#exploreexperienceenjoy

I found myself yet again living abroad during a milestone year. In 2012 I was living in Nice, France, and now in 2017 I am living in Mexico City. This year I was joining the dirty thirty club, and contemplated ways to top my twenty-fifth.

For my 25th birthday, my roommates took me to Monte Carlo where we partied like rock stars at Jimmy’z. I don’t remember the exact bar bill, but it was north of €3,000 jaja. I didn’t think I could top a one-night party like Monte Carlo (unless I went to Vegas), but I figured a 3-day celebration in Mexico could match the madness. So I recruited a few co-workers, and the plan was set to head to Playa del Carmen and Tulum to bring in my big 3-0.

We arrived at our Airbnb, dropped off our bags, and immediately went to stock the fridge with supplies. We knew if we wanted to survive the weekend that beers, Gatorade and chips were a must. After “prepping for the evening”, we hopped in a cab for a quick dinner before the club. Unbeknownst to me, due to my novice level Spanish, Andrea and Jorge colluded to embarrass me by hooking up their phone and playing Happy Birthday ♫ in the Taxi (windows open and radio full blast) as the clock struck midnight driving down the strip in Playa del Carmen.

We then kicked off the celebrations at Abolengo Bartina. All their booths were taken, but once I told the hostess that we wanted a bottle of Rum and Champagne, they immediately proceeded to kick out these two American guys from their booth who only had a bucket of beer. A baller move, I know. Again, Andy leveraged her Spanish to embarrass me. She had the DJ give me a birthday shout out, and ran “Feliz Cumple Daniel” on the TV screen for the entire club to see. Needless to say, it was a really fun night, and I enjoyed turning 30 by acting like I was 20.

We continued the celebrations the next morning by getting a cabana at Mamita’s Beach Club. The hair of the dog was much needed that morning, and a few dips in the ocean brought us back to life. That night we went for dinner at La Bodeguita del Medio, the sister restaurant to the one in Cuba that Ernest Hemingway made famous with his beloved mojito. It’s been on my bucket list to go to Cuba and hit up the bars that Hemingway frequented. Have a mojito at La Bodeguita del Medio, and a daiquiri at La Floridita, but this was a close second. Live Cuban music, mojitos and moros y cristianos made for a real nice birthday dinner. And yet again, Andy found another way to embarrass me in the restaurant by having the band sing Happy Birthday ♫. But getting a free mojito and a shot of tequila made up for it.

Another bottle of champagne, and turning 30 was a success!

Teotihuacan

Let me start off by saying, “wow”. You expect to be wowed when you go to see pyramids for the first time, but I was beyond awestruck. Three main structures framed the city: Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela. Each just as spectacular as the next.

As we walked the “Avenue of the Dead” and approached the Temple of the Sun (the largest structure in Teotihuacan and one of the largest in Mesoamerica) I was amazed that this massive pyramid was built in 100 BC. How did they do it? Was it aliens? Sorry I had a Giorgio Tsoukalos of Ancient Aliens fame.

The grounds were also significantly larger than I thought. Each step we took towards the pyramids, as the 34 degree sun beat down us, felt frivolous because it felt like we weren’t getting any closer to them.

After a few selfies, and 450+ steps later (approx. 66 metres high) we reached the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. The interesting part of climbing this pyramid was the height of each step. I had to take ¾ strides to climb each step, and I imagine this would have been even more difficult for the Aztecs, since I expect they were a lot smaller than I am. Later, I discovered that the steps were purposefully designed steeper and taller than normal steps so that anyone climbing the pyramids would almost have to crawl and lower their heads as a form of submission/reverence to the Gods.

The trek was worth the shortness of breath, because the views were breathtaking. You could really take in the vastness of the grounds and appreciate how the aliens built these pyramids. Haha kidding. But for me it was pretending I was a giant, and crushing the people below with my fingers. They all look like ants from up there, I couldn’t help myself.

The more I experience and learn about the history of Mexico (and of course sample all of its street food) the more I fall in love with this country. I almost wish my adventures didn’t have to end.

Until then, I will keep on wandering.

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TRIP TO ZAMBALES

Every year we’re traveling and the most place we went is zambales because for us zambales is one of the beautiful place and its near from us .I think we explore all the barangays and beach in zambales .Zambales Philippines is a beautiful place full of beach you can relax all day , i can say that zambales is beautiful because the view is so very inspiring and relaxing 

In zambales we went to inflatable island beach resort which is the most beautiful resort in zambales they have all the activities like jetskie,island hoping and many more plus they have a big inflatable playground , and the hallway of their sea is full of palm trees. i can recommended this place coz its so cool 

also zambales is our vacation place because we have a house at zambales our house in zambales is full of manggo trees hahaha yahh coz zambales is rich in manggo , we have a river and when you walk in river  in five minutes you can now see the sea and the sunset anbd of course the beautiful mountains .