Thursday 13 June - Sunday 16 June

Mexico City

A 3,5 hour flight down to the Federal District and into, without doubt, the pulsing heart of Mexico. This place is massive and constant. Home to some 27 million people, Mehico Thitty is loco! Nevermind the altitude change - headache deluxe whilst adjusting. Three days was enough for us but not enough to see it all. We hit the touristy things here, Luche Libre (Mexican wrestling) for a good larf and a way to meet some other travellers. The first wrestlers in the lineup for the evening needed some acting lessons, but the show got better as the night wore on - perhaps the 1 litre coronas were helping too! Then onto our first of many Mexican Ruins expeditions - Teotihuacan. Boy this did not disappoint - the pyramids of the Sun & Moon are mahoosive - and yes, half of Mexico City was there with us to see them. Feeling energetic, we decided to ascend both pyramids - its easier than it looks. Met some interesting chaps in our tour group, one was punting his fantasy novels to us - kind of like The Lord of the Rings - but all in Spanish...pity we'll never get to read them...our Spanglish doesnt extend to epic novels. Another chap was an anti-corruption advisor who was trying to help route out fraud and corruption in the Mexican government - he told us he had spent a week working with the SA government not too long ago...we replied that he needed waaaay more than week. haha

We stopped for lunch at a shop that gave us a tequila tasting demonstration - developing a new found appreciation for good quality tequila, and I picked up a pair of silver earrings whilst browsing in their shop. After lunch we were presented with a bill for it, which we had though was included in the cost of the tour...uh-oh...not enough cash to pay - I offered to give the earrings back as payment for lunch, which was met with a steely rebuttal - ended up having to borrow money from some random girl sitting next to us - oh the embarrassment. Next time check whats included in your tour!

Was later woken by our bed and building swaying to and fro - no, it wasn't the tequila from before, we were witnessing a 5.8 earthquake in our 4 storey hostel. Gary freaked out a bit as it was his first experience of an earthquake, jumping up out of bed, shouting obscenities and going into survival mode. Luckily I'd experienced two earthquakes in Bahrain the month before, so I could calm him down and told him to go back to sleep. Best not to run outside, like most people were doing.

Decided to be foodies for a day, and went in search of real Mexican street food in the Merced Market, wow what an education, there was everything under one roof (the size of an airplane hangar...can easily get lost/disoriented) from fake flowers and clothes to fresh fruit and the most delectable tacos we had tasted. And luckily no stomach gremlins thereafter.