(All lomo photos by Adrienne C. Wilson. Taken in Mexico over Christmas 2008.)

Fresh from the lab and straight to the blog – here is a lomo treat from me to you. These are only a few shots taken on my Horizon cam while in Mexico over the past Christmas holiday. I finally found someone in Tampa that can develop these the right way and put them to disc, so if you like them you’ll probably be seeing more. If you don’t like them you’ll probably be seeing more. The shots above are all from Playa Mirador on Christmas day and it was a stormy one mixed with some fresh clear and sunny blue skies. Best of both worlds! See more below…

The following were taken south of Cancun in the tourist populated land of ancient ruins known as Tulum. Beautiful water and vacation spot for certain!

If you want to see some of these larger be sure to visit the lomo gallery in the photo stories section of my main website: www.adrienne-is.com.

Adios for now.

Over the Christmas holiday weekend my bf treated me to a quick trip to Cancun. I’d never been out of the country for a major holiday and I felt a little guilty not seeing my mum or brother back in Florida, but I can gladly say I had a very enjoyable time. We arrived on Christmas Eve in a partly cloudy Cancun just as the sun was finding way to another part of the world. Rain was in the forecast for the first two days of the trip and when it did rain it didn’t rain for long. The rain did come on Christmas Eve and by the time we made it to the Sens hotel in downtown Cancun we decided to stick around the hotel for the evening.

The Sens was very much what I had expected and more. It was quiet. The pool outdoor was great in addition to the exterior garden and pool area. The permanent art exhibit on the interior was pretty cool. Most of the paintings had a big cat theme, but there were a few others that stood out. The Sens Bed Lounge is also worth noting. We never dined in this area, but it looked very chic and being the sucker for lighting that I am well, it was magically lit. We did have our Xmas Eve dinner at the hotel which a bit more than we initially wanted to shell out – 450.00 pesos ea. My bf was skeptical that he wouldn’t enjoy the meal as the menu was very limited to this very special Xmas fare. On the flip side he enjoyed everything very much while I was feeling ‘mas o menos’ about the whole thing. It included a dinner salad or a pecan crust soup (I went for the soup), shrimp fritters, and turkey or sea bass (I went for the sea bass). I’m leaving out several of the seasoning and sauce details here, but you have an overall idea of what was tasted. The best part was dessert, the champagne, welcome cocktail and one hour of open bar. So we got the most bang out of our pesos.

Our Christmas day was spent lounging at Playa Mirador; a public beach where the waves are muy grande! There not exactly as high as those found on Hawaii’s North Shore, but they were high enough where I wasn’t going to attempt to do any cute wading. Remember, I have minimal swimming skills. Of course I am very embarrassed to say that with all the magical playas I’ve been to across our splendid globe. After four hours at the beach we headed back into downtown Cancun for lunch and back to the hotel to chill and relax. I got a good amount of reading. I’m currently reading Malcolm Gladwell’s “Tipping Point.”

The day after Christmas the whole town woke up from the lazy holy-day and sprung back into life. Tour buses were lining the service road which our hotel was situated off of and businesses were open by the dozens. We took this opportunity to hit the road and head south on highway 370 to Tulum. When planning this trip I had considered driving to the west to peep the ruins of Chichen Itza, but I didn’t want to bog down the short getaway with a lot of driving time and figured the Mayan ruins in Tulum would suffice. They did.

When we arrived it was very obvious we were at a tourist hot spot. Vendors selling handicrafts were shouting from stalls to claim the attention of a tourist with extra pesos to splurge. My bf and I kept our eyes on the prize – getting into the entrance of the ruins. The place was packed and the sun was beastly. It felt as though some ancient Mayan god of heat was welcoming the hordes of people with flames the ancestors. It was hot, okay. When we finally made it though the wall which blocks the interior of the ruins we wandered around catching bits and pieces of information from tour guides with large groups of travelers. We snapped several pictures of the temple of the wind, house of Chultun, and El Castillo (the most prominent building on site).

