TOOFLY NYC

Stuck in Cancun, Mexico for a few more days and that is totally okay because I am not looking forward to the blizzard in New York one bit! It’s also good because I am back in chillax mode after #TulumArtProject wall and can rock this blog post in peace. To set off 2015 I decided to take a little vacation to my favorite beach destination, paint, draw, get a tan, visit ruins, eat lot’s of tamales, tortillas, tacos, elotes, sopes, and all the yummy mexican food I can squeeze into my travel budget. I recently discovered champurrado at the local mercado and I can’t get enough!!! What a delicious drink hot or cold. Discovering the local “spots” is such a treat!

Traveling to the Yucatan part of Mexico during January is perfect. The weather is sweet, and not terribly hot like other months. There’s a nice breeze throughout the day and it feels really good when your out all day visiting the ruins or catching a beach sunset. Last time I visited in 2011 I did not get a chance to visit Chichen Itza so I made sure to go this time. One of the 7 wonders of the world is not to be missed! – These ruins are the largest of Mayan sites in Mexico. Just 3-4hrs by bus from Cancun with a must stop in this lovely town of Valladolid. I did not get a chance to stay here long but I saw some really beautiful artisan shops, and restaurants with high ceilings with colonial style decor. Beautiful!

Once at the ruins you make your rounds trying your best to dodge the hundreds of tourists to get a good shot of the pyramids. It’s a bummer that you can no longer climb them, and that there are so many people there. Also didn’t dig that there are so many vendors who all sell and make the same stuff. Beautiful, but over saturated. It kind of kills the whole moment. Where are the handcrafted works uniquely created by true craftsmen? Why do they all make the same stuff? Anyway it must be a tourist thing, I guess to accommodate the gringo consumerism for cheap “regalitos” When I finally found a quiet place to sit, and the crowds went far from sight ( following the tour guides like sheep ) I took the time to appreciate the site a little more. Most of the stone monuments had well detailed illustrations carved out on the wall. Mostly the underworld of snakes, and skulls. Trying to imagine this kind of world existed years and years ago is a trip. I can’t get around the chopping off heads for sacrifice and all that? I gotta read up on it some more…

Shout out to Silvia from New Zealand for meeting up and hanging out <3 Hope we meet again in our travelz…

My first 2 weeks in Cancun was nice. Made sure to get my Delfines beach on and my ruins trip in. There is not much else to do in Cancun. The hotel life here is stagnant. There is just too many tourists and it’s a little pricey but I got a great deal at a hostel I couldn’t pass up especially since I was gonna be here for a whole month! Glad I was only 45 minutes away from Playa Del Carmen because when it was time to visit my amiga linda I packed up and took the $3 van there. My homegirl Fransiska and her daughter Mika hosted me for a quick minute before it was time to head to Tulum. We haven’t seen each other in many many years. Catching up was super nice, and learning new things we had each discovered in our life journey was fresh. We shared stories of our move away from New York City and how so much of the same things helped us make that decision. Beach life for the girls is a whole new life, and a healthier one. I am happy for my friend and her daughter <3 If that mangu crave, or uptown flava kicks in she’s only a few hours and dollars away from it all:)  But wow who can ever give up that local MAMEY!!! hahahhaha I so need to find this fruit in Ecuador. What a delicious fruit! It’s like flang in a fruit or something like it. DELICIOUS. Thank you for hosting me my sweet friend, and introducing to your neighborhood peeps. Get that solar power boombox and transmit that Iska.World.101 jump off!

As my trip came to a close I got wonderful news from the folks at the Tulum Art Project. I was confirmed to paint a wall! – After my happy dance I packed my bags up again and was off to Tulum another 45 minutes away—> read more about out in on the TULUM ART PROJECT 2015 POST.

 

 

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