Red or Green?

 When hearing the question "Red or Green?", my answer is "Both!".

Santa Fe is famous for their Green and Red Chile and usually people like one of them, but I love both. On the same place. Right next to each other, on the plate.  (Chile is a sauce made from either red or green chillies). In New Mexico, they serve chile on everything from enchiladas, burritos and rellenos to pizza, burgers and chips.

South Western cuisine is very similar to Mexican food, but have many differences, and since moving to America, I've come to love both. Similarities would be: the use of beans, tortillas and spices but Southwest Cuisine also includes Native American, Spanish Colonial and cowboy food. (and they don't use much tripe and brains)

During our trip to Santa Fe, we had some awesome food. We were starving after our 6 hour drive and started looking for a restaurant as soon as we arrived. We were walking around and I saw an entrance that just called me, but we decided to walk around for a little bit longer before committing to this establishment for our first meal (plus they looked really full) and after a bit of walk around the block, I insisted that we go back. Luckily for us, we arrived at a good time - the first few lunch tables had already left, so there was a table available for us. The first thing we noticed about Cafe Pasqual, was its fabulously colorful and somewhat over-the-top decor, then our attention was gripped by the menu. It was not an easy decision to make, especially after waiter told us what the specials of the day were.

Cafe Pasqual is one of those places where the same waiters work for years, which usually means, the place, food and service is great (the servers are not overly-friendly, so don't expect to make a friend for life, but they were very efficient and knowledgeable about the menu and the service was well-timed). The James Beard awards and cookbooks in the window might give you the idea that there is something special inside the doors, and that is what what we found, so I was thrilled with our selection for our first meal in Santa Fe.

We decided on the salmon burrito and chicken mole. I love mole! It is a sauce made from 36+ spices and chocolate and takes forever to make, so whenever a restaurant serves it, I usually order it and the mole at Cafe Pasqual did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend that anyone visiting Santa Fe, should go eat at Cafe Pasqual, which by the way is named after the Patron Saint of the kitchen - great name for a great place!

Now...I have to admit something shocking...I am one of those food obsessed people who take photos of my plate if I'm feeling particularly inspired, and even though I felt inspired by most of the plates that I received in Santa Fe, the hunger overpowered the desire the take a photo, so I didn't really take any food photos. Shocking - I know! Next time...

Santa Fe in photos

Below are just a few of the photo opportunities in Santa Fe:

Red or Green in Santa Fe

 

I was planning on writing about Mexican food on my next blog - perhaps make some food, take a few photos, post it with some recipes - but things have been so crazy that I didn't get around to doing it and now I'm going to have to put it off for a few more weeks.

The reason for pushing back my blogs on Mexican food is due to our little mini-road-trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico this past weekend.

We have never been but have heard some great things about the place. The first "review" I got about Santa Fe was from an ex-colleague who went to the Opera festival that takes place each year. She explained that the town was full of art galleries and because she was a bit pretentious, I had an image about what to expect from the place and thought "Yes, I will go there one day, but I'm in no hurry". Luckily my husband had also heard some great things about the place and decided that we had to take the 6 hour drive down south form my birthday weekend.

I'm so glad he got this flash of inspiration and booked the hotel before I could throw a spanner in the works, because we had an awesome time.

Santa Fe is not pretentious at all, the town is great with interesting architecture, art galore (any kind that you can think of, paintings, jewellery, sculptures, etc), friendly locals, fabulous food and copious picture snapping opportunities. The town truly caters for everyone: the rich, the budget traveller and everyone in between.

Shuttles, ferries and mopeds

Hola Cozumel

 

After spending a few days by the pool, we decided to take another little excursion. We had heard many good things about the tiny island of Cozumel and decided to take the ferry from Playa del Carmen for a quick day trip. The ride over is quite pleasant and only takes about 45 minutes. We decided to get to Playa del Carmen early so that we could catch an early ferry and spend the whole day in Cozumel.

The ferry - ready and waiting

 

It is a beautiful little island and just such a cute place to visit with great hotels, restaurants and shopping. You can rent mopeds/scooters or jeeps and travel around the island while stopping at all the little beaches and restaurants/bars along the way. We thought it would be fun to take a scooter and drive around the island (which takes only about 4 hours if you don't take many breaks). Driving is a bit of a nightmare though, the road rules in town are quite bizarre. There are no stop signs, so it is important to know who has right of way. There were also loads of bumps in the road, so if you have a dodgy back or if you are just not too on a scooter, get a jeep instead, you could feel a bit shaky driving on such a little thing. I know next time, we will definitely take the jeep instead of the scooter, but it was fun all the same.

Great view from our lunch table

While driving around the island, we stopped at a little restaurant for lunch where we had some amazing seafood, 2 steps away from the beach with a stunning view of the ocean. There just isn't a better place to eat seafood, then by the sea or at least close enough so you could hear or smell the ocean. After lunch, we chose two sunloungers, stripped off our shorts and t-shirts (you should have your swimsuit on under your clothes every day) and ran into the sea. What a refreshing way to end a meal!

