And so the journey begins! ...with a 34 hour bus ride...sigh...
In case you were wondering, that's NOT my favorite way to start a trip. As a 6'4" guy, it's just a little bit difficult to get comfortable in a Greyhound chair. Add in a couple of transfers, the border crossing, the Mexican police stopping my bus and demanding a bribe (I didn't pay), my lovely smelling bus mates and my adventure was off to a wonderful start!
Fortunately, things got better in a hurry. The bus pulled into Mexico City just before rush hour and I gratefully stretched my legs and found the nearest restroom. From there I managed to hop on the subway to the south side of town, and found my hostel where Trish (my travel buddy) was tiredly lounging in the lobby, making friends with a cheerful South Korean girl. After a long nights rest and recovery we were able to meet up with our Couchsurfing host, Cesar, and explored the artistic community that our hostel was located in. As it turned out, the Frida Kahlo museum was just a few blocks away, providing ample distraction for the morning. Well, that and some delicious food in the local market. The freshly made tortas and the local Aztec drink indigenous to there were wonderful!
We then travelled to Toluca, where Cesar and his family lived--about 30-45 minutes west of Mexico City. I have to say, I love staying with locals. They show you all the cool places in town that you'd never find on your own and also all the things that aren't ever going to make it into the guidebooks. Like the cool little cantina that has this special drink that is made from 23 cacti and is bright, neon green and will mess you up in a hurry. Apparently the lead singer of some 80s Mexican pop group didn't get the message, but he did manage to serenade Cesar's fiancée in the middle of the cantina rather well. It made for an entertaining evening if nothing else.
After hanging out with Cesar and his British fiancée for a few more days, seeing the results from candy skull decorating contest and meandering about Mexico City, we were ready to move on. Mexico City, in my opinion, is just not nice place. It has some cool things to see--like the famous murals and some interesting culture--but it's ridiculously huge (22 million or so), heavily polluted, crowded, and the traffic is terrible. Maybe it was just bad luck, but one of our busses got into a wreck and I got hit by a guy on a motor scooter. Fun times!
The next city, Puebla, was much better. Not because of the town (it was a tourist trap) but because of the cool people that we met there. You meet all kinds while travelling in hostels. I couldn't even begin to guess at Generro's age, but he was little older than me and lot crazier. He had just spent the last couple of day s wandering around the Mexican countryside hunting for a witch doctor so he could experience one of their ceremonies firsthand. I am happy to report that after spending an afternoon getting lost in a dusty Mexican town, being coated in some foul smelling cologne mixed with egg and applied with branches, he is now cured of his "Evil Eye" curse. One of the other hostel goers we met was an Israeli engineer/mathematician who had been vacationing for a few weeks and was, like us, just looking for some company for the night. We were all hungry, so exploring the town for some good, cheap food was in order. Of course the place that was recommended to us was closed, but we managed to stumble across a wonderful little diner that tried very hard to convince us that its bread wasn’t stale. It was just specially made that way, you see. Got to love the things they say to tourists.
Since all the good places to eat apparently close early and we weren’t in the mood for bed after we finished, we went exploring for a cantina to kill the evening at. The first place we found was empty save for two guys playing speed chess. Our two companions immediately decided that this was ample reason to go inside. A few moments later after I spotted the tattoo of a bishop on Generro’s forearm while he was repositioning his rook, I understood why. The man loves his chess. He even goes to chess tournaments and, just for fun, dresses like characters from The Big Lebowski and thrashes his opponents while getting hammered on white russians. Good times, so I’m told. But the evening was actually quite entertaining because the two Mexican bartenders were very, very good. Neither of the guys we were with won a game and I knew better than to jump in on speed chess with only five minutes on the clock.
It definitely wasn’t an evening that I had anticipated ever having in Mexico, which is why travelling can be so much fun at times. You never know what is going to happen to you. I mean how often do you end up in a bar with guys from four different countries playing speed chess over beers? It’s a random life and it’s fun to enjoy it!
More to come folks, this is just the beginning… And I swear I’m going to figure out how to add photos to this thing someday!
