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Published: February 13th 2008
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Mexico City Yes, it is the second biggest city in the world, has 5 times as many people living here as London of which most of them don´t speak any English and yes some parts cannot be discribed any other way as dodgy, most streets have a bit of a funny smell and apparently the crime rate is very high................................................
But we absolutely LOVE mexico city!!!!
At arrivals we already noticed everything goes at a different pace here, and admittently that was not really what we wanted after a 12 hour flight. It took us more then an hour to get through passport control, another hour to queue for customs and yet another 30 minutes to get a taxi, but a very friendly taxi driver made us forget all of this and with our little knowledge of Spanish and his broken English we ended up having a nice ride into the city. He ended the journey with a very warm "Welcome to Mexico!"
Our two days in Mexico city couldn't have been better. Our hotel, although still on the budget side, had everything we needed and, most importantly, the most comfortable bed in the World. Situated in 'Zona Rosa',
a very relaxed, bohemian like area, we enjoyed our first morning by going for a nice stroll in the sun, to watch the city wake up. We couldn't believe that this supposed to be such a hectic city... We arrived at the biggest park in the city and couldn't stop smiling whilst passing hundreds of stalls selling everything from icecream and complete 3 course meals to pens and antiques, some of them genuine others decidedly not. It was an amazing place to spend time as our bodies adjusted to the altitude and fought off the jet lag. The one thing we were most grateful to find was a city full of people who were relaxed, friendly and helpful when engaged by us in pigeon Spanish.
At the other side of the park we found the Anthropological museum, of which everyone told us this is a must do and essential to bring the mariad of mexican cultures to life. We both like museums, but normally after a couple of hours we can't take anything else in and have to go. That's why we planned to spend maybe two or three hours there, but it turned out to be five and
you see them everywhere
a paradise for Beetle fans we still found we hadn't seen everything. We can both honestly say that this is the best museum we ever visited. Unbelievebly interesting and it paints a clear story from the beginning of humankind to where we are now! definately recommened for anyone thinking about ever coming to mexico city.
Day 2 we ventured of to the Centro Historico. Very nice to just stroll around and have a look at all the fantastic buildings all of which was made easier by a car free day to celebrate the bicycle of all things...how very Dutch!! Consequently we had the freedom to roam the deserted streets, without the threat of being flattened in what normally would have been a 4 lane death run.
Unfortunatly we couldn´t stay longer in Mexico city as we had to leave sunday night for Tepoztlan, a mexican village about an hour south of the city, to start our three week Spanish course. We have decided to come back to Mexico city after those three weeks for a couple more days though! (we are already getting stuck...... forget the itinery!!!!) 😊
Tepoztlan and muchos, muchos Espanol!
How quick things go!!! It has been more
than two weeks since we arrived in Tepoztlan and we already feel quite sad we will have to leave next week. The school where we have our four hour classes every day is beautiful. School is not too bad, when your classroom is located outside in the shade of a tree with hummingbirds flying around you. We are staying with a mexican family in the centre of Tepozlan. Our host Socorro is a very sweet lady who lives with the two families of her son and daughter in a large house divided around an open court yard. She has been having students living with her for over ten years now and although not speaking a word English, has a magic touch and makes you feel at home immediatley. We have breakfast with her around 8 in the morning, after which we walk a mile&1/2 downhill to school. The walk is very relaxing. It is a beautiful village, with cobblestoned streets, old houses and a colourful big market. It is surounded by mountains and it is said this place has magnetic powers (still waiting to experience something)
The classes at the school are great! The teachers almost only speak Spanish,
so it is quite full on. But our Spanish is slowly improving so who knows, maybe we can write our next entry in Spanish!
After classes all the student eat together in the school. Last week we were only with the four of us, but this week it´s a group of 13 people.
In the afternoon, we normally relax a bit in the garden of the school, or stroll through town or climb one of the mountains to the pyramid. We have done this climb 3 times now, the first time we both thought we were going to pass out (it´s about an hour on a very steep path), but we are getting better and are now able to do it without a rest break. It´s an amazing walk and the view from the top of the pyramid is beautiful.
At seven or eight at night Socorro makes us a light meal and to be honest, after that we are almost ready for bed. It is quite exhausting, trying to understand Spanish the whole day.
We were also very lucky to arrive in town just in time for the carnaval! Last weekend it started and Tepoztlan turned into one
colourful market, Music was played day and night and fireworks were going off every 5 minutes (also day and night) We´ve seen parades with people dressed up in the traditional uniform and we witnessed the weirdest tradition off all; The baptism of baby Jesus.
Hundreds of people went to the main church last saturday to join in, with grown women and men taking their dolls of which they have cared for the whole year. They dressed them up with carefull chosen outfits, which they have either made themselve or baught on the market. It´s all taken very serious.... a very bizarre tradition.
All in all we had a great time, made some nice trips to surrounding towns (Cuernavaca, Taxco) in the weekends and, as one of the highlights, went on an amazing horse ride trip in the country side...
We are going to enjoy our last comfortable days here in this beautiful town. Saterday we head back to Mexico city!
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BezandInge
Mark and Inge
Dear James and Toby
Thank you very much for your message. It makes us happy to hear from you and to know everything is going well. It sounds like you are having some great adventures there in England as well! Going swimming while it´s so cold... We wouldn´t dare! It is very hot in Mexico. Although it is winter you don´t need a jacket and the people who live here have never seen snow! Only if you are on top of a high mountain (above 5000 metre), is it cold enough for snow. And here in Mexico all the big mountains are actually volcano´s. A famous one is called popocatepetl (what a funny name) We are eating a lot of tortillas. It´s a kind of pancake made of corn...and a lot of spicy food. It is very nice, but we do miss some nice cheddar and a good fish and chips! Miss you lots and we hope you guys keep travelling with us. We will crossing a country border next week. Can you guess which one? Lots of love