Travels Around The World

Mexico City

Well the time had finally come for me to depart on my three week vacation. The timing was right, winter was approaching and the days were getting dark and dreary. This year I chose to go to Mexico. Three years of salsa dancing had peaked my interest in Latin America. The only problem with Latin America, is that almost no one speaks English. So prior to my departure, I spent nearly 7 months of learning spanish.

I'll tell you this, I've probably learned more spanish in the past few days than I did in the past seven months. The minute I stepped off the plane in Mexico City (The DF, pronounced "Dee Efee"), I was engulfed in another world. All of a sudden, English just went out the door and I just got a foot taller and at least 3 shades whiter.

For the first few days of my trip, my friend and partner in crime Zeek would be my companion. Prior to our arival, I had arranged for the sister of my friend Adriana, to pick us up and show us around the DF for a few days. Adriana's sister, Alejandra, became our guide to this massive city they call the DF.

The DF is huge. There is no good way to describe it. The DF is the heart of Mexico. Nearly one fifth of Mexico lives there and in the surounding area (approximately 22 million people). It is so vast, that you can travel for hours and still be in the city.

Besides being huge, it is a very dangerous city. Crime is always present. Taxi cab theft is the most common followed by street muggings. Zeek and I were very lucky to have a guide for most of out time in the DF. Alejandra and here friends keep us away from trouble.

We almost missed Alejandra and her friends. After clearing customs in the DF, we waited for nearly two hours for them. At one point, Zeek convinced me that they wouldn't show so we tried getting a taxi to the center of the city. We walked over to the taxi depo and were quicly hussled into a cab. When they told us it would be $30 USD to the center of the city, we quickly grabbed our stuff and went back inside the airport. We then decided to try to catch the metro (DF's subway system) to the Zoloco (the city center point). On our way to the Metro we ran into Alejandra. This is one time I can thank Taxi drivers for hustling people.

Alejandra showed up with two of her friends. Fortunetly one spoke english as this made things so much easier. Having only seven months of spanish, it was very hard for me to understand anything. Zeek was much better prepared. He had studied spanish for three years in college. If Zeek wasn't there, I'd be so screwed.

From the airport we got in there car and drove into the city. We stopped at a seafood place somewhere and had some really good seafood. Zeek and I were very disappointed in that the place didn't have chips and salsa. Instead they had crackers and hotsauce. It seems as if the mexicans here prefer crackers covered in lime manoyese and hotsauce to chips and salsa. This new version of our timeless classic was ok, but I prefer chips and salsa.

At the restraunt we meet up with Alejandria's boyfriend German. German could speak english very well. German was a really nice guy and his english was a wondeful relieve to my ears.

After dinner we changed and went out to a club that played salsa and merenge. Aparently my salsa skills have been worked up to enormous levels somehow. Alejandria and her friends wanted to see my dancing skills. The first thing I noticed about the club was how different it was from a salsa place in the USA. It seems that most people who went there were couples. The dancefloor was really small. Most people were more interested in getting a bottle of tequila and sitting down than dancing.

This is precisely what we did for the most part. We orded a bottle of tequila and chilled most of the night. Every few songs I'd go dance with Alejandra or one of her friends. Most songs were merengue which was just fine as no one there was a salsa dancer as one would think of one in the USA. It seems as if dancing Salsa and Merengue in Mexico is like dancing at a club in the USA. There are no flashy moves. There isn't much of interest to watch.

Getting out of the club was sort of an adventure. Our bar tab was nearly $250 USD. I think everyone was in shock when they saw it. That was probably the most expensive night of salsa I've ever had, costing me $50 USD.

After the club we drove to Alejandria's house and crashed. The next morning we were treated to an awesome breakfast of chicken encheladias, coffee, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was probably the best breakfast I've had in years.

After breakfast we drove out to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. There are two pyramids there, pyramid of the sun and pyramid of the moon. They are nearly the size of the pyramids in Egypt. Getting to the top of these things would be quite an effort. Fortunetly there are multiple stoping points which were used quite frequently by us.

On top of el pyramide de sol there is a spot that supposively is the central energy point for all of mexico. There you see everyone squating down and putting there finger on the point of central energy. In similar fashon to everyone else I touched the central point. I don't know if I became energized from it as Zeek and I crashed pretty early that night. Also, on top of el pramide de sol, people would put there arms straight up, in an effort to tap the energy (from the sun???).

