Hi!

Well we've been in Mexico for a week now so we thought it was time we updated you all..

We arrived in Ciudad de Mexico on Monday afternoon and after filling out a 'do you have swine flu' questionnaire (which consisted of just 5 tick boxes!) we took a somewhat scary taxi journey to our new home for the next month.... We are staying with the Canadian cousins of our course tutor, very nice apartment and couple...and they have 2 huge labradors! Anyway, unfortunately the altitude sickness kicked in around about the same time we got in the taxi... and after a 14 hour flight and about 3 hours sleep the night before we were a bit of a mess and went straight to bed!!

After 14 hours sleep (!) we decided to venture out of the apartment and try and get some food... this proved somewhat difficult as nobody speaks any English!!!! So…we had cheetos and a street taco for breakfast... yum! :s After much walking we managed to make it past MacDonalds and plucked up enough courage to order lunch (via sign language) in a cafe....

The next day we decided to head out and see some sights. The transport system here is awesome, there are buses and trains which cost either 10p or 25p and they are much more efficient than the tube!!!! We decided to visit Chapaultepec Park, a MASSIVE park with a free zoo, a castle and a lake (check out the photos of the bright green lake!!!). Apparently there is a theme park in there somewhere too!! Really beautiful, we had a great day. That night we ventured to Condesa (a cute area near our apartment) and had the most amazing Argentinean steaks... we're now even more excited about Argentina!!

Thursday we took a trip to an area called the Centro Historio and wandered round... This is full of beautiful old buildings and churches, plus a cathedral and the remains of an old pyramid called Templo Mayor. The centre of the Centro Historico is one of the world's largest city squares called the 'Zocolo', the president lives there apparently! There were millions of people trying to sell us everything under the sun, from pants to jewellery! We're planning to go back and visit some of the museums next Sunday when they're free....

Friday we had a lazy, chilled day and just wandered around the areas of Condesa and Roma. These are lovely, tree lined districts with cafes and fountains everywhere... Apparently its where the 'fresas' hang out... This means strawberries and it's what the Mexicans call posh kids! Then we got another Argentinean steak. Oops.

Saturday we went shopping to Walmart with Rob and Steph (couple we live with) Yes, they have a Walmart! Kind of difficult as we didn't know what anything was but we got some essentials!! After that we headed to the Zona Rosa which is the main clubbing district apparently. We had quite a few cervazas and watched some students who had been body-painted as super heroes try and get money from people... we don't know why though as they didn't speak English!!!

Today we went to Teotihuacan, which is a complex with some huge pyramids, but nobody knows who built them! Absolutely awesome experience, we climbed up and down all three pyramids (with difficulty!) and learnt a lot about the civilization that once lived there... and we got a free tequila...first of many we suspect!!! By the way - we do it wrong in the UK, you're supposed to have the salt, then the lime, THEN the tequila - tastes better!!!!!

Anyway, we're having a great time and gradually picking up some Spanish... its tough though as very few people speak any English. Its good, it means we have to learn!

Our course starts a week tomorrow, so we have another 7 days to see more of this humongous city!

Hope you are all well - stay in touch!!!

Sar & Davy
xxxx