Mexico - Globeblogging

Farewell Belize, hello Tulum Mayan ruins

Day 18; Farewell Belize

Today we farewell Belize and its delicious lobsters and spend much of the day in transit to Tulum, Mexico. Not all days are created equal just as not all days can be jam packed with as much fun as others.

Today is one of those not so fun ones.

We are on the 8am water taxi from the island to the mainland. Its much cooler this morning so we all make a beeline for the downstairs interior. This proves to be a wise choice when people from the top level start coming down the stairs to squeeze in downstairs wherever they can, in varying stages of wetness. One woman’s hair is dripping. At some point water starts running along the bench seat on the side where most of the group are seating. I shift forward but its like shutting the gate after the proverbial horse, I have a wet arse.

An hour later and we’re pulling up to the dock at Belize City. Collecting my bag reveals that when putting the padlock on the bottom section of my backpack I only put it through one of the zippers, rendering it not only a pointless exercise but leaving my zipper to open, which is exactly what it has done. My towel was closest to the top and it’s still there, hopefully all of my underwear and socks still are too or I could need to go shopping once I hit Mexico!

Back in Mexico

At the Mexico border I forget to sign my entry form and the official sends me to the back of what is now a very large line. I want to yell with frustration and the injustice, it would have taken me two seconds to sign the form in front of him, but you don’t want to give them any reason to further make life difficult for you. My group gives me sympathetic looks but I’m sure the delay is a pain in the arse. He must have taken pity on me though as he called me back down after a few more people had gone through.

The customs section is empty when we arrive and they have to start up the machine to scan our bags through. They also have the same system I saw entering Guatemala for inspections. You collect your bag from the belt and are directed to push a button that has two lights above it. A green light you get to carry on, a red light means your bag gets checked. One of the group collects her bag quicker than me and goes ahead. She gets a red light. Mine is green. I’m relieved it is her and not me. Not that I think I would have anything of concern, but there are some things they could potentially challenge and my bag would be a nightmare to repack in a hurry. They had a good rifle through the bags of the four members of our group that got a red light.

It’s a nice comfortable bus with plenty of space for this next leg, thankfully since its such a long journey. We stop off at a lovely place on the lake for lunch where some of the group have a swim. I’m content to peruse however, and enjoy a banana nutella crepe for dessert!

Its pretty much 7pm when we pull into our Tulum accommodation and Ruth and I were pretty impressed with our room. It was ginormous, with a spacious bathroom and a king and queen bed. And the bed was super comfortable! Others didn’t find their rooms quite so impressive.

We walked the ten minutes into town for dinner. It’s unbelievable how many dogs are tearing around, I’m nearly barrelled over by one. But they all seem to have road sense. I’m keen to hit the shops tomorrow and check out some of the stores we’ve passed. Just for something different we have Tacos for dinner. They’re basic but pretty tasty. Some of us arrange to meet up for a trip to the ruins of Tulum tomorrow given its a free day.

After a long day of traveling we’re all pretty beat and head for our beds early, for us anyway!

Day 19; The Tulum Mayan Ruins

The morning finds us once again walking into town for a prearranged breakfast with those of us heading to the ruins, most of us as it turns out. A glorious free day stretches before us! The limited Spanish most of us, including myself, know proves insufficient to communicate the finer details of our order, but fortunately our French group member is far closer to fluency, even though she would deny it. The breakfast special is an omelette with a juice included and most of us order some variation of this with a coffee extra. The coffee’s ok, but I still miss Guatemalan coffee.

Most of the girls choose to hire a bicycle for the day from the hire place near our hotel, as I can’t actually ride a bike (yes I know how, it’s a brain injury/balance thing) I chose to get a taxi out to the ruins, and Fiona and Helena elected to join me. While the others arranged their bikes the three of us walked over the road in front of the hotel to the shopping centre, where we figured there would probably be somewhere we could get a taxi. The one we found quoted twenty pesos to take the three of us. While this seemed an extraordinarily good deal and we all jumped at it, by the time the taxi dropped us off he was asking us for two hundred pesos. Between the three of us it was still pretty cheap though, and we couldn’t exactly argue with him. It was just fortunate we were carrying enough cash.

