January 22, 2024 • 43 mins
Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to embark on an Eat, Pray, Love-like journey? In 2022, I took that leap of faith and found myself swimming with bioluminescence and whale sharks in a paradise called Holbox, soaking in local culture in the vibrant city of Merida, and marveling at the ruins in Palenque, Mexico. Join me as I recount this transformative solo trip to Mexico, discussing the initial anxiety, the unique experiences, and how it ultimately led to a beautiful change in my life.
Strap in as we journey through the enchanting towns of Cancun, Tulum, and Bacalar, and explore the historic Chichen Itza. Together, we'll relive the adrenaline rush of a hot air balloon ride over the ruins in Teotihuacán and navigate the vibrant city of Mexico City.
Towards the end, I'll share the wisdom I gained from my journey, discussing how this adventure taught me to trust myself, find comfort in being alone, and adjust to new environments. I'll also offer some valuable insights and tips for fellow travel enthusiasts planning a trip to Mexico. So, get ready for a rollercoaster ride through Mexico, full of heartwarming stories, exciting adventures, and transformative experiences!
About Nina
Nina is an author, artist, musician, Human Design Specialist, and podcast host of Receptive Impact. Open & curious to adventure and change, Nina Elise navigates the path of self-discovery, inviting you to explore the boundless opportunities that arise when we step out of our comfort zones.
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Music intro/outro: "In the Forest" by Lesfm
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nina Elise (00:02):
Welcome to the Receptive Impact Podcast.
I'm your host, nina Elise.
Hello, it is Nina, and I amhere sitting on the floor of my
bedroom on a Thursday night, andI have been sitting here for
quite some time trying to figureout how I really wanted to
(00:25):
present this episode.
This is an episode that Ihonestly got really emotional
about creating the outline for.
It's all about my trip toMexico.
It was a sabbatical that I tooklast year and it was kind of
like an Eat, pray, love trip.
Quite honestly and you know,even a year and a half later,
(00:46):
I'm still processing a lot ofthat trip and what that really
meant and the impact that it hadon me and, honestly, just
really going through and writingdown the outline it just made
me really reflect on just who Iwas as a person at that time
period and how much I havechanged and evolved in the
(01:07):
amount of deaths that I havegone through internally and
externally, and just howdifferent my life is since then
in a very beautiful way, and soI hope that you enjoy this
entire episode.
It's very near and dear to myheart.
This is a time period of my lifewhere I was going through some
(01:29):
pretty major transformation andthis was basically like the
beginning, the kickoff of takinga really big leap.
And so, to give you a littlebit of context or background and
I think it was March of 2022,march or April I lost my job.
It was kind of a long timecoming and I was expecting it,
(01:52):
but I didn't really have a plan,and around that time period I
was still kind of looking forother jobs, and there was at one
point I had a thought that saidwell, what if you just took a
little bit of time off?
And that kind of snowballedinto well, what if you just took
some time off indefinitelywithout really having an end
(02:12):
point?
And that was a very scary butalso very exhilarating thought,
because I've always really likedto be in control of my life, as
I think anybody really likes tohave certainty and safety, and
so it was something that I justkind of kept sitting with for a
little bit, and I had actuallywanted to walk the road to
(02:34):
Santiago and Spain back in 2020,and then everything got shut
down and so I ended up not goingon that trip, and so I just
felt like the universe waspresenting this opportunity for
me to finally take this solotrip to go and travel on my own.
It was something I had beenwanting to do for a very long
(02:54):
time and, quite honestly, whenit happened, I was like I don't
want to go.
I was just kind of feeling likeyou know, I'm in my early to
mid 30s, I just wanted to settledown, but I did not want this
opportunity to pass me.
And so at this time period inmy life, it was a very pivotal
moment and I was feeling verylost and just not sure what to
(03:18):
do or where to go next, and Iwas terrified.
But I, like I said, I didn'twant this opportunity to pass me
by.
So what I ended up doing wasbuying a one way ticket to
Mexico and I just took the leap.
I didn't have a time frame ofhow long I would be there or
when I would be back.
(03:38):
I was kind of looking for aplace that I could call home.
I never really felt like I fitin anywhere and was going
through major transition with myrelationships at the time and
wasn't sure what I wanted to dowith them and how I wanted to
proceed, and I thought maybethis trip by myself would
provide some clarity onfriendships and relationships
(04:00):
and where I wanted to live, andso what I essentially did was I
picked a place to start inMexico and said I will start off
there and then I will juststart to make decisions and I'll
talk to people and see whereelse I want to travel.
So the way that it worked is,whenever I would land in a city,
I would basically stay thereuntil, intuitively, it felt like
(04:22):
okay, it's time for me to moveon or I've seen everything that
I really want to see here.
So some cities I stayed in fora few days, some I stayed in for
well over a month, and all ofthe experiences that I had, all
of the cities that I visited,they were all incredibly unique
and beautiful in their ownspecial ways.
(04:42):
And so I'm going to walk youthrough basically my journey,
through the different citieswhere I went and what my
experiences were and what I didand kind of like my journey and
how I started to shift andchange in a lot of ways during
that time period.
I was in Mexico for probablyfour or five months and it was
(05:03):
incredibly transformative for meand I didn't really understand
or see it at the time.
I think for most people wedon't really see ourselves.
I think other people can seethat more.
So it's been really interestingfor me to come back and reflect
on this entire trip and reallysee how much I have changed and
like how I did change during mytrip and then the year following
(05:26):
when I did return from Mexico.
So where did I go and what did Ido?
So my first stop I landed inCancun, and I had never been to
Mexico before and I was a littlenervous and I knew Spanish, but
it wasn't like I'm not likeadvanced or anything I can get
by, and so I was like I'm goingto hire a private driver to
(05:48):
drive me to Tulum, because I wasnot familiar with the country
or any of the cities I'd neverbeen, and so I just wanted to
play it safe on this trip.
So basically I went with asuitcase, my guitar and my
laptop and I arrived in Cancun,got taken to Tulum at an Airbnb.
I stayed there for about a weekand a half until I found a
(06:09):
hotel that I really liked, andwhen I was in Tulum, I ended up
visiting a couple of differentcities, like in the area, and
taking day trips or weekendtrips to Bacalar Lagoon.
That was incredibly beautiful.
I ended up doing a plantmedicine ceremony there and I
went to Chichen Itza.
Of course, how can you visitMexico without going there?
(06:30):
And I'm totally going tobutcher this, but I went to Valo
de Lid.
It's like really difficult topronounce, but that was
something that I went andvisited on my day trip to Chitin
Itza.
And there was also a day I run aor a few days, I think I run in
a car and got to drive around alittle bit on my own and go to
(06:50):
different cenotes.
And so when I was in Tulum likeI had absolutely no
expectations, I had an Airbnb,there was a bike that I would
ride around, and it was a littlebit of an adjustment because it
was so hot and I was reallyexerting a lot of energy just
riding my bike around on allthese dirt roads.
And so the way that I work whenI travel is I kind of venture
(07:12):
out a little bit and then I getmore confident and I go a little
bit more and a little bit moreand I tend to attract and meet
different people along the way.
That really helped me, nomatter where I travel.
So when I landed, I found aplace called Holistica.
It's this beautiful.
I don't know the best way toexplain it, but there's places
that you can stay there.
(07:32):
They have a vegan restaurant onsite and they have ongoing yoga
classes and ceremonies and justlike a smorgasbord of different
classes and you can getmassages there and they have
like sweat lodges there andthese are like daily classes
that are going on every singlehour and so there's just so much
(07:52):
to do there and it's like thissecret garden with these
beautiful paths and they have atree house and like this huge
art exhibit at the end of thesepaths and these little like
manmade cenote pools within theproperty, and so it's just like
this really magical place and Ispent a lot of time there.
Quite honestly, I met a lot ofpeople when I was there and I'm
(08:13):
so grateful.
It was so close to my Airbnband I ended up getting back into
Ashitanga yoga and was doingthat maybe like three to four
times a week and that was reallyhelpful to ground me and
provide a little bit ofconsistency, because I wasn't
working at the time and I waskind of like it was kind of like
the first time where I was likewait, I'm not working, so what
(08:34):
do I do with myself, and it wasreally helpful for me to go to
places like this and dodifferent things, because then I
would meet people in thesedifferent classes or when I was
out to eat, and people wouldcome up and talk to me and they
would invite me to differentgatherings or events or
ceremonies or just to meet otherpeople.
And so for me it was just kindof like I just went with the
(08:56):
flow.
I had no expectations.
I wasn't trying to forceanything, I wasn't trying to go
out of my way to meet people.
It was just something thathappened really organically and
I ended up meeting like really,really incredible people that I
still talk to today and duringthis time period I really had
like a lot of space to exploredifferent things without
pressure and for fun.
(09:17):
And what's really funny is Ireceived the idea for my human
design business in Tulum and Istarted actually making human
design videos and that's beenlike probably the most popular
part of my business, or like myYouTube channel or my human
design videos that actually likehelp people.
And this was actually somethingthat was birthed in Tulum,
(09:38):
because I had time to reallybegin to share my journey and my
experiences with human design.
