience of the colors and musicians on the street. With sai's poquito knowledge of Spanish and extremely warm shoppers/vendors around, we had no bad experiences.

And with that and list of things that were particularly special during the trip, I recommend Me-hi-co to all my native Indians.

1. We got lost after our natural aquarium trip and came to the hotel changing two local buses. The second local bus ( A little bigger and cleaner than Thiruvalluvar) drove the bus after his shift was over for almost forty five minutes - and the passengers were just us two!

2. Mangai (green kacha mango) is eaten with mexican hot sauce, and its lip-smacking.

3. Jose, the guide who complimented Sai extravagantly and respectfully for his "wife's beautiful eyes" left us behind on our way back from the natural aquarium park and we almost had to hiked our way back.

4. The four Mexican guys who accompanied us on our trip to Chiceh-itza, saved us from buying local road side tequila and were a lot of fun to hang out with.

5. The most beautiful dinner in a fancy restaurant by the harbour on a deck watching the yachts.

6. The pool which had lazy under water seats and Fernando to get our drinks and food. I miss that the most I guess.

7. Hard Rock Cafe, and Coco Bongo by the beach. So margaritas, awesome desserts and music by the beach.

8. Giant sea turtle sighting from 250 feet above the ground on our para-sailing expedition. By far my favorite. With bright light and an almost transparent bluish-green water, under water life can be seen so well from up above.

So here is a toast to well spent ten days. No visa required to Mexico if you hold a valid US visa!

Adios