In any case, we had safely arrived at the Tulum Mayan Ruins.

By this time, you’d probably think that all the ruins are starting to look pretty much the same, and to an extent you’d be right, but the Tulum ruins are unique in that they are built literally on the coastline. The ruins against the backdrop of the ocean colours makes for some spectacular photos. The city is also known as Zama, meaning dawn, so named for being one of the first places dawn breaks in Mexico. It was a commercial port for the Mayans that served as a redistribution point for products coming from Central America, the gulf and Central Mexico.

The ruins are open every day from 8am to 5pm and entry is around forty pesos. It does get pretty busy though, so best to get out ther early to beat the crowds. Waiting at the entry gate we see a group of Coati in the trees. Once inside the three of us wander our separate ways, agreeing on a meeting point for later.

One of the first things I notice is that there are Iguanas, literally everywhere! Seeing these is a first for me and I regularly snap away with the camera.

While the path around the city offers many photo opportunities, none are perhaps quite so picturesque as the Temple of the Wind God standing on the edge of the cliff face. These specific temples are identifiable due to their circular shape when viewed from above, rare in Mayan architecture.

The Palace, so named because it was the residence of the Great Lord and his family

The Castle; the most important building in Tulum. It was once brightly painted.

Between June and October every year two species of turtle come to this beach to lay their eggs.

After spending some time wandering Tulum, I rendezvous with Fiona and Helena and we decide to walk along the road that leads to the ruins, populated with hotel after hotel, and find somewhere to enjoy a cold drink in the heat of the afternoon. We find many of them are quite exclusive and deny us entry but finally find a glamping site. It is populated with a number of large tents for rent, and a quaint makeshift kitchen built into a hut-like structure. With no electricity, drink and food choices are limited to what can be mixed by hand or cooked over a fire. We enjoy a number of cocktails and a light meal.

Rather than get a taxi back to our hotel we decide that it didn’t really seem that far when we traveled there, and decided to walk. It took us the best part of an hour!

I pass the rest of the afternoon strolling the streets in town perusing the stores, and while I was tempted by a lovely colourful hammock the reality of transporting it home made it seem rather unpractical. I returned to the hotel empty handed.

Thinking of visiting Tulum? Check out these tips to travel Mexico on a budget!

Like this post? Please share!

Chasing the tour bus to Frida and a blue house

Day 5: The Frida Kahlo house and New Years Eve in Mexico

The Frida Kahlo house was top of Ruth’s list for Mexico City, but we had been unable to get tickets online. The hotel told us that we could go and lineup anyway, but there would be no guarantee of getting in.

So we were looking at tours again, despite our experience at Teotihuacan.

I had spent the previous morning on my phone searching for tours that included the Frida house. I found a full day one which sounded ok and booked it for today, our final day in Mexico City. Pickup was 9am from the Palace of Fine Arts, about a 5min walk from our hotel. We were there at 8.45am.

We waited.

And we waited.

A few minutes after 9am no guide wearing the tour company shirt had made an appearance. I dug out the number and started ringing. Or trying to at least, all I got were tones. Ruth had no luck from her phone either.

Eventually I took another look at the information and found the same number listed again. This time it had two additional digits. I tried it and what do you know it started ringing! Buyer beware if booking this tour through Viator.

What followed was a frustrating 20 minutes of trying to make myself understood. I discovered that we’d been waiting in the wrong location for the bus which had of course now gone. I tried to establish where the tour would be at what time so we could attempt to join it. Finally I managed to ascertain we could meet at the Frida Kahlo house, figuring that we could get in and if we ditched the tour after that then at least we’d got there.

Ruth called an Uber and we were on our way. The person I had been speaking with wasn’t clear on the time our group would be there. I expected to find them inside, leaving us limited time if we chose to continue with the tour. Instead we were instructed to locate someone in the line. It transpired that we were looking for the driver of the bus and the tour group would be following. The driver was waiting to collect the tickets and told us we could wait across the street. We weren’t game to let him out of our sight!

