MEXICO !!

With a population of 25 Million you’d expect the place to be busy but I was surprised at how busy this proved to be.  I met Vish for breakfast which proved to be indifferent in quality, a self-serve buffet in which the hot food wasn’t and cost 90 pesos.  Vish suggested a walking tour on the basis that the whole group might want to visit places like the pyramids at Teotihuacan.  So, armed with a street map from the hotel we set out for the Centre.  Unfortunately the map was very large and heavily overprinted with extra detail such as metro routes and this made individual streets difficult to decipher.  Also, a line on a map to indicate a road doesn’t entirely prepare you for the reality of roads that are 3 lanes dual carriageways with wide central reservations and often with parallel minor roads as well!  Still, we managed.
First we found the Alameda Central which proved to be a park, already well occupied by street traders selling a myriad of goods, mostly highly colourful.

From here we made our way down 5th May Street towards the Zocalo which is the main square of the city.  I’ve never seen so many police some of whom were armed with sub machine guns. 

One approached us but he was a Tourist Police and told us what we could find in the area.  The Zocalo was absolutely humming with people, market stalls, Aztec dancers and shamans burning charcoal and presumably getting rid of your evil spirits.  From here we headed back towards the hotel and the Passeo de la Reforma which would take us to the Chapultepec Park where there are museums and the Zoo.  Slightly off target we first came to Monument to the Revolution where a demonstration was in progress. 

Clearly, not everyone sees eye to eye with the government.  Back on the right road we found the Mexican equivalent of the Boris Bikes but I didn’t see anyone using one of the nice red Ecobicis.

Passeo de la Reforma is plainly a major thoroughfare and a business focus with lots of bank buildings, the US Embassy and skyscrapers under construction.  This could be any modern city but the rest of what we saw was very mixed; old, new and very ramshackle in places.
At the Park we visited the Museum of History.  It turned out to be the Palace of the last Mexican King and had many rooms opened to show the opulence of royal life before the Revolution.  At last I got a real payoff for becoming 60 as jubilados (pensioners) get in free.  Sited on top of a hill it also offered excellent views of the city. 

Distinctly footsore we trudged back to the hotel and met our tour leader, a cheery Costa Rican called Mauricio and the rest of the group.  We number 15 in total hailing from England, France, Australia, New Zealand and Columbia.  Australia is significantly the dominant contributor.  After giving us time to get ready Mauricio tried to get us organised for a meal in the Zocalo area of the city.  Crammed into a taxi and a larger vehicle with two of us stuffed into the luggage space we set out.  Once in the city problems began and several attempts to seat so many people on a Saturday night failed.  We ended up in a night club!!  After lengthy negotiations the girls got in free but the males had to pay.  We were given seats, right under a giant TV screen and between two giant speakers pumping out thumpy-thumpy music.  The group I was with ordered a ‘special’ which included some of everything on the menu.  We thought it a good idea at the time but when it arrived, over an hour later there was barely enough for one let alone the four it was supposed to feed.  Even ordering drinks proved problematic and they were unwilling to deal with food until we were drinking.  Our only option seemed to be beer, which arrived in a tube measuring over a metre high and containing 5 litres.  It may have added to the spectacle but a conventional bar would have been much better.  Those on the other side of the room were finished much more quickly for some reason (probably the single menu on offer for most of the time) and left but the rest of us had to stay whilst they worked on the bill.  Eventually the problems were solved and three of us left with Mauricio to find a taxi, leaving the hardened clubbers to finish up the fresh tower of beer that had appeared.  Finally, I got to bed, tired and still hungry not over impressed with my first experience of a night club, although the view of the street below from the balcony was nice.