Un Nuevo Año en Ciudad Mexico

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Feliz Año a Todos!!

Adam and I arrived in Puebla, MX yesterday afternoon after four fabulous days traversing Mexico City (population 19.2 million!). This last week we stayed in the Mexico City Hostel, a beautiful old mansion that was renovated into a youth hostel just steps from the Zócalo, the Catedral Metropolitana, and the Palacio Nacional among others.

The entire Zócalo seemed to be celebrating our arrival with giant light displays, an enormous fake Christmas tree, and a giant ice skating rink all set up for the holidays. We spent our first few days exploring this area, and getting used to the rhythm of city life. Our room in the hostel was on the top floor (about a thousand steps up!) with a small balcony that opened to the busy street below. Each morning we would wake up to the numerous sounds of the street below, and always music...

**an interesting side note about Mexico city in particular... the people here love music, everywhere you go, about every other storefront has their own speaker blaring some sort of music... american, mexican, rasta... you name it, they play it... but the most peculiar thing is that they have absolutely no concept of sound pollution... there will be up to ten different songs going all in the same small space and no one seems to notice... anyway after awhile you get used to it, and in retrospect it was sort of wonderful to listen to that instead of the traffic**

However, an ongoing joke has started......we went across the street to get what we thought would be a delicious lunch, but failed to read the gigantic sign above which read "SUPER SOYA". So we order tacos and tostados, with chorizo flavored meat.....the key word is "FLAVORED". We did not realize this until we were halfway through the meal......"something just does not taste quite right" was thought in our heads......then it was apparent that we were surrounded by rows of bagged and dried meat flavored substances that resembled cereal. The whole stores' concept was soy flavored products(vegetarian/vegan). So anytime that we do something without knowing, it is now known as a "SUPER SOYA MOMENT!".

Since then we have had many more of these moments... figuring out new things like using the subway... discovering that "torta" doesn't mean something like quiche, but is actually the Mexican version of a sandwich... and many more...

We met several interesting people in the city, including a young charismatic french gal named Cendrine Roeblin who was a sociologist making her first documentary about tourism... she asked to interview us on camera about our experiences traveling thus far... and we said yes... so maybe in 6 months or a year you will see us in an award-winning documentary!!

New years in Mexico City was exciting and interesting, but not quite the same without all our old pals and champagne. We went to the city celebration where they closed down a major highway to put on a fiesta with a concert and fireworks (the longest and best show i've probably ever seen) etc... very timesquare'esk but they didn't allow drinking in this area so it was somewhat of a 'dry' holiday if you know what I mean!

The last few days in the city were spent eating lots of street food... getting sick... eating it still to save cash... getting sick...etc and sightseeing ... we went to the Museo Bellas Artes where there are Diego Rivera murals, and a great exhibition on Dolores Olmeda and parts of her collection of Diego and Frida works, the Museo de Antropología which is HUGE (wear comfortable shoes...we didn't), and wandered around Chapultepec park... complete with two fake lakes, paddle boats, a zoo, the botanical gardens, and many man-made waterfalls and fountains!!

THERE IS SO MUCH TO SEE! Mexico City is huge, and we will look forward to returning one day to visit many more things we missed.

But for now, we are happy to be in a city that moves a little slower, cleaner, and seemingly safer.... we miss you all and will send another update in a week or so!!

Besos,

Nikki and Adam

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Photos

Adam on Cathedral Roof
Zócalo behind!!

Esquites
An interesting corn-lime soup that made me sick... but it was delicious and I eat it again!!

Comments

[amy]

oh what fun!
i think getting sick off water and food is mandatory down there until your system gets used to it. are you now staying with a friend? thanks for sending me this blog! what an amazing way to keep everyone informed and the pictures are great too! you two are so awesome! be safe and have the time of your life!