Mexico City to Puerta Escondido!!
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2006
1
16
43
Trip End
Feb 24, 2007
Puerta Escondido, Mexico
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Dani, Monica and I are now travelling through Mexico!
Dan and Mon arrived into Mexico City on the 19th and I finally got there (after a cafuffle at the airport!) late on Thurday night!
I met a girl on my flight who had missed her connecting flight to Madrid so was going to come and stay at the hostel with me! Mexico city airport is crazy and huge and after finally getting through customs we went to get our bags and she just stood there as they all went around and around. It seems her luggage went missing and the LAN people have no idea what happened to it! So by the time we finally got to the hotel, Monica and Dani were well into their Corona drinking!
So our first full day in Mexico was Friday and we decided to go to the Bassilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe. In Mexico City you cant get taxis anywhere because apparently they will definately rob you, so we had to get 3 different trains to get there. The first train was fine but when we got to the second station there was a crowd about 1 1/2 metres deep of locals trying to squash onto the same train as us! We waited patiently and finally made our way to the front of the crowd but still couldnīt get onto the train! Monica had a sweaty Mexican man behind her who kept (hmmm... how do I say this nicely..) pushing himself up against her from behind while blowing hot air into her ear! We reshuffled so she could move forward but he seemed quite eager to stay close to her and kept pushing himself forward. So we rotated and Dan took her place. Sure thing a few moments later, Dani was being given the same special treatment! When the corwd started to push forward, the sweaty man seized his opportunity and starting pinching her bum madly!By the way, the sweaty man had noone behind him so his ĻpushingĻ was totally voluntary!!!!
So along came another train and we were right at the front of the crowd but the door was about 30cms to our right, so we tried to shuffle over but were squashed by crazy Mexicans and I got stuck with one arm in and one arm out of the train! Monica, in the mean time, had some crazy person scratching her back to try to get past her! I started squealing and we were eventually given enough space to stumble back and regroup, ready for the next train! Finally we managed to get ourselves next to some old ladies (who, it seems, are exempt from crazy train pushing!) and squeeze onto the train! But the fun was definately not yet over! Dan had a smelly Mexican armpit right in her face, Monica was sandwiched between even more special friends and I really cant complain about the few gropes I received in comparison (I had backed myself into a corner so I could defend myself!)!!
Anyway, so we finally got to the Bassilica and Dan and I werenīt allowed to go in because we were wearing shorts and apparently legs are not modest! But the church looked nice from the outside and there was a nice garden around the side!
On Saturday we headed out on a tour to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids! It turned out that our tour actually went to the Bassilica so we could have saved ourselves the train ride!
The pyramids were really interesting and gave us an excuse to get some excercise! We climbed the Pyramid of the Sun but didnīt make it to the Pyramid of the Moon (our tour guide didnīt seem to think it was very interesting!)!
So on Saturday afternoon we headed to a town called Puebla, which is about 2 hours south of Mexico City. We were originally going to head for Acapulco but decided that after a long day of pyramid climbing, a 2 hour bus ride was better than an 8 hour bus ride!
Puebla was a really pretty little town and after breakfast on Sunday we took a city tour on an open top bus (very sunburnt legs for the pasty white ones amongst us!) the tour was good, but half way through, they started taking us to random shopping malls around the city and driving very slowly as they told us about when they were built and how many specialty shops they have! It was weird! They didnīt even take us to the main park in the city but we saw at least 3 giant malls and a 24 hour wal-mart! (ok, so the 24 hour wal-mart wasnīt part of the tour, but we drove past it!)
Last night we got on a bus to Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha-ka) in our desperate attempt to get to the beach! we decided to stop off in Oaxaca for dinner as the alternative was to hang out at the bus terminal for an extra 4 hours! After tortillas we got back on a bus and drove overnight to arrive in Puerta Escondido this morning!
We went to a hostel called Hostal a la casa which was recommended by Lonely Planet (yes, I can hear you all groaning already but we hadnīt learnt our lesson!) It turns out that since the Lonely Planet was published, the hostel has changed owners and prices in Mexico have gone up so it is no longer possible for the new owner to include breakfast (or a sheet changing service for that matter!) so we are staying in a little bungalow with some moskitos and apparently Iguanas that sometimes crawl past the open section between the wall and the roof!! The shower is also quite hilarious as you have to hold a chain when you want the water running! And we apparently blocked the shower up with the sand off our feet (really, I think he just needed someone to blame!!)!! hmmmm.... so much to look forward to! But on a positive, the hostel is only 200 metres from the beach and there are restaurants everywhere!
Its absolutely boiling here and we are wearing cute little summer outfits but sweating like crazy! (Dani has just walked out from a phone booth and has sweat literally dripping off her! Hilarious!) Today we went sunbaking (sunbathing!) and people kept offering us surfing lessons (Im telling myself its because we look so sporty with our new tans and bikinis!!)!
Next we will be heading to Acapulco for more tanning!
Hope you are all well!
Lots of love
Ten
