Ongoing travel
Day 1 (17.11): “Diving is the greatest thing on earth”. The thought circles in my head as I haul roughly 45kg of dive gear and a spare t-shirt through the belly of Munich’s public transport. For the first time in many years I feel a bit homesick, having to leave Michi behind on this trip.
Viva la Mexico! The lady at the exchange counter at MUC hands over all her Mexican Pesos. 5.000MEX, about 300EUR. Mexico seems far away from Munich. Luckily there is a direct flight. And luckily, I upgraded to business class. A technical issue delays take-off by almost 2h.
But champagne is the secret ingredient that makes flying enjoyable. I spend my time with a mic of work and relaxation. But the backlog still feels tremendous.
We land at 8pm local time. The airport is quite efficient: Fast passport control and luggage belts with precise timings. Customs waves me past the scanner. With my backpack I either look like a bum who ist not worth the effort od like too much trouble. Either way, welcome to Mexico. I meet my driver who takes me to the Andaz in Condesa.
The hotel is quite nice and Condesa feels like a nice and save neighborhood. Not much left to do but go to sleep.
Day 2 (18.11): I wake up at 1:30am for a work call and continue to work until morning. Still backlog! My plan is to have breakfast at 9am. As I step out of my room, I find a note in the hallway. It is letting me know that my tour guide is picking me up at 9am. Good that I am master of a quick breakfast.
20min later, Raoul and I are cruising north west towards the famous Pyramids of the Teotihuacans. Raoul gives me the full lecture on Mexican history. What sticks is in short: Mayans in the south and sticking to themselves, Aztecs in the North West and aggressive, Teotihuacans great traders. Also, Mexico City is actually built on a giant lake. Well, something like that.
The Teotihuacan Archeological Zone contains three pyramids, similar to Gize. We start… well I start with a work call .. then we explore the pyramid of the feathered serpent. Its the smallest of the three pyramids but has well preserved figures of Quetzalcoatl.
But the Sun and Moon pyramids are the true stars of the show. 40 and 60m wide with a base of 130 – 200m these Pyramids are impressive sights. In the past years, the government has closed the pyramids for climbing but reopened the lower section of the moon pyramid. In hindsight, the balloon tour may have been even more impressive.
No guided tour is complete without the obligatory visit to a random workshop for shopping. I get to see a mic of paper making, alcohol brewing, silver making and obsidian carving. I get out with minimal damages and Raoul and I head back to Mexico City.
The contrast between rich and poor is striking. We see Favelas pass by, nestled into mountain valleys. Mexico uses cable cars as a form of public transport, with lines of up to 10km. Another item for the bucket list.
We stop at the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe. The old church tilts, so it feels, more than the leaning tower of Pisa. The new church is an amazing building the fully opens up to the plaza.
I am quite tired and breath a sigh of relief as we reach the hotel. I take a short break before heading out again for my Lucha Libre tour.
But first I fail a mental fitness test. I go to the first meeting point but no one shows up. So I check my messages and my spam folder and find a note with the actual meeting place. I put it into my phone but as I arrive its just a dark sports arena. Third time is the charm and I manage to catch up to the group.
First stop is tacos and mezcal at Escándalo on C. Orizaba 156 in Roma Norte. We get three small but very tasty tacos. The second stop is close to the Arena Mexico. Again three tacos (pastor, chorizo and mixed). Out guide explains how the Lucha Libre works: Two teams fight, one good one bad. The good ones play by the rules and typically win, the bad ones break the rules and typically lose. The audience’s role is to shout profanities. We practice in the restaurant and the wait staff smiles to our “asshole” chants.
Then its time to go – actually, the fights go on for a long time but we arrive for the main act. It is a very wild experience but good fun. The wrestlers fight inside and outside the ring. The matches follow no apparent structure and even the surprise appearance of a numbers girl does not help. In the end, the wrong team loses. Our guide is very unhappy. As we end the evening with Churros from a street stand opposite the arena, all is forgotten. I half walk half take an uber home and fall asleep.
Day 3 (19.11) The day starts with work. Some calls some stuff to do. Its quite frustrating. Around lunchtime I decide to visit the Anthropology Museum. It takes me 45min to walk (less than the return trip with an uber).
The museum has rooms for the different regions and peoples of Mexico. Of course the Teotihuacan Hall is impressive with the sun disc and a colored version of the temple of the feathered snake.
The Aztec hall impresses with its giant sun wheel. The most stereotypical Mexican artefakt but amazing to look at.
I take an uber home for a very short rest. Then I am on my way to a bicycle food tour. Mental fidelity check: I find the right spot on first try. Check. Guide checks my name, checks my reservation, makes a phone call to the office. A bit more checking. Finally he says: “You are good. We are friends.” What is that supposed to mean? “You booked for next month”. Well, I may truly need a holiday.
We start with a Taco Gringa at the Av Sonora. Then we get on the bikes and head to a Mexican – Korean place on C. Guanajuato.
From there we cycle north with a stop for explanations that I can perfectly use for a work phone call. Next stop is corn on a stick close to Av Reforma. Its corn covered in mayonnaise and sprinkled with sauce.
Good that we only get a half portion. We bike to the old town center ans visit the Monument of the Revolution before heading back to Condesa.
Last stop are fantastic enchiladas on the north end of the Parque Mexico. Deep fried with lots of guacamole. Amazing. Its a short walk from here to the hotel. This is good because I need to pack.
Day 4 (20.11): The alarm rings at 3:30am. 10:30CET so it practically means sleeping in. With nobody on the road, we quickly arrive at the airport (enough time for a work call). Check in for aeromexico works smoothly. I can drop off my 25kg bag and nobody cares about the 20kg of carry-on luggage. I pass security without problems, i.e. no need to take out the camera. I grab a coffee and a croissant, do another call and board the aircraft.
I see the first people from the dive group sitting in the first row. The plane is 2h delayed, which means that I will miss every call today. The flight itself is smooth. So is the landing in La Paz. My luggage is out so quickly that I almost miss it. we meet a good part of the group in the entrance hall.
From La Paz its a long car ride to Magdalena Bay.