Mexico City

Thursday, Mar. 10 (Part II)

I returned to the hotel after stopping at a cyber cafe. I finished reading History of the Kelly Gang (3 stars out of 4). Then I watched Pride and Prejudice on TV.

I went out briefly to get a snack for dinner (one meat and one chicken empanada). Then I set the alarm and packed for tomorrow morning`s departure.

Friday, Mar. 11

It´s 8:20 and I am checked in and at the gate. My flight isn´t juntil 1º0:30, so everything has gone smoothly. I awoke at 5:15, fifteen minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Walking to the airport bus stop took only 21 minutes since the sidewalks and the streets were so empty at 6:00 a.m. The bus arrived early and departed right on time. The only surprise of the day was an increased cost for the ubs. It had been 21 Rais when I arrived in January, and I had that sav ed in bills to give the driver. Now it is 24 Raid, and I had to give him a big bill instead of the exact change.
_______
It was a 9-hour flight to Mexico City. The plane was configured to provide minimal space for passengers. It was a 777 with a 3-3-3 seat arrangement. Usually, airlines use a 2-3-2 or a 2-4-2 arrangement for this type of plane. The passenger´s seat in front of me gave only a little space between the back of it and my body when he reclined it. I made it here fine, though.

I slept part of the way because of getting up early. I watched one of the movies--Bridget Jones 2. But mostly I read. I began The Deveil in the White City by Erik Larson and read half of it. it is about the Chicago world´s fair in the late 1800s and also about a serial killer in the city at that time.

Immigration and customs took another hour. Then I found an ATM and the tourist booth where the people were very helpful. When I asked for a city map and they didn´t have one, a woman from the booth went inside the building and got one from another place.

I caught the metro to a hotel that was recommended on the Internet by Roughguide. I had to change trains twice to get there. Then when I found the hotel, it was closed and the doors chained. I had the names of two other nearby hotels, but when I turned the corner, I passed one that looked okay. I got a room for about $12. It has TV, but the only channel in English is one with hordcore porn!

I didn't go out. I had eaten twice on the plane and wasn´t hungry. I needed some bottled water, but I was too tired to go searching for it. I just flossed my teeth and skipped brushing them.

Spending Update:

I spent another 14 days (through this morning) in Brazil and spent $470.67 for a daily average of $33.62 and a monthly rate ofr $1008.60. That is higher than other parts of this trip for two reasons: 1) I stayed in more expensive places than normal in Curitiba and Sao Paulo (6 nights total), and 2) I had more bus trips that were also more expensive for the distances involved than I had during most of the trip. Going to Rio and back added quite a bit in bus expenses.

Saturday, Mar. 12 (Part I)

Yesterday, I was in two of the biggest cities of the world. Sao Paulo and Mexico City both have between 20 and 30 million people. It is almost an unbelievable number. Of course, like any city, a person exists only in 1-2 parts of it where he lives, works, and shops. So neither place feels any larger than a city 1/10 its size.

I awoke this morning at 4:45. I should have taken a melatonin last night to help me sleep better and adjust to the time zone changes. I went to bed about 9:30, so I slept about 8 hours, however. Furthermore, I had trouble trying to sleep longer because my nose is stuffy--an allergic reaction to something in the air.

Something else I wanted to mention about yesterday is that the volcanoes were visible as we flew into town and even after we were on the ground. It is unusual for Mexico City to have such clear air. It was still somehat hazy, but rarely have I been here and been able to see the volcanoes from the city.

I am a little concerned about safety here. In South America, I found myself feeling safe everywhere I went. But I have had bad experiences in Mexico bgefore. Arne and I had our pockets picked 20 years ago. I had things taken from my room here once. And there are many reports of tourists being taken to allies by taxi drivers where they are robbed and left stranded (or worse, killed). Once a day has passed, I may feel differently. I will walk or take the metro to travel about town. I am alone, so no one will hear me speaking to know I am a foreigner. I will lock my luggage and chain it together and to a built-in wall unit in the room. I will feel much better if all goes well today.
_______
I have been thinking about Mexican food for at least a week. My experiences in South America have convinced me that the experts are right who say that Mexican food is a distinctive cuisine. I now appreciate even more its flavors and its use of spices. Since I got up early, I decided that a good Mexican breakfast would be my first meal. I left the hotel at 7:00 looking for a local place.

What I learned, among other things, is that Mexicans here in the Federal District are not morning people on Saturdays. Restaurants didn´t open until 9:00! I found a few street stands selling tacos and fruits, but I walked and walked without finding a restaurant. All the walking did remind me of a couple of things, however: 1) Mexico City is a more impressive city than I recalled. It has nice old buildings and varied neighborhoods. 2) The architecture of massive buildings here is far more inspired by that of the Indians rather than by European styles than I remembered. I also noticed the great difference in the looks of Mexicans versus Brazilians and Argentines. Mexicans are smaller and seem to have far more Indian characteristics. In general, I think the Argentines and Brazilians are more attractive.

I finally got my breakfast at 9:30. I had scrambled eggs ala Mexicana (with a red chile sauce over them, black refried beans sprinkled with white Mexican cheese, toasted, sliced bolillo bread, a fruit plate, and tea. It was tasty, but it wasn´t enough. I was just too hungry, so I headed over a couple of blocks to the Ideal Bakery.

The Ideal is an institution in Mexico City. When I passed it around 7:30, business owners were pulling up to collect stacks of big boxes of pastries and cakes. When I returned, I was one of many buying sweet breads for breakfast. Like most Mexican bakeries, the customer picks up a large tray and a set of tongs. Instead of having a counter or two of pastries, however, the Ideal has rooms of pastries. It is like a pastry department store. I wandered around the tab les in one room making selections. Then I went down some steps to another room and selected more. I found a third room, but I had to resist the desire for more. I then took my tray to the packaging room where a lady wrote the total on a slip of paper. I took the slip to a cashier and paid. When I returned with my receipt, the woman had wrapped each individual pastry in plastic, and had placed them all in a plastic bag, nd had tied the top of the bag with a string.

As soon as I left the store the string was removed and I was eating my goodies. I had a sweet bread seasoned with spices and filled with candied pineapple, a doughnut topped with white glaze and sprinkled with lots of coconut and a few chocolate chips, and a layered dough pastry with a sugar and ndut filling and a sugar glaze with chopped nuts. They all were good, but it was far too much--especially for someone who hasn´t been eating sweets for more than two months.