And something I want to sayabout Tulum is you know, I think
people are like, oh, the Tulumand Audi and you have all these
like spiritual pseudo hippiescoming in and they're all fake
and, like you know, that's true.
(09:59):
They're definitely a lot ofinteresting peoplecom a lot of
influencers and celebritiesspend their time there and it's
not like a bad thing.
For me, I feel like Tulum isthis portal and you know it's
built mostly on water.
There's mostly cenotesunderneath, so it can feel very
(10:19):
ungrounding to be there.
But for me the experience wasit's almost like you can get
sucked into the place and notleave until you have learned the
lesson that Tulum needs toteach you.
And I felt this energeticallyand it was really weird and I
was like, oh my gosh, I'm goingto be stuck here forever.
But luckily for me, I felt likeI went there and got the
(10:41):
lessons that I needed to getwhen I was there and then, when
it was time to go, I really feltlike the city was like kicking
me out.
It was a really odd feelingthat I felt, but it was really
grateful.
I spent about a month and ahalf there and Tulum to me was
like a hall of mirrors mylessons there, like I really
learned how to discern when Iwas in Tulum.
(11:04):
There were so many differentpeople, so many different
energies that could suck you inand trick you and manipulate you
, and I met some not so greatpeople, but I also met really
pure souls there, and so for meit was a really great place to
be an observer and to not getsucked into all of these
different energies that werethere, because it was just like
(11:24):
the circus of energies andpeople that you could choose
from and really brilliant andcreative and incredible human
beings.
But for me it was reallyteaching me to stay grounded
within myself and really learnhow to trust myself, and a few
other things that I reallyenjoyed when I was there.
I ended up staying at a hotelwhere I really got to know the
owner and his family and theywere just really beautiful
(11:47):
people.
They took me to Playa delCarmen and introduced me to
other people in the area.
When I was there, I tookSpanish classes and I somehow
went to a private concert withNACO and, just like I said it,
met really, really incrediblepeople.
I was just totally in flow withTulum when I was in Tulum and it
(12:07):
was almost like time workedvery differently there.
I would take a nap and then doa couple of things and then I'd
be like, oh, it's the end of theday and I would look back and
I'd say, oh my gosh, how did Iget so much done when I really
didn't do anything?
It was like the most oddsensation, but it was really
cool to experience and so I cansee where people can kind of get
sucked into this place, becausethere is a lot to do, there's a
(12:31):
lot of interesting people, timeworks very differently there
and it's a very creative placeto explore and, like I said, you
can really get sucked into thecity.
There's a lot of things to do,there's a lot of plant medicine,
there's a huge spiritualcommunity there and for me I
felt like a lot of it was pseudoand pseudo-spiritual and
(12:53):
they're kind of like these, Iwant to say dangerous energies,
but just something to be awareof, like if you ever end up
going there, just not signing upfor random stuff, just making
sure you're talking to differentpeople and then also trusting
yourself and saying does thisfeel right for me, because there
are a lot of people that couldtake advantage of you while you
(13:13):
are there.
So after Tulum I felt like, okay, where do I want to go next?
And I decided to go to a placecalled Holbosch and it's spelled
H-O-L-B-O-X, so you mightpronounce it Holbox, everyone
pronounced it Holbosch.
So I was like, oh, I'll gothere.
It's kind of close to Cancun,like I think it's a little bit
(13:34):
more north.
It's this tiny little islandthat you have to take a ferry
over to, and I ended up taking abus over there and then taking
the ferry over and I only bookeda few days there because I was
like, oh, it's a small island,there's not so much to do.
But I actually ended upextending my stay to an entire
week there because the islandwas so beautiful and, honestly,
(13:57):
like cars were not allowed onthe island, it was just cough
carts, it was all dirt.
It's just a really, really tinyisland and when I was there I
did different things, like Iswam with bioluminescence and I
got a massage on the beach.
I walked all over the place and,honestly, the best part of my
entire trip in Mexico wasswimming with whale sharks,
(14:18):
which is what I did in Holbash,and you can do this from Cancun
or other islands along the coast, but I think from where I was
at, it was a much longer trek.
It was an entire day, I think.
It took a couple hours likeprobably three or four hours
boat rides, to get to the partof the ocean where all the whale
sharks were.
But basically, like you put ongoggles and you put on flippers
(14:38):
and you jump in the water andyou get to swim with whale
sharks and I called them thevacuum of the ocean because
they're like these huge whalesharks and they have these flat,
open mouths and they just opentheir mouths and just swim and
the plankton that they eat justgoes into their mouth and it's
really funny to watch.
But I mean, these sharks arehuge.
They're like two or three timesthe size of the boat that we
(15:01):
travel it in.
I almost didn't go because I wasreally terrified.
I was like I don't want to swimnext to a big marine animal
like that.
But it was an incredibleexperience and I highly
recommend it.
It's not scary at all.
You have other people there.
It's a really surrealexperience and so I'm so glad
that I went there.
Like I said, it was one of myfavorite parts of the entire
(15:22):
trip and probably my favoriteplace that I stayed and went to
in all of my travels in Mexico,and I will say like I really got
addicted to mango on a stick,which basically became like my
favorite snack while travelingall around Mexico.
It's like the fresh fruit youcould buy on the side of the
road anywhere at any time, andit was like I don't know, maybe
(15:45):
a buck to buy fruit, and it wasjust like bare feet in the sun
eating fruit, like on an island.
It was the best thing ever inthe world, and so that basically
like summed up my entireexperience in Holvash.
So after about a week there, Idecided to go to Medida and I
was there, I think maybe one ortwo weeks, and there's a really
(16:08):
big market there and a couple ofthings that I wanted to see
when I was there.
So I stayed in an Airbnb whichwas owned by a guy and his mom
in this historic building andthey became like family to me.
They cooked for me and the momwas so sweet.
She was actually a nurse inCalifornia and she worked with a
(16:30):
lot of celebrities like LucilleBall and Richard Greer, and so
I actually heard some reallyinteresting stories of her time
there when she was working inthe hospital there in California
and I was actually introducedto some people out there from
friends that I'd met in Tulum,and they took me around the city
on a motorbike and kind of gaveme a tour of the history of the
(16:52):
city and actually went and tooka day trip to Progreso, which
is on the west coast in theupper part of Mexico, and spent
the day there and just hung outthere and relaxed and that was
really beautiful to experience.
And I went on an undergroundtour in the city.
I walked around a ton and therewas a really really huge market
(17:16):
there which, honestly, it wasreally really overwhelming for
me to the point where, like, andmaybe I had like a little bit
of heatstroke or something, butI like thought I was going to
pass out after I was in themarket.
It was like so overwhelming tome I cannot remember the name of
that market but I will never goback to it.
Some people probably love it,but it was just so
(17:38):
over-simulating for me.
It was interesting toexperience but I was like I'm
going to get lost in here andI'm going to get kidnapped in
here.
So I somehow made my way out ofthat maze at that market.
So also, I really want to notethat at this time in my journey
I started to begin somatictherapy and it really added an
additional dimension to myexperience.
(18:00):
It was very challenging but,oddly, it felt very safe,
despite being in a differentcountry, because, you know, I
was kind of digging things upand like going into my body and
releasing emotions and while Iwasn't in a different
environment, it was interestingbecause I wasn't being
conditioned by my typicalenvironment and so it allowed me
to explore different parts ofmyself and this was happening
(18:21):
while I was in an Airbnb bymyself and all the different
places that I traveled.
So I'm just going to put a pinon that and I'll probably come
back to that later part of thispodcast.
So after I was in Medida, Idecided to go to Palenque.
Palenque, oh my gosh.
I think I took like a 12 hourbus ride to this.
(18:44):
It's like in the middle of thecountry of Mexico.
It's in the Chiapas region andjust absolutely beautiful.
My favorite ruins, hands downand anywhere that.
All the places and all theruins that I went to in Mexico.
There's so many different daytrips that I took to different
waterfalls and canyons that werejust.
(19:05):
You wouldn't even believe it ifyou saw them.
It's like something you wouldsee in like Avatar, like just
totally just magical.
And even I think I stopped inGuatemala on a day trip when I
was there and it was this cutelittle town and I know this was
actually one of TerenceMcKenna's favorite places.
It's a huge mushroom towneverywhere that I went Like
(19:28):
people would be asking me if Iwanted to buy hongos, if I
wanted to buy mushrooms, and Iwas like nope, how could it be
Purchasing mushrooms fromstrangers?
But it was very beautiful, itwas very magical.
And the ruins were magical inthe sense that like they were
just surrounded by greenery andthe jungle and the forest and
(19:49):
like it was kind of like thishidden place versus like Chichen
Itza, where it was likecompletely wide open, there's no
covering or like barely anycovering, it's just this wide
open space.
And Palenque was kind of likethe opposite and it was just
very it felt very mystical andlike safe and like sacred there
and it wasn't like this supertouristy place, because Palenque
(20:11):
is kind of like a.
Really it takes a while to getthere.
Like I said, I took a 12 hourbus ride to Palenque from where
I was at in Medida and anywhereelse that you go, you're going
to be taking quite some time,whether it's through bus or I
don't even think you can flydirectly into this city.