I didn’t know much of the story of Frida, and it wasn’t on my list of things to do, so when the guide told us we had just over an hour inside I felt it would be plenty of time for me. While the art and the stories were interesting, I enjoyed the gardens more than the art. Scattered throughout the gardens were signposts containing quotes from Frida or her husband Diego Rivera, also a famous artist. They told what was clearly a great love story. Frida certainly had to overcome many challenges in her life. Ruth felt she went through a little faster than she otherwise would have but we both felt we had enough time.

We rejoined the tour for the activities that hadn’t really interested us. Floating on barges down a canal at Xochimilco had looked ok on the website, but the reality was it was so crowded we may as well have been playing dodgem barge. Boats floated alongside us cooking our lunch for a price I would have paid in a quality restaurant. It was certainly not to that standard. For the second time in two days I wondered if I would be ending up with food poisoning from the experience. A Mariachi band hopped on our boat to play a few songs.

We were given half an hour to wander stores with more of the same merchandise we’d already seen, and did a walking tour of the Mexico University – described as Mexico’s Harvard but I think they might be aiming a tad high on the scale – before we thankfully were dropped off ahead of schedule.

And then it was New Years Eve! Nineteen hours after it was at home.

It was almost an obligation to experience New Years Eve in a foreign city so we dressed up and went searching for the party. However when we got to the main square it was far less busy than it had been previous nights which didn’t fit what Edgar had told us. We asked a young girl and was told there would be fireworks later.

We left in search of dinner, ending up at a place not far away that was blasting Latin music and spruiking on the street below. It was packed out so the service was incredibly slow, though our waiter was lovely and clearly run off his feet. On Edgar’s recommendations of foods we must try I ordered the Chicken Mole, a sauce made up of 50 odd ingredients including chocolate. I didn’t dislike it but it was certainly a very different flavour, I think it may be an acquired taste.

We stopped by the still empty square before we decided to return to our hotel for a drink and ascertain if we were missing something.

Yep. The party was nowhere near us.

The concierge described it as a twenty-five minute walk. But it was closer to forty. We could hear the music from ages away, taunting us as being just out of reach as it floated to us on the breeze. We finally got there at 11.30pm.

They had closed an entire street. A Latin band played on a stage at the end and people packed the street watching the stage and screens. As we walked through the throng to get closer people were dancing salsa where they had the space. A cold wind blew across the crowd without dampening their spirits an iota. All around me voices conversed rapidly in Spanish but everyone knew the words when the countdown started, hurling them out into the night followed by deafening cheers and applause. The fireworks commenced with a bang to a chorus of more cheers as everyone gaped into the air and sang out ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the appropriate moments. It was all over in just over 5 minutes. It was nothing on a Sydney display but still pretty cool to watch.

We were exhausted from our long walk and being on the go all day. Since our flight to Guatemala is in the morning we decided it was time to call it a night. We walked away from the celebrations and attempted to call an Uber, four drivers accepted and then canceled before we gave up and just walked back anyway.

Mexico City, its been rad. Next stop: Antigua!

Chapultepec; The Castle of Mexico City

Day 4: Chapultepec Castle

Serendipity: A fortunate accident

I had a solid 8hrs unbroken sleep last night. With no locked in times for activities we’d permitted ourselves a much needed sleep in. Our plan was to head to Chapultepec Castle and explore another part of the city.

It was a couple of stops on the metro, so we asked our hotel the best way of getting there. We were emphatically told we would be a clear target on the metro and an Uber was best.

And so it was Ruth and I had our first experience as users of Uber, and it was a slightly confusing one. Our driver didn’t look like his photo at all, but he nodded when we said the name. He said something in Spanish, I asked if he spoke English and he said no. We assumed he was confirming our destination and I repeated it, while Ruth whispered ‘why doesn’t he know where we’re going?’ I found out later I was mispronouncing the name so this may have led to some of the confusion! We were reassured that we were traveling in the right direction when Ruth checked google maps.

