Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi everyone and a belated but very Happy New Year to you all from Mexico.
Our first impressions have been very positive with no delays for immigration or security at the sparkling and shiny Mexico City airport, although we were handed a leaflet from the Health Dept warning of a cholera outbreak! Sniffer dogs were also noticeable as they checked all people and bags while we waited by the carousel.
We also quickly discovered that it's a lot cooler here as the city is around 2500m above sea level. Temperatures range from less than 10oC at night to low 20s during the day but this will change when we drop down over the next week or so. The air is also very dry and we're out of breath a little when climbing steps.
This is one of the biggest cities we've ever been to, with a population of more than 21 million, and we were expecting a lot of smog and pollution. However, this hasn't been to bad as there's been a lot of environmental improvements made including electric trolley buses replacing petrol versions and all cars are prohibited from driving in the city one day a week, according to the first number of their registration plates.
The other concern we had was just how safe would Mexico be? Everyone has heard of the drugs wars and violent street crime here but we've heard and read that these problems are worse in the north of the country, particularly along the border with the US. We haven't seen any trouble or felt threatened in any way but will continue to be careful. A reassuring but unusual sight for us has been groups of armed police with body armour and riot shields everywhere; we even once saw a policeman with a machine gun standing guard over a display of lipsticks in the cosmetics shop! Perhaps the drug cartel guys enjoy a bit of cross-dressing in their spare time!
We stayed for three nights in a very nice quirky hotel in the Centro Historico of the city. The room was great and we were surprised that when we asked about the cost of phone calls to be told that all were free, including international ones! We took advantage of this, and the free wifi, to phone home over New Year and to catch up with emails. We even managed to get the Cuba photos onto Off Exploring at last! This took the best part of two days on and off and so we decided to stay a couple more nights; the hotel also had an attached hostel and so we gave up our costly luxuries to move into a four bed dormitory which we had to ourselves but with shared showers and toilets so it was a bit like camping!
Although Spanish is still the language spoken here, the Mexican version of it is totally different to what we'd got used to in Cuba and I even struggled to make myself understood when ordering a beer a couple of times; times are getting tough!
People are friendly here but, on first impressions, not as exuberant as in Cuba although we were helped out a couple of times when we were struggling either with language or directions.
We'd been looking forward to trying the Mexican food and quickly sampled our first tacos, yellow corn flour discs folded over like a small pasty into which go a variety of meat fillings which are always mixed with lime juice, chopped chillies and onion. We found these all over the city and learned to buy them where we saw the biggest queues. We also had quesadillas, two tortillas with melted cheese and chillies sandwiched in between, which are cooked on a grill or fried. Chilies seem to be in everything, plus you can add more from the small bowls that are produced with most meals along with the salt and pepper. Packets of crisps and peanuts, chilli flavoured surprisingly, also come with sachets of chilli sauce and MacDonalds has adapted its menu for the Mexican market by adding McBurritos and smoked chipotle chilli sauce burgers as well as 'angry bacon' which we haven't tried yet but we suspect it could be spicy! We'd been told that portions were big in Mexico so have continued with our strategy of sharing one meal between us. We heard that Mexicans are the second most obese nation in the world (after the US) and have no wish to add to that statistic! However, for breakfast we were tempted into a nearby Starbucks for muffins and chocolate croissants; we're now missing our healthier Cuban breakfasts of fresh juice, fruit and eggs so will have to break the Starbucks habit.
Other immediate differences we've noticed are the increased choice in the shops And there are the usual car showrooms again, the first we've seen since leaving home as there are none in Cuba (there are no new cars for sale there).
The streets were teeming with people on the night we arrived (30th) so we were looking forward to joining in the festivities the following night, New Years Eve. We ate late at a cantina (typical Mexican restaurant and bar) and at about 11pm headed for the Zocalo, the huge main square (roughly equivalent in size and relative location to London's Trafalgar Square) which contained a giant Christmas tree, a skating rink and toboggan run and was lit up on three of its four sides with Christmas decorations. As we moved towards the square we were puzzled that the streets were very quiet and that most people around were going in the opposite direction. We continued regardless and found that the Christmas tree lights and all other illuminations had been switched off. There were only a few pockets of people left and these seemed to be confused tourists like us who must also have been expecting traditional merrymaking and Sydney harbour-like firework displays. We waited in hope until the cathedral clock struck midnight, convincing ourselves that all lights would suddenly be turned on and hordes of locals would come streaming in. Sadly it was not to be and the only difference was that the cathedral bells continued to chime monotonously for the next half hour. The following night, New Years Day, everyone was back out on the streets again and it was difficult to move. We later learned that, although Christmas is celebrated here, it's the three wise men that deliver the presents and not until the 5th of January. This still doesn't explain why New Years Eve isn't the raucous occasion that we're used to (we have to assume that most people either celebrate at home) but at least we now realise that everyone does their Christmas shopping after Christmas and that the reason we saw most people heading away from the Zocalo on New Years Eve was that the shops had shut for the night! We also later found out from a local that due to pollution fireworks are banned in Mexico City.
On New Years Day we went to see some Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling, as shown in the Karl Pilkington "An Idiot Abroad" TV series). We had practically ring-side seats for £11 each. This was a hilarious event and clearly loved by Mexican families who booed the baddies and cheered the goodies energetically. We had hoped to get a few photos but the camera was confiscated as we went in so, apart from the ones of us in some wrestling masks we bought, we hope to add a few copies in the photo album that will follow.
On our final day in the capital we ventured out to Teotihuacan, a pre Aztec site that is one of Mexico's big attractions. We managed to get a local trolley bus out to one of the four major bus termini in the city and caught another bus from there to our destination. The main sights at Teotihuacan are two 2000 year old huge pyramids linked by "The Avenue of The Dead". We could have joined a tour group but by doing it ourselves we did it for half the price, were free to wander around until we'd seen enough and had our first taste of independent travel in Mexico which we needed to develop to get us through the next few weeks here.
That's about it for now; we'll send our next update soon.
Love from Linda and Tony xx
==============================================================
Comments
Chris Bartle Hi Guys. Glad you are enjoying yourselves and have survived the chillis. Hope it is still warmer than the US for you, it is desperately cold there. On night shift this week then two weeks off, yippee. Oh and Happy New Year !! Love from Chris and Anne xx
Jan 8, 2014
- comments
Chris Bartle Hi Guys. Glad you are enjoying yourselves and have survived the chillis. Hope it is still warmer than the US for you, it is desperately cold there. On night shift this week then two weeks off, yippee. Oh and Happy New Year !! Love from Chris and Anne xx