First impressions

Trip Start Apr 09, 2008
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Trip End Apr 19, 2009


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Flag of Mexico  , Central Mexico and Gulf Coast,
Monday, August 4, 2008

I arrived in Mexico at about 7 o'clock. I passed through customs with no trouble at all. Everything was fairly easy. This is the beauty of holding a British passport (or I understand most European passports) GB will let anyone in without a visa and most people let us Brits in without much trouble. God bless you UK government. I landed at the airport to discover that there was nowhere to change my Peruvian coinage into Mexican. This is annoying because it means won't have any change. I had to take big notes out of the bank and therefore had to get a taxi in a booth which costs more. The booth guy told me to go to taxi port number 3 which sounded ominous for taxis and on arriving at taxi port 3 I found a queue longer than the one at customs. But thankfully moving quicker. I knew where I was going because I had a recommendation of the youth Hostel. I told the taxi driver that I wanted to go to the main square to a road next to the cathedral, he first asked to look at the address then looked at his map while waiting at some traffic lights and finally when we arrived in town asked to look at the map in my book of youth hostels. He either wasn't from the city or it was his first day either way I was trying hard not to smile at the driver who couldn't find the central plaza.

The hostel was great it was actually next door to the cathedral separated only by a narrow alley. It had a restaurant on the ground floor, an Internet cafe, bar and pool on the mezzanine, a late night bar on the roof with views of the city and all for a reasonable price, by my reckoning. Cathedral
Cathedral
 Unfortunately the desk said that they had space for today but that the whole hostel was booked for the next day. I wasn't the only one affect it seemed because everyone in my room was getting ready to leave in the morning. I unpacked a litle and made the bed and then headed down to the restaurant at 10. I considered this early compared to other places I had been recently. The restaurant had just closed which seemed odd to me. I went out to try to find somewhere else open but it seemed the entire city was closed. Or at least the centre. I was more tired than hungry anyway so I grabbed some snack food from the 7/11 (just like a movie) and went back to the hostel. I read for a bit and then went to sleep. Still confused by the complete diference in opening times between Mexico and Lima.

The next morning I was up just in time for breakfast. I then checked out. I asked in other hotels nearby to find no spaces at all and decided that if I couldn't stay in mexico city I might as well head straight to the beaches and mayan ruins that i wanted to see, I had to come back to the city anyway to take my next flight. I asked where was the best place to buy bus tickets. I wasted some time in town, the centre is really beautiful, full of old churches, large squares and rows of colonial style buildings. I then took the metro to the bus station, bought scant supplies for the coach journey because I was now use to the free food and restaurant stops that always occur leaving me with loads of food I didn't eat. Then boarded the 20 hour bus to Merida.
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