Bienvenido a Mexico

On a cold and windy New York day (the weather is 19°F) , I’m trying to keep warm by snuggling in my coach, drinking tea and looking my Mexico vacation photos. I didn’t write about my vacations before so why not Mexico be the first?

Last July, Mr.C and I went to Mexico for a 5 day vacation, and it was my best vacation ever. Our first destination was Mexico City, after five and a half hours of flight from New York we were at Mexico City. Transportation from the airport to our hotel by an authorized taxi was easy, also public buses are cheap and convenient way of transportation.

Mexico is remarkably diverse country; influence of ancient civilizations, Spanish and North American makes this country one of the most attractive travel destinations, and Mexico City with population of 20.5 million is most diverse city in Mexico. We arrived to Mexico City late in the evening so for the first day there wasn’t much to do. So we took a walk, ate something and visit Monumento a la Independencia (Independence Column). Independence Column was inaugurated on September 16, 1910 to commemorate the Centennial Anniversary of Mexico’s Independence.

On the second day we woke up early and found a local tour to visit Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan is one of the best archaeological sites you can visit in Mexico and it is nearly 30 miles away from Mexico City. When we arrived to Teotihuacan, we were like beamed up to thousands of years ago. Teotihuacan was the center of Mesoamerica until A.D.800. It was exciting to walk on the Avenue of the Dead, and climbing to Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon. Also there was a small local market near the archaeological site, and what a surprise, they were selling Blue amulets! (Blue circles in shape of eyes, which protects you from bad luck or sickness). When I asked sellers the meaning of these blue amulets, I’ve learned that it is exactly the same in Turkey. So people living on the different sides of Atlantic Ocean believe the same thing, interesting right? After Teotihuacan we turned back to downtown, spent some time at the Zocalo Square and prepared for the Cancun.

Pyramid of the Sun

On the 3^rd day of our vacation, we arrived Cancun after a short flight from Mexico City. While landing I saw that airstrip is in the middle of dense forest, at that moment I understood that I am in heaven. We spent two days in Cancun and stayed in the Hotel Zone. Most of the time weather of Cancun is perfect for vacation but tropical storms usually seen on September and October. We spent most of our time in the sea and on the long, white sandy beach. In the evening we took a bus to go to the downtown and enjoyed foods and drinks. By the way, when we got into the bus to go to the downtown we talked in English with bus driver and purchased our tickets, and when we got into bus to turn back our hotel from downtown Mr.C said to bus driver ‘dos personas’ and the bus driver charged half of the price we paid before. So if you can practice a bit of Spanish before coming here you can save some money.

Tulum

On our last day we stayed at Tulum. Tulum is smaller and quieter than Cancun, you can enjoy the beautiful nature without any interruption. There are lots of small boutique hotels in Tulum but we preferred to stay in hotel that is formed from cabanas. It was cool to stay in a cabana on the beach until I saw a scorpion on the floor. Apart from that, experiencing Tulum is wonderful, foods are delicious, beaches are perfect and sea is crystal clean.

Our time was not enough to visit every significant place in these three cities. There are many places from Mexico in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, this is the link if you want to check out. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/

Bienvenido a Mexico

Disarida hava -7 Derece oldugundan, bugun yapilabilecek en iyi seyin koltugumda kivrilirken, cay icerek, Mexico seyahatimin fotograflarina bakmak oldugunu dusundum. Daha once gezilerimle ilgili bir yazi da yazmadigima gore bu gunu Meksika gezisiyle ilgili bir yazi yazarak gecirebilirim sanirim.

Gecen Temmuz'da Mr.C ile ciktigimiz 5 gunluk Meksika seyahati hayatimin en guzel tatiliydi diyebilirim. New York'dan bes bucuk saatlik bir ucus ile ilk duragimiz olan Mexico City'e vardik. Havaalanindan sehir merkezinde kalacagimiz otele havaalani taksileri ile kolayca ulastik fakat toplu tasima araclari ile de ucuz ve guvenli bir sekilde ulasiminizi saglayabilirsiniz.

Meksika cesitliligi ile goze carpan bir ulke; Antik medeniyetlerin, Ispanyol ve Kuzey Amerika Kulturlerinin sentezlendigi bu ulkenin , en tercih edilen seyahat rotalarindan biri olmamasi imkansiz. Baskent Mexico City de 20.5 milyon nufusu ile bu ulkenin cesitliligini yansitan en buyuk sehir.

