Travels Around The World

Palenque Ruins

Today I slept in and enjoyed a nice long breakfast with the travels I have been hanging out with here in El Pachán. Breakfast was rather interesting, two hotcakes smothered with yogart and sliced bananas. It was rather different, but very good. I'll have to make it once I get back to the states.

El Pachán and the surounding jungle.

After breakfast we hoped aboard a taxi colectivo to the ruins of Palenque. The Palenque ruins are very famous and one of Mexico's best Mayan ruin sites. The ruins themselves are from about 500 AD and represent the Mayan's capital for this area. There were numerous pyramid type buildings made of stone and mud (now concrete). The crazy thing about the ruins is that the city was build with no metal tools, nor did the Mayan's have the wheel at the time. I'd like to know how the managed to put it all together.

Towards the end of our time at the ruins I split up from the group and explored some lesser ruins for another hour or so. Afterwards I walked back to El Pachán stopping for some lunch. I wasn't sure what to expect at this place since it looked really run down. But this was to be one the best meals I've had so far. Heres why

1) Chips and salsa (yup finally...I even took a picture)
2) Awesome Pinapple shake
3) Wondeful vegitable soup
4) Carne a la mexicana (beef with tomato sauce, onions, rice, and tortillas)

My first batch of chips and salsa in Mexico

Tonight I'm getting on a night bus to Merída. The joys of sleeping on a bus. Now if they could do something about the overzelous AC....

Palenque

After a 5 hour bus ride descending from the mountains I arrived in Palenque. Gone was the bitter cold that froze my bones the night before. Instead it had been replaced with the hot and humid climate typical of any tropical climate. Palenque is home to some of Mexico's greatest Mayan ruins and specticular waterfalls.

On my way to Palenque I made some friends with an Australian and a few Italians. We were all headed to the same place, the traveler's mecka named El Panchan. El Panchan is an interesting place. It is a backpacker oasis next to the ruins of Palanque. Its basically a bunch of hostel like guesthouses in the middle of the jungle. Its centered around one bar that has live music at night. Everything is open air and connected with a bunch of trails.

After a farely uneventful night I awoke the next morning to go on a waterfall tour. Our tour would cover Misol-Ha, Agua Clara, and Agua Azul. We first arrived at Misol-Ha, a waterfall featured on the set of Predator (that was back when Arnie was cool). The waterfall is pretty huge and drains into a beautful pond below. Near the top of the waterfall our group went into a cave and checked out a bunch of bats and a smaller waterfall.

Misol-Ha

Our next stop was Agua Clara. Agua Clara is basically a spot in some river that has really crystal blue looking water. There really isn't anything all that special at the spot other than a huge rope bridge and a bunch of kids trying to sell you bananas.

Agua Clara

Our final stop was Agua Azul. This place had a massive water fall, clear blue water, and a bunch of really great food. Highlights included soaking in the water and getting some sun rays, eating banana chips and all sorts of Empandanas (banana, meat, and cheese to name a few).

Agua Azul (that pose if for you Zeek)

San Cristobal de Las Casas

After a long 13 hour bus ride full of smelly people, bad movies with spanish subtitles, windy turns, and a blinding morning sun I arrived in San Cristobal del Las Casas. San Cristobal is located in the political stormy state of Chaipas, located about half way between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Back in 1994 many of the local indiginous people who make up this area stormed the goverment buildings in an attempt to start a revolution. While initially succeding they were eventually driving out by the military. Several masacarers occured and tensions still remain high among the local indiginious people and those of mixed decent.

San Cristobal is a beautiful colonial town surrounded by vast mountains and rolling hills filled with corn fields and other vegatibles. The streets are narrow, and the pace of life is noticably slower. The people here look different than in the rest of Mexico. Nearly 1/5 of the people are descendants of the ancient Mayans. These people wear colorful clothing and are often selling hand woven goods on the street. Even the normal Mexicans are noticably shorter and darker than the ones in the DF, Puebla, and Oaxaca. If I didn't look like a giant before here in Mexico, I definitately do now. Honestely I've seen full grown women who can't be even 4 feet tall.

After arriving in town I was immediately swarmed by hawkers trying to get me to their hostel or hotel. This is something rather unusal for Mexico. I've never experienced this so far. It reminds me of being in Europe or parts of Thailand. The minute you step off a boat or bus you get hounded by each guesthouse. It turned out to be ok as I stayed at one of the places that was being hyped. For 40 pesos a night its hard to resist.

After getting everything set at the hostel I spent the rest of the morning walking around the city and eating tacos along the way. San Cristibol has the cheapest tacos in Mexico so far. At 1 peso per taco its hard not to eat tacos. These tacos are pretty good size too. I wish they were this cheap and good in the states. Yum!