Seems his confusion was genuine as he pulled over somewhere that wasn’t Chapultepec Castle and said something, we went to get out of the car and he started driving again and did another lap of where we had just gone. Eventually he pulled over again and we were able to convey that we would get out.

He had dropped us near some sort of military installation and a number of guards were looking at us with interest while Ruth tried to find our location on google maps. One approached us, obviously concerned with our presence there. I asked him if he spoke English (an often uttered phrase I am finding) and it sounded to me like he said ‘no I don’t speak English’ in English, so I thought he was being a smartarse and continued in speedy English.

Blank look number 1. Some phrase in Spanish.

Ok, really no speaka English.

‘Chapultepec Castle?’

Blank look number 2. Ummmm…

‘Donde es Chapultepec Castillo?’ I say, rather proud of myself at this point.

Blank look number 3. A moment, then comprehension dawns, ‘aaaah’

He proceeds to speak quickly in Spanish illustrated with pointing gestures. I replicate his gestures to confirm and he says ‘Si’

‘Muchos Gracias’

Communication here is comprised of incomplete sentences or the odd Spanish word and some gestures. I have learned how to ask for the bill after a couple of days of miming writing on our hands.

We set off on foot and walked past some kind of military installation, evident by the men patrolling with guns, and after this find the entryway to another green oasis in the city. While I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to find myself walking through there at night it was a nice stroll during the day.

I was super excited to see squirrels, much to Ruth’s amusement. They remind me of my time in the UK as a child.

In a lovely shaded little grove speakers played soft music and forest noises, and people lay back on sloped park benches enjoying their moments of tranquility.

Just beyond we could see the castle rising out of the trees on the hill above us and we had finally found it! A climb up the hill and 70 pesos later we were in the grounds.

Given the Spanish influence in the city it shouldn’t have felt strange to be in a place so clearly European. By far the strangest thing was a building so opulent and grand, with Mexico City visible from the grounds and balconies. We could also see a lake with boats from the balcony and after leaving the castle decided to head there to take a look.

It transpired that the castle was the venue for the ballet advertised in town. A courtyard stage had the seating for the evening show set up before it. We enquired at the gate as to whether there were any tickets available for the evenings performance, once again using words and incomplete sentences. The man in the ticket booth confirmed what the website had shown, that it was sold out.

At the bottom of Chapultepec Hill every part of the paths leading through the park was occupied by a stall selling something, for as far as you can see. Ruth finally got the Churro she’d been dying to try, and my hunger drove me to try one also, despite not actually liking the ones I have tried back home. Turns out I don’t like them in Mexico either.

Upon stumbling into the food area we had menus thrust in our faces the moment we entered, not realising that the whole stretch of the frontage was different food stands and we’d just been neatly lassooed by the ones who happened to snaffle the prime location at the entry. My meal had me wondering if I would be suffering from food poisoning later.

When we found the lake the boats turned out to be paddle-boats. Since it was a lovely sunny afternoon, 60 pesos later I was awkwardly positioned in a seat that had me virtually lying down. We definitely did not skip leg day!

We had planned to check out the Anthropology museum which was nearby, but we decided to hit the shops and instead found a landmark (stopping to pose with an angel wings sculpture on the way) and called for an Uber to collect us, having a much smoother interaction than the morning although he also spoke no English.

The change room mirrors were below my eye level. Apparently I am not Mexican sized.

Since we couldn’t go to the ballet, Ruth wanted to check out a rooftop bar she had read about which looked over the main square. While I waited for our cocktails Ruth went out onto the balcony to try and rustle us up some chairs.

When I finally emerged onto the balcony Ruth was deep in conversation with a local couple who turned out to be seriously lovely people. We had a drink with them then went our separate ways to go in search of dinner. While we were waiting to pay our drinks bill they came back in and asked if we would join them for dinner so they could show us the real Mexican experience.