Actually, you're gonna have totake some form of transportation
(20:32):
on land to get to this place.
So I spent about a week thereand After about a week I was
like, okay, it's time, time togo to my next stop, and I
decided to go to San Cristobal,and this was something that
someone had, a place thatsomeone had recommended to me.
I'd never heard of it, and so Itook another 12 hour bus ride
to San Cristobal and and I wassick, I think the first week
(20:54):
that I stayed there.
So I was just staying in myAirbnb and I had a kitchen and
food from previous cities, sokind of hunkered down the first
week that I was there.
I was there about a month.
It was one of my favorite citiesand I honestly didn't want to
leave.
It was very magical in thesense that you know it was this
tiny little town that was tuckedin like all of these mountains,
like the bus ride there wasterrifying, because you're just
(21:16):
like Weaving in and out of thesemountains and you see all of
the valleys and all of thecities that were lower down, and
so it was a really like hidden,magical city that I never would
have known about unless someonehad told me about.
And what I really liked aboutthe city is that in the small
town there were these stores andthey kind of reminded me of
(21:37):
like Russian dolls in a way.
Like you would see the door onthe outside, but when the door
opened it was like these magicalworlds existed behind the doors
, like just totally unexpectedfrom what I thought would be
behind the doors.
And so every day it was like soexciting to walk around and
peek into the different storesand restaurants During the day
(21:58):
and at night, because it wasalways different.
Some places were open at night,some places were open at day,
and so it was just like therewas so much to see and an
experience.
And so I really, reallyappreciated that about a sand
crystal ball, and when I wasthere I traveled to different
waterfalls in the area and Irode a horse to Chimola.
(22:20):
I'm totally gonna butcher allthese city names, but Basically
it's really well known for thischurch there it's called the
Templotis San Juan Church andthis is where families come and
they do a variety of things inorder to ward off evil spirits
and heal their family membersand, basically, when you walk in
(22:43):
, there's dry pine needlescovering the entire floor and
you can't take pictures insidethe church, so I'm just gonna
describe this in the best waythat I can.
But basically, like there arecandles, like literally
thousands of bare candles, likejust candlesticks, and they're
on the floor, they're on thetables, like everywhere, and
you're like this place is kindof freaking catch on fire.
(23:04):
It was just a reallyinteresting experience to walk
into.
And then you have the familiesthat come in that they're trying
to heal family members or youknow they have their prayers or
their intentions and they comein and they bring a live chicken
and they bring coca-cola andthey bring liquor and what they
do is they basically sacrifice achicken in the church and then
(23:25):
they drink coca-cola and liquorand it helps, like it's supposed
to, like Get rid of the evilspirits and the burps like Help,
like in that process, which iswhy they drink coca-cola.
And you have like kids down tolike two years old and they're
like taking these shots of ofliquor and drinking coca-cola.
It was really interesting to toobserve their, their tradition
and and be a part of that, and Ifelt really, really honored and
(23:47):
special that I could witnessthat and just see what that
culture was like, and so Ihighly recommend traveling there
if you're in the area.
And so yeah, like I said, Itook a lot of day tours and ate
at a lot of differentrestaurants.
I practiced Spanish, you know, Itook Spanish lessons when I was
in Tulum and was practicing onmy own and then found actually
(24:09):
people in the area that I couldpractice Spanish with and just
have like practiceconversational Spanish with.
And there was one day where Iwas just like walking around the
different markets and this guyI think he was from Brazil, it's
like older guy, it was probablyin his 50s or 60s and he's a
solo traveler and he justrandomly started walking next to
(24:30):
me, was kind of starting torain and we just started talking
and it was just like we justkind of clicked and we Walked
around and he helped me buy somethings and then we went and
grabbed some food and heintroduced me to a couple other
people and I end up going tolike this movie night in this
cute little vegan restaurant andthey made us like this three or
(24:52):
four course meal at thatrestaurant we watched.
I think it was like theseArgentinian films and it's just
like these little things wouldhappen where I would just
randomly meet people.
Or like one night I was sittingat a restaurant and someone
came over and started talking tome and then we ended up hanging
out that night and going tosome like random art exhibit at
(25:12):
a hostel.
That was I'm not even reallytalk about what happened at that
exhibit.
It was really interesting anddifferent and After that, like I
ended up playing the guitar Forlike an hour or so on a rooftop
, like just it was reallybeautiful.
Just the unexpected experiencesthat happened when I was on on
this trip.
It really helped me to learnhow to trust myself and to
(25:36):
surrender with each moment and Ifelt very supported.
I felt very safe in all of thecities that I traveled with and
Every place that I went, everycity that I went, I always met
like the most beautiful, likeLike pure hearted people and I
felt like so protected in myentire trip and I think that,
honestly, people are like youknow, oh, mexico is so dangerous
(25:58):
and you're traveling byyourself and I never felt Unsafe
.
My entire travels and my familywould be texting me and they're
like cartels here and I'm likeI'm safe, I'm okay.
So After seeing Cristobal afterabout a month, I was like, okay
, it's it's time to go and I wasgoing to go to another city.
But at this point you know, I'ma couple months in and I was
(26:20):
like I'm getting a little bittired of living out of suitcase,
just living in a country whereI didn't really speak the
language.
You know that.
Great, but I'm still wanting tocomplete a couple of things off
of my bucket list, and so theplan was to go to a Spanish
immersion before I left.
And thinking about this now, Iprobably should have started my
(26:42):
trip with this, but it was stilllike a beautiful experience.
So I decided to fly into MexicoCity.
So I stayed there for a fewdays and I explored the city.
It kind of reminded me of likeNew York City in a way, but like
the Mexican version, it wasdirty.
There were like upscale placesand then like dirty places you
didn't want to go to and it wasokay.
(27:04):
I was like I don't think I wantto come back here, but what I
will say is I appreciate thatthere's so much to do there, and
the number one thing that Ihighly recommend to anyone going
cause this was another one ofmy top favorite things I did
when I was in Mexico wasactually take a hot air balloon
ride, and it was in the again,I'm going to butcher this name,
but it's the TOT Joaquin Ruinsand so basically, I got up at
(27:28):
like three or four in themorning, took a ride out there
and got to ride in a hot airballoon as the sun was rising
over these ruins.
It was just incredible andlife-changing.
And I'm not going to lie, I didhave a small panic attack but,
funnily enough, I was in abasket with a bunch of pilots
(27:48):
from like Sweden and Norway andlike different parts of the
country, and they like theycalled me down and I was like I
need to be in the middle of thebasket.
I can't be near the edge partright now and so everyone in the
basket was like super sweet andthey were like taking pictures,
and some of the pictures thatwere taken it's like it doesn't
even look real, but cause therewere like I don't know 50 or a
(28:09):
hundred hot air balloons thatwere all in the sky at once as
the sun was rising over all ofthese ruins and it was.
It was beautiful.
Last it probably like an houror two was.
We were up there for quite sometime and then when we landed,
we all drank champagne at theend and we got to walk around
the ruins and I actually reallyenjoyed these ruins.
They were very different thanother ones that I went to and
(28:33):
somehow it felt oddly familiar,like like maybe like I had like
a past life there or something.
Maybe that sounds silly, butthere was something that I was
like wow, this feels like homeor like comfortable to me, and
I've never really felt like thatbefore.
So it was interesting to towalk around and like feel that
energy in that space.
So, after Mexico City, I endedup going to Cuernavaca, which is
(28:55):
about an hour or two south ofMexico City, and I decided to do
a Spanish immersion.
I was just going to go week byweek and see how I liked it, and
so basically I took all daySpanish classes for two to three
weeks, and the first week itwas like a group class and then
basically everyone went back toschool.
I think this, I think it waslike August or September when I
(29:16):
was here, and so it was just me.
I ended up getting like privateSpanish lessons when I was
there for the price of likebeing in a group, so that was
really cool.
I got a lot of one-on-oneattention.
So we basically had class inthe morning and we would take a
break at lunch and I'd walk tothe Walmart or to like a
restaurant nearby and get asmoothie or something and then I
would have classes in theafternoon.
(29:37):
So it was actually a very, verylong day and I am not typically
a morning person, so for me,having to get up and like go to
these classes was reallydifficult and challenging for me
, but I was able to to adjustand the the immersion part of
this was I stayed with a hostwho was so lovely and so sweet
(29:58):
and she was like invited me intoher family and I had my own
room and she would cook dinnerfor me every single night and
they would have the the telenovaon and someone would come and
teach like meditation classes inSpanish at her house, which I
loved.
It was really cool toexperience that.
I actually taught a yoga classto my host in Spanish, so I got
(30:21):
to practice with her a lot, likeeverything was in Spanish, like
no one spoke English, and so itwas a really interesting
experience to to be immersed inlike the culture, like that,
because, quite honestly, Inormally live my life in a
complete opposite way, where Iam a night owl and I eat dinner
really late and I think they hada really they had trouble
(30:42):
understanding that, because theyate bigger meals during the
morning and the afternoon andthen they ate really light and
they ate an early dinner onmaybe like three or four and I'm
like, yeah, I don't eat untillike nine o'clock at night and
they're like what, and I don'tnormally eat like a really big
breakfast, but I felt like I hadto.
