Taxco- Mexico City-Oaxaca

On Wednesday we got up bright and early to march up to the church of Guadalupe which overlooks taxco, which was pretty cool. But then Sam made me walk up to see Christo (Christ) on the very top of the hill. He was so far away and I got so puffed. We had to walk up a million stairs and roads with an incline of what felt like about 50 degrees all in jandels and a dress which isn't the best hill climbing outfit and all on narrow cobbled roads built ages ago while dodging vw beetles (taxcos favourite car. I think its because that's all that will fit up the wee streets). But we made it, but it wasn't very exciting. He was no rio de janeiro Christ. It looked like they had spent the most time carving his moustache. Anyway, so we wandered back down and looked through the markets in taxco and then headed back to mexico city on Thursday.

This time we stayed in the centro historico which is the area around the zocalo which is the 2nd biggest town square after the red square. It's a really fun area with lots of museums and monuments. Also it had a really impressive bakery. It was about as big as a Deka and had so many treats all for about 4 peso, which like 40-50c. Upstairs was also exciting because they had so many cakes on display. They had wedding cakes were like 10 tiers tall and some that weighed 110kg. They also had cakes for Jesus, Mexican wrestling, birthdays and graduations. And people went nuts about this place, everyone left with boxes of treats. Lucky.

Today we caught a bus to Oaxaca which is about as big as Christchurch and seems to be closed on weekends, which is a bit sad since we're here for only 4 days and 2 will be weekend days. Oaxaca is famous for it's cuisine especially chocolate. Yum. Upsetting that we're going to be at the chocolate capital just before we go to the beach though..

Taxco

Today we went to taxco by bus, which was super fancy. It was better than the plane we came on, we got pepsi, nuts, and got to watch kung fu panda all with ample leg room. We arrived in taxco which is about 2 hours from Mexico city and went to our hostel which is really cute. It's run by a retired doctor who is really kind and who gives out welcome cocktails. After that we walked around taxco which is a really cute town with cream buildings and teracotta roofs and narrow cobbled streets. We went to see some churches and looked through some shops and wandered around the streets. Tomorrow we might go to see another church way up on the hill if we can wake up before the heat, and maybe we'll go see some caves. Taxco is really cute. If we were retired doctors who could speak Spanish we'd open a hostel here too.

Tengo vomitos

On Saturday we caught the underground to coyoacan, which was surprisingly easy, to see the frida kahlo museum. It only cost 55 pesos to get in and was really cool because it was in the house she had lived in so it was really fun and colourful. Then we looked through some markets and for some reason there seems to be a big market for adult costumes because there are heaps for sale. I found a really sweet harry potter costume but didn't go for it. Then we headed home for tequila night. There were only 4 of us and the only rule was once the bottle is open it's got to be finished. The bottle was 1.75 l and I have never been so sick. We tried to get lunch but I made us leave half way through to vomit in a garden. I couldn't keep anything down, even water. So pretty much Sunday was spent sleeping and vomiting. Then this morning I still couldn't get out of bed so Sam brought me some toast down from breakfast and after laying still for about an hour so I wouldn't puke it up I felt much better. Then we headed our to see the basilicas for the virgin of guadalupe. They were so cool and massive. One was really modern and extreme built in the 70's and the other was old and classical and was sinking like a lot of buildings in Mexico city. Within the grounds of the churches there were 6 churches. I don't know why they have so many, but the were all really pretty and ornate. I touched so many statues to try and cure my sore belly, but then I had a pepsi and was pretty much back to normal. It was probably a holy pepsi since I bought it at a church. After the churches we stopped off halfway home to see some ruins which were the last fortress of the Aztecs before the Spanish conquered them, so they were pretty old, built in 1325, and impressive. Lizards like to live there, but it was too hot for us so we headed home for a siesta. Tomorrow we're off to taxco for a couple of days, which is a smaller city famous for it's silver, so that should be fun!

Mexico city, day one

Today we set off to the zona rosa, which is an area near where we are staying. We went to visit a giant gold angel called glorieta angel de la independencia. She was really cool and everything in that area is so tidy with such nice lush gardens. While we were there we met a fake policeman with a Velcro badge who tried to sell us a trip to the pyramids, we didn't take up his offer. Today is good friday, meaning everything is closed to mourn Jesus and reenact the crucifixtion, but most people seemed to be in the gardens we went to which were also really cool, there were heaps of museums, galleries and a zoo to see, but we're going to explore more when it isn't a public holiday. There were lakes with pedal boats but the water was an opaque green so we'll test them out when I'm not wearing a white dress. We resorted to dominos for lunch because it was least confusing and pretty delicious. Siesta time now then maybe we'll study some menu ordering techniques, and maybe off to the pyramids tomorrow.

The Union Forever

4 out of 4 Americans are not willing to trade airline seats so you can sit next to your girlfriend. And we were in the air again. From Seattle to dust etched Houston was a 6 hour flight and then short layover, enough to imbibe some tex-Mex, before we belted into our connecting flight. High above the gulf of Mexico at night we could see the torchlights of far off cantinas and lovers flames and taxicabs and pure fire until the endless sprawl of Mexico City formed absolutely. Once arrived our trepidation becomes tepid in the mixture of new air and foreign status. Our taxicab peels off it's rank and through crest filled highways we motor at inappriate speeds. Comfortably delivered to Bed and Breakfast Mexico, we rest our bodies upon our bed made of an unfurled blanket on soda cans and breathe our new home.

Today we are in Mexico.

Seattle

Today we arrived in Seattle, the first leg of our mexican adventure. We don't have a computer, just an iPod so can't upload any pictures, but it was a fun day. We saw the famous fish market, the original starbucks, two mummies, and explored the underground part of the city which is pretty creepy. The city burnt down in 1889 and they decided to build it up to stop the flooding so built the buildings with the second floor as the main level and entrace, then built retaining walls with roads on top and slowly filled the gap with dirt and unwanted stuff, leaving the footpath at the original level. Then they ran out of money and the footpaths stayed at a lower level for 4 years. 17 people died from falling from the road level to the pavement. Weird.
Anyway, we're off to Mexico city tomorrow, which is pretty exciting!

Limo Goodbye

Yesterday was our last day of work, but because of high winds the mountain was closed. Hooray! Last night we went to Abotsford, which is about an hour away, to watch some hockey with some people from work. It was pretty fun. We went there in a limo bus, which made us feel like we were rockstars. The hockey teams were the Manitoba Moose and the Abotsford Heat. We supported the moose, which I thought was because they had a better name, but turns out they are the feeder team for the NHL Vancouver Cannucks, even though Manitoba is ages away. There was lots of fighting, which caused this Aussie we work with to yell 'bring back the biff'.

There were the intermission kids playing which were pretty cute, although not as small as the last ones we saw

Then we headed back to the limo for the ride home.

We head off to Seattle and then Mexico tomorrow morning so that is probably the last time we'll see everyone, although if we get summer jobs at Grouse we'll see some of them again. It was a fun night, now we are into holiday mode, and have to hope for jobs or book some tickets back to NZ soon. We wont have our computer, but will have my ipod so we can write blogs, but not upload any photos unless we have computers in the places we're staying, but we will be able to keep in touch.

EXCITING!