It was a long travel day from San Cristobal in the Galápagos to San Luis Potosí in Mexico. We flew from San Cristobal to Guayaquil, then to Bogotá, then to Mexico City, where we had a crazy six hour layover spent navigating between the enormous airport terminals (thanks in large part to a broken tram). It was so worth it because when we got to San Luis, where Javi was born and where so much of his extended family lives, we got to hang out with some awesome people and were treated like ROYALTY! His cousins Fer and Luigi were so kind and put us up in their incredible home for most of our time there. The bed, towels, and bathroom rugs felt like clouds and every morning we were treated to delicious and healthy breakfasts.

Fer’s mom Lupita also hosted us when Fer had guests in town, where we were equally spoiled with amazing food and company. Most days and nights were spent either checking out the historical center of San Luis, or having the best food of our lives with family. Laura did ok with the Spanish, she could keep up until the end of the night when the drinks really started to kick in. A slow brain and fast foreign language is not a recipe for success. But, she was proud of having learned even just slightly more Spanish in the ten months they’d spent in Spanish speaking countries, and she got to use it a lot in Mexico.

At some point it was time to give Javi’s family a hosting break, so we rented a car for a week and drove through La Huasteca, a large region of Mexico full of nature adventures and ecotourism. We visited all the region’s classic sites – Puente de Dios in Tamasopo; a chill sesh in the river waterfalls of Micos; a couple of nights in Aquismón; rafting to the Tamul waterfall, an early morning at the Cave of Swallows watching millions of birds fly out of their cave for their daily commute; and of course a stop at Edward James’s surrealist jungle garden in Xilitla. It was so fun! There were certainly a lot of tourists, mostly from Mexico, but we were able to find pockets of solitude in each place and avoided the really crowded areas just fine.

We returned to San Luis relaxed yet invigorated for our last bit of travel. After another week of family time, we decided to head to the Puerto Vallarta area, namely Sayulita and San Pancho, the sleepy fishing village where we got married. We weren’t planning on going to the coast originally, but Laura had been hired back at her old law firm to do contract work remotely during their busy season. She had a couple of weeks of hard work ahead of her, and what better place to do it than the beach! We figured Laura would be more relaxed and Javi could surf and enjoy the beach while she worked, as opposed to staying in a busy city. And we could visit San Pancho as an extra special treat. We found cheap flights and a great Airbnb in Sayulita with fast wifi, and took to the skies yet again. It was a great decision. Laura got all her work done, Javi got plenty of beach time, and we hung out in San Pancho for the first time since the wedding. It was glorious, and so were the sunset cocktails. But damn it was HOT! Good thing Laura had air conditioning while she was working!

When the beach trip was over, we flew straight from Puerto Vallarta to Mexico City to wait for Laura’s family to arrive for their week long visit. We stayed in the amazing Casa Decu in the Condesa neighborhood for two nights. Then Laura’s parents arrived and we moved to our INCREDIBLE Airbnb apartment next door to Casa Decu. We spent the first couple of days walking around the  neighborhood and catching up with the folks. We also visited the interesting Museo Soumaya, a random but cool collection of all kinds of different art. Then Laura’s sister and brother in law – Maggie and Winston – arrived and we got down to business and did some proper eating and touristing.

The first day with everyone we ate at the fantastic Contra Mar for lunch and visited the Rivera murals at the gorgeous Palacio de Bellas Artes. The next day we ate at El Cardenal for breakfast and did the hop on hop off bus tour to the Basilica, through the Historic Center, and past the huge Chapultapec park (although the park was closed that day so we couldn’t walk around inside). That night we dined at the famous Quintonil, which was really nice, had interesting dishes and impeccable service but was not insanely delicious. Bright and early the next morning we started our Teotihuacan & Alcolman tour with Context Tours, which was pricey but worth it (our guide Alejandro was amazing). We topped off the day with dinner at Amaya, a yummy Italian type place (giving Laura’s dad a break from Mexican food).

Another day we started early at the Museo Nacional de Antropología, which was super impressive and we were really glad we hopped on an hourly tour. After that we went on our Chilango 101 Taco Tour in Roma Norte and Condesa with Eat Mexico.  It was  delicious, pretty authentic, and our tour guides were great. The tortilla factory was especially cool.

For our last day we had booked a tour of Xochimilco, Coyoacan and Frida Kahlo Museum with Mexico Tour Freelance through Tripadvisor. It was a long day but really fun, and our guide was extremely knowledgeable. The boat ride in Xochimilco was relaxing, it was too early for the party crowds. And the quick visits to the Olympic stadium and the University campus were neat. Finally the Frida Kahlo museum was emotional and beautiful, especially for Laura who is a big fan of her art. That night we watched Salma Hayek’s film Frida and relaxed in the apartment.

Maggie and Winston left the next day and the rest of the crew made one last tour stop at the Chapultapec Castle, which was stunning. Then we all flew back to Chattanooga the next day. Overall, Mexico was so amazing for so many reasons, and of course especially because it’s Javi’s birthplace and where a lot of his family lives. Mexico City itself was a really special trip, and we are grateful we got to share it with family. There were definitely tough moments where a few of us got sick (curse you Montezuma!), and Maggie had a bit of a tough time because she was on crutches (and sometimes a wheelchair) and the city streets aren’t what you would call ADA compliant. BUT we are really happy that we finally got to explore this city we have been hearing so much about. Even Javi had never spent quality time there, so it was a long time coming. And it was an awesome way to end the adventure.

. . . this was the end, the last part of our trip. Well, technically we still won’t be settling down anywhere QUITE yet, but for us, it was really the close of this particular (almost) two-year adventure. Laura has already started working, and being back in the U.S. feels like the end of an amazing chapter in our lives. As it should…. closure is good. It feels overwhelming to say this is the end, but it’s all about just moving forward on to the next phase of life. We have lots of future adventures in our back pocket, which we will continue to write about on here. Originally this blog was just meant for this trip, but it has been fun writing and keeping a record for ourselves and those who might be interested in our travels or even just general travel info.

We plan to do one or two last posts for this adventure, including some of our favorite places and activities, and an overall look at what this “trip” of a lifetime meant to us.

Thanks for reading!

Viva Mexico!!!