Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Viva México!

I realize I haven't maintained this blog since going back to school. But last month I defended my thesis! So to celebrate being done I went to Mexico.
The view from the plane on descent to land
The all-inclusive resort thing has never appealed to me (although a nap on an Ottawa beach last summer has persuaded me of the merits of such vacations--if an Ottawa beach can do that, then a white, sandy beach must be exponentially better, right?).

If you'd asked me this time last year my planned grad trip destination, I would have told you likely Savannah, Georgia. But then some friends of ours told us to save the date because they'd be getting married in Mexico. As the bride's family is from Mexico, this was not going to be the Mexican destination wedding thing.

Our trip was short but sweet. The bride and groom did such a wonderful job planning everything, and had such great taste in friends(!), that it felt more like a vacation in which there happened to be a wedding, rather than the wedding being the sole purpose of the trip. The other exciting part is that it was the first time that I realized that Peter and I, now  being in a bicoastal relationship, could meet up in cities other than Vancouver and New York.

The bride and groom were married in a village outside of San Miguel de Allende, which is north of Mexico City. We flew into Mexico City, from which the bride and groom chartered two 20-passenger vans--one for the out-of-town guests and one for the groom's family. We all stayed at Casa Carmen bed and breakfast, so we had the place entirely to ourselves.

The courtyard of Casa Carmen had orange trees!
San Miguel was magical. The cobble streets were lined with warm-hued buildings. Days there seemed to go by at the perfect pace--not to fast and not too slow. 
Our visit to Mexico definitely whet  my appetite to see more of Latin America!