Once we’d seen the ruins and beautiful Tulum beach we grabbed some yummy Mexican fare at a nearby restaurant. I had arrachera tacos with cactus, guac, and cebollitas. Yum! I finished it off with two glasses of horchata water. The mister went for the fajitas con pollo and once both our tanks were filled we headed back to Cancun. Our roadside attractions included several policia and much military on the road. Not sure if this is due to the recent drug cartel activity, but it was noticeable. We also missed possibly being involved in a car accidents by just minutes. There was a big cloud of dust in the air. Several cars had pulled over and people were jumping out to try to pull out the individual(s) in the car that found its way into the ditch. It was a pretty bad wreck. I hope no one was injured badly.

On the final full day of play we did the day trip to Isla Mujeres. This too proved to be a big tourist attraction. The ferry ride over was approximately 20 minutes. Once dropped off into the islands busy downtown area you’re left to rent a golf cart, moped, or bicycles. I would have preferred the bicycles, but the heat would have killed both of us. After much deliberation we rented the moped and I prayed. When you escape the bustling downtown area the island gets more relaxing and quieter. Oh and by the way the entire island is only five miles long and one mile wide. We explored the Mundaca Hacienda and pondered why there wasn’t better upkeep of this acclaimed attraction mentioned in the guidebook for which the island is named after. The highlight for me were the fish tacos at the Miramar restaurant on the beach / pier. Yummmmy!

That pretty much concludes the holiday vaca in Mexico. It will have to make due until the next vacation which will be who knows when…

Hope your holidays were merry. Did you go anywhere special?

Since I’ve been back home and catching up with friends either on the phone or over dinner everyone has been probing and picking at my brain. What have you been up to? Where have you been? Why did you go there? For work? For play? 2007 has been a colorful year, painted with journeys to the other side of many sides and back. My passport has been stamped and I have learned more about myself than ever before. I was planning on saving these fine highlights of my life for my end of the year blog extravaganza, but I feel as though now is a good time to relive and share.

Why Did I Go To___________ This Year?

Why did I go to St. Lucia this year? I had a week of vacation time from work in March. The original plan was to go to the Dominican Republic and swing through Haiti with my boyfriend at the time. After a series of events starting in as early as January and ending on a very heart-breaking Valentine’s Day, it became clear that I needed to change my vacation plans. QUICK! I no longer wanted to go to the D.R. because my Spanish language skills were not up to par and since I just wanted to get away and enjoy my time off of work still I opted for an English speaking Caribbean destination. I picked St. Lucia and had all my flights re-routed accordingly and changed my hotel reservations all by the morning of February 15th. It was impulsive, but it worked out for the best!

I took off as planned in March for seven days on my own and I had an absolute blast! Not only is St. Lucia beautiful, the people are very hospitable and kind, the food is pretty yummy and it makes for a wonderful place to re-energize. I’d recommend solo travel to St. Lucia for anyone. However, you’ll notice many vacationers are either honeymooning or getting hitched. With the state my heart was in it didn’t bother me at all. In summary I did not plan to go to St. Lucia. If you had asked me last year I would have told you it was no where on my travel radar anytime soon, but I’m glad it fell there. I paid more than a nickel and a dime to go on my own, but it was not outrageously expensive either. I’d go again.

Why did I go to Haiti this year? As noted above I had originally planned to go to Haiti in March while in the D.R. I had done a lot of research, planning, contacting and coordinating to make for a safe and enjoyable time in the country. I didn’t want all that effort to go to waste and so I took off for Memorial Day weekend. For 3.5 days in Haiti the cost of this trip was quite pricey. I flew out of LAX and I had purchased my ticket last minute so I didn’t get a good deal. (There are however, many good deals to Haiti if you look ahead.) I also had to hire a driver and a guide since I don’t speak Kreyol and it isn’t one of the safest countries to go to in the world. The primary purpose was to gain a glimpse of how bad the poverty situation in Port-au-Prince was and to see how life in the sleepy beach town of Jakmel was in comparison. Anyone who knows anything about most places in the world with a bad rep is that there is the good and the bad. Haiti is just that and hopefully will one day rid of the brutally bad images keeping people away. The beach town of Jakmel is magnificent though. It is beautiful. It has a lot of culture and great food. For anyone curious about visiting Haiti you can read my trip reports by clicking here. My only advice – do your research and find someone to show you the ropes. I’d most certainly go again.

