One the dreams that I have fulfilled recently was a trip to Mexico. The historical heritage of this country is enormous, the amount of ruins that you can see is endless so it is impossible to see everything in just a few days. For this reason you have to choose, which is what I did. After much contemplation I decided on Teotihuacan and Tulum, two very different places, far apart, from different cultures, but equally wonderful. 

Teotihuacan, “City of Gods”, is located 45 kilometres from Mexico City. It is an area of archaeological monuments and is a World Heritage Site; the size and the extensive ruins of the place are extremely impressive, even though 40% of the total area remains underground. It is interesting to think that no one really knows who made this tremendous city, did the Aztecs go there to pray to their ancestors? Did they name it Teotihuacan? The city was already sacred to the Aztecs themselves. With these questions in my head, I was excited to look down from the Pyramid of the Moon and think that people had lived there, they had their beliefs and had a life, maybe it was not so different from ours, how could we know? The heat, hunger and fitness level made this expedition exhausting, but worth the effort to feel like I was standing on buildings dating back over 300 years before Christ. Then Mexican food for lunch … mmm!

From there the journey continued. After a few days of relaxation and tequila, I went to see the Mayan ruins of Tulum, “wall” in Maya on the Caribbean coast, close to Playa del Carmen …. the excitement beat me once again, but here it was different, because it is a small walled town and upon entering it your eyes hurt with the contrast that occurs between the gray buildings and palm trees with a turquoise sea backdrop … it is incredible, beautiful. No photo can truly show what this place looks like in real life. The ruins here are small buildings, some with “fresh” originals inside, so you are not allowed to enter, but it does not matter because you can see the whole city in 45 minutes. You can then go down to the white sand beach and see from the main building, which has the most spectacular view! Yet again, my skin prickled at the thought of people living there, and that now the iguanas are the queens of the place.

I could not contain myself so I got into those warm waters, thinking that some princess Maya had once bathed there.

A dream trip, a mixture of culture, fantasy, tortillas with guacamole, and of course margaritas!!

WRITTEN BY ANTONELLA ROMANINI