Guanajuato, México

The second place I got to visit on December was Guanajuato. In my opinion is a MUST visit when you come to Mexico! I loved it, it was one of my favorite places to go. First of all, the way the houses are built in here is just lovely and original. Lots of alleys, garages on top of the houses and definitely FULL of colors, which makes a colorful view with that "mexican-rustic" touch.

It also has one of the most beautiful views. I got there at night but still looked beautiful though. This is a monument representing "El Pípila".

 Guanajuato at night

There's also a museum about the mexican inquisition, its called "Palacio de la Inquisición" which was a religious place where priests used to torture people as a consequence of their sins. Some reasons of punishment would be lies, betrayal, unloyalty, homosexuality, pregnancy before marriage and even special conditions such as Down Syndrome or epilepsy. 

This is a representation about the way priests used to torture people. Arms and legs tied, and everytime the person doesn't tell the truth (or if they don't believe them) they used to spin that cross that you see on the left so it would stretch his extremities to the point of separate their bones. Those skulls you see on the red background (prison cells) represent another way they used to torture people. Honestly, this was the most terrible thing they used to do: psychological torture. Story tells people in there usually tend to be relatives of the person being tortured on the wood bed and they would watch and hear their screams. The only way they would let them out is taking the victim's fault. 

Chair of torture full of spikes all over it

This is the outside of the palace. The walls were supposedly built with material that prevents any scream or sound to be heard. 

These were a few things that captured my attention in Guanajuato. 10/10 Would recommend! And don't make me start with the mexican candies that they sell ;) 

-Alexandra

Querétaro, México

Querétaro was definitely one of my favorite trips too. It's food, people, places, just everything about it makes you happy. But the place I loved the most was Tequisquiapan, a small city where they sell the most delicious cheese-bread and they sell many handmade crafts. You'll see a lot of dogs (<3!) walking around with their owners and people playing mexican soft music, many restaurants and a beautiful church. It's a very calm city and it just makes you love everything on there.

 I ordered spaghetti cause I got tired of tacos heh

After Tequisquiapan we went to see la peña de Bernal, in San Sebastián Bernal, which is one of the tallest monolits in the world! You have to walk a lot though but definitely worth it (also there's a lot of vendors who sells the prettiest crafts).

Last but not least! We spent New Year's on La Corregidora street, it was just amazing and their food too! The place was crowded but the fireworks and the ambient was reeeeeally nice.

Mexico City, Mexico

On December, I had the chance to visit several states of my country as a christmas gift. The first place where I went -as the title says- is Mexico City, which is considered the capital of the country. Usually lots of people from other countries come here cause it's full of beautiful architecture and history (oh and also lots of business). Mexico City is where the so mentioned and famous couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera used to live in a house that's now a Museum called "Museo Frida Kahlo" or "La casa azul". And speaking of museums, definitely the one that caught my eye was "El Palacio de Bellas Artes".

Look at that roof though! This is an art museum that not only includes exhibitions of paintings but also includes any type/form of art such as theater, music, dance and even opera. Of course on vacations the lines to enter are just insane, but totally worth it and a must-see if you ever come to Mexico City. Now, speaking of architecture just look at these pictures:

But not only it has contemporary buildings, it also has an old ones. This is called Plaza de la Constitución where many tour buses stop to give you a ride for a small amount. I really liked this one cause somehow the small buildings and windows look very pretty and on christmas they decorate it beautifully.

After being back and forth buying food from near here, we went to Xochimilco. I had been there before but this time we went at night. Soooooo I didn't really take pictures of the trajineras, which are small and really colorful canoes with a lot of chairs and a large table. You get in and enjoy a ride through the lake with beer, food, music played by mariachis on another trajinera! and at night, they give you candles. 

Let's just not pay attention to my awkward face (it was the only picture I had of some trajineras!) each one has a specific name, sadly there's no one with mine -as always-. It is important to know that every thing on them is handmade and painted with dedication.

So it's well known that us mexicans are somehow "attracted to death" and we're full of scary legends and stories. Of course Xochimilco isn't the exception, these dolls that you see here sticked to the trunks are part of a legend called "La isla de las muñecas" (the island of the dolls). There are two versions of this legend, the first one talks about a man called Julián Santana whose daughter died drowned on the lake, so he hanged dolls on trees to scare away his daughter's ghost. The second one is supposedly told by his niece who assured his uncle was "tired and disturbed" from the spirit of a woman who drowned on the lake, so he hanged the dolls on the trees to scare her away.

From my personal experience I remember seeing these dolls years ago when I went to Xochimilco, but it was during the day and I was just curious but still scared. But oh boy, at night it seems way scarier lol.

The next and last day we went to Teotihuacán (which means birth place of the gods) to see the pyramids. The day was just beautiful and later it began to get warmer. The first time I went there I climbed aaaall the way up both Sun and Moon pyramids, but this time the line was just ridiculous so I thought I'd just stare at them and take pictures haha.

Sun Pyramid

Look at THAT line! 

Moon Pyramid:

You can't climb all the way up to the Moon's pyramide now though, they just let you go half the way.

I got a keychain and my brother bought this awesome handmade lion that whistles like a chimera when you blow:

A funny fact about this trip is that where I'm from, we call "quesadilla" a taco with only cheese on it, and in Mexico City, a "quesadilla" is a normal taco! So I felt really weird saying "quesadilla with cheese" cause it felt like a redundancy hahaha. But I loved Mexico City and would definitely visit again. 

I hope I didn't bore you all! Thank you for reading.

-Alexandra

Welcome to whoever it's reading

I don't consider myself a person who travels around the world really often. In fact, it's the other way around. I haven't been on Europe or Asia, but I've visited some states from USA and I'm currently discovering my country, Mexico. As I like to take a lot of pictures that I can't upload to my instagram account (they're too many!) I thought that it would be a good idea to make a blog about the journeys I've made. 

You see, when us people say we want to travel, the first thing that comes to our mind is "London. Paris. Spain.", but we don't realize that we have so much to wander in our own country. Specially in Mexico who has so much places to know and different cultures. Like I mentioned before, I'm discovering some parts of my country and I'm LOVING it, so I want to share with you some pictures with smalls reviews about them. 

If you're from another country and are planning to visit Mexico or at least you want to, this might help you. And if you're from here too, take a look to see what you're missing! 

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” (Lao Tzu)

―Alexandra M.