We always stumbled upon cool stuff when we travel. Yesterday night, it was a fair in the centro. The rides and attractions were really cheap by both French and Canadian standards, although they did look a bit worn-out. “Wow, free entrance!” said Feng. “Course it is!” I retorted. “It’s a parking lot! Only in Canada you have to pay to enter the fair and then pay extra for the rides.” I never really understood why that’s how it works in Canada to be honest. To me, it’s a rip-off.
We hung out at the fair a bit, mostly because I wanted to take a few shots and because I was eating a waffle dripping with Nutella.
The sun sets around 5:30 p.m. and there isn’t much to do around. Sure, there are a lot of bars in the hotel zone, most of them with promising names such as “Marijuana & Margaritas,” but they are mostly targeted towards the spring break crowd and anyone who wants to get drunk fast (open bar is $20). Not my kind of activity. Yes, I know, I’m a kill joy.
So we headed to the centro, where locals actually live and shop. It’s pretty busy over there. The first night, we ended up at the mall “de las Americas”, a giant indoor shopping mall packed with people doing their Christmas shopping. The second night, we walked along a busy road lineup with familiar and not so familiar stores. Wherever, we are going, people are buying stuff. Maybe the economy isn’t as bad in Mexico? Or maybe people just take Christmas really seriously. That could be it. Latinos often go a little bit overboard when it comes to Catholic holidays.
As soon as we get out of the touristic district, people mostly ignore us. Whenever we are around the hotel zone or by the shore, we are constantly stopped by salespeople trying to get us to sign for excursions. “Es más barato si habla español!” one guy finally shouted after we walked by, ignoring him. I chuckled. At least, he was honest!
Nonetheless, the tourist traps are much less annoying than in Thailand where people were borderline aggressive when selling tuk-tuk rides and massages. Or maybe I understand Latino better—the language, the culture, etc., are more familiar to me.
Is it really warm as it looks? I have a feeling that the water is cold, after all, there’s no one swimming!
During the day, it´s pretty hot, although it´s not that humid and there is some wind. At night, it can get chilly by the beach because of the wind. In town, still hot, i.e. shorts and tank tops are fine.
Water was very hot, much warmer than I had expected.
The “almost sunset” photos are particularly nice! The colours are impressive and I guess it’s even nicer in real.
The Christmas decoration are interesting too! I wonder how it feels to spend Christmas with (absolutely) no snow. I mean, Santa Claus is supposed to come in swimming suit or what ?
I spent Xmas abroad a lot of times (Central America, Australia etc.) It does´t feel very Christmas-y but Latinos are big on Xmas, the whole religion thing, so it´s festive anyway.
I love it when you travel. You go to interesting places and take great pictures. My road trips are not as exotic as yours. Your almost sunset photos are so rich with muted blues and greens. Keep them coming please.Keep safe and have fun. If you like you can stop off in Tulsa and meet Smokey on your way home.
Thank you! Taling a lot of pics so more to come!
Tu es déjà toute bronzée ! Le scandale ! 😉
Ouais, plutot rouge homard 😆
En fait, je crois que j´étais encore bronzée de cet été. Je bronze super vite!
La couleur de la mer est vraiment particulière!
Bonnes vacances 🙂
C´est vraiment unique, hein?
si senorita, es mas barato!!! lol, that was so funny!
i wanna take a dip in that water sooooooooooooooooooo much!
but why are there concrete blocks in the sea? no concretes or any other manmade building materials please! 🙁
They were ugly blocks but yet strangely picturesque I found!
Great shots, Zhu!! The pier somehow reminds me of my hometown, who knows why…
Send me a picture of your Christmas tree, and I will publish it! More details here
Will do as soon as I get a chance! Remind me by email if you don´t mind.
I love that too, when you get to stumble in unexpected goodies like fairs,parades,open air concerts,etc. The so-called “local events”.
And, you can’t miss a good sunset over la playa, too.
The way how you take the picture has made the blocks so artsy! 😀 not ugly!
I liked the line to the horizon!
When you don’t have one restricted itinerary..the sky is the limit 😀
And imagination 😉