Ray: Mexico City - Mafia and IRA ... kidding!
Trip Start
Dec 27, 2007
1
7
80
Trip End
Dec 28, 2008
Mexico City,
Mexico
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Initially we were going to give Mexico City a miss but after talking to a couple of french tourists they convinced us to go. We stayed at a hostel in the centre of town. It had a bar/ restaurant downstairs, 5 levels of dormitories and another small hostel bar on the 6th floor! I didn´t much sleep. No, not because I spent all my time in the bar but because the party-goers were at it until 2 or 3 in the morning, every morning. This lack of sleep made me a little grumpy but by lunchtime all was well. We loved the hostel tours especially because we got to meet other people from all over the world and because of the tours themselves.
From spectacular murals that covered buildings to the pyramids that made one feel extemely insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I had no idea of the complex and lengthy history and I am only starting to get a handle on thousands of years worth. Daunting but enlightening and self-reflective. Aztecs, Mayans, Spaniards, French and the US have all conquered and then been expelled from Mexico. The local indians have been made slaves by most conquerors and even today they struggle to get equity on all levels.
Our second tour was to the pyramids and we met a couple of nice guys. Luca was an Italian from Sicily and a really nice person. He liked to laugh and make the odd joke. His english was very good. Hugh was an Irishman who would be what we call a hardcase. He talked a lot, cracked a few jokes and had been travelling for a while. Mind you he couldn´t speak any spanish and found it difficult to say any words that sounded right, no matter how many times you said it to him. We gave him a hard time throughout the day about his spanish and encouraged him to try whenever possible. It made me laugh whenever he did try, not that I was any better mind you but spanish with an irish accent, try it. Luca invited us to stay with him when we eventually hit Sicily, Sarah gave him grief about the mafia and at one stage we said we represented the mafia, the IRA and NZ Warriors, haha.
People have been great like that and we´ve swapped email addresses with a few others throughout the trip. One NZ guy snobbed us though ´cos I saw him reading my shirt, Otago University Rugby League and I was wearing an ALL Blacks cap but he just looked away. Sarah and I heard him say he was a NZer to these German girls so we might have been cramping his style. Our tour guides have been a real laugh although Isaac was a little more serious, Pepe was really funny and Jorge was a hoot. Jorge took us to the wrestling. Man it was awesome. I´m not as much of a fan as I used to be but the main bouts were fantastically skilful, athletic, acrobatic and of course dramatic. Mystico was everyone´s hero and you could see why. Luche Libre. Most wrestlers wear masks which adds to the drama of it all. It´s like WWE (for those who know what I´m talking about) mexican style. A hundred times better than the NBA game we watched.
Right, off to the beach to get that tan I don´t need!!