Cozumel seen from the ferry

On our trip back to Playa, we couldn't help but reflect on what a great experience the day had been. We enjoyed each moment, even the bumpy, bug-swatting moped ride around the island.

Ruins on Cozumel

I would defintely recommend a visit to Cozumel...this is a place where you can REALLY relax.

Welcome back to Playa!

Pretty Playa...del Carmen

  

On one of our pool-bar-less days, we took a shuttle from the hotel to the nearby town of Playa del Carmen. I highly recommend that you try to tear yourself away from your sun-lounger and visit this great little town with its fabulous buzz, picture-beautiful Tropical Ocean , great restaurants and 5th Avenue (a vacation shopper’s paradise).

The beach in Playa is just beautiful and if you are willing to pay a few Pesos, you can "rent" a beach lounger at one of the many establishments on the ocean front, chill out in the sun, catch a bit of a tan while staring at the beautiful azur blue sea in front of you (while sipping on a drink off course).

The beach in Playa del Carmen

5th Avenue is a great place to buy a few local souvenirs - you can get almost anything there, but just know that you might get stopped a bit too often in the street by people trying to sell you things or inviting/calling you into their shops (the same thing happens in the airport and at resorts where people try to sell you some time-share or excursions). The difference here though, is that the locals are very friendly and don't continue bugging you if you say "no thanks".

5th Avenue

There are many cute and colorful boutique hotels in Playa del Carmen, all a short walk from the beach, so if you are not a fan of a big resort, you would love the smaller intimate hotels that you find in Playa. Most of them have their own unique vibe and charm, with welcoming courtyards and a romantic feel.



One of the colorful boutique hotels.



We really enjoyed our day in Playa and will definitely go back there next time. Who knows, we might even stay in one of the quaint boutique hotels

Lovin' the Yucatan!

During our trip to the Yucatan, I just fell in love with the place. I mean...what's not to love, beautiful ocean, friendly locals, vibrant colors and great food!

Our resort was part of a strip of hotels on the ocean-front between Cancun and Playa del Carmen – a really great venue. Far enough from the buzz of Cancun to relax, but close enough to shop and hang out or go for dinner. Even though we were tempted to go to inspect the nightlife of Cancun - we’ve heard of all the famous clubs and places to go to - we decided not to, because we wanted a more chilled vacation this time.

Cancun (behind the shopping mall - okay - not the best photo I've ever seen of Cancun)

And chilled it was.  We spent a day in each of the cool places nearby: Cancun, Playa del Carmen and the island of Cozumel. We had every intention of visiting Chitchen Itza and Tulum, but for some bizarre reason, we spent many hours, (the rest of our holiday) lying in the sun, sipping on cocktails and eating copious amounts of chips and guacamole. Mmmm...what I life.

 

Bad, bad poolbar (okay, perhaps I shouldn't blame the poolbar)

Now I know that it might sound like I'm a total cultural ignoramus, but honestly, I love history, I love culture, I love old buildings and the romance of it all, but in the battle between ruins and the poolbar, the poolbar won. I'm sure it is because it is so relaxing in that part of Mexico, that even my slightly work-aholic husband, could switch off and just relax within 2 days instead of the usual 4-5.

 

The good thing about not going to the ruins: I guess we'll just have to come back - yay!

Viva Mexico!

With Mexico celebrating its Bicentennial Independence Day and news of Hurricane Karl looming, I couldn't help but feel like its finally time for me to write a post about Mexico.

I’ve always had these preconceived ideas of Mexico. I’m not even entirely sure what my ideas were or where they came from, but I never thought I would like it, in fact I thought I would pretty much dislike visiting the country all together.

Last October, I/we finally decided to go check the place out for myself/ourselves, since my hubby has been wanting to go for a while and I received very good vacation critiques from very 2 trusted sources. I did my research, bought a little travel book about the Yucatan, booked a place by the ocean with a great pool great restaurants and fab reviews, packed my bikinis and a few other items of clothing and boarded the plane.

Actually, it was not that simple…we were planning on going to Mexico in May 2009, but thanks to the outbreak of H1N1, all hell broke loose, people started to freak out and our flight to Cancun was cancelled. Thanks to a great blog that I had discovered just after the outbreak of the flu, http://www.cancuncanuck.com/, I soon realised that things weren't quite as bad in Mexico as were first reported in the media. This blog gave me the perspective of some locals who were affected by everything that went on and I realized that cancelling the whole trip would just be a ridiculous thing to do. Not only would I miss out on a lazy beach vacation, but the people of Mexico needed the tourists to go back.

We finally managed to rebook our vacation and 5 months later, we were on our way…I hoped all the hassle was worth it.

Yes...yes it was - it WAS all worth it. What an arse I had been – the place was great!! It was more than worth it. I loved the Yucatan - friendly locals, vibrant colors, beautiful ocean and great food!

Thanks Canuck, your blog convinced us to not listen to the hype and I am very grateful for that, because our "discovery" of Mexico was unforgettable...in fact, we are already planning on going back to Mexico in the next year or so!