In front of Pyramide de Sol

The Central Energy Point

Zeek and I on top of Pyramide de Sol.

After the pyramids we stopped by Alejandria's house to pick our stuff up. Zeek and I decided that we wanted to stay in the center of the city the next two nights. We were sick of driving everywhere and wanted to see the city on foot the next two days.

Our next stop was for a bullfight at Monumental Plaza Mexico. This bullring is one of the largest in the world and can hold 48,000 people. Fortunetely for us, there were only about 10,000 people that day. Bull fighting is rather interesting. There were to be 7 fights that day, each ending in a dead bull. You see, these are fights to the death. Either the bull dies or the bull fighter dies. I don't know if a bull fighter has ever died, but it could definetely happen. These are big Bulls, and they are face to face, staring each other down with only a few feet between them.

The head fighter is taking on the bull.

The bull fighting got to be a little boring for me after a while. Fortunetly, some spectators decided to have a fight of their own. I thought this was more interesting than the bull fight that was going on (this one in particular was very long, and the bull fighter couldn't finish off the bull for a long time).

After the bull fight we got some dinner at a local place and then walked around a market near by. After the market we were droped off at our hotel near the Zocolo.

The next day would be our first by ourselves and one of the more interesting days in Mexico City. We were now without a car and under no guidence other than our own. The day would be long and tiring, but definitely worth every minute spent on the streets of DF.

We started the day walking around the Zoloco, taking in all the city has to offer. The minute we stepped out of the hotel we were engulfed in everything Mexico has to offer. Speeding cars, blasting salsa music, people running every way possible, police holding machine guns, protesters yelling, and street food vendors selling everything imaginible to name a few.

The Zocolo

After touring the zoloco and the massive building surounding it we stumbled upon a massive market. This was no ordinary market, but a market consisting of streets being taken over by countless vendors. Making your way through this market was a hazard to your health. Not only do you have to dodge thousands of people, you have to watch out for speeding cars comming down the streets. It was madness. However, if you want some good deals on stuff, this was the place to go. For example you can get some nice pirated cds for $0.70 USD.

After wondering the market for a few hours we started a long walk to Zona Rosa (the pink zone), DF's hip happening district. Walking through the DF is a real treat. It seems as if around every other block there is some statue, foutain, or city park. Crossing the streets was fairly orderly when compared to SE Asia. However, its way more crazy than anything the US has to offer. Driving in the DF? Oh man, I don't recommend that. Its complete crazyness. I swear we were going to crash several times when German or Alejandra were driving.

I'm not sure what this is, but its very famous

Me with my fresh sqeezed orange juice.

Monumento a la Independencia

The zona rosa turned out to be a big disapointment in my opinion. Along the main drag was McDonalds, Buger King, KFC, Poppies (can you believe that), Subway, and just about every other major US company you can tink of. The only one they didn't have was Taco Bell. Now that would be something if there was a Taco Bell in the DF.

After escaping the zona rosa (i.e. USA wanna be district) we headed south to Xochimilco. Xochimilco is famous for its canals. In a sense, Xochimilco is like the Venice of Mexico, only more latin. There you can ride a boat through the canals, enjoying a Marachi band, eat some tacos, and cool down with a few beers. This is precisely what we did, except without the tacos. We definitely overpaid for the boat ride, but it was an enjoyable experience, full of culture and good beer.

A view from the boat at the Xochimilco.

Zeek and I enjoying our beers

After returning to the hotel, Zeek and I decided that our stay in the DF should be concluded with a pub crawl. The only problem was that none of the pubs we found that night had anything worth mentioning in them. They were either empty, playing really bad american covers, or just plain scary looking. Next time, we'll let Alejandria show us what bars to go to.

Our final day in the DF was rather uneventfull. We woke up, did some more market shopping, and then met up with Alejandria. Alejandria then took us to a place for some awesome gordias before dropping us off at the airport. These aren't your Taco Bell gordias, these are handmade, full of tasty chicken, catci, and salsa. After saying goodbye to Zeek, Alejandria escorted me over to the bus station inside the airport. I then borded the train to Puebla. It was hard to say goodbye to Alejandria. Her family had been so gracious to us. She had gone out of her way to ensure that Zeek and I had a good time in the DF. I hope to return to the DF someday and renew the friendships made over those few days.

Posted by todd at November 16, 2005 10:57 AM