Settling in in Mexico City

This is the beginning of a series of posts relating our extensive, and exhausting, Christmas vacation. Getting to travel around is half the reason we came to this place, so we crammed a lot of sites into our two weeks, and there certainly is a lot to report. I'll post a continually updated map showing where we go. You can see today's map, by clicking here.

In the wee hours of December 19th, we arrived at Monterrey's airport, to start out Christmas vacation. As a note, the manner in which they inspect your bags is before you get to the ticket counter, they place your suitcase on a six-foot table, open it, and proceed to rummage through your clothes while everyone in line behind you watches (luckily, there was no one in line behind us). The flight and everything was fine; however there was a very distinct layer of brown-ish haze hangning over Mexico City that was clearly visible as we made our descent.

As a side-note, Mexicans refer to Mexico City as either 'Mexico' or 'D.F.', which is for 'district federal.' Although this metropolis is very large (almost 9 million people), it is still somehow very overcrowded.

During the taxi ride from the airport to our hotel, we observed and/or experienced:

• bumper-to-bumper traffic;
• a horse pulling a rickety wagon packed with people; and
  
• a pick-up truck whose box was over-filled with unwrapped giant slabs of raw meat.

We stayed at the Hotel Lepanto which actually had some pretty poor reviews on Travel Advisor. The hotel is located pretty close to downtown, which is good because that's were all the attractions are. Also, it is only a five-minute walk to a subway terminal, something I didn't realize when I booked our room. (A full report on the subway system is forthcoming; we didn't try it out until our second day in the city.) Bad points: in a pretty run-down area. So much so that there was a little hovel, constructed out of a couch and a torn-up box-spring, on the sidewalk a block away (on the way to the subway). It seemed like two guys lived in it; they'd eyeball us when we'd walk by at night, and the area smelt like human waste (but then, the entire city generally smelt like that...). Overall, I think our hotel was a pretty good deal, and we were happy with it.

We left the hotel to explore, as it was only mid-day. As we walked, we cut through a park in front of a cathedral. We quickly saw that the park was home to many homeless, one of which was shaving in the fountain. One friendly gentleman yelled "Hey you!" to us. We decided not to cut through any more parks.

Time for another note: pretty much every inch of sidewalk to filled with stalls and vendors. These installations all look temporary, but are in fact permanently installed. Apparently the Mexican government has no problem with people randomly setting up shop where ever they want. People are hawking everything:

• shirts;
• thongs;
• pirated CDs and DVDs;
• candy (Mexican candy, all of it gross looking);
  
• tourist trinkets;
• magazines;
• jewelry;
• manicures and hair styling; and
  
• food -- everything from tacos (Mexican style, with soft shells) and drinks, to fried meats and potatoes.
  

Believe me, this list is by no means exhaustive. There was an old man on a blanket selling combs and rusty looking watches. Anything goes. But definitely the most prevalent things are the food stalls. It seems like anyone that can afford a little burner, some oil, and a metal cooking surface (they really love to fry food) sets up shop. At first the smells are kind of appetizing, but after a few days of it, it's really nauseating. And some areas are really really crowded to walk though, with people pressing up against you. Also, it's really really loud, especially if they are selling CDs or DVDs. They constantly have something playing on speakers at full volume, I guess to attract custumers. The cars are honking at each other non-stop as well (no one there knows how to drive). And the smell of the sidewalks...it is a pungent mix of car exhaust, sweat, food frying, and fresh human urine. I cannot emphasize the urine enough. If I never smell pee again, I'll die happy.

Stay tuned next week for part two of our first day (with less human waste and more pictures, I promise)...