Back in Finland

After one day in Bucharest (38 degrees hot, one movie - Cassandra's dream - and some short shopping), we are now back in Finland: 11 degrees in the evening when we arrived, only about 18 promised during the day... Well it feels good though to be back here.

Monday shopping and saying good-bye

On Monday we spent the morning shopping: we bought the gifts for the ones in Finland. In the afternoon we visited grnadma again and then said good-bye to Andrei-Luca and the rest. My father saw us off to the railway station... a night ahead in a sleeping car to Bucharest and then a day in the capital before returning to Finland.

Bye-bye Satu Mare!

A grilling trip on Sunday

On Sunday, we went on a trip 45 km from Satu Mare in Valea Mariei. We were some 15 people there, family mostly, cousins, uncles and aunts, nephews and so on. Not too hot, just perfect for a summer day out. In the evening we went bowling with Darie, Lucian and Raluca.

More playing with Andrei-Luca

We spent almost the whole Saturday in the company of Andrei-Luca, my nephew. We played with him and also took a walk with him in the pram through the park in center of Satu Mare. He was so curious about everything, looking around all the time... watching the birds, the fountains, the flowers, the people around...

Visiting grandma

After Andrei-Luca has entertained us on Friday morning, in the afternoon we visited grandma in Hrip, a village 15km from Satu Mare. We picked some plums. This year the plum crop was outstandingly rich, the trees were overloaded.






I also found an older picture of mine since the times I was a student and wearing beard. During those times, once traveling by train, the conductor in the train thought the reason for my half price ticket was me being "retired"...

By train to Satu Mare

We traveled over 20 hours by train to Satu Mare. We left Neptun around 13:00 on Thursday and reached our destination on Friday morning around 10:30. The journey was quite pleasant as we had a first class compartment with 2 beds in a sleeping car. Today around noon we visited Anderi-Luca, my brother's son, 9 month old.

More sunbathing and more shopping

A similar day today, with some 2 hours on the beach in the morning. Then some shopping in the afternoon... but in the evening we had a delicious fish dinner at the restaurant "Insula" - The Island - situated on a lake next to the sea. Then we went to a terrace and watched the second half of a football game while enjoying some desert.

Too hot...

Only about 2 hours today on the beach, the sun was too hot. But the water was excellent and no waves today. In the afternoon - some shopping and some "sightseeing" - the resort is quite small... not too much to see - but the atmosphere is nice and quite peaceful.

The first day in Neptun

A bit cloudy in the morning, but around 11 o'clock we left to the beach. A bit winddy, not too hot, very big waves, the water was pretty warm and I got a bit sun-burned in just 2 hours of sunbathing. After lunch, we walked through the shops and checked out the center of the resort.

So difficult to leave Finland...

The Mexico flight scenario seemed to be repeating on our flight from Helsinki to Bucharest. Already boarded, the pilot started up engine one, then engine two... then he told us that the start-up sequence of engine two was not correct, so he reported the problem and we were awaiting techicians to check the engine. We stayed for half an hour waiting in the airplane then they decide we'd better change the aircraft.

We arrived in Bucharest with a 1h 30min delay... then headed towards the Black Sea. My brother Lucian and his wife Raluca picked us up at the airport. We arrived at the hotel and checked in one hour after midnight.

Off to Romania

After the 2 weeks Mexico trip in May it is now time to visit Romania. We'll be there 10 days, we'll spend about 5 days on the Black Sea shore in Neptun and the rest in Satu Mare to visit my family.
The weather forecast is not exceptional, meaning that there will be only about 25-27 degrees, so something like here in Finland at the moment.
I will post updates about our trip and some pictures from time to time on this blog.

Bye-bye, Mexico

Last day in Mexico. An excellent breakfast offered by our hosts: fresh orange juice, fried nopal (a variety of cactus), aguacate, beans, fried eggs with some nopal again, some unidentified vegetable with the taste similar to zucchini, boiled carrots.

Then we went for some shopping for some three hours. Then an as delicious lunch as the breakfast and then straight to the airport, saying goodbye to our very hospitable hosts, the Garrido-Martinez family.

The Pyramids in Teotihuacan

Wednesday was the day we visited the pyramids in Teotihuacan, some 40 km from the capital. An impressive site of the Aztecs. We climbed both the Sun Pyramid and the Moon Pyramid and walked to the Temple Quetzalcoatl (Temple of the Feathered Snake). In we evening we had an unbelivably delicious dinner.

Back in Mexico City

On Tueusday morning we left Puebla by bus shortly after 8. We arrived in Mexico City around eleven and went straight for a sightseeing tour. We visited shortly the Find Arts Museum, then the Garribaldi Square where the "mariachi" play their guitars. Them we climbed up the Torre Latinoamericana from where we admired the views over the city (139 meters height).

