Mexico City

In my last installment I gave a brief insight into how I felt about Mexico city and the general vibe of the place. since we were there for over a week I'm going to only write a paragraph on each activity or outing and if anyone would like to know more it get some extra info on anything on particular just drop a comment below. Edit: I've nearly split it up per day.

As I covered previously we arrived in on Tuesday 10th (July) and stayed with Isabel's friends. We met up with Karina at around 15:30. Karina brought us out locally for some pulque. It's a native Mexican drink from the south of the country. It has become a quite popular drink in this part of Mexico over the last while. Later on that evening I got an assortment of pulque with a delicious steak burrito when Nicia met us.

As the girls were working we made our way around the following day to catch some sites. We rode the subway to the bus station and got a bus about an hour outside the city to Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan isn't the Mexican (new) wonder of the world; that is a temple in Yutacan which we are panning to visit in as few weeks. We climbed one of the pyramids which offered wonderful views of the surrounding countryside as well as the other temple/pyramid and entire heritage site. There was also an excellent museum that displays artifacts from the ancient city. One thing that really got under my skin was the swarms of merchants selling absolute crap all over the ruins. It really took from the magnificence of the 2000 or so year old city.

I'm struggling to remember which order we did things in. I think it was Wednesday that we took the subway to the middle of the city and hung out around Centro Histórico (no prizes for guessing what that is). This part of the city is built directly over the original Aztec city. They are still excavating parts but have uncovered a substantial temple just off the main square. It was found by some workers laying cables... even though the ruins had a huge modern age sewer running directly through them. We mooched around a bit, bought a Spanish grammar book (still to be used) and headed towards one of the main or rather iconic streets in the city, Paseo de la Reforma. It was around rush hour when we started making our way back so we decided to walk the whole length of the street to Condesa where we were staying. The walk took about an hour but we got to see a huge portion of the business/skyscraper end of the city. We also saw some people protesting against the dodgy guy who is cheating his way into the presidency here too, but it was only a small protest.

That night we met up with the girls and took a free salsa lesson in one of the bars around the corner from their apartment. I can't say I'm an expert yet, but I definitely know more than when I started (which I guess wouldn't be hard). Needless to say my legs were quite tired after the day walking and night dancing.

We waited in the apartment the next day for Mayela and Gizeh to arrive. We went out for some afternoon pulque and then a few drinks back in the apartment. In relation to "seeing" Mexico city we only got to see how busy a bar can get after work time on a Friday.

The above left some of the ladies a little worse for wear so not a whole lot happened Saturday morning. We all got some tasty tostadas in a market Nicia brought us to later that day. Mexico city also has it's own little series of canals in one part of the city so we took a boat out and around it for a few hours. It's an extremely popular thing to do and seemed to be enjoyed by all ages. I think I put some pictures up, and if I didn't I have some to add.

On Sunday we all went to a tiny little market selling absolutely amazing handcrafts. Spent a fortune. Gizeh was departing and after leaving her at a metro the remainers caught a Luche Libre event. I think we were there for 2 or 3 hours in total. It was a little slow to start but when it got going it entertained immensely. Unfortunately I've no pictures because we had to check our cameras in before entering.

We saw Mayela off on Monday and spent a good portion of the day between the craft market (see above) and dhl, trying to post something home. For you the reader that's not important or interesting. Moving onto Tuesday we watched Spiderman in the cinema. It was our lazy day so I shan't bore you with that either.

After over a week in Mexico city I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Currently we have taken a few days out to visit Guanajuato which is a colonial town 4 hours north of Mexico city. I'm going to hit the hay now so I can fill you in on it next. If I think of anything else I'll add it to this post because I know there it's plenty I haven't mentioned.