hola mexico
A direct flight from Japan, I tried to sleep on the airplane without much luck. I arrived at the airport still a bit jetlag, but immigration was smooth as butter and soon enough I was outside the airport seeing Mexico for the first time.
The air was arid and not exactly clean and reminded me a lot of the Philippines. I waited a while for Pacho, he seemed to operate on Mexican time and arrived a bit late than planned but I didn’t mind as I didn’t have anything planned that day. Pacho was a Couchsufer that I hosted back when he was visiting Tokyo. We went hiking together around Mt. Takao as well as other fun adventures. Pacho took me to Garibaldi Square, here there were some mariachi bands playing and a lot of junkies, I guess this is Mexico?
There were awesome streetart with palm trees lining up the road. Pacho took me to a convenience store where I bought my favorite Mazapan de la Rosa as well as some Mexican chips and drinks. Here we sat and just had a nice long chat catching up on life. Pacho had an idea to take the city bus tour, I was keen on doing whatever though I was definitely a bit more sleepy.
the bus tour
We walked towards the bus and on the way stopped by some famous buildings! The golden domed roof of one of the buildings was one of Mexico’s main landmarks, I believe it was the Palace of Fine Arts. We went through the main plaza where there were so many people and performers. Mexico was a very free and joyful country with plenty of lovers that are not afraid to show physical intimacy in public.
We finally got on the bus for the city tour with the perfect timing as the sun started to set, scarlet orange rays pierced through the trees above as our double-decker bus cruised through traffic. The air was suddenly much fresher and we passed a lot of monuments such as the Angel of Independence and the financial and hotel district.
The parks were huge and the standard of living seemed quite fulfilling as people jogged around with their dogs in the cool air. At this point, I was quite struggling at staying awake and Pacho was nudging me to keep at it. We eventually made our way back to the starting point and had a walk back, the same buildings at night had lit windows of varying colors, the plaza was definitely beautiful both day and night.
I really wanted to pee and Pacho and I searched for a place to release with not much luck, we ended up finding a public toilet that required money to use. After relieving myself, we were now ready to find dinner. I was quite ambitious as I wanted to watch a Lucha show at night but I was simply too tired today. I wanted to eat something Mexican but I was also on a vegetarian diet for my Ayahuasca ceremony in Peru so Pacho got me some kind of Mexican soup dish. We took another cab back to his place where I was staying. I met his mom and gave her some sweets I bought from Japan.
We ate some dinner, I had my shower and went to my room. I had a whole room to myself, previously it was Pacho’s sister who was here. The night was cool and quiet as I drifted off to sleep.
city of gods
A bit more rested, but still a bit jetlag. I woke up earlier than usual and heard the numerous birds singing outside. I did some Kundalini yoga and meditation before showering and heading out. I hailed an Uber going to Teotihuacan. What an excellent morning it was, with cool and fresh air and nice Latin beats in the taxi, I saw Mexico as it is again with my own eyes and can’t help but compare it to the Philippines as they are quite similar, probably because both were Spanish colonies. It was a long ride to Teotihuacan and I stopped by the gates and was pointed to a tourist center.
There was a woman here who showed me around the area and taught me about several aspects of Teotihuacan. She showed me a plant that I’ve seen around town and that they can use its fiber to create other things, she showed me different colored obsidian as it was one of their main crafts. I was also given a Mexican breakfast, different shots of tequilas from cactus infused fruits, they were quite delicious not gonna lie but it was too early to be getting drunk. She taught me about the Mexican hairless dog and how they were guides for the people in the afterlife. All in all, quite informative. I gave her a tip and headed on to the pyramids.
Fortunately, it was empty with just a few other tourists around. I took my time exploring the place. I lowkey also got scammed in picking out a obsidian necklace for Janelle but at the same time, I knew the guy wasn’t getting anything sold with the decline of tourists so I just gave it to him. I walked around the pyramids, quite grand and an amazing spectacle. After going around, I wanted to exchange the necklace for a different one but he wanted to charge me more so I walked away but he ended up giving it to me anyway, nice of him.
I explored the rest of the sacred grounds, and gave a guy some coins to take a photo of me with the other pyramid. I was quite satisfied and walked on back but not before being approached by some guys on a bike which I ended up getting on to go to a restaurant as I was quite starving for some more Mexican food.
The restaurant was quite unique, it was inside a cave and the food was a bit more pricey but delicious nevertheless. I made my way out and had to do a longer walk but was able to get another Uber going to a train station that Pacho told me to go to as that’s where we were meeting.
a walk in chapultepec
I got to the station and we went to Bosque de Chapultepec, a huge park with a lot of interesting monuments and happenings around, a popular castle was there as well but it was closed on that day.
I got a henna tattoo while Pacho’s friend came by. All three of us walked together to see other cool buildings and we ended up in the district where all the rich Mexicans hanged out, the disparity was quite evident in terms of lifestyle and material possessions and even skin tone.
We had a nice dinner at a salad restaurant before heading back to Pacho’s place. It started to rain too but we got home fine. At night, I watched Seaspiracy with Pacho and his mom which gave me a lot to think about regarding marine life and my role on this planet.
to cancun
Third day was much more chill, Pacho and I headed out to the park again so I could visit the famous archaeological museum but unfortunately it was also closed. It was no biggie though, we simply had more time to just talk and relax at the park. Pacho kindly carried my bag for me as all my things were in there. We sat in front of the main road which was closed to allow bikers to have laps, we talked about all sorts of things and then we headed to another popular Mexican restaurant which had one of the most delicious Mexican dishes I’ve had so far.
Pacho took me to one of Mexico city’s tallest tower, the Torre Latinoamerica, and I was able to see a nice bird’s eye view of the whole place, it was an amazing city with a very good layout and lots of red roofed houses. We talked about spirituality here for a long time before heading to the airport. Here I said goodbye to my dear friend and got on my plane to Cancun.
