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Published: January 19th 2007
To blog or not to blog? A question I have asked myself a thousand times before setting on yet another travel adventure. The travel diaries I have failed to keep in the past keep haunting me, however this trip has me feeling more positive and hence I have decided to blog!! No backing out now I guess, so welcome to my blog!
After much packing and unpacking, planning and unplanning I have arrived in Mexico City, mind you without a guide book and only stories of horror about the capital. The smog, the horrendous traffic, the kidnappings and the muggings! But alas on day 2 of my adventure I have managed to see the sky and city clearly, cross the road without a problem, get safely from the airport in a taxi and order some food not swimming in hot chili sauce! So all in all it is going well.
I have really started to relax into this adventure and am immensely enjoying Mexico City. I must admit I was a little scared before arriving in Mexico city, but my fears really were unwarranted. I dont mean to say that I am walking around with blinkers on, you need to be alert and assertive, but I have not felt unsafe at any time. In fact, I am immensely enjoying Mexico City. It is nothing what I expected. I am not really sure if I had any ""real"" expectations, reading information from books and the internet before I left really wasn't that enlightening and so I am happily surprised at everything that I have been faced with so far. It is only early on I know, but to be this pleasantly surprised has been fantastic. I dont know why but there has not been a car that has not stopped to let us cross the road either. I read so many stories that Mexico city was notorious for traffic accidents and that you should be so careful over here so as not to get run over!! But this has been so far from the truth!! Maybe its the off season and the motorists are not interested in running over a tourist!!
Let me tell you a little about my encounters with the people, from Mexico! Yes, I am sure you have a stereotype in your mind, say ello to my little friend definitely springs to my mind when I think of a Mexican man, with his sombrero and upturned moustache strumming on his guitar! But it really is far from this in Mexico city.
The people are absolutely lovely. I have yet to meet an unfriendly Mexican, they have all tried their hardest to help the gringo that does not speak their language. The hand signals and smiles I have received and a helpfulness that is not matched in many western countries today with foreigners not speaking English is great!! Really and truly! We were in a restaurant and a lady came up to our group to tell us it was more than fine to eat our food (Tortas) with our fingers and not to be ashamed, how cute! Where else in the world would that happen, I am almost sure we would just point and stare and laugh, like we do in an asian restaurant when someone cant use chopsticks.
Next would have to be the food and all the delights here!! I am really looking forward to our Spanish course so I do not need to be sweating with anticipation (not even from the chilli) to see what gastronomic delights will arrive on my plate!! We have done pretty well so far, and have not had to re-order, even though most times we do not know what we are ordering! We are trying to be more adventurous than eating tacos, enchilladas and tortillas.....plus also there is only so many of these that you can eat!! Again the food has been tasty, although a little on the calorific side!! But with all the walking and sight seeing it is not so bad. It is so cheap and tasty and what is most surprising is the focus on food in Mexico city. It is everywhere. I guess with about 20 million people crammed into one city, there has to be some sort of emphasis on food, and that there is. Being such a foodie, I love it, the smells, the sights (not always I admit) and just the hustle and bustle surrounding the eateries is an adventure by itself. I could just wander the city looking at all the different places serving cuisine and some not exactly cuisine, it fascinates me. Small things...cheap entertainment, whatever you want to call it!
In the last three days we have managed to see a fair bit, and pats on our backs for doing it without a guide book and limited resources. Originally we were going to do a tour to the pyramids at Teotihuacan, yet we decided that on DAY ONE of our arrival in Mexico city we felt we could handle the much more adventurous option of making our own way there. Bear in mind at this stage we have no Spanish or guide book.! Ha what a breeze! We totally surprised ourselves. We got a map of the subway, some general directions and off we went! And with not to much difficulty we found ourselves at the sight of Teotihucan. It was quite amazing and the pyramids were a lot steeper than I thought they would be!
We also went to a town called Calayocan, which is just beautiful. It has a central area for the artists, and it was a quirky place with heaps of character and lots of people just hanging out. Families, people of all ages just in this one area with heaps of cafes, stalls and things. Again we managed to somehow stumble across it, as we knew when we arrived at the subway station it was about a 15 minute walk but we had no idea in which direction. Some hand signals later and we made it. We met up with some people from our hostel there and they had paid for a tour to get there, we paid 40 cents return, so we celebrated our savings with some sangria!!
So next we are off to Guanajuato to study Spanish!! Will let you know how we get on!
Adios Amigos
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Miranda
non-member comment
No guide book, no espanol, no more entries?
Hey Melly when you gonna put more in? I loved reading your first entry so am eagerly awaiting more..don't keep me waiting too long!!