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Published: August 16th 2008
Mexico City: one of the largest cities in the world. Guidebook? Who needs a guidebook? Map schmap. Sans guidebook, I managed to see prehispanic pyramids, hispanic castles, modern art, museums, parks (with real live squirrels!), plazas etc etc. All bueno. But speaking of guides, the best sight I saw was on the subway. There were three blind people all walking in a row, sticks busily tapping the ground, hands on the shoulder of the person in front of them. Truly a case of the blind leading the blind.
On that note, here's a few things that a guidebook might have been useful for:
1. The population of Mexico City. Whatever it is, a third of them are always riding the subway and a third always riding the bus. The one-fingered amputees prefer the subway, jabbing you in the back so that they can fit in too.
2. There is a cathedral. Who knew? I came across it by chance when I went to see what the Zocalo (main square) was all about.
3. As good as they are, it's not all about tacos, enchilladas and quaesadillas. Mexicans love self-service bakeries. I had no trouble discovering that for myself, but it would have been useful to have a few tips on how to serve oneself and how to pay.
4. Mexico City is at altitude. I'm not sure what altitude but apparently its in the mountains (who knew?!) and most people get a bit headachey and out of breath. I had a headache for a day, but I thought that was the lack of coffee (its been about 4 days now).
5. Mexicans love stairs. It's either the Aztec gene or to make up for the self-service bakeries.
I'm now in Oaxaca. It's 6.30 am and I arrived about half an hour ago. It would be useful to have a guidebook to know what time things open and when it gets light. This is meant to be a cool town, but I'm going to use it just to catch up on showering and sleep, then it's on to the beach. Finalmente. Puerto Escondido. The Mexican Pipeline baby!
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Charlotte
non-member comment
4 days without coffee??
Gina, what's going on? 4 days without coffee? As James said, we can't imagine 4 hours without coffee. By the way, I'm officially a lawyer now :) Sounds like you're having an awesome time - very jealous!