Mexico City

I figured I would pick a seat right by the tv for this journey. I settled down for the film. It was Little Man. Shit. No. Fuck. Anything but this. For once I was glad that it was in Spanish. I found out from trailers that the film in California had been called 'August Rush'. The second film was the Orphanage which I really want to see but with subtitles. So I ended up trying to avoid the screen for very different reasons. Although when you cant understand the Wayans brothers or hear their voices the film is not too bad. Or maybe the low bus quality was affecting my tastes. The bus also gave me a coke, sandwich, some biscuits and a teabag. A teabag. What am I going to do with a fucking teabag and no hot water or mug. Honestly. On the way into town I got chatting with a linguistics professor and archaelogist for native languages. He informed me after a while that he was stuck in Mexico City because he had been robbed at knife point in a taxi (feasible) and had to get back to Tuxtla Gutierrez to visit his ailing mum (less feasible, but feasible). He needed 260 pesos for the bus. Hmm. I weighed it up. He was either lying or not. If he was lying and I gave him money I would have been fleeced for 13 quid. If he is telling the truth and I don't help him, I could have a dying mother on my conscience. I trusted to Karma and God to even out good deeds even if done via deception and gave him the money. He offered to put me up in Chiapas down in Palenque and we shall see what comes of it, but short term I was a little out of pocket. This was compounded by the increase in the hostels rates. I checked in and bumped into Peter. 15 days previously he had been the last non local I had spoken to and 15 days later he was the first non local I spoke to. How random is that? I went out to my old favourite capital cinema, past the old 7/11 that poisoned me last time and watched Quantum of Solace. Not as good as the last one but not bad. Made me think Haiti was doable and that night I booked a flight between Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic as the boat company were unresponsive. I also sorted out accomodation over new year and stupidly booked an extra bed but I could always sublet them. Puerto Rico was proving a lot lot more problematic. I needed some capital injection and tried to release my parents from an earlier obligation to free some up. Over this period the money from the tax man finally arrived and all was well in the world. A bunch of us watched Ironman in the hostel and then we turfed in.

In the morning I got chatting with an Aussie girl named Claire in the morning. Us two and Peter went down to Xochimolco and the canals they have down in the south of the city. There is a place called Isla de Munecas (Island of the Dolls) that you can go out to, but it was too expensive for the time we had. I managed to haggle the boatman down to 480 pesos for the 3 of us for 2 hours and we cruised around. It is so peaceful down there, you would not guess you were in the middle of a massive city. On the way back we hired one of the little bicycle guys and it must have been a strain for him to carry the three of us. In the evening we headed out to the pre-Hispanic restaurant El Chon. It was expensive and noone ate anything particularly exotic so i may have been a waste of time lol. Still we got the usual indifferent to rude service. I finally finished reading 'The Rise of Silas Lapham' which has a lot of parallels with my Caribbean excursion. Both involved someone hopelessly overreaching their means and almost bankrupting themselves from it. In the evening I got chatting with an Aussie girl named Jazz, a Dutch guy named Hugh and a Norwegian and Yankee who had just got back from the luch libre. The Norwegian spoke Arabic and as part of his national service had worked out in the embassy in Jordan. He had travelled all over the Middle East and was a really interesting guy.

In the morning I got up for day 2 of 5 days worth of scarmbled egg. Oh well I suppose it was better than nothing. I decided to head out on my own as I get more done that way. I went to Castle Chaputepec, but there was noone in the ticket booth and I had to wait awhile before I got in. (I had elected not to go see Teotihuacan and the musuems I saw last time in the city so people will have to refer to my previous Mexico writings for opinions on that). Its an impressive little palace with a comprehensive history museum up until the 20th century. When the Yankees had invaded in 1848 this was the last line of defence and 6 of the child cadets had died defending it, including one who wrapped himself in the flag and fell to his death. Hence the child heroes. In the park they also have a zoo, which is free and includes pandas. As I was not sure if I had seen any before or not I took a wander around. After all it cost nothing. When I finished I needed cash. The stupid train inspector told me there were no banks around, but a map behind him said otherwise after I had walked down the stairs and had to come back again. I grabbed some cash and headed to the archaeological museum. Its a massive and comprehensive museum including exhibits from all over Mexico. It was very tiring and by the end it had worn me out. There are also some native indians whp leap off a pole and hang suspended and swinging round like human versions of that bad/ball/pole game people used to have in their garden, while they play a variety of musical instruments. When I got back I went for a Chinese with Hugh, Jazz, Claire and Peter, before heading out with Peter to a launch party for a local band. Peter has his own record label and had contacted a local girl in Mexico who had invited us to the party. It was a plush and exclusive affair with a Tomb Raider theme. The doorgirls were approriately dressed and everyone in the party was very good looking, while I was there in my special traveller hobo clothes lol. We met Gabby and had a good chat with her, while I sat people watching and cursing my poor Spanish. The band were Cypress Hill lite and the following dj's were mediocre at best, but the crowd seemed to lap it up. We got one free drinks, which was good as they were pricey. We did have our coast stolen by the staff however and it took us ages and the very limits of my Spanish to get them back. It was a shame to leave as the personal decor was very tasty, but we headed back to the hostel where I was accosted by a Mexican guy in the toilet. He told me to squeeze because my bowels were playing up, but I informed him that it wasn't so much getting it out as keeping it in that was the problem. He then told me about south american women, showed off his seven languages and mentioned how he had travelled the world for 6 years and seen half of it. After his meditations on Venezuelan and Colombian women, very theatrically done, I am in a mood to sprint Central America.

In the morning I walked with Peter to see Plaza de Tres Culturas and then got chatting with a bunch of students from Monterrey who were in town to see Ska-P play and had hooked up with a white rasta German. There was also a schoolteacher from Idaho who had a bevy of cute Yankee sixth formers with her for a trip down to Oaxaca. I picked up a couple of books (Aesops Fables and Crime and Punishment) because the book swap options were very limited. Then Peter and I headed out to a couchsurfer meeting down in Zona Rosa. We met a French girl and Swiss girl who were studying Spanish in Mexico before travelling down into South and Central America. We also met a number of locals and had a few drinks with them before catching the last train. I had not heard from Ivan and was struggling to meet up with a lawyer. One of the girls in the meeting was also a lawyer and we agreed to grab lunch the next day.

The following day I was stood up for lunch as something had come up at the last minute for a university project. I grabbed a haircut where I was ripped off with a Gringo rate even though he had quoted a different price to the guy right before me. Oh well it was not too expensive and I finally bit the bullet and had my hair shaven off. I went with Claire, Jazz, Peter and a Paraguayan girl to ngo and see a ska band over at the other hostel, before I head out to see a gig that Aurora had organised. I went to the wrong end of the road and it took me ages to get there and when I arrived the band walked out because something had upset them. I was then invited by a couple of guys to head out to a bar in Condesa. We lost the girls as the bar was too jammed and I ended up drinking with some random locals in a posh Condesa bar. Was a good night and they told me take a taxi back as it was dangerous. I ignored their advice and walked back free of incident. I got in around 3am and was chatting with a girl from Tijuana who was with the Monterrey crowd. After chatting with her and a rasta girl from Australia I turfed in and grabbed a little bit of sleep before heading off for Xalapa. As you can see, because I had done a lot of touristy things before I just stuck to the drinking :-)