Distrito Federal - Mexico city

---

When I got to DF I was severely jet lagged, sleeping or walking around like a zombie during the day, and laying awake for hours at stupid o’clock in the night or morning.

The first night didn’t help. An hour after I arrived, me and some others were given the choice between drinking 1 or 3.1 litres of tequila. It may be cliché, but It’s no exaggeration that a lot of tequila gets drunk here. We chose 3.1 and ended up drinking both)) Then a couple of us went salsa (standing on feet) dancing, and that’s about all I remember.

I spent altogether about 3 days in DF, wandering around the Zócalo (town center) checking out buildings etc. My highlight was the archeology museum;

Quick synopsis of archeology for those interested:
The indigenous people of America probably came from Asia, Mongolia I think, across an Ice shelf about 40,000 years ago. ‘twas very cold. Their most advanced tool at the time was a rock chipped away to create a sharp edge. When the Europeans arrived about 500 years ago they had built pyramids that lined up with the celestial bodies. These told them what time of year it was and helped them with their agriculture. They had also developed, trade routes, religion, social structure and all sorts of artifacts. Basically the same stuff as everyone else in the world but totally separate, which is what I found interesting.
THE GAME
These guys invented the first ever team sport. They knocked a hard rubber ball around a court using their arms and legs but not hands. The direction of play had something to do with the suns journey around the earth. The goal was to hit it through some wood or stone vertical rings. It was played all over Mexico by the Aztecs and the Mayans, but the rules varied, particularly on who was beheaded at the end of the game. Sometimes it was nearly everyone, but on the plus side it was only played on special occasions and it was an honor to be beheaded.

Where I was in Mexico City was safe enough that you could walk around at night and not be too worried. Most of the places I’ve been have been the same. The greatest danger, and what you hear about in the news, is in the suburbs of DF and on the boarder with USA. Drugs, gangs, etc… make it all legal I say!!

Anyway it’s a city with population ridiculous, over 100 million, if you include the suburbs. It’s polluted and it smells. I’m not big on cities anyway so as soon as I saw what I needed to see and got my bearings I was out of there.

I bought a camera on the last day but no photos of Mexico City.

---