If you’d like to see the early results (and it has pictures!), Trish’s version of the events are here : http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/blog-340128.html
In case you were wondering, that's NOT my favorite way to start a trip. As a 6'4" guy, it's just a little bit difficult to get comfortable in a Greyhound chair. Add in a couple of transfers, the border crossing, the Mexican police stopping my bus and demanding a bribe (I didn't pay), my lovely smelling bus mates and my adventure was off to a wonderful start!
Fortunately, things got better in a hurry. The bus pulled into Mexico City just before rush hour and I gratefully stretched my legs and found the nearest restroom. From there I managed to hop on the subway to the south side of town, and found my hostel where Trish (my travel buddy) was tiredly lounging in the lobby, making friends with a cheerful South Korean girl. After a long nights rest and recovery we were able to meet up with our Couchsurfing host, Cesar, and explored the artistic community that our hostel was located in. As it turned out, the Frida Kahlo museum was just a few blocks away, providing ample distraction for the morning. Well, that and some delicious food in the local market. The freshly made tortas and the local Aztec drink indigenous to there were wonderful!
We then travelled to Toluca, where Cesar and his family lived--about 30-45 minutes west of Mexico City. I have to say, I love staying with locals. They show you all the cool places in town that you'd never find on your own and also all the things that aren't ever going to make it into the guidebooks. Like the cool little cantina that has this special drink that is made from 23 cacti and is bright, neon green and will mess you up in a hurry. Apparently the lead singer of some 80s Mexican pop group didn't get the message, but he did manage to serenade Cesar's fiancée in the middle of the cantina rather well. It made for an entertaining evening if nothing else.
After hanging out with Cesar and his British fiancée for a few more days, seeing the results from candy skull decorating contest and meandering about Mexico City, we were ready to move on. Mexico City, in my opinion, is just not nice place. It has some cool things to see--like the famous murals and some interesting culture--but it's ridiculously huge (22 million or so), heavily polluted, crowded, and the traffic is terrible. Maybe it was just bad luck, but one of our busses got into a wreck and I got hit by a guy on a motor scooter. Fun times!
The next city, Puebla, was much better. Not because of the town (it was a tourist trap) but because of the cool people that we met there. You meet all kinds while travelling in hostels. I couldn't even begin to guess at Generro's age, but he was little older than me and lot crazier. He had just spent the last couple of day s wandering around the Mexican countryside hunting for a witch doctor so he could experience one of their ceremonies firsthand. I am happy to report that after spending an afternoon getting lost in a dusty Mexican town, being coated in some foul smelling cologne mixed with egg and applied with branches, he is now cured of his "Evil Eye" curse. One of the other hostel goers we met was an Israeli engineer/mathematician who had been vacationing for a few weeks and was, like us, just looking for some company for the night. We were all hungry, so exploring the town for some good, cheap food was in order. Of course the place that was recommended to us was closed, but we managed to stumble across a wonderful little diner that tried very hard to convince us that its bread wasn’t stale. It was just specially made that way, you see. Got to love the things they say to tourists.
Since all the good places to eat apparently close early and we weren’t in the mood for bed after we finished, we went exploring for a cantina to kill the evening at. The first place we found was empty save for two guys playing speed chess. Our two companions immediately decided that this was ample reason to go inside. A few moments later after I spotted the tattoo of a bishop on Generro’s forearm while he was repositioning his rook, I understood why. The man loves his chess. He even goes to chess tournaments and, just for fun, dresses like characters from The Big Lebowski and thrashes his opponents while getting hammered on white russians. Good times, so I’m told. But the evening was actually quite entertaining because the two Mexican bartenders were very, very good. Neither of the guys we were with won a game and I knew better than to jump in on speed chess with only five minutes on the clock.
It definitely wasn’t an evening that I had anticipated ever having in Mexico, which is why travelling can be so much fun at times. You never know what is going to happen to you. I mean how often do you end up in a bar with guys from four different countries playing speed chess over beers? It’s a random life and it’s fun to enjoy it!
More to come folks, this is just the beginning… And I swear I’m going to figure out how to add photos to this thing someday!
If you’d like to see the early results (and it has pictures!), Trish’s version of the events are here : http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/blog-340128.html
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