Hola México!

Once I had arrived in México City, I was greeted by an ex-client of mine, (now good friend) Jonathan. Jonathan picked me up from the airport as he lived not far from México City’s airport. With no time to rest, we went straight to his friend’s house where they were hosting a BBQ and drinks lunch. On the way we also met with others – Karen and Rodolfo… I’m so glad to have met with them for the day as it was a great introduction to the Méxican culture, food, and friendly hospitality. Here I also managed to meet another ex-client of mine, Kare. Meeting Kare and Jonathan was great fun! We had been communicating for over a year and worked closely together - both were as I expected in person…. Welcoming and great fun! I didn’t think I’d get to meet either of them due to my unplanned short notice, however I forgot that in Latin America everything runs smoother spontaneously ;o)

Meet Jonathan and Kare

That night was the first night which I met Raquel in our hotel – Hotel Metropol. She was my room buddy for the 1^st leg of my GAP Adventure trip through México. I knew immediately that Raquel and I would be fine living together as she was in the same situation as me; a single 23/24 year old travelling solo from Australia.

The next day I would then get to meet the remaining people of the group – Sarah and Brock- an Australian couple, Ling and Terry - friends from Edinburgh, and our tour guide Ivan from México. Not only did we have Ivan as our tour guide, we also had another GAP Adventure’s tour guide whom was in training for México, Eduardo. It was pretty convenient for me to have Eduardo on this trip as he was to be my next tour guide on the 2^nd leg of the trip though Belize and Guatemala.

The next day I decided not to join the group as I wanted to spend more time with Jonathan, my thoughts were that I would be spending the next 2 weeks with the group, and yet I wouldn’t be seeing Jonathan for a while, so he offered to show me around his wonderful city. The GAP Adventure group explored The Teotihuacan Pyramids however Jonathan and I went to the Chapultepec Park where went for lunch. As it was such a lush day we also decided to rent a boat to paddle on the park center water – I thought this was pretty fun! 

On our way back we also visited the Chapultepec Castle which has a great impact to the Méxican history. Later that night we then went to a beautiful restaurant in around the city’s square called Gran Hotel Ciudad de México. We waited for a seat by the balcony so we could over look the square’s fiesta below us…. (I didn’t realise this, but every September in México the country celebrates there independence. The Méxican independence day is celebrated on the 15th September, and the 16th is a non-work day (too bad for the workers this year as it fell on a Sunday), however I was pretty pleased to be in México for this wonderful month!) From my experience of Latin Americans, they KNOW how to party, so rather than celebrate for the one night, they celebrate for a whole month. I felt bad as when asked when the English celebrate “their day” (which I consider to be St Georges day), I had no Idea when it was, however I did know when St Patrick’s day was... (well done Guinness, your brand advertisement has succeeded, otherwise I’m sure no one would know this holy day of the pint!) Anyway! The dinner was lovely and the view was amazing – Jonathan, it won’t be forgotten.

The next day I joined the group for breakfast to begin our journey onto Puebla. A short hours bus journey later we arrived and headed to La Alhondiga Hotel. Everyone was pretty exhausted at this stage of the journey with the early starts and jet legs so we took it easy in Puebla. The day consisted of an orientation walk from our lovely tour guide, Ivan. We simply walked around the town, visited the church to see the beautiful architecture and went for lunch. You won’t believe how many beautiful churches there are in México. When the Spanish invaded México they brought with them their Spanish Roman Catholic views, hence all the churches. These churches were breath taking inside, glorious gold and imaginative stone and wood carvings – basically I was pretty impressed!
That night we gathered again, of course after a small siesta, we were off to watch the wrestling – another Méxican tradition. We all LOVED the wrestling… 3 vitals; 1. you have to decide whether you support the “goodies” or the “baddies” (of course we supported the baddies, to my disappointment as the “goodies” were also the “hotties”), 2. The crowd goes loco crazy for the fights – it’s such a pantomime, with the masks worn by the wrestlers and the audience, the acting by the wrestlers and choreographed moves – all contributes to a great show! 3. The wrestling characters – it was obvious who was the crowd’s favorites; Mistico (and let me just say ladies, it was more obvious why!!). Mystico had the moves, the style and the body. To summarise, it was a good night and a fun “sport” to watch.