What followed was a night full of laughs and great conversation that is a highlight of our trip so far. Apparently there is Mexican food, and then there is Mexican food. Like saying pizza is Italian. Edgar and Andra took us to a restaurant called Azul. It was so busy our table was an hours wait so we went to the rooftop bar above it called Down Town to wait.

Down Town is apparently where all the VIPs go, it sounded perhaps like the Ivy in Sydney. Edgar pointed out a media star to us, a name which meant nothing to us of course! We ordered an appetiser while we waited – if you ever go there do yourself a favour and get the shrimp tacos. Just wow!

So then we had our real Mexican culinary experience. While the food we’d been eating was really tasty it was more of your street/cafe food. Azul was a nice restaurant, and the distinction was evident. Meals were still cheap by our measure at about $12 US a main. The menu featured specialties local to the different parts of Mexico and the food was divine!

Andra and Edgar were wonderful company. Ruth and I were able to ask the many questions we had about life in Mexico. Edgar confirmed my mothers fears that Mexico is actually quite a dangerous place. It was quite safe at this time due to the extra police presence for Christmas and New Year. It was Edgar that told us we had inadvertently stumbled into the black market. Edgar didn’t think his English was very good and relished the chance to practice! Meanwhile my mispronunciation of Chapultepec relaying the story of our day had him roaring with laughter as he corrected me! For future reference it is Cha-pull-tepeck.

It was nearly midnight when we returned to our hotel, elated at having had such an amazing and totally unplanned evening and making new friends.

For more recommendations for Mexico City take a look at 5 reasons we love Mexico City.

Visiting Teotihuacan from Mexico City

Visiting Teotihuacan – a tour experience

This post contains affiliate links. Making a purchase through one of these links earns a small commission at no additional cost to you and is a great way to show your support to this site.

In what was a lesson in blindly taking recommendations and not asking enough questions, we had the hotel book us into a day trip out to Teotihuacan, one of the largest Pyramids outside of Egypt. We didn’t get to Teotihuacan until 1pm, had nothing to eat until 4pm – which was dreadful – and were dragged around to things we weren’t at all interested in doing.

On our way out to Teotihuacan we stopped off at Tlatelolco, Aztec ruins so close to the city they are surrounded by modern constructions. It is also the site of a mass grave located by archaeologists in 2009, believed to be from the Spanish conquest.

My big tip for Teotihuacan is get there early, like this! The sun rises over the Pyramids and it is far less crowded. When we got there the crowd was unlike anything I have ever seen with queues just to get to the climb itself. It took us well over an hour to get through the queue and climb the 243 odd steps and 65m to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. When we got there we were unable to take a single photo without someone standing in the way! The middle of the day is the hottest part, and the area is completely exposed to the sun. It is less than pleasant to be waiting and climbing in the full strength of the sun.

Despite this, it was a pretty darn cool experience! The pyramid borders the remains of the Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan, long ago abandoned to the elements for reasons no one has ever discovered. From the Pyramid you can see the structure of the city stretching out below.

There are two pyramids, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. The Pyramid of the Sun is the larger of the two and the one you are able to climb. Parts of the steps are dangerously steep and narrow. It wasn’t hard to imagine us all toppling down like dominoes should someone lose their balance and slip. I held onto the guiderope tightly in some parts going back down.

It was insanely crowded at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, everyone jostled for the best position, arms thrust in the air seeking the perfect selfie. We found the next layer down was far less crowded and spent some pleasant time sitting on the edge, with enough space to take clear photos.

The Pyramid of the Moon from the Pyramid of the Sun

I’m not going to go into detail about the average meal while serenaded by Mariachi singers, nor the stinky workshop where we sampled liqueur made from cactus and Mexican rum. The rum was like rocket fuel but the liqueur actually wasn’t bad.

We also stopped by a silver factory to watch Rafael, who designed the jewellery for the movie Titanic. We each got a design carved in a small piece of silver. I wonder where mine is…

We did meet a lovely kiwi couple on their honeymoon who were great for some laughs. Unfortunately they flew to Cuba the following day or we would have caught up with them again.

