August 28, 2012

• Report # 915

  Hey everyone, I hope that you've all had a great start to the week. I'm in a hotel in Mexico City right now and I've really enjoyed it here that I wanted to spend a couple of days before heading off to the coast of Michoacán. This city is absolutely gigantic, but considering it's size it's a relatively clean city and it's not as dangerous as a lot of other cities in Mexico. The climate here is perfect, and actually the summer is not the hottest months here, April and May are.

  Basically each day has been in the low 20's (around 70 F) and at night it gets down to around 10 C  (50 F) so the climate here is just perfect. The only downsides to this city are the traffic and the population in general. For example yesterday I was walking the streets downtown and there were traffic jams of people. And on the roads a lot of times there is really no order and drivers don't follow the signs. Trying to cross the street here is definitely intimidating ! Overall though it's a great city and there is so many things to do here, and there is so much culture and history as well.

  I said good bye to Maria in Hermosillo on Saturday morning. Her mom drove me to the airport and after waiting in line for a while I said good bye to both of them and thanked them for everything. I had such a great few days in Hermosillo and Maria and her family were amazing to me. It was tough to say good bye, but I'm sure I'll visit again in the future as Maria did say I have to come back soon. The flight to Mexico City was just over two hours, but seeing as Mexico City is two hours ahead it was basically four hours and some.

  I got my bag and then an employee at the Mexico City airport helped me find Dora, who was having lunch with her friend Alberto at a Wings restaurant. It was kind of confusing because there are 3 Wings restaurants in that mall ! We headed off for our hotel in downtown Mexico City and relaxed for a while before heading out in the evening. I saw the Angel of Independence, a nice fountain, and we took a tour of the big historical cathedral in front of the government buildings.

  We took a tour where we got to go to the top of the church and see the bells and the great views of the city and learn about all of the history. Afterwards we stopped in Starbucks so Dora could charge her cell phone. The whole area there was getting ready for the Mexican Independence Day on September 15. That is the place where the president goes out from the balcony and shouts in front of thousands of people every year. It would definitely be cool to be there for that, though I imagine it would be extremely crowded.

  In the evening we all went to a plaza filled with Mariachi restaurants. We entered one and got a table right in front of a dance floor and the whole night they had Mariachi performers and dancers. It was a great experience for me and I really enjoyed it. We all ordered a little to eat as well so it was a great evening. We all didn't get back until it was kind of late so we went straight to bed. I was pretty tired on Sunday morning but we had to get up as we wanted to do a few things before we had to leave the hotel.

  We had breakfast in the restaurant downstairs, but after I just decided to stay in the hotel for another night so we could all keep our bags here and I wouldn't have to carry everything around town looking for another place. After breakfast we took a bunch of the metro trains to arrive at a place called Xochimilco. We lost Dora's friend Alberto for a while as he got on the train but the doors shut before we could get on. In Vancouver if a person puts their hands in between the doors, they stop.... not here !

  Unfortunately Dora's cellphone was dead so that made things harder, but after waiting for him for a while we got on the train and luckily Alberto saw us walking a few stops later and we found him. Xochimilco is a place by the river with so many boats and you can rent the boats and have drinks as a person paddles you down the river. Along the way there are many people selling things, you can pay to have music played, and there are restaurants to stop at along the shore.

  We stopped at one place and the food was brought out to us. We continued along the river afterwards and made a stop at a nursery which also charges 5 pesos (less than 50 cents) to use the bathroom. When we got back to the boat there was a lady selling sweets. You just can't escape the sales people in Mexico. They are on the boats, on the train, on the streets, on the beach.... they are everywhere ! Dora bought this one treat and it was delicious so sometimes they do sell very tasty things and useful products, but not always.

  After a while the guy paddling the boat turned around and we headed back to where we started. This was perfect timing because a storm had started and it was pouring rain with lightning and thunder as well. The boat was covered though so we weren't getting wet. We got back to the land and paid for our things and started walking to the train. A lady who had worked for the boat rentals came running saying we didn't pay for one drink. I never really liked that lady from the start she always seemed all about the money !

  There are so many transit lines here with the metro train that it's so easy to get confused, but I think Mexico City is the second largest city in the world so I shouldn't be too surprised. We arrived back to the hotel and it was kind of cool and rainy. For me it was just normal Vancouver weather, but Dora, being a tropical girl was pretty cold. Dora and her friend Alberto booked tickets on a bus as she had to be at work on Monday morning and they left that evening.

  So I just spent less than two short days with Dora, but I will be going to Lázaro Cárdenas very soon and then we will see each other everyday. I was so happy to see Dora as I hadn't seen her in five months and I'm excited about arriving in her city and getting to spend lots of time together. I will have to talk to Dora tonight, but I am thinking I'll be leaving Mexico City tomorrow and taking a long bus ride to her city where the apartment will be ready.

  Yesterday morning I was on my own so I headed out and just walked around discovering everything I could about the city without reading any information. I think I did alright as I was walking for hours and I discovered parks, cool buildings, the historical part of downtown and a very cool neighbourhood called Coyoacán. This is a neighbourhood which has the old houses of artist Frida Kahlo and Russian Leon Trotsky.

  I took a tour on a trolley and it was very interesting. The guy on this tour was so much easier to understand than the one that was on the tour in Hermosillo. I'm not sure why but it was just a lot easier for me to understand this guy. The only thing I would change about these tour trolleys is to have one without windows. There is so many interesting things to see an take pictures of, but it's so hard to take a good picture with the windows on the bus. Then again I've taken almost 1,000 pictures since I arrived in Mexico so I need to be cutting down on picture taking !

  Today I'll look up on the internet and see what sort of things I can do and then I'll head out and do some more exploring. That's pretty much where I'm at now, so I'll finish up here. For the next question:

  What is your favourite city in the world that you've been to and why ?

  The internet connection here is way too slow so I'm not able to get any photos uploaded today. I'm going to have to find a way to cut down on my photos though as I just have way too many. I wish everyone all of the best with everything. Take care and I'll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.

  • 11:23 am
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