Man, Mexico sure gets a lot of bad rap these days.
A few weeks ago I was cashing in some leftover travelers checks in Toronto.
“Where were you?” the teller asked.
“Mexico,” I replied far too wistfully.
“Wow,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to go visit Mexico really bad.”
“Why don’t you?” I asked.
“Well, the [...]
While walking through the beautiful neighborhood of Coyoacan the other day in Mexico City, my friend told me that he was dying to leave Mexico. “There are no opportunities for me here. My life would be better if I lived in Canada.”
Well shit, I thought. Here I am dying to live down here in [...]
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Posted 13 March 2010
† Caitlin
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Mexico City can at times be an overwhelming place. The traffic, the smog and ginormous crowds of people can really make a person crave a bit of tranquilidad.
Luckily, the city is filled with loads of distinct neighborhoods, and some will give you a bit of that calm you’ve been craving.
One of such oases [...]
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Posted 25 February 2010
† Caitlin
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Food is an important part of travel for me. Wait. Food is an important part of life for me. This is partly why I will never be a great budget traveler along the likes of Wade and his family from Vagabond Journey. I just love restaurants, pastries, street food, fruit and, well, eating all the [...]
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Posted 24 February 2010
† Caitlin
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For the time being, Yelkaye.net is saying goodbye to all things latin. Brightly coloured houses with peeling paint, salsa and reggaeton, tacos, mangy street dogs, beautiful Latin men… all of these I am leaving behind on Sunday. (So much for finding a gorgeous Mexican husband.)
What’s happening?
When it comes down to it, there just aren’t [...]
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Posted 24 February 2010
† Caitlin
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I’ve been looking for someone like you for awhile. Something special. I had my tulmultuous relationship with Quetzaltenango, but it just didn’t work out in the end. I’ve been with Mexico City, but sometimes it’s just too much. I dallied a bit with Queretaro and Gualajara, but we just didn’t click.
Morelia, we clicked.
At [...]
Guadalajara’s answer to Mexico City’s Coyoacan is Tlaquepaque. It’s a pretty colonial suburb, complete with brightly coloured houses, cobblestone streets and overpriced cafes. It’s a strong artisan community, and showrooms of art and kitschy ceramics are everywhere.
It’s apparently also tourism central in Guadalajara. My friends and I had to put our rousing game of [...]
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Posted 21 February 2010
† Caitlin
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The next stop of this fairly unfruitful “finding a decent teaching job” trip is Guadalajara, Mexico’s second city. With about four million people, this is a big place, but is a lot calmer than the capital.
Strangely enough, Guadalajara reminds me in some ways of Toronto in the summer. Wide streets, warm weather, grey buildings… [...]
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Posted 19 February 2010
† Caitlin
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But I don’t think I would want to live there.
Funny though, what makes some places touristy and others not. San Cristobal de las Casas, for instance, is a beautiful colonial city almost overrun with foreigners. Queretaro is a colonial city probably just as beautiful (except maybe the lack of surrounding mountains) but I spotted maybe [...]
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Posted 17 February 2010
† Caitlin
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Reporting from Queretaro, Queretaro. It’s great to be on the road, finally seeing new places for the first time in awhile. (I think the last time I have actually be somewhere completely new was Champerico in October… otherwise I’ve just been going back to the same places in Guatemala and Mexico.)
Unfortunately, it is pouring [...]