Our final, reluctant stop was the Basilica of the Virgin Mary, which stands beside a newly built one. The original is the oldest church in Mexico. It was the strangest experience walking through it, as I felt I was walking lopsided. The Basilica has a distinct lean. Mexico City sinks a couple of centimetres each year, due to being built on an underground lake. It’s more obvious in some buildings than others but not easy to capture in photographs.

So it’s pretty evident that while I do recommend visiting Teotihuacan to anyone traveling to Mexico City, I wasn’t a massive fan of this particular tour. But let me provide you with some other options.

How to get to Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan is located around an hours drive from Mexico City, so this isn’t a journey you can undertake on foot. There are a number of options for getting there.

Bus to Teotihuacan

The bus from Mexico city to Teotihuacan leave approximately every 30 minutes from Terminal del Norte, or the Potrero Metro station. As at April 2019 a ticket will cost 50 pesos one way. There are reports of robberies on the buses however, so best to leave expensive gear at your hotel if you are choosing this route.

Uber to Teotihuacan

Uber tends to be a cheaper option than taxi’s in Mexico, and potentially safer given the presence of unauthorised taxi’s, but according to online forums a trip out to Teotihuacan will cost approximately 500 pesos each way depending on the demand at the time. Given this is around US$25, this might be a good option particularly if you are sharing the costs with others.

The advantage to making your own way is the freedom to spend as much time at the site as you want, rather than being limited by the tour itinerary. All that I had the time to do was climb the Pyramid of the sun and take some cactus photos! There is a whole city to explore as well as the museum.

Tour Teotihuacan

Now just because the tour I took didn’t turn out quite the way I expected doesn’t mean they are all bad. And there is the benefit that a tour will include the costs of entry to Teotihuacan as well as the transport.

I recommend getting to Teotihuacan early before the sun and the crowds, so a sunrise tour might be worth checking out. This also means you have some time to look through the museum and more of the site, instead of just climbing the pyramid.

You can also organise a Teotihuacan Private tour.

For a different experience you can also take a hot air balloon over Teotihuacan before your walk through the city.

Teotihuacan Entrance Fee

If you choose to make your own way for a self-guided tour, there is an entrance fee of 75 pesos, which includes entry to the museum.

Teotihuacan Hours of Operation

Teotihuacan is open every day of the year between the hours of 9am to 5pm.

Wandering Mexico City, and the black market

Day 2: Mexico City

I think I was asleep almost as soon as I turned out the light and I awoke full of beans and ready to explore Mexico City. Given local time was 11pm at night though it didn’t seem like the wisest idea. The king bed we’re sharing is amazingly comfortable and staying in bed isn’t a bad alternative.

Outside the sanctuary of our room the morning proved to be colder than expected. The chill air from the front door washed by me in the courtyard as I ate breakfast. It drove me to seek warmer clothes and reminded me that despite the warmer days, it is winter here.

Breakfast in the courtyard of Hotel Historico Centrales

A chatty NZ tourist had mentioned to us last night that Mexico City didn’t really get moving until after 10am and when we ventured forth this proved to be the case. The street looked like an average street.

By the time we emerged from the Temple of St Francis of Asissi the street resembled the busyness we had encountered before. It was worse than a Sydney peak hour – all day. We had no real plans for the day other than to explore the city and wandered the garden of sculptures by Salvador Dali next door to the temple before we rejoined the crowd.

There are police at every major intersection, despite the existence of perfectly clear traffic signals. Their whistles overlap the strange trilling of the flashing green pedestrian crossing man. At the first hint of either the crowds surge forward like a singularly focused hive-mind leaving you no option but to move with the flow. You barely have space to put your heel in front of the other toe and it takes swift manoeuvres to extract yourself from the stream.

We took a walk around the Fine Arts Palace, currently showing a traditional Mexican folk ballet for which we’re hoping to get tickets and strolled through the markets behind it. Some unique gifts tempted me, until I moved to the next stall and found the same merchandise repeatedly appeared, indicating its true mass produced origins.

