My wonderful trip to Mexico! Part two.

We had one week left, after doing many amazing things like a beer guzzling boat trip, snorkeling with turtles and going to the greatest club there ever was, it was time to get a little cultured. A few of us decided to visit Playa Del Carmen again, which is the local town. It reminded me of Brighton, it has a sloping hill that led to the beach, sadly no arcades though only glorious heat! We walked around looking at the tourist shops, we took a stroll onto the beach to see these huge sand sculptures sat in the middle. Near the entrance of the beach were these cast iron archways made to look like two mermaids guarding the sea, was incredible! I noticed a lot of artistic sculptures and installations around Mexico. Just down the road from the beach there was a huge oak tree that had loads of different colored umbrellas perched in the wood. We soon got hungry and found a place to eat, after that we stumbled across a Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop, was an absolute god-send in that heat! It was a lovely day walking around and seeing the locals doing their shopping and relaxing by the beach.

The day of mine and Joe's Mayan ruin & Cenote trip came around, we were both so excited to get our little adventure going, we got picked up from our hotel at 9am and it took 2 hours to get to the Cenote. Now for anyone who doesn't know what a Cenote is, its a large naturally formed cave far underground that tends to have freshwater in the bottom that is deep enough to swim in. Truly beautiful looking. Once we arrived, we were greeted by Mayan people. They led us through a thick jungle and stood us all in a small clearing, we were then blessed by the head shaman. After that we had to go shower in our swimwear as to get rid of any cosmetics on our skin before swimming in the freshwater. We started hiking up the mountain to get to the entrance of the Cenote, there was two ways down. The stairs or to repel backwards on a rope about 50 feet down. We obviously chose to repel down.  I was petrified but when we hit the water it was one of the best and exhilarating experiences. We had a personal photographer that shot us when we were coming down the rope and when we were zip lining in the water. Joe loves to dive and he's pretty good at it, so the photographer loved shooting him diving off every edge he could find. It was such a mind blowing day just swimming round in freezing cold water with catfish swimming round too. Once everyone was finished in the Cenote it was time to go enjoy some Mayan food. We scoffed pretty much everything at the buffet then headed back to the van to go see the ruins. Once we got to the ruins the heavens opened so we sheltered in the little forest bit near by. It was just ridiculous how high the ruins were, we climbed to the top and the view was something out of a book. I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to architecture and art, so this was the best of both words. Loads of stone carvings and stories behind each one. We got an hour to walk around then it was back on the bus home.

The hotel that we went to was voted one of the best Spa hotel's in Latin America so obviously we had to go see it for ourselves. We booked in for a hydro therapy session and it really didn't cost much. We got there and one of the workers showed us around, telling us the order of the pools we had to go in. Each pool was different, they had jet streams that massaged each body part and different temperatures. We went through the different stages and when we got to the hot tub part there was also a ice cold pool next to the tubs. We were meant to go in the ice pool for 5 seconds then get out and jump in the hot tub, well i just dipped my feet in and decided i weren't even gonna try 5 seconds. Joe however sat in there for 9 minutes. I think he was trying to break some manly record with himself. After getting out of the pool area we were led to saunas. Going into a sauna in a hot country wasn't really for me but they were all fragranced differently and had different humidity's. We walked over warm stones to soothe our feet and laid on these curved stone hot beds that rocked. We also got given drinks and soft robes. I think i have slightly fallen in love with spa treatments. So relaxing and worth the money.

For the rest of the week we relaxed at the beach, played with raccoon's that stole our food and sunbathed til the sun went down. Me and Joe went to dinner at the Japanese restaurant and we were all seated in a square with a chef in the middle cooking on a huge hot plate, he chopped and diced, then threw his knives around for our entertainment. Every time our plates were empty they would fill them back up. The Japanese was definitely the best restaurant there. I was so sad to see the holiday come to an end, we drank, we laughed, we sunbathed - a lot. It was just amazing to wake up every morning and see the ocean. I definitely want to move by the coast, even if it is English sea.

