Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Unsurprisingly I ended up staying in Mexico City longer than planned- arriving late afternoon on Friday 14th March and leaving on a night bus on Thursday 20th March 2008. So many travellers say they look forward to getting out of the cities, but I love them. There's always something going on and there's plenty of other travellers to meet which is good for me on my lonesome. Mexico City is huge, apparently in competition with Tokyo for the title of the largest city in the world. No kidding. Its great!
So on Friday after a taxi, then 2 bus rides as the first bus broke down and then another taxi I arrived at Mexico City Hostel around 4pm. For the first time I got a bed in a dorm and was immediately happy. I didn't do anything this evening, just hung out at the hostel which meant that I got to meet my roomies pretty fast. I was in a mixed dorm of 8 people, which when I arrived was 4 guys and 4 girls. Met all the girls that night and swapped stories as you do. It was so nice to have company and not be in a room on my own which had started to become a little monotonous.
The hostel was really nice. As it was relatively new it was in great condition, and had loads of bonuses like free internet (free meaning slow), a tv area with dvd player and most importantly comfy beds. Very exciting. One morning while I was in the shower a couple of teenage girls were standing at the mirror discussing pimples and boob jobs, and it really reminded me of the movie 'Mean Girls'- one of my favourites. Hostel dorms are just sleepovers and I always liked them.
Saturday I met more people and said bye to others, the turn over in hostels is obviously super fast, and one of the girls I'd just met left in the early hours of this morning. I started a walking tour of the city this morning and went to Hotel Majestic to see the views of the zocalo from the terrace, and then went to the cathedral and checked out the bell towers. Unfortunately I met a couple of guys while sightseeing who took a liking to me and became a bit of a nuisance so I decided to cut short my walkabout and head back to the hostel to moan about it. Don't worry though, I'm completely fine and safe its nothing major, just irritating unwanted attention. I ended up loitering around the tv room and watching dvd's for the afternoon which helped my boiling blood cool down. That evening I went for dinner and drinks with some of the people from the hostel. Strange thing about Mexico City, the centre of it seems to completely shut down at night, and to find the restaurants and bars etc you have to venture further out to neighbourhoods like Roma or Condesa. So we got the subway to Roma tonight, which was fab. The subway is so much cleaner and nicer than the London underground!
On Sunday I headed out with Britney for a walkabout. We headed down Avenue Madero and wandered into places that interested us along the way. I also went up the Torre Latinoamericana for views of the city. We ended up at Alameda Central, a really nice park, for a sit down and then went into Palacio Bellas Artes where we admired murals, I particularly liked Diego Riviera's work. After lunch Britney and Emma were heading to the airport to fly home, so I went to the Palacio Nacional by myself and then finished the walking tour. That night I was rescued from watching Alvin and the Chipmunks by Sarah (whose middle name is also Elizabeth we discovered!) and went with a few others for dinner and drinks in Condesa.
Monday was Teotihuacan day and I went with Tom, a fellow Brit from my dorm, going independantly rather than on a tour. It was cheaper and gave us more time at the ruins. Today was the first time I saw a pyramid in real life! It was impressive. We climbed up the Pyramid of the Moon first, easy as you could only go up to the first platform anyway, and then wandered around the rest of the buildings. After seeing the ridiculous queue to climb the Pyramid of the Sun we went for a long lunch and I learnt that the best way to cope with the intense heat and sun at ruins is by eating an ice lolly. By the time we went back to the Pyramid of the Sun, the queue was much much shorter. Its the third largest pyramid in the world, and just looking at the climb made me tired, but the platforms provided the perfect excuse to stop, admire the view and take photos, meaning I could catch my breath without feeling too unfit. Dinner tonight was a 7 Eleven picnic at the hostel- it was a long day.
Tuesday me and Tom went to Xochimilco- the floating gardens- and went on a boat ride for around 45 minutes. It was very cool, really liked the small boats on the river with sellers of food, drinks, music and poncho's (the ponchos seemed a little inappropriate in the heat though!) Very photogenic and relaxing. Really appreciated the size of Mexico City when it took us an hour to get there on the subway from the Zocalo. After that we went via a taxi which cost 60 pesos (6 US dollars) and saved us a good 2 hours on the subway to Frida and Diego's blue and pink houses to check out the art and memorabilia. Ended up inadvertently getting dinner at a swanky restaurant where the waiters pull out your chair, and flick the napkin on your lap. It was good food. Heading back to the hostel on the subway was amusing, it was busy at rush hour, and a cute little girl did incy wincy spider on my arm which was really cute. Got the giggles later on when it was so busy that I had peoples arms right accross my face. Not really a funny situation, but I couldn't stop giggling.
Wednesday I had to have a practical day for dull stuff like laundry ready to move on the next day. It was a quiet day. Thursday I went to the Museum of Anthropology with Daniel, also from the same dorm. I can see what all the hype is about, impressive exhibits and so much information! We only went round a few of the historical exhibits downstairs, I was particularly interested in Teotihuacan as i'd been there. That night I got the bus at 11.30pm to Oaxaca.
Not sure if you will have will have noticed, but I have uploaded 4 new photo albums, Mexico City, Oaxaca, San Cristobal de Las Casas and El Panchan and whilst waiting for the night bus to Merida tonight I'm going to try and get the blogs up-to-date too. I've covered a lot of ground over the last few days! Hope everybodys happy back home. Sarah xxxxxxxxx
- comments