At the metro station we scratched our heads and pondered how the fares worked, a puzzle for another day, before meandering through Alameda Central Park, a green oasis in the middle of Mexico City’s bustle.

In search of the Cathedral of the Assumption, written to have exceptional views of the city, we walked to the other side of the Historic district. Unfortunately both bell towers were closed to the public for renovations and we had to be satisfied with wandering the spacious interior instead.

A man on the street attempted to sell me a Spanish newspaper. I shook my head and said ‘no Espanol’ with a smile, which he returned and said brightly ‘welcome to Mexico!’ The streets are full of voices calling out in Spanish. People thrust cards and pamphlets as you go past trying to lure you into their restaurants or stores. I politely decline most, but one made me double-take as I realised he was selling freshly squeezed orange juice. He responded fifteen pesos to my ‘Cuanto questas?’ I nodded ‘Si’ and was handed a large cup of fresh juice for less than $1 US.

The efforts I made to learn some basic Spanish are coming in useful. I have uttered ‘Cuanto questas’ often today. Though being a gringo with limited Spanish has the advantage of being genuinely blank when bombarded by people selling something! It is unfortunate the lack of English translations on the labels in many of the museums limited my experience.

I am again reminded of Manila, which occurs to me makes sense as both were Spanish colonies. Much of the architecture reminds me of a roman influence also, perhaps it is the prevalence of the catholic cathedrals. The number of street performers, especially at night, is also reminiscent of my time in the Philippines.

On the other side of the Cathedral of the Assumption, we find a stretch something like a stormwater drain with beautifully painted walls and stalls lining the sides of the street. While we seem to be walking away from the main hub of the city there are still plenty of people around, but we turned back because we wanted to get to the tower in the other direction. When I describe this spot to locals Ruth and I met a few days later they told us with wide eyes we had been in the black market – where anything you could imagine is sold and quite a dangerous part of town. Whoops!

We thought this part of town was so pretty with the painted walls, we found out a couple of days later it was the black market!

They seem to have a museum for everything here; Cultures, Photography, Caricatures, Economics, Art, and Remembrance and Tolerance to name a few. We ventured into a number of them. A young girl with impeccable English interviewed us for her school project at the old palace of the Archbishop. Her father beamed with pride while filming her, not understanding most of what we said. Then our aching feet sent us in search of the Latin America Tower for its 360 degree views of the city.

Mexico City is immense, which you realise when you’re looking down from the birds eye view. As far as my eye could see in all directions there was the city. Parts of it were clouded with what I assumed was smog, but I later learned was actually fine volcanic ash.

We searched for somewhere different for dinner, looking for the key indicators of local presence to measure standards. I ordered a cheese empanada and nachos. The nachos barely resembled those served up in western society. A salty goodness of crunchy chips topped with a couple of liquid sauces, diced fresh tomato and onion and jalapenos. The empanada was out of this world! We also had a couple of cocktails each – best Pina Colada I ever had – all for less than 300pesos each! All up I’ve gone through a smidge over half of the 2000 pesos I withdrew yesterday. Half went on the taxi, tower entry, deposit on the power adapter from the hotel and a new pair of sunglasses after mine broke this morning!

Tomorrow we venture to Teotihuacan – one of the largest pyramids outside of Egypt – recommended as must see by my boss. I anticipate a pretty good sleep given today’s seven odd hours of walking!

You can check out other amazing things to do in Mexico City in 12 reasons to visit Mexico City.

When in Mexico, order from a menu you can’t read

Day 1: Off to Mexico City!

4.30am isn’t pretty, regardless of the reason why you’re meeting it. Except perhaps if it’s still being up from the night before. In which case it’s probably a precursor to a splitting headache at some point in the forseeable future.