The town's main cathredal

Walking down Insurgents

A view from the Cerro de Guadalupe

In the afternoon I headed out to the town of San Juan Chamula. Chamula is unique in that it is made up almost entirely of the Tzotzil ethnic group. To get there I had to jump in an old VW bus that was crammed full of people. But when everyone is like 5 feet tall (or shorter) its not hard to cram a lot of people inside. The town itself was a complete dump. Its obvious that the locals here are pretty darn poor. The town did have a cool market and lots of neat handycrafts.

The main market and church at San Juan Chamula

Walking around was rather interesting. Every ten feet or so I'd get hounded by some little kid to either buy a bracelet or give them some pesos. If it wasn't that then it would be a group of teenagers who wanted to record my voice talking english. They had a list of questions they asked me and then recorded my answers on cassett tape. There were very few foreigners in this town, making it even harder to blend in.

After a few hours I made my way back to San Cristobal. The one interesting thing here in San Cristobal is how cold it gets at night. Once the sun set the place got really cold. Man, I mean cold. It wasn't below freezing, but the dry and crisp mountain air sends shivers down your bones. I was so cold that I spent most of the night walking from coffee shop to coffee shop. Not being a coffee drinker, I just had mexican hot chocalate. They even have the stuff in selfserve vending machines. What a great country, i just wish it could be a little warmer at night.

Completely bored out of my mind I stumbled upon a bar playing salsa music. Again to my dismay no one here actually dances salsa but at least they had a live band. The band was kicken and the dancers were really funny. But I quickly tired of not being able to dance salsa so I went back to the hostel. Now if only the hostel had heat, that would be great.

Puerto Escondido

From the lonely shores of Zipolite I hoped on a taxi colectivo back to the town of Pochuta. It was rather funny when I caught the collective taxi (basically a truck with some benches in the back). I was talking to a normal taxi driver at the time who was trying to convince me that there was no colective taxi service. I was like, uh...what the heck is that comming this way. I guess they will try to tell you anything to make a buck in Mexico. But then, we already knew that.

From Pochuta I borded a second class bus to Puerto Escondido. Puerto Escondido is a surf town about 120 km northwest of Zipolite. The waves here are legendary and attract people from around the world. If you don't surf in Puerto Escondido, then you are left feeling sightly left out.

After I arrived in Puerto Escondido I made my way to the hot spot beach of Zicatela. This is the beach with the famous waves. After wondering around for quite some time I found a hostel to stay at. This was no ordinary hostel though. It was a hostel made up of surfers, with many who had seemed to lose themselves in Puerto Escondido for some time. At 40 pesos a night ($4 USD), I wasn't about to complain.

Life at the hostel

Life at the hostel turned out to be really fun. There I met many world travelers who had stopped in Puerto Escondido for a few weeks to try the surf before moving on to other places. The most hard core travelers I met were two guys who were biking all the way to the southern tip of Argentina. I also met some people that were driving a 1970s Buick all the way to Argentina. Man, you would think they would pick a better car. That thing has a huge gas sucking V8 in it and looks like a tank. Plus its got one heck of a relibility record.

On my second day in Puerto Escondido I decided to rent a body board and get my own taste of the surf. All I can say is this.... It was a great idea and I'm glad I tried surfing those waves. It looks really easy from the shore. But once you start going head on with 10+ foot waves just to getting out to sea, your perception of things starts to change. When those waves crash on top of you it sucks away your energy, will, and ease of mind.

A bodyboarder at sunset

My best wave was both the biggest and hardest wave of the day that I would come across. It started out well as I got on top the break. Then I rode the wave for a bit until low and behold there was another bogie boarder in front of me. I ended up crashing into him, letting the wave catch up to me. Once the wave crashed on top of me and I got to know first hand how small I was compared to these massive waves. I was never quite the same after that wave and gained a new respect for the power of the ocean. After that wave I went over to a beach with smaller waves (which were still nearly 10 feet high at times) so that I would be able to complete my trip as planed

My third and final day in Puerto Escondido has been fairly uneventful. I still had the body board in the morning so I went out and tested the waves for a bit. After getting beaten up by the waves I got out of the water, returned the board, and just chilled on the beach. Tonight I am leaving for San Cristobal de las Casas. San Cristobal is a small town out in the middle of the state of Chiapas full of the decendents of the ancient Maya civilization.

Zipolite

The next morning I woke up and jumped on a large Ford van headed to the port town of Pochutla. The journey was long, but the scenery was breath taking. To go along with the beautiful scenery along the way (high deserts followed by pine forests, then finally by lush topical jungle) it was the 20th of November, a special day for Mexico. This is Mexico's revolution day, (as far as I know) and they celebrate it by having a parade in each city. Even those small cities with only a few thousand people have parades full of people dancing, singing, and marching down the streets. This was rather troublesome for our van as every 30 minutes or so we came to another small city with its roads blocked by a parade. Every time we got blocked by a parade our driver would turn around and zip through windy streets that were barely wide enough to get around the festivites.

