Mexico

2 weeks in Mexico and I barely hit the backpackers trail at all. I stayed in Mexico city for 3 nights and I have to say I felt really safe there despite expecting to feel exactly the opposite. I would even go so far as to say it was the safest I felt in all the big cities of Latin America.

I hung out in Mexico with an English guy Tim & a Korean guy Xian. We visited the Centro Historico one day and the next we went to Teotihuacan – the Mayan city 50km north of Mexico city. It has the 3^rd biggest pyramid in the world, after one other in Mexico and Cheops' pyramid in Egypt. The hostel in Mexico City (Versalles 104) was not great – it's a beautiful building but not outfitted properly to be a hostel. The toilets and showers were basically in the same room as the common room with just a sarong hung up to give some "privacy". There was no kitchen and the dining room was the patio on the roof of the building – and as it rained every morning in the city – breakfast was served in an upstairs corridor with nowhere to eat and almost no cutlery or crockery. I don't recommend Versalles 104.

After the 3^rd night in Mexico, Tim & I took a 24hr bus to Cancun. He was getting a flight home to England & I was going to hang out on the beach and catch up with Urvi & Anand on their way back from Cuba and before they caught their next flight to the US. The bus to Cancun was pretty comfortable and only half full so we each got our own 2 seats. In Cancun I found a nice, quiet HI Hostel – Moloch. I imagine it gets a bit crazy there in high season but it was almost completely deserted while I was there. I stayed there 3 nights and then found a deal on Expedia for The Westin Resort & Spa by the beach. The hostel was great, but it was a half hour on the bus to get to the beach and I didn't want to spend an hour commuting every day J.

The Westin has been great. When I arrived I was upgraded to an ocean view room free of charge. I haven't done anything except to have breakfast, lie by the pool and order room service for 6 days. I was invited to go to a time-sharing presentation of the Westin's sister resort Lagunamar in Cancun, for which I would receive a $100 voucher to offset against the cost of my stay – cha-ching! I really didn't know what timesharing was – its an interesting concept – especially if you like your expensive resort holidays and take them every year – then maybe it would feel like its worth it. Actually the prices weren't bad – at least they seemed reasonable, and if you don't want to use your "time" in a resort you can convert it to points to use in any of the hotels in the scheme – which sounded good to me. If I was working I would have to seriously consider it! I went to the spa one day for a massage – it was divine.

One night I decided to go to one of the hotel restaurants instead of ordering room service. I was so disappointed with it. The concierge had really sold it to me but it was such a let down. My strawberry margarita came from a bottle – no fresh fruit. The chimichurri sauce that the meat was marinated in was not chimichurri and the vegetables were cold & overcooked. I sent the food back and went to concierge to give feedback. I wasn't cross about it – I just wanted to give my opinion and suggestions for improvement. The next morning when I went for breakfast, I was met by a manager who asked me again to talk them through the issues with the food. I did, and she apologised & ordered me a free meal with a bottle of wine for that night. Also when I went to sign for the breakfast, she told me that would be on the house as well that day. I was very impressed by their handling of my complaint and their wanting to put it right. I would definitely recommend the Westin to people in the future.

My next destination is the USA for one month. Melissa & I are going to roadtrip around the country! We have a vague notion of where we want to go – we're not sure how much of it is feasible but we're gonna try! We both have friends in lots of different states and we're gonna try to catch up with most of them J. Stay tuned!