I did not know what to expect coming into this trip. I was excited to visit a Spanish-speaking country for the first time but I was unsure of what this course would really entail. I can confidently say that this is gong to be an experience of a lifetime. We had very smooth travel throughout the day and arrived in Cancún late in the afternoon. We were welcomed by a man named José who will be serving as our guide throughout the trip. We piled in the van and set forth on our journey to Valladolid where we will be spending the first week of our trip!
José began to lead us along the long route from Cancún to Valladolid. Our first destination was Las Quekas where we enjoyed different varieties of quesadillas.
Aquí está el menú de Las Quekas
Next we headed out to exchange our USD for Mexican pesos. This was an awesome experience as José talked with us for a long while as we waited in line to exchange our money. After exchanging our money we continued on our way along the highway which was surprisingly similar to that of a small highway in the United States. The right side of the highway was bordered with trees; however, unlike in the US, the middle of the highway separating each direction of travel was also densely forested. The particular portion of the highway reminded me of US-58 in which there are only a few exits, a limited number of places to make a “retorno.”
I picked up a few new phrases from street signs as we were driving; for example, “carril izquierda solo para rebasar,” which explained that the left lane is only for passing on indicated parts of the highway. A major adjustment I had to make was to identify how far we traveled and how far we had left to travel when signs were posted in kilometers as opposed to miles. I was able to use my knowledge from Cross Country to know that 5k is equivalent to 3.1 miles so I utilized this as a guide for converting km into miles.
Overall I was surprised by how connected Mexico and the United States are. Not only does my US phone plan function seamlessly, but the convenience stores have similar appearances and products, and the economies appear to be heavily intertwined. I am looking forward to observing more ways in which Mexico is connected to the United States.
Aventuras en la península de Yucatán 