So it was difficult andchallenging for me to really
make that adjustment when I wasthere and like that language
(31:04):
barrier was really tough becauseeven though my host had been
hosting families for I don'tknow how many years, she didn't
know any English and so kind oflike it helped with the like
experience of being in animmersion, but I felt really
like it really helped me improvemy Spanish because of that.
I was like forced to lookthings up and I was forced to
(31:26):
learn Spanish versus liketalking in English instead.
So when I was there.
I actually took a day trip toTip Botslin.
Oh my, I totally butchered that.
I'm so sorry.
It had the cutest market One ofmy favorite ones that I went to
the entire time I was in Mexicoand I hiked almost all of the
(31:47):
way up to the Tepetzco pyramid.
I'm so sorry, guys, please likeforgive me for butchering these
names, but unfortunately the toppart was closed, but it was
still like a pretty, prettytough hike up there.
It was kind of raining when Iwas walking up there but it was
so, so beautiful.
And I just remember, likesitting or like standing in the
(32:09):
road and looking up at themountain where the ruins were
and just being like wow, like Iwould love to experience this
with with somebody.
Like just kind of like near theend of my travels and I was
just like wow, things are kindof coming to an end, and happy
that I had that solo experience,but knowing that I didn't
really want to travel unless itwas with somebody, that my
(32:32):
husband or somebody that wouldgo with me and be able to have
these experiences with me,because I mean, it's cool to
have them by yourself.
But I think I was just at apoint in my life where I was
like you know, I'm ready to justsettle down and, like, do this
with somebody else.
So another thing that Iexperienced when I was in muy
(32:53):
cool and music and dancing andeveryone was taking lots of
shots of tequila and it was.
It was a lot of fun.
It was cool to have thatexperience in that culture and
just everyone was so happy andjust seeing the families
(33:17):
together and they're just sopassionate and like it was just
there was just so much lovethere and it was such a
beautiful experience.
And I would say I think was itthe second or third week, I was
kind of just feeling overwhelmedand having to like study every
single day and, honestly, justfeeling like I just wanted to go
back to the US.
I was tired of traveling, Iwanted to get back into my own
(33:37):
routine in my own space and thethe final week I got, I think I
got food poisoning.
I was really sick, I wasthrowing up and had to miss,
miss my class and at that pointI was like you know, I'm just
gonna book a flight home andjust get out of here.
I was just ready to be done andso I ended up taking a red eye
back to the States a few daysafter I got sick because I was
(34:00):
like I just need to get out ofhere.
I want to be back like my homebase, even though I didn't have
a place to return to.
When I got back to the US likea home home base, I still.
I went back to Florida and Iended up helping out a friend
open up her Airbnb and so likeeverything all worked out.
So it was like a perfect endingto well not the food poisoning,
(34:21):
but it was just the way thateverything wrapped up.
It was like I was just ready tocome home and had a really
beautiful place to land and thatwas my trip.
Those were all the places that Iwent when I was in Mexico.
I don't think I missed anything, but I kind of want to go
through like you know whatlessons to learn, like how did I
change as a person and whatwere my favorite parts and where
(34:42):
the things I was worried about.
So, like I said, this was avery transformative time period
for me.
I did start those weeklysomatic therapy sessions and it
was kind of like the beginningof my healing journey, of really
learning to love myself andfeel more at home.
So in a lot of ways I changedenergetically, or it was almost
like prepping me for, like, thenext part of my journey when I
(35:05):
returned back to the US, andthat was in itself was very
difficult and challenging for mewhen I returned to the US and
that's for, like a way, a wholeanother like podcast that I may
never actually do.
It was a very personal,challenging journey, kind of
like a spiritual awakening thatI went through, and so I feel
(35:25):
like this trip to Mexico waskind of like the catalyst, it
was like the instigator, thatkind of like pushed me to kind
of go through this awakening andreally grow as a person in a
lot of different ways.
So I'm so appreciative that Ihad this opportunity to travel
and you know there were so manycities that I didn't get to, but
(35:45):
honestly, I felt very completein my travels there and I was
just ready to come home and so,like I said, you know, at 35 I
was happy, or, 34 years old, Iwas happy to have had my solo
trip that I've been wantingsince my 20s, and so the trip
made me appreciate the US moreand just realized that I just
wanted to slow down and settledown and get married and just
(36:07):
kind of enjoy a simpler life,and I realized that I didn't
want to be alone in my travelsanymore and I really wanted to
share my experiences withsomebody.
So maybe it was just me gettingolder, but it just felt nice to
have that journey, complete thejourney and be able to satiate
that desire to travel on my ownfor a bit before I actually did
(36:28):
settle down.
Another thing is, you know, Ionly packed a suitcase and my
guitar and I ended up buying anextra bag because I bought gifts
and like I was carrying aroundfood from city to city because I
would stay in Airbnbs withkitchens, and you know that got
a little bit difficult orchallenging at the end because I
(36:49):
was lugging around, so itseemed like so much luggage and
so I don't know how I could havepacked any lighter, because
it's like I went to so manydifferent places where you know,
tulum was really hot and reallywarm and then I went to San
Cristobal and I end up having tobuy like hoodies and like warm
clothes because it was so coldthere.
I was in the middle of themountains and so that was a
(37:12):
little bit challenging for me,but it really learned.
Like I really learned is likeyou know, I'm just gonna pack
clothes that I can discardeasily and make sure that I can
leave a little bit of space inmy suitcase to bring back some,
some things.
And you know, I did feelincredibly safe the entire time
I was in Mexico.
(37:32):
You know I was a woman travelingalone and you know I took, like
I said, I took a handful of 12bus rides alone and I was taking
day trips where sometimes I wasthe only tourist on that day
trip and I rarely drank and if Idid, maybe like a few times, it
was just a glass of wine and Iwas with people and I that I
(37:53):
trusted or I was like right bymy Airbnb.
And so I think it's like youjust need to be smart about
traveling, like what you'redoing, and just be aware of your
surroundings.
And ever I traveled, it waslike people would tell me like
don't go to this place or avoidthis area, because it is pretty
easy to ride your bike throughareas that aren't so good, which
I actually did a few times inTulum, but it was during the day
(38:17):
and I was like, okay, I'm amental note not to use Google
Maps to return this way to myAirbnb.
So, you know, I think when youexplore during the day, it's a
little bit easier too.
But, again, just being reallysmart about about traveling, and
I didn't really have any issuesat all and you know, people
were so nice and so helpful.
(38:39):
I felt safer in some parts morethan with some US cities that
I've been to, and so for anyonewho is like Mexico is so
dangerous or traveling alone isdangerous, like, like I said, I
never felt unsafe.
I just made sure to be smartabout where I was at and who I
was interacting with and whatparts of the city that I was in.
(39:00):
And I really appreciated thistrip because it taught me how to
be more in flow and how torelax and just trust the
universe, trust myself.
It was a very surrealexperience where I wasn't, I
wasn't working, and you know Iwas able to fully give myself
(39:20):
that time off to be like OK,like let's get to to know
yourself a little bit moreBecause, honestly, when you're
in another country and you don'tknow anyone and you don't know
the language, you learn a lotabout yourself and the fact that
you're in a differentenvironment.
It's like you're not beingtriggered by a familiar
environment that causes you toact in your normal, comfortable
(39:42):
ways, like you're forced to dothings in a different way.
You surprise yourself in theway that you react and behave
and how you do things.
And so I really really learneda lot about myself when I was
traveling and like how I can Ican react to things or like, if
things got hard, like what did Ido in those situations?
(40:03):
Or when things are really great, like where did my mind go or
what were the things that I did.
And so I really kind of reallygot closer to myself when I was
traveling in that way and Ilearned how to really trust
myself in a deeper way.
You know I've traveled solo indifferent countries before, so
this wasn't my first rodeo, butyou know it is still a little
terrifying when you don't speakthe language and you've never
(40:26):
been there before so you're notreally familiar with it.
So for me it was a lot of likeventuring out a little bit at a
time until I would feelcomfortable, and then I just
eventually felt really, reallyconfident in most places that I
stayed in.
And you know, would I do itagain In Mexico?
Honestly, I would go back tovisit some of the people that I
met and the places that I wentto, but I don't really feel the
(40:49):
need to do it again.
It was an incredible experienceand, you know, while every town
was unique and special in theirown way, after a while they all
kind of started to seem thesame to me, like there were
markets, there were touristyspots and things like that.
You know you're going to haveyour unique special experiences
in different places withdifferent people, but I felt
(41:09):
like any other city that I wentto in Mexico would be similar in
that, like energetically, andso I don't necessarily feel the
need to return, but also, at thesame time, I was also feeling
burnout from living out of asuitcase and was ready to come
home after five months.
So some people may reallyreally love that and they love
being the nomad and living onthe road like that.
(41:30):
But you know, I really learnedthat about myself.
I thought it was something thatwould be exciting and fun, but
I was like no, this reallytaught me that I wanted to
settle down and have a home base.