Around 4 pm we made it to Pochutla. From there I teamed up with a couple from Ireland and the UK and got a taxi to Zipolite. Zipolite is a small and beautiful section of beach with just about nothing to do. It is a traveler paradise, made up of cool bungalows, cabañas, and hammocks, priced to keep you there for days, months, if not years. Its not as cheap as Thailand, but its probably one of the cheapest areas in North America. Most of the people there seemed to have made this place their new home for a while.

If I had to describe this place in two words it would be "Pure Relaxation." From the minute you step on the beach you are overcome with some strange force that says, please...stop what you are doing and relax for a while. If found it hard to do anything there other than sleep on the beach. Even walking along the beach was an effort.

The view from my room

The place I stayed

Sunset at Zipolite

My experience in Zipolite was not all good though. My room at night was full of mosquitos who loved to bite me. Even bug spray didn't help me to much. By the end of my second and last night there I was covered in bug bites. Fortunetely they didn't itch too much. It looks like I have chicken pox right now.

Oaxaca

The ride from Puebla to Oaxaca was one of breath taking beauty. Imagine climbing high into the mountains on curvy roads, surounded by tall catci and pine trees. This is the rugged, wild, and untamed Mexico that we don't normally think of. After six hours of beautiful scenery and hair raising turns I was ready to strech my legs once again and adventure out into Mexico's "southern capital" of Oaxaca.

Stepping off the bus I was completely lost as to where I was. To make matters worse I couldn't find any road signs, nor was anyone very helpful in finding my way to the Zocolo. The first lady I asked pointed me in the wrong direction. After following her directions for a few blocks I came to the conclusion that I was seriously headed in a very bad direction. You know, when people start pointing at you and giving you strange looks. Needless to say I quickly changed directions and asked the first nice looking lady for a new set of directions. This lady was much more helpful and I eventually found my way to the Zocolo and to my Hostel, Magic Hostel.

The Magic Hostel is a pretty cool place. Lonely Planet describes it as a party place, but I don't really agree with that statement. Everyone is very social there, however, English isn't the first language of preference (pick spanish or french). Here I've run into travelers from Argentina, France, UK, Ireland, and the USA.

Oaxaca's Zocolo

Instituto Oaxaqueño de las artesanias

Oaxaca is the hub of Mexico's art scene and this becomes quickly apparent after a few minutes in the Zocolo. Every night there is a free concert given in the town square. The past two nights have seen a student concert band, a Xylophone group, a native american group, and several marachi bands. My favorite moment was when a group of students rented out the Marachi band for at least an hour (yes, Marachi bands don't play for free). Everyone was way into it and all the students were singing at the top of their lungs with the band.

The Marachi Band

My first day in Oaxaca was rather short as I arrived around sunset. After finding my hostel and eating some food, I decided to go out Salsa dancing. Candela was to be my destination, quoted as being one of the best venues for salsa in southern Mexico. To my dismay I showed up to a nearly empty club, having only a few couples. The club would later pick up but my first real salsa experience in Mexico still remained a disapointment. Salsa in Mexico seems to be a couples thing, and the women didn't really want to dance with me in front of their boyfriends. I did manage to get a few of the good women to dance, which raised a lot of eyebrows at the club.

For my next day in Oaxaca I spent the majority of the day just wondering around the city center. The major highlight of Oaxaca is the Iglesia de Santo Domingo, a cathedral build between 1570 and 1608. While the outside of the cathedral wasn't as impressive as some of the churches in Puebla, the inside will make your jaw drop. This is something you would think to see only in Vatacan City.

Some random Cathedral

Iglesia de Santo Domingo

Inside the Iglesia de Santo Domingo

That night I went out with a bunch of guys from the UK and some girls from Argentina. The guys from the UK were completely crazy in my opinion. They were biking around Mexico with small mountain bikes (they are bigger than BMX bikes, but not too much). We ended up going to some club that played some salsa, merenge, cha-cha, and R&B. It was almost like Ferandos for those who know what I'm talking about. The night was pretty fun and way less stressful than the previous night. I did dance some salsa with a girl who was pretty good, but the night was mainly spent hanging out with the other travelers.

The dangers of Mexico struck our group that night as one of the guys from the UK was mugged on his way back to the hostel. Oaxaca seems fairly safe, not as safe as Puebla, but much better than Mexico City. However, the guy went back to the Hostel by himself and was taken out by a group of locals. For as touristy as Oaxaca is, I'm rather dispointed that the Police don't do a better job patroling the streets at night.

For my final full day in Oaxaca I boarded a bus and headed out to the ancient Zapotec capital of Monte Alban. Monte Alban was the center of the Zapotec people from 500 BC to 700 AD and was home to around 25,000 people at one point. I found the ruins to be quite interesting, well preserved, and easy to navigate.