There's probably a lot more i can say about this holiday but i think I've rambled enough. I'd love to hear about your holiday's and summer trips. Link me in the comment box below :)

Thanks for reading!

Love Madison
  ♥  

Ps, Viva La Mexico!

The adventure to Birmingham to meet some lovely bloggers.

Since starting up this blogging adventure i have met so many lovely people along the way that i speak to on a daily basis. Three in particular. We then decided that we should meet in April in person. (I am a bit behind at the minute so bear with me)

 Originally it was me, Tori, Chloe and Paige that was going to travel to Birmingham and stay for two days but sadly because of uni commitments Paige couldn't come, which if she's reading this, was totally understandable! We booked a hotel and our trains for the 23rd, we literally booked all of this months before hand. The day finally arrived with my bag packed i headed to Leicester train station. Now i may be the only person to ever say this but i love travelling on trains, i genuinely love it. It's so exciting to see the world fly past, and all the rolling hills through the window.

I found Tori first. She was so easy to talk to in person, cliche as it is, it was like we had known each-other for years! When Chloe arrived it was exactly the same, we just chatted for ages about our journey and what we should do. The weather was gorgeous so it was on our side. We went and put our bags in the hotel then headed towards the Bullring. The Bullring can be terrifying at the weekends but midweek its pretty easy to get around. Its home to Selfridges, Forever 21 and a huge Topshop. I bought a lovely tote bag from Forever 21 that has a giant decorative 'M' print on it, so excited this was my first bloggers meet up purchase! After much pondering round for the day in the city centre we went back to the hotel and got ready to go out for the night. Poor Tori ended up bashing her toe, which then ended up with free breakfast the next day (thanks babe).

We decided to go the Mailbox for food and drinks, It's lovely there because its right next to the canal and was buzzing with atmosphere. We settled on going Pizza Express but had to wait for a table so after walking further down the canal we found a quaint bar. Books and fairy lights adorned the walls, we sat on rickety chairs and had a drink. Over dinner we managed to cram in everything about our lives, ups & downs and all the hilarious things that have happened over the years. We also demolished a whole bottle of wine.

Feeling fuzzy headed we went to Broad Street which is basically a row of bars and clubs. We got enticed into one place with a free bottle of bubbly rose, couldn't say it was that busy but enough that we danced around and unfortunately drank sambuca at the bar. Deciding to try somewhere else we went to a retro themed club. It was here we met a boy standing at the bar alone just carrying a book, it was confusing to say the least, we didn't really get why he was alone with a book at a bar in the middle of Birmingham. Walking back to the hotel when the night ended we walked past the Mailbox security and cleaners, now in my drunk state deciding that jumping onto the mechanical street cleaning device was a great idea, i started cleaning the pavement, to say the least we all thought it was hilarious.

The next day feeling slightly groggy we traveled down to the vintage shop COW and the Custard factory. Its an amazing place for clothes, art and cake. Chloe found some rings for a shoot in Cow, we then got hungry for coffee and cake. I had red velvet cake for the first time and it was amazing! I bought coffee and some 'curiosity cola' as well. Wondering around we found a vintage style salon with a girl who looked like Bettie Paige styling hair, i got my hair victory rolled and bought an amazing black block eyeliner and brush.

It was nearing the end of our trip together, after i was getting so used to being around these lovely girls i realized i had to go home soon. We looked round Selfridges and had some urban pie lunch then headed to the station. My train was due first. I said goodbye and it was really sad because they are such lovely people to be around. Boarded my train and headed home. My boyfriend picked me up from the station and i didn't stop talking about how funny and wonderful my trip was. It didn't matter how nervous i was beforehand as soon as i met them i had the most amazing time and have made some serious friends for life.

Thank you Chloe & Tori for being so lovely.

 Hope we do it all again soon.
♥


P.S I have been super bad recently and not posted for ages! I really need to write while I'm out and about then edit after. Please have patience with me, i'll get into the swing of it eventually!