So, wow, okay, I believe thatis it.
This is the first time I'veever really talked about my trip
and its entirety to anyone likethis before.
(41:51):
It was very transformative andbeautiful, and I will always
remember this time period of mylife because it was the first
leap of many, many big leapsthat I began to take in my life
and the beginning of my journeyback home to getting to really
know and love myself.
And you know I'm sure there areso many more things that I could
(42:12):
go into more detail.
I've shared a lot of differentplaces and things that I've done
, so if there are any questions,I'm happy to share in more
detail or places that I want.
If you're planning on going toMexico, I love to share all of
this, so you can shoot me anemail at hello at Nina-Elisecom,
and if you enjoyed this episode, feel free to share with anyone
(42:35):
who may be interested intraveling around Mexico.
It's such a beautiful countryand I highly recommend traveling
to different parts.
It's different and bright andpeople are so incredibly nice
there, and it has been one of myfavorite countries that I have
traveled to.
And that is all that I have tosay, and I will talk to you all
(42:55):
in the next episode.
Bye.
Welcome to the Receptive Impact Podcast.
I'm your host, nina Elise.
Hello, it is Nina, and I amhere sitting on the floor of my
bedroom on a Thursday night, andI have been sitting here for
quite some time trying to figureout how I really wanted to
(00:25):
present this episode.
This is an episode that Ihonestly got really emotional
about creating the outline for.
It's all about my trip toMexico.
It was a sabbatical that I tooklast year and it was kind of
like an Eat, pray, love trip.
Quite honestly and you know,even a year and a half later,
(00:46):
I'm still processing a lot ofthat trip and what that really
meant and the impact that it hadon me and, honestly, just
really going through and writingdown the outline it just made
me really reflect on just who Iwas as a person at that time
period and how much I havechanged and evolved in the
(01:07):
amount of deaths that I havegone through internally and
externally, and just howdifferent my life is since then
in a very beautiful way, and soI hope that you enjoy this
entire episode.
It's very near and dear to myheart.
This is a time period of my lifewhere I was going through some
(01:29):
pretty major transformation andthis was basically like the
beginning, the kickoff of takinga really big leap.
And so, to give you a littlebit of context or background and
I think it was March of 2022,march or April I lost my job.
It was kind of a long timecoming and I was expecting it,
(01:52):
but I didn't really have a plan,and around that time period I
was still kind of looking forother jobs, and there was at one
point I had a thought that saidwell, what if you just took a
little bit of time off?
And that kind of snowballedinto well, what if you just took
some time off indefinitelywithout really having an end
(02:12):
point?
And that was a very scary butalso very exhilarating thought,
because I've always really likedto be in control of my life, as
I think anybody really likes tohave certainty and safety, and
so it was something that I justkind of kept sitting with for a
little bit, and I had actuallywanted to walk the road to
(02:34):
Santiago and Spain back in 2020,and then everything got shut
down and so I ended up not goingon that trip, and so I just
felt like the universe waspresenting this opportunity for
me to finally take this solotrip to go and travel on my own.
It was something I had beenwanting to do for a very long
(02:54):
time and, quite honestly, whenit happened, I was like I don't
want to go.
I was just kind of feeling likeyou know, I'm in my early to
mid 30s, I just wanted to settledown, but I did not want this
opportunity to pass me.
And so at this time period inmy life, it was a very pivotal
moment and I was feeling verylost and just not sure what to
(03:18):
do or where to go next, and Iwas terrified.
But I, like I said, I didn'twant this opportunity to pass me
by.
So what I ended up doing wasbuying a one way ticket to
Mexico and I just took the leap.
I didn't have a time frame ofhow long I would be there or
when I would be back.
(03:38):
I was kind of looking for aplace that I could call home.
I never really felt like I fitin anywhere and was going
through major transition with myrelationships at the time and
wasn't sure what I wanted to dowith them and how I wanted to
proceed, and I thought maybethis trip by myself would
provide some clarity onfriendships and relationships
(04:00):
and where I wanted to live, andso what I essentially did was I
picked a place to start inMexico and said I will start off
there and then I will juststart to make decisions and I'll
talk to people and see whereelse I want to travel.
So the way that it worked is,whenever I would land in a city,
I would basically stay thereuntil, intuitively, it felt like
(04:22):
okay, it's time for me to moveon or I've seen everything that
I really want to see here.
So some cities I stayed in fora few days, some I stayed in for
well over a month, and all ofthe experiences that I had, all
of the cities that I visited,they were all incredibly unique
and beautiful in their ownspecial ways.
(04:42):
And so I'm going to walk youthrough basically my journey,
through the different citieswhere I went and what my
experiences were and what I didand kind of like my journey and
how I started to shift andchange in a lot of ways during
that time period.
I was in Mexico for probablyfour or five months and it was
(05:03):
incredibly transformative for meand I didn't really understand
or see it at the time.
I think for most people wedon't really see ourselves.
I think other people can seethat more.
So it's been really interestingfor me to come back and reflect
on this entire trip and reallysee how much I have changed and
like how I did change during mytrip and then the year following
(05:26):
when I did return from Mexico.
So where did I go and what did Ido?
So my first stop I landed inCancun, and I had never been to
Mexico before and I was a littlenervous and I knew Spanish, but
it wasn't like I'm not likeadvanced or anything I can get
by, and so I was like I'm goingto hire a private driver to
(05:48):
drive me to Tulum, because I wasnot familiar with the country
or any of the cities I'd neverbeen, and so I just wanted to
play it safe on this trip.
So basically I went with asuitcase, my guitar and my
laptop and I arrived in Cancun,got taken to Tulum at an Airbnb.
I stayed there for about a weekand a half until I found a
(06:09):
hotel that I really liked, andwhen I was in Tulum, I ended up
visiting a couple of differentcities, like in the area, and
taking day trips or weekendtrips to Bacalar Lagoon.
That was incredibly beautiful.
I ended up doing a plantmedicine ceremony there and I
went to Chichen Itza.
Of course, how can you visitMexico without going there?
(06:30):
And I'm totally going tobutcher this, but I went to Valo
de Lid.
It's like really difficult topronounce, but that was
something that I went andvisited on my day trip to Chitin
Itza.
And there was also a day I run aor a few days, I think I run in
a car and got to drive around alittle bit on my own and go to
(06:50):
different cenotes.
And so when I was in Tulum likeI had absolutely no
expectations, I had an Airbnb,there was a bike that I would
ride around, and it was a littlebit of an adjustment because it
was so hot and I was reallyexerting a lot of energy just
riding my bike around on allthese dirt roads.
And so the way that I work whenI travel is I kind of venture
(07:12):
out a little bit and then I getmore confident and I go a little
bit more and a little bit moreand I tend to attract and meet
different people along the way.
That really helped me, nomatter where I travel.
So when I landed, I found aplace called Holistica.
It's this beautiful.
I don't know the best way toexplain it, but there's places
that you can stay there.
(07:32):
They have a vegan restaurant onsite and they have ongoing yoga
classes and ceremonies and justlike a smorgasbord of different
classes and you can getmassages there and they have
like sweat lodges there andthese are like daily classes
that are going on every singlehour and so there's just so much
(07:52):
to do there and it's like thissecret garden with these
beautiful paths and they have atree house and like this huge
art exhibit at the end of thesepaths and these little like
manmade cenote pools within theproperty, and so it's just like
this really magical place and Ispent a lot of time there.
Quite honestly, I met a lot ofpeople when I was there and I'm
(08:13):
so grateful.
It was so close to my Airbnband I ended up getting back into
Ashitanga yoga and was doingthat maybe like three to four
times a week and that was reallyhelpful to ground me and
provide a little bit ofconsistency, because I wasn't
working at the time and I waskind of like it was kind of like
the first time where I was likewait, I'm not working, so what
(08:34):
do I do with myself, and it wasreally helpful for me to go to
places like this and dodifferent things, because then I
would meet people in thesedifferent classes or when I was
out to eat, and people wouldcome up and talk to me and they
would invite me to differentgatherings or events or
ceremonies or just to meet otherpeople.
And so for me it was just kindof like I just went with the
(08:56):
flow.
I had no expectations.
I wasn't trying to forceanything, I wasn't trying to go
out of my way to meet people.
It was just something thathappened really organically and
I ended up meeting like really,really incredible people that I
still talk to today and duringthis time period I really had
like a lot of space to exploredifferent things without
pressure and for fun.
(09:17):
And what's really funny is Ireceived the idea for my human
design business in Tulum and Istarted actually making human
design videos and that's beenlike probably the most popular
part of my business, or like myYouTube channel or my human
design videos that actually likehelp people.
And this was actually somethingthat was birthed in Tulum,
(09:38):
because I had time to reallybegin to share my journey and my
experiences with human design.
And something I want to sayabout Tulum is you know, I think
people are like, oh, the Tulumand Audi and you have all these
like spiritual pseudo hippiescoming in and they're all fake
and, like you know, that's true.
(09:59):
They're definitely a lot ofinteresting peoplecom a lot of
influencers and celebritiesspend their time there and it's
not like a bad thing.
For me, I feel like Tulum isthis portal and you know it's
built mostly on water.