Monte Alban

Monte Alban

Monte Alban

Puebla

Stepping off the bus in Puebla was like a breath of fresh air. Not only was the air pollution from Mexico City gone, but the pace of life seemed to slow down significantly. Don't get me wrong, traffic is still pretty crazy, but at least you know that the cars will stop for red lights now.

Puebla is an old colonial town full of narrow cobblestone streets. It has a romantic feel to it, drawing you in once you step foot in the city. Puebla is famous for its hand painted tiles and numerous churches that fill each city block. There are more than 70 chuches in the city center alone, making it nearly impossible to go more than a few blocks without seeing a church.

The first church I saw in Puebla

Mural of painted tiles

I arrived in Puebla in the early evening. After taking a taxi to my hotel I decided to walk about the city. The first thing I noticed while walking around Puebla was how safe it felt. The streets were well lit, clean, and lacking of strange crazy people. Puebla is home to a lot of universities, and they cities youth has created a demand for a safe environment afterhours.

Puebla's main cathedral at sunset

After walking around the city for a few hours I stumbled upon some live music at a bar with outdoor seating. This would be my new home for the next few hours, taking advanage of the 2x1 beer special, and the music. The music was an acoustic ensemble playing all the good salsa songs I know from home. The defining moment was when they played "Pile of Stars" (english translation) while downing a cold Cervasa Sol. Honestly, it doesn't get much better than that.

Sitting at the bar with my beer

As the clock began to close on midnight I picked up my stuff and hurried home. Even at this hour there were still people in the Zocolo, enjoying the night, and each other's company.

The next day would be spent in similar fashon as the evening before. That is strolling along the many cobblestone streets of Puebla and taking in all the city has to offer. Unfortunetly for me, the food in Mexico had started to have its revenge on me. Maybe it was the cow brain tacos we had in Mexico City. Thankfully, I didn't eat the Cow Eye Tacos that Zeek had. Those looked disgusting. So thoughout the day I found myself running back to the hotel in order to use the bathroom and recouperate some.

Puebla and its cobblestone streets

Some random church

Another random church

Yet another

The famous Templo de San Francisco

Another shot of the Templo de San Francisco

Unkown

Towards the evening I felt a lot better so I ventured back to the bar I was at the previous night. For some reason the atmosphere wasn't as good. Maybe it was the fresh cold mountain air that seemed colder than the night before. Maybe it was due to the revenge of the tacos seen earlier that day. Or maybe it was the taquetos I ate an hour before feeling like a brick in my stomach. Anyhow, it was still nice sitting on the sidewalk drinking a few beers, just not as nice as the night before.

The next day I packed up my things and headed to the bus station, also known as the CAPU. To get to the bus station I waved down a colectivo and jumped on board. A colectivo is basically a small bus that runs a specific route. You can board and get off anywhere along that route. Once at the bus station I purchased a ticket to Oaxaca and waited for an hour or so.

The first thing I noticed about this bus station was how nice it was. This is no greyhound terminal, its clean, new, and looks like an airport. They even have departure gates with seating and TVs. Way to go Mexico!

Bus Station

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.

Getting Ready For Mexico City

As fall slowly comes to an end here in Portland, I once again will be escaping the rain in search of sun and adventure. This year I have my sights set on Mexico. I've never been to Central America, so it has been on my to-do list for some time now. Airfare was incredibly cheap a few months ago, so I broke down and bought some tickets. My jouney will start in Mexico City on November 12th and end in Cancun December 4th.

I won't be alone during my jouney. My buddy Zeek will be joining me the first few days in Mexico City. We are hoping to see the sights, run around some pyramids, and see a bull fight. While we are there we will be meeting up in the DF (Mexico City) with the sister of one of my friends from Salsa. Hopefully with her guidence, Zeek and I will escape the DF free from harm.

Here are some pics of me and zeek.

Zeek

Me

Here is my flight Itenary

Saturday, November 12, 2005
--------------------------------------------
Flight: American Airlines 1453
Depart: Portland, OR - 7:23 AM
Arrive: Dallas Ft. Worth - 1:06 PM

Flight: American Airlines 1653
Depart: Dallas Ft. Worth - 2:00 PM
Arrive: Mexico City, Mexico - 4:36 PM

Sunday, December 4, 2005
---------------------------------------------
Flight: American Airlines 1108
Depart: Cancun, Mexico - 4:37 PM
Arrive: Dallas Ft. Worth - 7:28 PM

Flight: American Airlines 1285
Depart: Dallas Ft. Worth - 8:41 PM
Arrive: Portland, OR - 10:44 PM

I will probably try and get a sim card for my cell phone while I'm down there. Watch for updates on that. In the mean time, I'm always available at todd.owen@gmail.com

Todd