Buenos Dias Mexico!

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We flew from Guatemala City to Mexico City (both respectively called just Guatemala and Mexico by the citizens of their countries), to save ourselves the 3 busses and 28 hours it would have taken to go by land. We left our hostel at 4 am at the suggestion of the front desk guy, and had 4 hours to kill before our 9:30 flight by the time we got to the airport. Excellent.

By the time we got on the plane and got to Mexico, we had been up for a long time, so the first thing we did when we got to our perfectly located hostel just meters away from the second biggest public square in the world - was nap. Then yes, we ventured out and surprisingly - got vegetarian mexican food! Cauliflower tortas and soup, yum.

Then, the most lovely part of Mexico - I got to visit with my friend Lorena. We went to high school together when I was on exchange in Vallarta, and now she lives in Mexico with her family and goes to UNAM, the largest university in Latin America (which is a free, public university. Take note Canada). It was so wonderful to see her and chat and catch up. Even though we haven't seen one another for 5 years it felt like no time had passed at all!

The next day Saima and I signed up for a tour offered by our hostel of some historic Mexico City sites. The Basilica de Guadelupe was really impressive - there are two churches there, since the old one has to be used less now that it is sinking like the rest of Mexico City since it is built on a lake, and that wasn't accounted for. The new basilica is much bigger and has a more modern style. The Virgin of Guadelupe IS Christianity for most Mexicans. Many identify as "Guadelupanos" and she is their focus in their religious devotion. All around there were pilgrims there to worship, who advanced from the gates to the basilica on their knees. We also got to go to Teotihuacan, an impressive and iconic pyramid site that predates the Aztecs and whose purpose is basically unknown. The two big pyramids are called the pyramid of the sun and of the moon, but that's just a guess at their meaning. No one really knows who built it or why. We got to climb to the top of the Sun Pyramid which was pretty awesome. It was SO big and the steps were steep, and the view was incredible. The whole site is really really big, and a lot still hasn't been uncovered, so even when you see the huge site of uncovered smaller pyramids and roads and buildings, you can imagine how big this town was in its hay day!

The next day we did one of those double decker tour bus rides to see central Mexico, and it was pretty neat. FYI - there's an Occupy Mexico City too, in front of their stock exchange (and we saw one in Lorena's neighbourhood, called Occupy Mexico South, thats how big this city is...). We got off in a neat neighbourhood someone had suggested, called La Condesa, which the tour described as a place for "young bohemians" haha. It had a sort of Whyte Ave vibe, like it was a place you'd love to live for the cool shops and restaurants and little markets, but you know you'd go broke because it's so neat that you'd always be going out.

We met up with Lore and her sister Sandy that afternoon and saw the UNAM campus, which evidently is a World Heritage Site. Lore goes to school at a World Heritage site. So bizarre! You would seriously need a bike or shuttle or something for classes, it was massive. We went out to the "centro" of her area and had pozole, a type of soup in a cool food market with lots of little kitchen stands in one open air space. And of course we couldn't pass by the churros - yum.

After heading back to their house for a bit so I could say hi to their parents and so we could change, Lore brought Saima and I to the bus station for 12:30. It was sad to say goodbye to her after just 3 days but it was so good to see her, that I am just trying to remember that part instead.

Mexico City was quite the experience - especially after small towns so far. We were just blocks away from the Zocalo, which was SO packed because of the holidays, so the giant mass of humanity that was constantly around was pretty overwhelming. The streets are packed full of newspaper stands, food vendors, people selling toques and jewlery and people who will cleanse your aura and sell you tickets to whatever you want to do. The stores are packed with the exact same thing from store to store, to the point where I wonder how any of them makes money since they are right next to another store with the exact same offers and merchandise. It was giant and busy and loud and exciting.

Our bus left at 12:30 at night for a 7 hour drive to Guadelajara, for the last leg of our adventure! We're visiting one of the host families I lived with on exhange, and it's so wonderful already. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends here too! And lucky that they still understand my rusty spanish!

Well, happy almost new year everyone! We're looking forward to pinatas and games on Saturday, hope you have fun plans too!

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