Then we visited Zocalo, the main central square of the city, and next to it the Government Palace which has some famous murals by Diego Rivera, the husband of Frida Kahlo.

Next during our tour was the Chapultepec Castle, a really beautiful place, something like the Peles Castle in Romania. After that we got back to Zocalo for dinner.

Cholula

On the second day in Puebla we went for lunch around 11.30, as we had an early breakfast around 7.30, and of course, they were not serving lunch at that time. So we went for a small juice (half a liter glass) and a fruit salad. Well, we had no idea how big the portion was, so we fought with it for some time and it ultimately turned out to be our lunch.

After "the lunch" we visited Cholula, a village near Puebla, where the Spaniards built a church on top of a pyramid, to defy the locals. After returning to Puebla, we went for more shopping.

Puebla

On Saturday evening we got on the bus towards Puebla - an over 8 hours trip. The bus had only 24 sits on 3 rows, with sits which can be set up as almost horizontal beds. An unbelivable experience, and by the way, the bus network in Mexico is very well developed, covering the whole country, with modern coaches and huge bus stations, as they have almost no trains at all.

Puebla is an old historical city built completely by the Spanish. Its center resembles to a European Middle Age city. One outstanding characteristic is that it has lots of churches, almost one on each street. We took a hotel in the center for 2 nights for about 22 eur a night for a double room (same price as a hostel private ensuite). We then realized it was a 4 star hotel (but actually it did not look to be more than 2 stars).

The ground floor of all the buildings are shops. It seems everybody has something to sell... And the majority of them are shoe shops - all of them offering the same models. In addition, they prepare food on the street, soup, nachos, anything. People eat on the street, by the kiosk, sitting on a small chair, keeping the plate in their hands.

Sites in Villahermosa

Villahermosa might not be a beautiful city, but it has some interesting sites. We visited two of them on Saturday.

The first one: Parque de la Venta - an outdoor museum of ancient stone sculptures as old as 1000 BC, having as most famous attraction an over 20 tons stone head; it also hosts a Zoo with some exotic animals.

The second one was the Yumká National Reservation, a huge area where one can experience the Tropical jungle, the savanna and lagoons. Beside the local fauna it is also the home of some imported African animals.

Villahermosa

We arrived in Villahermosa on Friday morning, took a basic hotel room in the center and spent the afternoon shopping. The prices are unbelivable (the food - about 3 eur for lunch; jeans, shorts - 5 to 7 eur). No famous brands, but nice shops. And the streets were also full of all small kiosks, selling anything one could imagine.

The city is not that beautiful, contrary to what its name would suggest, many decaying buildings untaken care of at all.

The Last Day in Tulum

We went to the beach around 9 after the usual breakfast (4-5 types of fruits - melon, water melon, papaya, grapefruit and pineapple - some toast with butter and jam and coffee or tea ). After 2 hours the sun was too hot, we packed and checked out.

After lunch we took a cab to Tulum center and walked the whole day through the bazars. The bus to Villahermosa, our next stop, leaves at 23:30. We'll be there after 10 tomorrow morning.

A Day in Chichen Itza

A day visiting the old ruins in the Mayan "capital" Chichen Itza, some 130 km from Tulum. We took a bus at 9 and arrived there around 11:30. Hot day! The hottest so far probably.

The area on which the ruins are located is quite large. It was very difficult to walk through the heat. Before getting onto the bus for the return trip we had a delicious Mexican lunch.

This pyramid in Chichen Itza is one of the 7 wonders of the world's seven wonders.

The Sun, the Sea, the Turtle and the Crab

Today we got up for the sunrise around six.

We took a walk on the beach and were surprised to discover the traces of a turtle which dug a nest, laid the eggs, covered it back and returned into the sea. Judging by the traces, the turtle must have been at least 1 meter, most probably over.

Later, on the sand alley between the cottages, a crab was dragging its shell.

Then we visited Tulum, the ruins. Close to there, some local people dressed up in Mayan traditional costumes performed a ritual, hanging down an unfolding rope while turning.

The Mayan Village

We arrived to Tulum and went straight to the "hotel", some 5km from the center (where the ancient Mayan ruins are located). The "hotel" is actually a mini village of some tens of Mayan cottages, right on the seaside and on the edge of the tropical forest. During the lunch, an iguana visited us on the terrace. Later in the evening a lizzard climbed up the window net.

In Cancun For A Night

We stayed in Cancun only for a night, as our flight arrived late in the evening. During the next day we headed towards Tulum, an ancient Mayan place.

Frida Kahlo in Coayacan

We visited Frida Kahlo's house in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City about 20 km south.