There's mostly cenotesunderneath, so it can feel very
(10:19):
ungrounding to be there.
But for me the experience wasit's almost like you can get
sucked into the place and notleave until you have learned the
lesson that Tulum needs toteach you.
And I felt this energeticallyand it was really weird and I
was like, oh my gosh, I'm goingto be stuck here forever.
But luckily for me, I felt likeI went there and got the
(10:41):
lessons that I needed to getwhen I was there and then, when
it was time to go, I really feltlike the city was like kicking
me out.
It was a really odd feelingthat I felt, but it was really
grateful.
I spent about a month and ahalf there and Tulum to me was
like a hall of mirrors mylessons there, like I really
learned how to discern when Iwas in Tulum.
(11:04):
There were so many differentpeople, so many different
energies that could suck you inand trick you and manipulate you
, and I met some not so greatpeople, but I also met really
pure souls there, and so for meit was a really great place to
be an observer and to not getsucked into all of these
different energies that werethere, because it was just like
(11:24):
the circus of energies andpeople that you could choose
from and really brilliant andcreative and incredible human
beings.
But for me it was reallyteaching me to stay grounded
within myself and really learnhow to trust myself, and a few
other things that I reallyenjoyed when I was there.
I ended up staying at a hotelwhere I really got to know the
owner and his family and theywere just really beautiful
(11:47):
people.
They took me to Playa delCarmen and introduced me to
other people in the area.
When I was there, I tookSpanish classes and I somehow
went to a private concert withNACO and, just like I said it,
met really, really incrediblepeople.
I was just totally in flow withTulum when I was in Tulum and it
(12:07):
was almost like time workedvery differently there.
I would take a nap and then doa couple of things and then I'd
be like, oh, it's the end of theday and I would look back and
I'd say, oh my gosh, how did Iget so much done when I really
didn't do anything?
It was like the most oddsensation, but it was really
cool to experience and so I cansee where people can kind of get
sucked into this place, becausethere is a lot to do, there's a
(12:31):
lot of interesting people, timeworks very differently there
and it's a very creative placeto explore and, like I said, you
can really get sucked into thecity.
There's a lot of things to do,there's a lot of plant medicine,
there's a huge spiritualcommunity there and for me I
felt like a lot of it was pseudoand pseudo-spiritual and
(12:53):
they're kind of like these, Iwant to say dangerous energies,
but just something to be awareof, like if you ever end up
going there, just not signing upfor random stuff, just making
sure you're talking to differentpeople and then also trusting
yourself and saying does thisfeel right for me, because there
are a lot of people that couldtake advantage of you while you
(13:13):
are there.
So after Tulum I felt like, okay, where do I want to go next?
And I decided to go to a placecalled Holbosch and it's spelled
H-O-L-B-O-X, so you mightpronounce it Holbox, everyone
pronounced it Holbosch.
So I was like, oh, I'll gothere.
It's kind of close to Cancun,like I think it's a little bit
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more north.
It's this tiny little islandthat you have to take a ferry
over to, and I ended up taking abus over there and then taking
the ferry over and I only bookeda few days there because I was
like, oh, it's a small island,there's not so much to do.
But I actually ended upextending my stay to an entire
week there because the islandwas so beautiful and, honestly,
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like cars were not allowed onthe island, it was just cough
carts, it was all dirt.
It's just a really, really tinyisland and when I was there I
did different things, like Iswam with bioluminescence and I
got a massage on the beach.
I walked all over the place and,honestly, the best part of my
entire trip in Mexico wasswimming with whale sharks,
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which is what I did in Holbash,and you can do this from Cancun
or other islands along the coast, but I think from where I was
at, it was a much longer trek.
It was an entire day, I think.
It took a couple hours likeprobably three or four hours
boat rides, to get to the partof the ocean where all the whale
sharks were.
But basically, like you put ongoggles and you put on flippers
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and you jump in the water andyou get to swim with whale
sharks and I called them thevacuum of the ocean because
they're like these huge whalesharks and they have these flat,
open mouths and they just opentheir mouths and just swim and
the plankton that they eat justgoes into their mouth and it's
really funny to watch.
But I mean, these sharks arehuge.
They're like two or three timesthe size of the boat that we
(15:01):
travel it in.
I almost didn't go because I wasreally terrified.
I was like I don't want to swimnext to a big marine animal
like that.
But it was an incredibleexperience and I highly
recommend it.
It's not scary at all.
You have other people there.
It's a really surrealexperience and so I'm so glad
that I went there.
Like I said, it was one of myfavorite parts of the entire
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trip and probably my favoriteplace that I stayed and went to
in all of my travels in Mexico,and I will say like I really got
addicted to mango on a stick,which basically became like my
favorite snack while travelingall around Mexico.
It's like the fresh fruit youcould buy on the side of the
road anywhere at any time, andit was like I don't know, maybe
(15:45):
a buck to buy fruit, and it wasjust like bare feet in the sun
eating fruit, like on an island.
It was the best thing ever inthe world, and so that basically
like summed up my entireexperience in Holvash.
So after about a week there, Idecided to go to Medida and I
was there, I think maybe one ortwo weeks, and there's a really
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big market there and a couple ofthings that I wanted to see
when I was there.
So I stayed in an Airbnb whichwas owned by a guy and his mom
in this historic building andthey became like family to me.
They cooked for me and the momwas so sweet.
She was actually a nurse inCalifornia and she worked with a
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lot of celebrities like LucilleBall and Richard Greer, and so
I actually heard some reallyinteresting stories of her time
there when she was working inthe hospital there in California
and I was actually introducedto some people out there from
friends that I'd met in Tulum,and they took me around the city
on a motorbike and kind of gaveme a tour of the history of the
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city and actually went and tooka day trip to Progreso, which
is on the west coast in theupper part of Mexico, and spent
the day there and just hung outthere and relaxed and that was
really beautiful to experience.
And I went on an undergroundtour in the city.
I walked around a ton and therewas a really really huge market
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there which, honestly, it wasreally really overwhelming for
me to the point where, like, andmaybe I had like a little bit
of heatstroke or something, butI like thought I was going to
pass out after I was in themarket.
It was like so overwhelming tome I cannot remember the name of
that market but I will never goback to it.
Some people probably love it,but it was just so
(17:38):
over-simulating for me.
It was interesting toexperience but I was like I'm
going to get lost in here andI'm going to get kidnapped in
here.
So I somehow made my way out ofthat maze at that market.
So also, I really want to notethat at this time in my journey
I started to begin somatictherapy and it really added an
additional dimension to myexperience.
(18:00):
It was very challenging but,oddly, it felt very safe,
despite being in a differentcountry, because, you know, I
was kind of digging things upand like going into my body and
releasing emotions and while Iwasn't in a different
environment, it was interestingbecause I wasn't being
conditioned by my typicalenvironment and so it allowed me
to explore different parts ofmyself and this was happening
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while I was in an Airbnb bymyself and all the different
places that I traveled.
So I'm just going to put a pinon that and I'll probably come
back to that later part of thispodcast.
So after I was in Medida, Idecided to go to Palenque.
Palenque, oh my gosh.
I think I took like a 12 hourbus ride to this.
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It's like in the middle of thecountry of Mexico.
It's in the Chiapas region andjust absolutely beautiful.
My favorite ruins, hands downand anywhere that.
All the places and all theruins that I went to in Mexico.
There's so many different daytrips that I took to different
waterfalls and canyons that werejust.
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You wouldn't even believe it ifyou saw them.
It's like something you wouldsee in like Avatar, like just
totally just magical.
And even I think I stopped inGuatemala on a day trip when I
was there and it was this cutelittle town and I know this was
actually one of TerenceMcKenna's favorite places.
It's a huge mushroom towneverywhere that I went Like
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people would be asking me if Iwanted to buy hongos, if I
wanted to buy mushrooms, and Iwas like nope, how could it be
Purchasing mushrooms fromstrangers?
But it was very beautiful, itwas very magical.
And the ruins were magical inthe sense that like they were
just surrounded by greenery andthe jungle and the forest and
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like it was kind of like thishidden place versus like Chichen
Itza, where it was likecompletely wide open, there's no
covering or like barely anycovering, it's just this wide
open space.
And Palenque was kind of likethe opposite and it was just
very it felt very mystical andlike safe and like sacred there
and it wasn't like this supertouristy place, because Palenque
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is kind of like a.
Really it takes a while to getthere.
Like I said, I took a 12 hourbus ride to Palenque from where
I was at in Medida and anywhereelse that you go, you're going
to be taking quite some time,whether it's through bus or I
don't even think you can flydirectly into this city.
Actually, you're gonna have totake some form of transportation
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on land to get to this place.
So I spent about a week thereand After about a week I was
like, okay, it's time, time togo to my next stop, and I
decided to go to San Cristobal,and this was something that
someone had, a place thatsomeone had recommended to me.
I'd never heard of it, and so Itook another 12 hour bus ride
to San Cristobal and and I wassick, I think the first week
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that I stayed there.
So I was just staying in myAirbnb and I had a kitchen and
food from previous cities, sokind of hunkered down the first
week that I was there.
