Mexico City

Arriving to Mexico City by plane was a great relief after all the buses we'd been catching. Feeling great, we had arranged with the hostel to get a free pick up. Easier said than done. Through some broken Spanish we'd been told to "wait at the entrance for a white car" only to go outside and realised there were 10+ entrances and about a thousand white cars going past. We finally managed to find the driver and navigated through Mexico City (AKA: DF) traffic. There appears to be traffic all day long, and as soon as a light turns green, you toot. If you are getting frustrated in line, you toot. If you're happy you toot.

Volcanoes in Guatamala as seen from the plane.

Classic backpackers photo, eating sitting on the floor in the airport. While waiting for the pick up we grabbed some food. Unfortunately the shop told us they didn't have any cutlery after we'd already bought this salad. So I took some straws and by fashioning one inside another they were strong enough to be used as chopsticks. That's what I call engineering!

Our first full day in DF was Paul's birthday. What a great start watching the ABs (in bed) win the semi final against South Africa. After this we stumbled upon a nearby market with foods, clothing, jewellery, fake watches and sunglasses. We found a great taco stand with about ten sauces in front of you to add at your leisure. I am a slow learner when it comes to spicy, it just tastes so good that I can't help but keep adding it once the last burn has worn off. We particularly liked the Al Pastor tacos - rotisserie marinated pork with some fresh pineapple, coriander and onions (for those that want them). Yum! We followed this up with some local chocolates (Yum!) and local fried grasshoppers (Yuck!). Unfortunately we could only buy grasshoppers by the scoop so we were left with bad tastes in our mouth, a bag of unwanted grasshoppers and being $3 poorer. If you want to know what they taste like, the only way I could describe them is as really strong flavoured coca leaves (like a more bitter version of green tea leaves), hard to swallow and lots of legs. Very dry. I think my hate for them (and also for coca leaves for that matter) goes a lot deeper than Paul's...

Me enjoying the delights of the Taco King. 

Paul enjoying the local chocolates in the market.

Paul enjoying a handful of the grasshoppers. 

Mmmmmmm!

After an afternoon rest (wow, how great is travelling), we headed out to a great indoor-outdoor-'backdoor BBQ'-fancy bar for some birthday celebration beers, mezcal and buffalo wings. My first drink was a shot of mezcal (what a way to start the night). It was quite nice, although I think I prefer tequila. Mezcal is described (by Lonely Planet) as the "rustic mother of tequila", also made from the agave cactus (but not the blue agave) and I would say is a tad lighter in flavour, smokier but just as burny. Mezcal is coming "back into fashion" thanks to the youth (I being one of them, while I can't say Paul fits in that age classification these days...). Paul enjoyed some local beers. We then headed to a local "Pulquería" which was a four storey club proudly serving pulque. For those of you who don't know what pulque is, it is also a drink coming back into fashion thanks to the youth. Why, I don't know. It is something else. Paul being the birthday boy, bought himself a beer and a handle of the stuff. It is milky white in colour, viscous and tastes like yeast. It is horrible. Paul did well by getting through the whole glass. We do not recommend.

Me enjoying a mezcal.

The second day we spent another slow morning resting in bed watching the second semi final. After this we headed to the park, a large green space in the city. Full with families, stalls and street performers on a Sunday we were very happy wandering around taking in the atmosphere. After discovering they had paddle boats in the central lake, we hopped aboard and did our best to navigate the boat around the lake. Easier said than done, it did not have the best steering system. We avoided any major crashes and made it out alive.

Paul in the Park 1.

Paul in the Park 2.

Me "enjoying" the paddle boating experience.

Cacti.

Orchids.

On the third day we had planned to head to Teotihuacan however laundry took over the day. We took our dirty laundry out for a two hour walk until we could find somewhere to do it. Unlike other places we had been we couldn't leave it there and pick it up later (although the locals seemed to be able to do this) so we hung about and just wandered a bit around the area. The area Roma (where we were staying) and Condesa are very nice neighbourhoods in DF, filled with tree-lined streets, colonial style buildings and nice cafes, bars and restaurants. While waiting I decided to get a haircut, which proved to be a bit of a challenge with limited Spanish but all went OK. In the afternoon we explored the historical centre, a rooftop cocktail and a Chinese feast.

C D M X

Streets.

I am wearing a cape.

Rooftop cocktails.

Paul impressed by the likeness of this tower to the Empire State Building.

When I don't want a photo.

Fine Arts Museum.

 A row of police officers guarding something?

Chinese feast.

On day four we made it to Teotihuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican city located an hour northeast of the city. Teotihuacan is the site of several Mesoamerican pyramids that loomed over the ancient family complexes, arenas and avenues. It was a very hot day to climb up the Pyramid of the Sun, but the view was well worth the breath. In the evening we headed to a cute little bar across from our accommodation complete with craft beers, delicious cocktails and swings as seats!

On our last day we headed out to the Frida Kahlo museum. The museum, known as Casa Azul, is the house Frida Kahlo lived and died in. It is filled with momentos and her belongings (many undisturbed since her death) that gives you a glimpse into her intriging life of suffering, marriage to Diego Rivera and art. Paul then enjoyed a run through the park while I relaxed in anticipation of our travel to Oaxaca the next day.