Dad picked me up at 6am to catch the train into Sydney. Getting up at 4.30 gave me enough time to get ready, have a sit down breakfast and coffee (plunger since my espresso machine decided to die three days ago – the second one that’s died right before a trip) clean up and put the dishwasher and washing machine on. However, it didn’t allow me time to undertake my habitual checks that I had everything. I am instead reassuring myself that I laid out everything requiring packing, checked it and packed everything laid out. If I have forgotten anything its well beyond too late now!

In an annoying hiccup the switching of my Telstra SIM to my Covermore global SIM seems to have erased the ability of the google play music app to read my music. After some examination I did locate all my music, but can only play it track by track, which will get annoying really fast. Still, after the internet and computer dramas that had me hurling choice words at my service provider yesterday, if that’s all that goes wrong I’ll cop it.

It is now 3.15am back home in Oz, but I’m still counting it as day one as I’m still in transit and it’s 8.16am on the same date as I left.

The flight over was uneventful, I watched four movies with intermittent and fruitless attempts at sleep between. I’ve never been able to sleep on a plane, and I’ve been flying for as long as I can remember. I can’t drown out the constant drone of the engines. So in an hour I’ll have been awake for twenty-four straight, and I’m feeling it. If LAX had a flat couch for me to lie I suspect I would be out for the count!

Our 6am landing in LA meant the airport was virtually empty when we arrived, and our experience was nothing like the grilling I had been bracing for. Of course the downside is the amount of time we now have to kill before flying to Mexico City!

And then there was the flight to Mexico. I did manage to grab a smidge of sleep I think, probably due more to my brains lack of ability to stay awake than a conscious effort on my part. The flight was full and incredibly cramped for space and I was more than eager to disembark and stretch out my locked knees.

To our surprise our journey through the airport was smooth, and I was quite chuffed when I was directed to an aisle and understood the Spanish number I had been given. The guy at the counter spoke to me in Spanish but switched to English effortlessly when I asked if he spoke it.’Tu Hablas Englis?’ is going to come in very useful.

My boss had given me the heads up to purchase the taxi fare before leaving Mexico City airport to ensure we were on an authorised taxi instead of a scam. It seemed strange walking up to an airport counter and asking for the taxi fare to our hotel, but the cashier nodded and gave us a ticket. At the set rate it cost us 225 pesos. That’s a little over ten USD for what was about a twenty minute ride. Our driver spoke no English. We each made some attempts at conversation but soon gave up with friendly giggles when his Spanish was way beyond my limited capabilities.

The service at the Historico Central hotel was an impeccable standard and it is quaint and comfortable, and centrally located in the historic district of Mexico City. Surprisingly I had hit my second, or maybe fourth wind by the time we reached the hotel and I was keen to venture out for some exploration. Mexico City reminds me very much of Manila, it has a similar look and feel, with a splash of the street entertainers that are commonplace in Boracay. There is plenty more to see yet!

Keen to try the local experience we walked into a busy taco place and pondered a menu written in Spanish upon which we were lucky if we could recognise a few words. And the waiter spoke no English. In the end we just pointed to two items and hoped for the best.

Doesn’t that green dish look tasty! It wasn’t!

The experience was totally different to what you would expect back home, where you would generally be handed a hard shell full of whatever you’ve asked for. We were instead presented with five soft tortilla’s each, slightly floury in texture, and the two plates full of our chosen fillings.

An assortment of trimmings and sauces were placed on the table between us to be added as we chose. A couple of the sauces were eye-wateringly spicy. This resulted in large gulps of the delicious but no doubt filled with sugar Sangria soft drink we’d ordered. I’d recognised it on the menu and believed it to be actual Sangria. We still had no idea what one of our fillings was, but it tasted strange and we weren’t overly keen on it. The other however, was a chorizo filling and was exceptionally tasty, and we enthusiastically loaded up our tortilla’s and added the sauces we’d confirmed as safe for our non-Mexican palates. We both had our fill plus a drink for the grand total of 186 pesos plus tip!

But for now its nearly 8pm and I’ve not properly slept in about thirty-six hours so time for a shower and bed!

You can check out other things to explore in Mexico City with 3 days in Mexico City.

Category: Mexico