Packing for SMA and Guanajuato

Third time's a charm! This being my third spring break trip to Mexico, I was fairly confident in my packing. I packed exactly what I needed for the ten day trip - two pairs of shoes, two pairs of pants, seven shirts, four dresses, a skirt, a kimono, a bikini, and a jean jacket. For once, I didn't do a lot of shopping, only purchasing three of those items with this trip in mind. The rest I had from previous trips or my daily wardrobe. I bought a shirt and a pair of earrings as souvenirs and wore them during the trip as well, out of joy rather than necessity. Here's the breakdown, day-by-day:

Day One

Waking up to the incredible view from our hotel called for a few pictures - I threw on a colorful kimono over the yellow jeans and appliqued shirt I'd be wearing that day. Since we planned on walking down into town, I decided to wear my white sneakers and jean jacket. My sunglasses were a pair I'd bought in Spain to replace a pair I lost, and bit the dust not long after this trip. That afternoon, Mom found a great silver shop where I purchased some Frida-inspired earrings. Perfect for my new job!

Day Two

I love this dress for travel days because it's ridiculously comfortable, while looking like you actually tried. (My hair, on the other hand...) I paired it with brown suede booties, a jean jacket, and white tassel earrings.

Day Three

For our first day exploring San Miguel, I wore the white sneakers, yellow jeans, jean jacket, and tassel earrings again. I swapped out shirts, going for a green floral blouse from Target. Rather than pack a hat for this trip, I bought one on the street. For dinner that evening, I changed into a maxi dress that I bought for last year's cruise, and paired it with earrings I bought in Costa Maya. While it looks like they no longer sell it in this pattern, I bought this dress after seeing Oneika sport the yellow floral version on her blog, and my cousin sport the tropical print to a wedding. It takes up more room in a packing cube than I'd like, but Instagram marketing pays off.

Day Four

I'm not cool enough to pull off Keds with a maxi skirt without looking like I belong to some Christian "modesty" cult, but whatever. It worked for our day trip out to the pueblos mágicos of Querétaro. A white tee shirt and my Costa Maya earrings, along with a matching necklace Mom bought me, rounded out the outfit. Literally everything aside from my accessories is from Walmart.

Day Five

This was a walking day, between visiting the ecological preserve and walking from the fancy art galleries at the northeast corner of town back to our airbnb. Jeans, a white embroidered top, a jean jacket, and sneakers were a good choice. My new straw hat kept the sun off, but also had no ventilation and was super sweaty.

Day Six

I knew we were going to end up at the hot springs by mid-afternoon, so I chose to wear a casual black dress that would be easy to toss in my bag. Refreshed after swimming and a massage, we returned to SMA and went out to dinner. I wore a shirt I bought a few doors down from our airbnb - a gauzy zebra-print button-down - over a black tank top. (I wore this outfit again on the flight home.)

Day Seven

Knowing this was going to be our most instagrammable day in SMA, I decided to wear my red floral sundress. It looked great in our photos and held up surprisingly well. I was later gifted a flower crown, which really completed the look.

Day Eight

Looking through our pictures, Mom jokingly asked me, "Did you plan to match the coffee cup?" Yes, Mom. Yes, I did. This was the first trip I'd planned entirely because of Pinterest and Instagram, so when I saw this kimono, I knew it would look amazing with the golden yellows and brick reds of Guanajuato's skyline. Turns out, it looks good with pretty much any vibrant color. It also folds up to nothing - a highly recommended travel item. Anyway, this was our final day in SMA, spent finding a place for Mom to mail her postcards and figuring out how we were going to get our new over-sized tin stars home.

Day Nine

After another bus ride, we were back in Guanajuato. I'd thrown on a ridiculously comfy black tee-shirt dress and dressed it up with my Costa Maya jewelry. Turns out black and blue can go together when a jean jacket is involved. (I know I'm ridiculous - I wore the jean jacket pretty much every day. The first jean jacket I've ever owned, it was originally purchased for my 2016 Mexico City trip and has proven invaluable ever since.)

Day Ten

One last item that I purchased for my first trip to Mexico and have worn ever since, this white blouse from Target is thisclose to falling apart, which makes me sad. Most mass-produced shirts of this type are just large pieces of polyester lace fabric sewn together. This one has actual embroidery and is cotton - it feels handcrafted. I paired it with a necklace from Target and earrings I bought in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. They're enameled Canadian pennies!

My entire trip wardrobe fit into packing cubes in my carry-on suitcase, aside from the black dress from day nine. The dress has become the item I always stuff in my backpack along with a change of underwear, just in case my carry-on gets gate-checked and lost. Packing well is always fun, but I feel like I've nailed the Spring Break-type trips and am ready for a new challenge. (Two weeks in India 2021? Backpacking Southeast Asia 2022?!)