Mexico City'e aksam saatlerinde vardigimiz icin ilk gun yapilacak fazla birsey yoktu. Dolayisiyla otelin cevresinda biraz dolasip yemek yedikten sonra Monumento a la Independencia' yi(Ozgurluk Abidesi) ziyaret ettik. Bu abide Meksika'nin ozgurluge kavusmasinin yuzuncu yildonumu kutlamak amaciyla 16 eylul 1910 yilinda acilmis, ve Mexico City'nin simgelerinden biri haline gelmis.

Meksika'daki ikinci gunumuze erken baslayarak, Teotihuacan'a gidebilmek icin bir tur ariyoruz. Teotihuacan Meksika'da gorulebilecek en guzel tarihi sit alanlarindan bir tanesi ve Mexico City'e sadece 50km uzaklikta. Teotihuacan'da gezmeye basladigimda kendimi bir anda binlerce yil oncesine isinlanmis gibi hissettim. 8. yuzyila kadar Orta Amerika'nin merkezi sayilan bu bolgeyi gormek, Avenue of Dead'de yurumek, Sun ve Moon Piramitleri'ne tirmanmak cok heyecan vericiydi. Teotihuacan'dan ayrilmadan once yerel urunlerin satildigi kucuk pazarlari gezerken tezgahlarda nazar boncugunun satildigini gordum, saticilara bunun ne anlama geldigini sordugumda bizimle ayni amacla kullandiklarini ogrendim. Atlantik Okyanusu'nun iki farkli kiyisindaki insanlarin  birebir ayni seye inandiklarini gormek cok ilgincti. Teotihuacan'dan sehir merkezine dondukten sonra Zocalo Meydani'nda zaman gecirip, ertesi gunku Cancun ucusu icin haziliklarimizi tamamladik.

Gezimizin ucuncu gununde artik sira Cancun'a geldi, Mexico City'den kisa bir ucusla Cancun'a vardik. Ucak inise gecerken pencereden baktigimda, pistin sik ve ucu bucagi gozukmeyen bir ormanin icinde incecik uzandigini gorunce, tamam iste tropikal tatil budur dedim. Cancun'da toplam iki gece gecirerek Oteller Bolgesi olarak adlandirilan alandaki bir otelde konakladik. Tropikal firtina ihtimalinin yuksek oldugu Eylul ve Ekim aylari disinda, Cancun'un iklimi tatil yapmak icin uygun, tabiki sicagi sevmeyenler icin bizim gibi Temmuz'da gitmelerini onermem. Buradaki zamanimizin cogunu uzun ve beyaz kumuyla unlu plajlarda ve denizde gecirdik. Karayip Denizi'ndeki dogal yasam basta ilginc gelse de, balik yakalamak icin suya dalan pelikalarla birlikte denize girmeye zamanla alistik. Bu arada Meksika'ya gelmeden once mutlaka Ispanyolcaya calismak lazim. Aksam sehir merkezine gitmek icin bindigimiz otobusde, gidis icin odedigimiz bilet ucreti, donus icin odedigimizin iki katiydi. Cunku gidis bileti almak icin otobuse bindigimizde sofore Ingilizce iki bilet lutfen derken, donerken 'dos personas' dedik. Bu tur firsatciliga Istanbul'dan alisik oldugumdan sasirmadim tabiki.

New York'a donmeden once son gecemizi gecirdigimiz yer Tulum. Cancun'a gore kucuk ve sessiz olan Tulum, doga ile ic ice zaman gecirmek isteyenler icin harika, dolayisiyla bir bucuk gun bizim icin yeterli oldu. Tulum'da bircok butik otel ve cabanalardan olusan oteller mevcut, biz otelde kalmak yerine deniz kenarinda cabanalardan olusan bir tesiste kalmayi tercih ettik. Ekoturizm ilkesi ile kurulmus bir tesiste kalmak basta eglenceliydi ta ki cabananin icerisinde akrep gorene kadar. Neyse bu ayrinti disinda, yedigimiz tum yemekler, hava, kum, deniz harikaydi. Meksika'dan UNESCO Dunya Miraslari listesine giren o kadar cok yer var ki, bunlari yazmak yerine ilgilenenler icin linki buraya kopyaliyorum.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/