Day 2 - Living like teachers in Ciudad de Mexico

---

Still feeling a jet lagged, we nudged each other in to the same conclusion: Mexico City is so big there is no point trying to see or do any more, so instead we should spend the day at the luxury spa, of which Garry is a member. We felt a bit underdressed in our vests as other members walked round in suits. The embarrassment didn’t end there: after two sets of tennis on the club’s pristine clay courts, Ian and I failed to keep the ball in the court for more than three shots (Bennett won 4 & 5). We couldn’t work out why we were so bad, but finally decided it was a combination of different rackets, and new balls moving a lot quicker at higher altitude. Therefore, the courts were unplayable, even for top tennis players, and we should give up and go chill by the pool to watch the Mexican mums go by.

Lying there watching the darker-skinned workers mow the lawns and sweep the floors, I wondered whether I was contributing to some sort of social/financial apartheid. A few minutes later I decided I can’t change the world lying here in my trunks so I ordered another beer, just as Ian executed a textbook belly flop off the 5m dive board in the distance. . After some lunch, it was time for 3 sets of 10 on the bench and a rekindling of an old table tennis rivalry. 4-4 it finished with nothing settled.

We finished an awesome day with some football at Green Gates. Teachers vs the workers. Strength and passion vs skill and patience. In the end, the passion won out and, with goals from myself, Ian and a classy, late finish from Ole-Garry-Solskjaer, we won 8-5. Contract negotiations for a more permanent position for Ian and me at the school are underway.

It was time to say bye and a huge thanks to Garry, Erica and Oli with a kilo of Alambre Steak (for £10) and some really, really spicy sauce. Early signs from Ian’s arse suggested our 1st class platinum bus journey to Oaxaca would not be as pleasurable as first thought.

---