I was there about a month.
It was one of my favorite citiesand I honestly didn't want to
leave.
It was very magical in thesense that you know it was this
tiny little town that was tuckedin like all of these mountains,
like the bus ride there wasterrifying, because you're just
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like Weaving in and out of thesemountains and you see all of
the valleys and all of thecities that were lower down, and
so it was a really like hidden,magical city that I never would
have known about unless someonehad told me about.
And what I really liked aboutthe city is that in the small
town there were these stores andthey kind of reminded me of
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like Russian dolls in a way.
Like you would see the door onthe outside, but when the door
opened it was like these magicalworlds existed behind the doors
, like just totally unexpectedfrom what I thought would be
behind the doors.
And so every day it was like soexciting to walk around and
peek into the different storesand restaurants During the day
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and at night, because it wasalways different.
Some places were open at night,some places were open at day,
and so it was just like therewas so much to see and an
experience.
And so I really, reallyappreciated that about a sand
crystal ball, and when I wasthere I traveled to different
waterfalls in the area and Irode a horse to Chimola.
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I'm totally gonna butcher allthese city names, but Basically
it's really well known for thischurch there it's called the
Templotis San Juan Church andthis is where families come and
they do a variety of things inorder to ward off evil spirits
and heal their family membersand, basically, when you walk in
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, there's dry pine needlescovering the entire floor and
you can't take pictures insidethe church, so I'm just gonna
describe this in the best waythat I can.
But basically, like there arecandles, like literally
thousands of bare candles, likejust candlesticks, and they're
on the floor, they're on thetables, like everywhere, and
you're like this place is kindof freaking catch on fire.
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It was just a reallyinteresting experience to walk
into.
And then you have the familiesthat come in that they're trying
to heal family members or youknow they have their prayers or
their intentions and they comein and they bring a live chicken
and they bring coca-cola andthey bring liquor and what they
do is they basically sacrifice achicken in the church and then
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they drink coca-cola and liquorand it helps, like it's supposed
to, like Get rid of the evilspirits and the burps like Help,
like in that process, which iswhy they drink coca-cola.
And you have like kids down tolike two years old and they're
like taking these shots of ofliquor and drinking coca-cola.
It was really interesting to toobserve their, their tradition
and and be a part of that, and Ifelt really, really honored and
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special that I could witnessthat and just see what that
culture was like, and so Ihighly recommend traveling there
if you're in the area.
And so yeah, like I said, Itook a lot of day tours and ate
at a lot of differentrestaurants.
I practiced Spanish, you know, Itook Spanish lessons when I was
in Tulum and was practicing onmy own and then found actually
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people in the area that I couldpractice Spanish with and just
have like practiceconversational Spanish with.
And there was one day where Iwas just like walking around the
different markets and this guyI think he was from Brazil, it's
like older guy, it was probablyin his 50s or 60s and he's a
solo traveler and he justrandomly started walking next to
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me, was kind of starting torain and we just started talking
and it was just like we justkind of clicked and we Walked
around and he helped me buy somethings and then we went and
grabbed some food and heintroduced me to a couple other
people and I end up going tolike this movie night in this
cute little vegan restaurant andthey made us like this three or
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four course meal at thatrestaurant we watched.
I think it was like theseArgentinian films and it's just
like these little things wouldhappen where I would just
randomly meet people.
Or like one night I was sittingat a restaurant and someone
came over and started talking tome and then we ended up hanging
out that night and going tosome like random art exhibit at
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a hostel.
That was I'm not even reallytalk about what happened at that
exhibit.
It was really interesting anddifferent and After that, like I
ended up playing the guitar Forlike an hour or so on a rooftop
, like just it was reallybeautiful.
Just the unexpected experiencesthat happened when I was on on
this trip.
It really helped me to learnhow to trust myself and to
(25:36):
surrender with each moment and Ifelt very supported.
I felt very safe in all of thecities that I traveled with and
Every place that I went, everycity that I went, I always met
like the most beautiful, likeLike pure hearted people and I
felt like so protected in myentire trip and I think that,
honestly, people are like youknow, oh, mexico is so dangerous
(25:58):
and you're traveling byyourself and I never felt Unsafe
.
My entire travels and my familywould be texting me and they're
like cartels here and I'm likeI'm safe, I'm okay.
So After seeing Cristobal afterabout a month, I was like, okay
, it's it's time to go and I wasgoing to go to another city.
But at this point you know, I'ma couple months in and I was
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like I'm getting a little bittired of living out of suitcase,
just living in a country whereI didn't really speak the
language.
You know that.
Great, but I'm still wanting tocomplete a couple of things off
of my bucket list, and so theplan was to go to a Spanish
immersion before I left.
And thinking about this now, Iprobably should have started my
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trip with this, but it was stilllike a beautiful experience.
So I decided to fly into MexicoCity.
So I stayed there for a fewdays and I explored the city.
It kind of reminded me of likeNew York City in a way, but like
the Mexican version, it wasdirty.
There were like upscale placesand then like dirty places you
didn't want to go to and it wasokay.
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I was like I don't think I wantto come back here, but what I
will say is I appreciate thatthere's so much to do there, and
the number one thing that Ihighly recommend to anyone going
cause this was another one ofmy top favorite things I did
when I was in Mexico wasactually take a hot air balloon
ride, and it was in the again,I'm going to butcher this name,
but it's the TOT Joaquin Ruinsand so basically, I got up at
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like three or four in themorning, took a ride out there
and got to ride in a hot airballoon as the sun was rising
over these ruins.
It was just incredible andlife-changing.
And I'm not going to lie, I didhave a small panic attack but,
funnily enough, I was in abasket with a bunch of pilots
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from like Sweden and Norway andlike different parts of the
country, and they like theycalled me down and I was like I
need to be in the middle of thebasket.
I can't be near the edge partright now and so everyone in the
basket was like super sweet andthey were like taking pictures,
and some of the pictures thatwere taken it's like it doesn't
even look real, but cause therewere like I don't know 50 or a
(28:09):
hundred hot air balloons thatwere all in the sky at once as
the sun was rising over all ofthese ruins and it was.
It was beautiful.
Last it probably like an houror two was.
We were up there for quite sometime and then when we landed,
we all drank champagne at theend and we got to walk around
the ruins and I actually reallyenjoyed these ruins.
They were very different thanother ones that I went to and
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somehow it felt oddly familiar,like like maybe like I had like
a past life there or something.
Maybe that sounds silly, butthere was something that I was
like wow, this feels like homeor like comfortable to me, and
I've never really felt like thatbefore.
So it was interesting to towalk around and like feel that
energy in that space.
So, after Mexico City, I endedup going to Cuernavaca, which is
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about an hour or two south ofMexico City, and I decided to do
a Spanish immersion.
I was just going to go week byweek and see how I liked it, and
so basically I took all daySpanish classes for two to three
weeks, and the first week itwas like a group class and then
basically everyone went back toschool.
I think this, I think it waslike August or September when I
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was here, and so it was just me.
I ended up getting like privateSpanish lessons when I was
there for the price of likebeing in a group, so that was
really cool.
I got a lot of one-on-oneattention.
So we basically had class inthe morning and we would take a
break at lunch and I'd walk tothe Walmart or to like a
restaurant nearby and get asmoothie or something and then I
would have classes in theafternoon.
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So it was actually a very, verylong day and I am not typically
a morning person, so for me,having to get up and like go to
these classes was reallydifficult and challenging for me
, but I was able to to adjustand the the immersion part of
this was I stayed with a hostwho was so lovely and so sweet
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and she was like invited me intoher family and I had my own
room and she would cook dinnerfor me every single night and
they would have the the telenovaon and someone would come and
teach like meditation classes inSpanish at her house, which I
loved.
It was really cool toexperience that.
I actually taught a yoga classto my host in Spanish, so I got
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to practice with her a lot, likeeverything was in Spanish, like
no one spoke English, and so itwas a really interesting
experience to to be immersed inlike the culture, like that,
because, quite honestly, Inormally live my life in a
complete opposite way, where Iam a night owl and I eat dinner
really late and I think they hada really they had trouble
(30:42):
understanding that, because theyate bigger meals during the
morning and the afternoon andthen they ate really light and
they ate an early dinner onmaybe like three or four and I'm
like, yeah, I don't eat untillike nine o'clock at night and
they're like what, and I don'tnormally eat like a really big
breakfast, but I felt like I hadto.
So it was difficult andchallenging for me to really
make that adjustment when I wasthere and like that language
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barrier was really tough becauseeven though my host had been
hosting families for I don'tknow how many years, she didn't
know any English and so kind oflike it helped with the like
experience of being in animmersion, but I felt really
like it really helped me improvemy Spanish because of that.
I was like forced to lookthings up and I was forced to
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learn Spanish versus liketalking in English instead.
So when I was there.
I actually took a day trip toTip Botslin.
Oh my, I totally butchered that.
I'm so sorry.
It had the cutest market One ofmy favorite ones that I went to
the entire time I was in Mexicoand I hiked almost all of the
(31:47):
way up to the Tepetzco pyramid.