Why did I go to Mexico this year? Let me start off by saying I have nothing against Mexico. I love Mexican food. The culture is colorful and the people are delightful. However, my desire to travel and explore Mexico has never been a burning one. If I could spend money traveling I’d see all of the Caribbean and Africa and then hit Mexico and South America, but here is the tale of a young woman duped by love and passion. First off I had another week off from work. I went to Mexico this year because a friend of mine of five years who I had started dating after the horrible break-up earlier this year wanted to go and explore Mexico. He is Mexican – fair enough. I liked him and I was sure it would be great times. WRONG! From those who have followed the blog on and off this year you may recall how short I was on describing Mazatlan and Guadalajara. In fact I let all the pictures do the talking.

The problem with pictures is they say a thousand words and not always the right ones. You couldn’t have paid me earlier to confess that I had been dumped by my boyfriend in Mexico, but looking back I can laugh at it – sort of. Did we get in a major fight? No. Did I see it coming? Of course not. I was blindsided, pissed that I had spent pesos and dollars to fly across the border to get my heart stomped and demolished once more – now in some foreign land that didn’t even tickle my travel fancy. I couldn’t even talk to anyone in English to take my mind off the situation and for the last four days I pretended to be cooler than tossed tamales in the basura. Needless to say this didn’t help convert Mexico into a future destination of choice. I’ll probably never pay to go to Mexico again. I’ll let someone send me on their dollar. Just so I leave you with something nice about Mexico – Mazatlan was pretty and Guadalajara is a big bustling city. Would I go again? No. Not for vacation.

Why did I go to Vancouver B.C., Canada this year? Well I was working in Portland, OR and it was Labor Day weekend. I’d never been to Vancouver, but I had heard several great things about the place. I went with my co-worker for the weekend and had a very good time. Vancouver is a beautiful city and I wish I had more time to check it out. That being said I would most certainly go again for another weekend. Maybe even in ski season.

Why did I go to Ghana this year? Here again is another trip I hadn’t planned in previous months and just happened to go on. I went with my friend, tagging along while he was there for business and sightseeing every chance I could. I went because I had time between looking for new gigs and wanted to make sure I got some travel time in before getting locked into a new position. My pictures and trip details can all still be found below in previous blog entires or by clicking the link above. In short I went because I had both time and spare change. (I won’t say money, because I’m not rolling in the Benji’s here.) Would I go to Ghana again? Absolutely. I’m thinking now that I have a visa good for five years I might be back within the next two years. Maybe even in 2008.

I guess the real reason I felt the need to write this entry was to clarify some points that got left out the first time. I’ve sadly left some people to believe that just because I go on journeys near and far that I am not one to get dumped in foreign lands, food poisoning (didn’t happen this year) or have common problems like everyone else hanging tight on solid ground. I suppose Stevie Wonder’s “Love Light in Flight” would be a great addition to this year’s travel soundtrack.

So why did you go to…. this year? Was it a successful romantic escape? Was it all mucky business travel? Did the company foot the bill? Were you able to finally take that dream trip? Did you tell the boss to screw themselves before booking one to the Cayman Islands? Please share in the comments or leave a link to your travel stories. There’s always a reason behind every trip – what’s yours?

Mexico… It is really hard for me to put it into words. It was an experience with experiences built into others. There are moments that stand out as mi favorites and some I left to wash out in the Pacific.

On an elevator at the hotel in Guadalajara, Hugo and I started comparing our beach tans. We were trying to figure out who had gotten more bronze and asked a older senor in the elevator who he thought was darker. His answer was something of to this nature: “No es importante el color de tu piel, si no lo que lleva uno en el corazon.”

In regards to my own corazon, I can only say this: “Yo deje mi corazon en Mexico.” Perhaps, one of these days I will return to get it back.

And, for now that is all I have to say.

Feliz dia,
Adriana in Espanol / Adrienne in English