Mexico City, el Distrito Federal (DF)

    "Beyond the East the Sunrise,
      beyond the West the sea. 
     And East and West the wander-thirst 
     that will not let me be."  -Gerald Gould

Wow. Mexico City. I don't even know where to start. It was amazing.

I arived in Mexico City on 3/1 and met my host, Luisa, a warm-hearted girl who is currently living in a room on the roof of her mother's house in the well-known and more upper-class neighborhood of Mexico City called the Colonia Condesa. She recently got back from traveling parts of Europe and Asia, and is currently saving her earnings as a high school Chemistry teacher to continue her travels.

Luisa's roof-top room (door on the right)

Luisa gave me a basic idea of how the metro works, and the following day I met up with a local couchsurfer named Nayeli. Together we saw the Templo Mayor, the destroyed remains of Aztec empire Tenochtitlan.... basically the bottom half of the central pyramid. It's amazing to think that the city is where these people lived, after having finally found the prophesized eagle catching a snake over a cactus in a lake (the image that appears on the Mexican flag). The whole city kept on sinking because it was on a lake! And then the Spanish came along and destroyed both the Aztecs and their city. Right beside Templo Mayor is the Cathedral, which is huge, beautiful, and extremely ornate. It's amazing to observe the enormous Cathedral looming over the destroyed remains of the once dominant Tenochtitlan.

Mexico City Metro

At Templo Mayor with the Cathedral in the background

Inside the Cathedral

Downtown Mexico City

The following day, Thursday, I rode a rent-a-bike around Luisa's neighborhood, explored, went for a run, and ate fresh cut mango and pineapple in Parque de Mexico. I must say that days like these are my favorite. No set schedule, no set plan, no tourist attractions. Just exploring and observing.

That night I went to a Couchsurfing gathering at Oslo lounge. It was a lot of fun; I met a lot of people, including Ruben and Sandra, who invited me to join them and other Couchsurfers at Chapultepec (a State park with a large, old castle), that following Sunday.

Parque de Mexico

At Oslo Lounge with Elizabeth (left) and Luisa (right)

The following day, Luisa, Nayeli and I met up with a local couchsurfer named Alex, who attended CU Boulder. We all went to a bar for some good conversation and some good beer. Later that night we went to a party one of Alex's friends was throwing, and it was a blast. Live DJ, good music, nice people. I couldn't have asked for a better time. Oh, and I had a good time telling a handful of people I am from Antarctica ... 'What's it like in Antarctica?' ... 'Well, there's lots of ice... and currently there's an economic crisis.'  ;)

At a bar with Alex and other couchsurfers

Best party in a long time

On Saturday, Luisa and I went to the famous and enormous Museo de la Antropologia in Mexico City. Considering my interest in Mesoamerican history and culture, the museum was amazing. There was a different room for each Mesoamerican culture (Aztec, Mayan, Totonac, Toltec, Olmec, etc.) I saw some very famous artifacts, such as the enormous Aztec calendar and a couple Olmec heads, which date back to about 2000 BC.

Aztec calendar, found in Tenochtitlan

Olmec head

Mayan carving

On Sunday, as planned, I met up with Ruben, Sandra, and 5 or 6 other couchsurfers and we climbed the Angel de la Independencia, a large statue/structure overlooking part of the city. Then we went to Chapultepec where we saw a very old castle from the 1500's. Ornate rooms, gardens, and views. Afterwards, we had tacos for lunch and came back to Luisa's place for some beers on the roof. It was a very nice day. That night, Luisa, Carlos, Ruben and I went to eat traditional Pozole... a considerably heavy soup. It was delicious.

View from Angel de la Independencia

At the Castle at Chapultepec with other Couchsurfers

Beers on Luisa's roof

The next day, although sick to my stomach and not feeling well (maybe the shaved ice I'd eaten in the park wasn't made with purified water), I went with couchsurfing friend Carlos to the famous Aztec city known at Teotihuacan, which is about an hour North of Mexico City.

Teotihuacan with Carlos

Contrary to the amount of warnings I received from people concerned about my travel to Mexico City ("be careful! It's dangerous!") I felt very safe in Mexico City. When I told Luisa and Nayeli about my concerns, they chuckled and said it's all stereotypes. Mexico City is in fact much safer than many parts of Mexico at this time; they've both lived in the city their entire lives and nothing bad has ever happened to them. As Aldous Huxley put it:

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.

The following day, I took a bus 4 hours North West to Morelia, where I met up with local couchsurfer named Hugo (this trip will be discussed in a later blog). I decided to see Morelia when Luisa told me it was worth the trip. From here, I plan to go to Patzcuaro, Uruapan, then Zihuatanejo, on the Pacific Coast. From there I will continue traveling South to Acapulco, then to Oaxaca. On April 8th, in less than 1 month, I will meet up with Kasey in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. I can't wait!! From there we will see a few sights and head over to Chetumal, where we will cross the border into Belize. The route of my trip has changed quite a bit since I first started planning it out, but I like that. I love the spontenaity of backpacking. 

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.  ~Lao Tzu

Although I love seeing the sights (in particular, the Mesoamerican ruins), I must say that my favorite part of my journey thus far has been making connections and friends of all different backgrounds and experiences. I like observing that the similarities between places are much more abundant than the differences. Time after time it is apparent that no matter what part of the world you're in, no matter what culture or what language the people speak, people are the same. The world is much smaller than we acknowledge, with all of our wars and differentiation between countries. We are all neighbors, all residents of Planet Earth.

On this note, I leave you with:

"I am not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land." -Unknown