The Wandering Chocoholic

Welcome to Mexico!

My flight arrived about an hour late, after sitting at the gate in Montreal for an hour prior to takeoff due to “air traffic delays” at the destination. In other words, they could’ve kept the original flight time, I would’ve gotten an extra hour of sleep, and I would’ve arrived at the same time. Oh well, what can you do? The flight was otherwise fairly uneventful, and I dozed for most of it.

We landed shortly after 3pm local time, and I navigated immigration, customs, baggage claim, ATM and taxi stand over the course of an hour or so. Mexico City is an enormous metropolis, so the taxi driver had to consult Google Maps a few times but he got me here. The hotel I’m staying at is in the Colonia Condesa neighbourhood, a pretty nice area of the city that has lots of bars and restaurants. Incidentally, I’m told it’s also the historical neighbourhood where waves of Jewish immigrants settled — much like the Main in Montreal — before moving out to more affluent suburbs later on. It was a nice Saturday afternoon and there seemed to be a lot of people out and about, shopping or having a coffee and enjoying the day.

I met my roommate, Olga, a medical student from New Zealand who just spent the last month on a rotation in St Vincent. After freshening up, I walked a couple of blocks up to the main shopping street to pick up some essentials like bottled water and a SIM card from the nearest Oxxo — the local depanneur chain that seems pretty much ubiquitous here. On the way there, I saw a long stretch of park full of an exhibit of alebrijes — giant folk art wood and papier mache sculptures of fantastical creatures. Really, really cool looking, and the bright colours were welcome after all the dreary grey weather we’ve been having at home. It is certainly bright and cheerful here. It also looks nothing at all like Christmas, despite the white fake trees that they seem to sell at the market stalls. Also, I probably packed too many warm clothes, judging by the balmy weather thus far.

Next, I headed back to the hotel to meet the tour leader, Milton, and the rest of the group. Well, eleven out of sixteen so far, as there are a few late arrivals to meet tomorrow. So far I’m the only Canadian, though the commonwealth is well represented with three Kiwis, an Aussie, and an American guy originally from India. We also have a handful of Europeans (Dutch, Swiss, Swedish I think?), two Chinese students studying in the US, and a couple of other nationalities I’m probably forgetting. I’ve only got a handful of names so far but I’m working on it

We went for dinner to a restaurant and bar for tacos, beer and loud music. My first “authentic” Mexican meal consisted of some nicely spiced chilaquiles and some watery local commercial beer. The group got to know each other a bit better by shouting over bad pop music. Maybe not the ideal scenario, but we made it work.

And now I’m exhausted so I’m going to get some shut-eye. I’ve got one of the world’s biggest and most interesting cities to explore tomorrow, and only a day in which to do it, so I’m going to need my energy.

Buenas noches!