I'm so sorry, guys, please likeforgive me for butchering these
names, but unfortunately the toppart was closed, but it was
still like a pretty, prettytough hike up there.
It was kind of raining when Iwas walking up there but it was
so, so beautiful.
And I just remember, likesitting or like standing in the
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road and looking up at themountain where the ruins were
and just being like wow, like Iwould love to experience this
with with somebody.
Like just kind of like near theend of my travels and I was
just like wow, things are kindof coming to an end, and happy
that I had that solo experience,but knowing that I didn't
really want to travel unless itwas with somebody, that my
(32:32):
husband or somebody that wouldgo with me and be able to have
these experiences with me,because I mean, it's cool to
have them by yourself.
But I think I was just at apoint in my life where I was
like you know, I'm ready to justsettle down and, like, do this
with somebody else.
So another thing that Iexperienced when I was in muy
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cool and music and dancing andeveryone was taking lots of
shots of tequila and it was.
It was a lot of fun.
It was cool to have thatexperience in that culture and
just everyone was so happy andjust seeing the families
(33:17):
together and they're just sopassionate and like it was just
there was just so much lovethere and it was such a
beautiful experience.
And I would say I think was itthe second or third week, I was
kind of just feeling overwhelmedand having to like study every
single day and, honestly, justfeeling like I just wanted to go
back to the US.
I was tired of traveling, Iwanted to get back into my own
(33:37):
routine in my own space and thethe final week I got, I think I
got food poisoning.
I was really sick, I wasthrowing up and had to miss,
miss my class and at that pointI was like you know, I'm just
gonna book a flight home andjust get out of here.
I was just ready to be done andso I ended up taking a red eye
back to the States a few daysafter I got sick because I was
(34:00):
like I just need to get out ofhere.
I want to be back like my homebase, even though I didn't have
a place to return to.
When I got back to the US likea home home base, I still.
I went back to Florida and Iended up helping out a friend
open up her Airbnb and so likeeverything all worked out.
So it was like a perfect endingto well not the food poisoning,
(34:21):
but it was just the way thateverything wrapped up.
It was like I was just ready tocome home and had a really
beautiful place to land and thatwas my trip.
Those were all the places that Iwent when I was in Mexico.
I don't think I missed anything, but I kind of want to go
through like you know whatlessons to learn, like how did I
change as a person and whatwere my favorite parts and where
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the things I was worried about.
So, like I said, this was avery transformative time period
for me.
I did start those weeklysomatic therapy sessions and it
was kind of like the beginningof my healing journey, of really
learning to love myself andfeel more at home.
So in a lot of ways I changedenergetically, or it was almost
like prepping me for, like, thenext part of my journey when I
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returned back to the US, andthat was in itself was very
difficult and challenging for mewhen I returned to the US and
that's for, like a way, a wholeanother like podcast that I may
never actually do.
It was a very personal,challenging journey, kind of
like a spiritual awakening thatI went through, and so I feel
(35:25):
like this trip to Mexico waskind of like the catalyst, it
was like the instigator, thatkind of like pushed me to kind
of go through this awakening andreally grow as a person in a
lot of different ways.
So I'm so appreciative that Ihad this opportunity to travel
and you know there were so manycities that I didn't get to, but
(35:45):
honestly, I felt very completein my travels there and I was
just ready to come home and so,like I said, you know, at 35 I
was happy, or, 34 years old, Iwas happy to have had my solo
trip that I've been wantingsince my 20s, and so the trip
made me appreciate the US moreand just realized that I just
wanted to slow down and settledown and get married and just
(36:07):
kind of enjoy a simpler life,and I realized that I didn't
want to be alone in my travelsanymore and I really wanted to
share my experiences withsomebody.
So maybe it was just me gettingolder, but it just felt nice to
have that journey, complete thejourney and be able to satiate
that desire to travel on my ownfor a bit before I actually did
(36:28):
settle down.
Another thing is, you know, Ionly packed a suitcase and my
guitar and I ended up buying anextra bag because I bought gifts
and like I was carrying aroundfood from city to city because I
would stay in Airbnbs withkitchens, and you know that got
a little bit difficult orchallenging at the end because I
(36:49):
was lugging around, so itseemed like so much luggage and
so I don't know how I could havepacked any lighter, because
it's like I went to so manydifferent places where you know,
tulum was really hot and reallywarm and then I went to San
Cristobal and I end up having tobuy like hoodies and like warm
clothes because it was so coldthere.
I was in the middle of themountains and so that was a
(37:12):
little bit challenging for me,but it really learned.
Like I really learned is likeyou know, I'm just gonna pack
clothes that I can discardeasily and make sure that I can
leave a little bit of space inmy suitcase to bring back some,
some things.
And you know, I did feelincredibly safe the entire time
I was in Mexico.
(37:32):
You know I was a woman travelingalone and you know I took, like
I said, I took a handful of 12bus rides alone and I was taking
day trips where sometimes I wasthe only tourist on that day
trip and I rarely drank and if Idid, maybe like a few times, it
was just a glass of wine and Iwas with people and I that I
(37:53):
trusted or I was like right bymy Airbnb.
And so I think it's like youjust need to be smart about
traveling, like what you'redoing, and just be aware of your
surroundings.
And ever I traveled, it waslike people would tell me like
don't go to this place or avoidthis area, because it is pretty
easy to ride your bike throughareas that aren't so good, which
I actually did a few times inTulum, but it was during the day
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and I was like, okay, I'm amental note not to use Google
Maps to return this way to myAirbnb.
So, you know, I think when youexplore during the day, it's a
little bit easier too.
But, again, just being reallysmart about about traveling, and
I didn't really have any issuesat all and you know, people
were so nice and so helpful.
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I felt safer in some parts morethan with some US cities that
I've been to, and so for anyonewho is like Mexico is so
dangerous or traveling alone isdangerous, like, like I said, I
never felt unsafe.
I just made sure to be smartabout where I was at and who I
was interacting with and whatparts of the city that I was in.
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And I really appreciated thistrip because it taught me how to
be more in flow and how torelax and just trust the
universe, trust myself.
It was a very surrealexperience where I wasn't, I
wasn't working, and you know Iwas able to fully give myself
(39:20):
that time off to be like OK,like let's get to to know
yourself a little bit moreBecause, honestly, when you're
in another country and you don'tknow anyone and you don't know
the language, you learn a lotabout yourself and the fact that
you're in a differentenvironment.
It's like you're not beingtriggered by a familiar
environment that causes you toact in your normal, comfortable
(39:42):
ways, like you're forced to dothings in a different way.
You surprise yourself in theway that you react and behave
and how you do things.
And so I really really learneda lot about myself when I was
traveling and like how I can Ican react to things or like, if
things got hard, like what did Ido in those situations?
(40:03):
Or when things are really great, like where did my mind go or
what were the things that I did.
And so I really kind of reallygot closer to myself when I was
traveling in that way and Ilearned how to really trust
myself in a deeper way.
You know I've traveled solo indifferent countries before, so
this wasn't my first rodeo, butyou know it is still a little
terrifying when you don't speakthe language and you've never
(40:26):
been there before so you're notreally familiar with it.
So for me it was a lot of likeventuring out a little bit at a
time until I would feelcomfortable, and then I just
eventually felt really, reallyconfident in most places that I
stayed in.
And you know, would I do itagain In Mexico?
Honestly, I would go back tovisit some of the people that I
met and the places that I wentto, but I don't really feel the
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need to do it again.
It was an incredible experienceand, you know, while every town
was unique and special in theirown way, after a while they all
kind of started to seem thesame to me, like there were
markets, there were touristyspots and things like that.
You know you're going to haveyour unique special experiences
in different places withdifferent people, but I felt
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like any other city that I wentto in Mexico would be similar in
that, like energetically, andso I don't necessarily feel the
need to return, but also, at thesame time, I was also feeling
burnout from living out of asuitcase and was ready to come
home after five months.
So some people may reallyreally love that and they love
being the nomad and living onthe road like that.
(41:30):
But you know, I really learnedthat about myself.
I thought it was something thatwould be exciting and fun, but
I was like no, this reallytaught me that I wanted to
settle down and have a home base.
So, wow, okay, I believe thatis it.
This is the first time I'veever really talked about my trip
and its entirety to anyone likethis before.
(41:51):
It was very transformative andbeautiful, and I will always
remember this time period of mylife because it was the first
leap of many, many big leapsthat I began to take in my life
and the beginning of my journeyback home to getting to really
know and love myself.
And you know I'm sure there areso many more things that I could
(42:12):
go into more detail.
I've shared a lot of differentplaces and things that I've done
, so if there are any questions,I'm happy to share in more
detail or places that I want.
If you're planning on going toMexico, I love to share all of
this, so you can shoot me anemail at hello at Nina-Elisecom,
and if you enjoyed this episode, feel free to share with anyone
(42:35):
who may be interested intraveling around Mexico.
It's such a beautiful countryand I highly recommend traveling
to different parts.
It's different and bright andpeople are so incredibly nice
there, and it has been one of myfavorite countries that I have
traveled to.
And that is all that I have tosay, and I will talk to you all
(42:55):
in the next episode.
Bye.
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