Advertisement
Published: July 18th 2011
Edit Blog Post
There’s a saying in Mexico that is
en punto which literally means “on the hour”. A useful phrase if arranging to meet Mexican friends at a particular time, and you don’t wish to be standing idly by waiting for someone to rock up. For example if you arrange to meet at 8.00, and if you don’t specify “on the dot”, 8.00 can generously mean anytime after 8.00 but not generally before 8.30, and in reality is probably closer to 9.00. And five minutes can mean anything from 20 minutes to one hour, and
un momentito is never just a moment, it’s more like 5 minutes. A similar measure of time as found in Asian countries, but here it’s a little something we’ve come to know as
”Mexican time”.
Enroute to Mexico, Dave and I found ourselves unconsciously running on Mexican time. We arrived at Portland airport only to discover that due to a complete date miscalculation (on our part), we were an entire day late for our flight, which had departed on time, but the day before. We prepared for the worst as we stood at the United/Continental airline counter, calculating the escalating costs that a new last minute flight
was to cost us. However by some stroke of absolute luck, the situation was expediently rectified by the lovely United/Continental staff who bumped us in standby on to the next available flight (in roomy exit row seats) for no extra charge, not even a penalty or change fee!! We arrived in Mexico City albeit 24 hours late, and found that our hostel was still holding our reservation, and seemed genuinely indifferent to our tardy arrival. Apparently it happens a lot, and is thankfully no big deal.
We took a day trip out to the ancient Mayan archaeological site of
Teotihuacán, home to the Pyramid of the Sun which is the third largest pyramid in the world, accompanied by the more modest Pyramid of the Moon. Walking between the two along the Avenue of the Dead, we were required to run the gauntlet of hawkers selling statues, carvings, rugs, clothing and misceallenous other made-for-tourist gear . One determined old man persevered past our
“no gracias, no necesitamos” waving his jewellery frantically towards us. Admittedly his pretty silver bangle accompanied with
“it’s cheap, only $1” piqued my interest. We wavered, and in that instant I found a bracelet slapped on my
wrist, and we soon found ourselves in mid-barter, discovering that it was
“$1 per gram…”. Unfortuantely for him, we’d been forewarned of possible muggings on the public buses out to the site (which didn’t eventuate) so had only come barely enough money for the return trip, some water and some snacks. So while we honestly told him,
“no tengo dinero”, he thought we were bartering tough, and the price dropped incrementally from 450 pesos to finally 100 pesos , which we could afford and still catch the bus home. So I am now the proud owner a shiny new “sterling silver” bangle, and one seller is all the happier at Teotihuacán.
In Mexico City we stayed in the central and plush
Roma/Condessa district close to Bosque de Chapultepec and the Museum Modern Art. We availed ourselves of the free bikes (loaned out for 2 hour periods) and explored the area by bike, pedalling along the wide central avenue of the Paseo de Reforma. We saw many people utilising the paid City Share Bike scheme for short commutes, and lunchbreak dashes across town. It seemed quite successful, probably since they don’t require helmets here either, and operate a bike redistribution
trailer similar to the Paris system. We took the metro (2 minute wait times) into the sights in the
Zocalo including the Catedral Metropolitana, National Palace and saw the amazing Diego Riviera murals, and watched as a Mexican period film was being filmed.
Immediately we got right into the Mexican fare, sampling the various delicious offerings from the street vendors, our favourite being roast chicken tacos for just AUD0.80 each! At one place, our Spanish failed us and we resorted to the point-and-select method of dining, choosing a brownish looking concoction which turned out rather disgustingly to be tripe! We ate
nopale which is the fleshy pad of the cactus plant. It has the texture of a cross between zucchini and capsicum, but is stringier, and tastes like whatever it has been cooked with. In our case it was served with about 5 different types of meat and an assortment of vegetables and was quite delicious. And of course nothing goes better with Mexican food, than Mexican beer … Modelo, Sol, Pacifico, Indio, Dos Aquis, Bohemia (and my favourite the special Bohemia Weizen), Leon and of course Corona!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.071s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 22; dbt: 0.0193s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Another great adventure.
I was amazed at your treatment by the airlines. You must have found someone who liked Kiwi's and Aussie's or someone who was in a good mood. That is fantastic. Love the tripe taco and very nice shots of Pyramid of the moon.