Sunrise, Quinta Roo

Sunrise, Quinta Roo

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Ciudad de Mexico - what a huge MoFo!

I have made it to the big smoke!


I flew here, so it took very little time - you may recall I overnight bussed last time... well,
this time it was cheaper to fly... $29 plus some taxes.

Anywho, I am at a hostel where they pick you up for free from the airport. This is the reason
I booked it... so dammit, I wasn{t leaving that airport until they got me.
After I sent my flight details as instucted, they sent a reply saying I have got to ring after I am through customs and outside the airport, then it would take 30 mins for the car to come.
I replied with an email asking if they could just come an hour later... as I do not have a phone (well, that works) and as I did not have to clear customs (have¨not brought a bag... it is with a stranger in Puerto Vallarta - fingers crossed it remains there and he lets me have it back... long story really, will have to bust it out another time).... anyways they were all ¨NO¨ and I was all ¨I have a feeling this will be another Maria MisAdventure...¨

It was. No one answered the phone for hours, so I just sat in the airport hungry and tired but without energy to move. After finally getting through to them and them being all ¨We were expecting you hours ago, there is no car now¨ but telling me to call back, I sat back on the ground and shed a few tears in the typical tired-hungry-alone-iwannagohome fashion.

A man came and talked to me, his name was Angel.


I have this thing where I still wanted to go to the hostel and give thema chance and better my relationship with them. I don´t want to have angry feelings that remain unresolved. I am here now, the relations are fine - I hold some power too coz I booked through Hostel world which means that I write a review.


Anyways, I walked the streets all arvo-night (I am not in the centro, it is safe out here at night)

along this main drag which has the ¨Angel of Independence¨ statue and various other statues and art along it. What a beautiful stretch of road it is! There are all these seat-sculptures along it, I really enjoyed walking along, sitting on all the chairs and admiring the outdoor art displays they have especially for the Bicentennario... they also have big faces of important players in thisand in Independence (which is on the 20th, but as that is a Saturday the day off work and celebrations are happening tommorrow... they heard I was in town) in lights.


There is one of those bike systems where they are mechanically attached and you can use them if you have a card...go Green! There is also a rule that my teacher Laura told me of where the cars with Licence plates A-L drive one day and M-Z on others... the flaw in this is that lots of peeps now bought two because of this. Although the Metro system is big and quick and 30c... it is CROWDED as are the buses... word on the street (actually from the 20-odd year old who works here) is that there are 26 million people here .. ???? Will have to look that up... coz yes, that math would mean that it is 6x NZ.... wow. I also learnt on plane here that it is the 3rd BIGGEST city in the world.... NUTS!


I discovered from Markets and shops and clubs and love that this is the gay district. Who wants to sing Cher? or Rent? or any other Musical?


I went to bed at nine.. woke up at nine. I was the first person in my room last night and the last to leave this morning so I haven{t seen any of my roomies. I went into town via that same big stretch I harped on about - to see it in its daylight glory.
And boy, was it glorious! There is a road passing through the middle - and get this - on Sundays they CLOSE IT OFF so people can ride their bikes, push scooters, wheelchairs, rollerblades, skateboard, roller blade-scooters (these amazing things I had never seen before.. I want one quite badly), prams, dogs and anything else with wheels. There were 100s of peoples and families out having a gay old time! TANDEM BIKES ARE COOL HERE!
At the intersections there are workers who hold up rope stopping the bikers when they have to let the cars through.. there is free water.. there are aerobics classes in the street - everyhting about it was fabul0us! I have decided that i have to live somewhere where I can go rollerblading on Sundays. It is a anti-diabeties promo (5people in mexico die of this every hour, so obviously it is a big problem), with even Red Cross demos with dummies and all for first aid.

I hit up two museums - I didn{t go to the main one in the centre because Sunday is free-day for locals so it was packed. Instead I went to the Museum of Memory and Tolerance... I can{t help myself... I didn{t know it was there but I walked past it and had to go inside... it was mainly Holocaust based, also with my main interests Rwanda and Cambodia... I have never actually seen a museum display on the Nazi-BS but obviously it was all very heart breaking... there were real items there - star of Davids, a train cart that took people to the Camps (it smelt of death, I swear), shoes of children that were confiscated in the Camps... that was the stuff that broke me.
There was a machete from Rwanda which made me sick to my stomach... I just do not get it.

So, that was intense! Later on I wandered before finding myself in the National Arte museum. There were beautiful works there from centuries back, mostly religious.. some HUGE.
I saw my first Diego Riverias which was exciting... although I don+t really like his stuff he is Mexico{s most famous and treasured Artist. He was known for murals mainly... hopefully I will see them in the Palace museum when I get there.

Mexico City town is very beautiful.. there are still LOTS of old buildings, more than I expected as I know they have had there share of large quakes. It isn{t as foggy and bleak as I thought it would be.. I think it is beautiful. There were tonnes ofpeople around on Sun... I have never seen so man y people... I was all thinking it would die down on Monday... boy, was I wrong!

Food diary: Esquites - Amazing corn soup, Churro Relleno con Cajeta - Hot stick donut with Caramel sauce inside, Litre Juice of the stall holders {specialty{ aka Melon, Pineapple, Guaba and Papaya... boy was it good! At the hostel there are eggs and toast for breakfast.. I love mine Mexicana (which takes on a diff meaning everywhere I have learnt) here being with tomates and peppers... bueno!

No comments:

Post a Comment