En route and first day in Mexico

Craig and I meet in Fiji airport. This is the biggest of the two bars!!

After 6 hours in Los Angeles airport, 5 of which were spent in the bar, finally we boarded and were off for Mexico City. This is a photo of the screen on the back of the seat in front of mine. Craig was on the tequila at this point!



 Ok, finally we made it to Mexico City airport and got through security and customs. After carefully following the advice on a website for how to avoid getting robbed in a taxi we made it to our apartment at well after midnight. We followed the instructions given to me by the owner of the apartment; we had to go to a different apartment building where a doorman would hand us the keys.

We found the place ok, and the doorman, and after explaining the situation to the guy, in Spanish, he claimed to know nothing about the arrangements. After he made a phone call finally we were given keys and got into our apartment.

We went out to find somewhere to buy something to eat before crashing out exhausted. We bought a couple of greasy burgers from a stall at the side of the street and on the way back I almost fell over a guy laying motionless on his back on the pavement. Craig was convinced that he was dead and we got back to our apartment and crashed out. In the morning we admitted to each other that we were wondering what we were doing in Mexico City!

Things looked bad arriving at that time of night, and while we were having the problems getting the keys to the apartment I was becoming quite concerned about what we would do if we were left with nowhere to stay. However in the morning everything looked a lot better - we met up with Mago (¡Hola Mago!). Mago is one of my language exchange partners, and friend. We have been exchanging emails for 4 years while attempting to learn each other's languages. She lives in Aguascalients, 300 kms north of Mexico City, and has come to be our personal (free!) guide here. She used to live here until 5 years ago.

Church near our apartment

 

Typical local bookshop

Some old buildings

Myself, Craig and Mago. One of the things on my 'to do' list was to try Cochinita Pibil, as Mago had been banging on about how good it was for about 3 years! It's a local very spicy pork dish. However, what myself and Craig didn't realise at the time (until Mago explained) was that the other dish that we were eating was raw cows' hoofs! Sorry we couldn't finish it Mago! It's the soft part on the inside (of the trotter) - yum! The Cochinita Pibil was fantastic - we'll be back, but not for the raw trotters!
 

Pata Tostada - raw cows' trotters!

A local tradition is to put 'salsa michelada' (a worcestershire sauce type mix) in the bottom of the glass before the beer. It does tend to give the beer a bit of flavour!!

Back on the drink!