Another day in Mexico City what will it bring today

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Another good night’s sleep so we are definitely back to normal now. We decided to go to Xochimilico fiesta with 4 others from the group and if totally honest what an amazing day we have had and nothing like I have seen or done before.



We take a minibus to Xochimilico and arrived to a sea of colourful trajinera boats that look like gondolas and I mean a sea of colour even though it is on the Aztecera Xochimilco canals which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Before we boarded our boat we went around the stalls with lots of things you could buy but being a bit savvy with space we have to be really careful of what we purchase. Anyway as we were walking along we met up with a couple in our group who were talking to a young boy and he had bracelets that he said he made himself - if honest I thought oh yeh of course you did!! How wrong could I be and I will come to that later. Anyway he had this bracelet which said something about Trump - say no more. One of the group bought one and then the other one decided they wanted one too but the young lad said I don’t have any more but I can get you one in 5 minutes - so I thought he would go away and pick one up - then he asked what colours which made me think he has every colour combination no way - to our surprise he stood in front of us and made the bracelet there and then - so sometimes Paula you should take things at face value - after seeing this young lad make a bracelet I bought one with my name on as I thought I should future proof just in case when I get older I forget my name!



We make our way back to the meeting point and join our boat traversing from one boat to ours which was called Laurtia. I was amazed when we sat down that the boat was just for our group. The boat is steered like a punt with a long stick but they are unbelievably good at navigating and hardly ever bumped into each other. We all had a meal of chicken and a few odd us purchased a drink on board whist a couple wanted a Margarita now this could not be purchased on board so a gentleman who came along side us in his trajinera - which was funny watching this gentleman our personal mixologist navigating keeping alongside us whilst concocting 2 margaritas, but hey ho he did it.



After finishing our lunch we then decided we would like to be serenaded by a Mariachi band who again came alongside us in their trajinera but lo and behold they jump on our trajinera - wow was not expecting that. Most of the Mariachi bands were all dressed in white but then we had noticed a Mariachi band dressed in green so we decided that is the band we want to be serenaded by. So we asked Bianca our guide if she could get us a Mariachi band in green - we then thought about it and thought come on a Mariachi band in white is not that bad, let’s all get a grip. However, Bianca came up trumps (who would have thought I would be typing trump 3 times in one blog - certainly not me I can tell you) and what came alongside us but a Mariachi band all dressed in green and they started playing a traditional song. It was so cool - then they asked, did we want another and Gavin said could we have Cielito Lindo as he used to sing it with his grandma - so we all said ahhhhhh that is so sweet, yes let’s have that one - it was quite emotional when we joined in the chorus ”Ay ay ay ay Canta y no llores” as anyway I recognised the song but to be honest not the title. We have set up a WhatsApp group which is great, as you can ask the group and Gavin came back with the name.

On our way back we stopped off at the Arena Mexico for Gavin, Niamh, Petra and Jasmine to pick up some tickets for tonight’s Lucha Libra. It sounds like almost everyone is set up for tonight’s show as Ruth and family are also going so they will be meeting in the lobby - let’s hope they all have a great time as tomorrow we are in the minibus for a few hours and I think I might get a bit of stick for being so gung ho about it- so fingers crossed I am still alive by the end of tomorrow. If you do not receive a blog tomorrow please contact Interpol as I could be buried somewhere between Mexico City and Puebla!!!

Mike and I are off to get a bite to eat and maybe a beer or two, definitely not the cocktail I had last night but cannot complain if honest as I am not a cocktail type of girl - I don’t do a garden of nasturtiums and leaves in my drink - I like it bare ie G&T, ha ha!!!

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Photos

Trajinera colourful gondola boats
This is our first sight - amazing

Laurita our own Trajinera
Amazing never thought we would have our own boat - I was sure we would share

Cielito Lindo sang by the Marichari
Gavin’s grandma would be proud