The Guide

Hello friends and family. Been a while since my last post and I've been up to a lot.  My dad visited me in October and we had a packed weekend.

Friday
My dad arrived in the early afternoon and of course the first thing we had to do was get some good mexican food.  My uncle was also in town so the three of us grabbed a quick bite and then headed back to my apartment to have a mezcal tasting.  They were both surprised at how smooth and smoky the mezcal tasted.

Next we headed out to grab some tacos.  We walked from my apartment to one of the restaurant areas, and were able to see some of the cool monuments and sights of Mexico city along the way.

But all this was leading up the main event of the evening...LUCHA LIBRE!!!!!

After getting a little lost on the way to the stadium we finally made it and got third row seats! Close to the action but not close enough that we were part of the action. Of course we bought masks before going in, and we got the craziest ones possible.  I thought to myself early on "when am I going to where this mask again?" So with that train of thought I wore my mask the whole night and it definitely made the fight better haha.

The fight was incredible! They started out with the less famous wrestlers and moved their way up until the finale of the top luchadors. We even got to see a battle between lady luchadors (was not expecting that).  Check out the pictures.

Lady luchadors??

My dad wearing his mask (look at the guy in the background haha)

Super-Porky!!

The final round

Saturday
Saturday was also a fun filled day.  Started out the morning with getting some tacos from a street vendor (no health/stomach problems for either of us).  Then we went into the center of Mexico City and toured the Fine Arts Museum, which was packed with huge murals and some other modern art expeditions.

After a quick bite we got onto the metro to head to the soccer stadium Estadio Azteca.  The stadium is located south of the city so we had to first take a metro train to its last stop and then an above-ground train to the stadium. The metro wasn't too crowded but the above-ground train...WOW. Packed like sardines has a new meaning after that ride.  But all part of the experience.

The game we were going to see was called the Super-clasico, which is the Mexico City team Club America versus the Guadalajara team Chivas.  This is one of the biggest rivalries in Mexico so it was bound to be a good game.

As we were entering the stadium there were guys collecting peoples belts.  I guess security wasn't allowing belts in the stadium...interesting. So people would give their belts to the belt collectors, who were just random mexican guys, and receive a little piece of paper with a number and the belt collector would attach a small piece of paper to the belt.  We didn't realize it at the time, but when we were leaving we though, "how in the world will people find the belt collector guys?"

We arrived at our seats just as the game was beginning.  We were the fourteenth row behind the goals but we were high enough up to see the whole field.

After a slow start, Americas scored two goals in the second half.  And believe me when I say the stadium literally erupted.  Everyone was on their feet cheering.  The higher levels threw beer and popcorn all over us.  And there were TWO goals so we got two beer showers.  It was an intense game and a great experience.

Tacos!!

Memorial to Benito Juarez

Fine arts meseum

Our view

GOALLLLLL!!!!

Aguilas!!

Sunday
Sunday we visited Teotihuacan, which is an ancient Mesoamerican city north of Mexico.  We rented a taxi driver for the trip which made getting there and back really easy.  It was a beautiful day and we were able to climb the biggest pyramid, they Pyramid of the Sun.  The pictures can do a better job explaining the hugeness of this ancient city.

Avenue of the Dead

Pyramid of the Sun

Made it to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun

View of the Pyramid of the Moon from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun

Mexican Independence....El Grito!

Last weekend was the celebration of the beginning of Mexican Independence.  It is commonly known as "el grito" which directly translates to "the shout/cry".  This refers to back when the mexicans began their independence and in every town there were shouts of "Viva Mexico!" on this day.  So as part of the celebration my friends and I joined in.

My 3-day weekend was spent in Oaxaca, Mexico.  It is a city in the south of mexico, but oaxaca also refers to the region.  The trip was planned by a mixture of friends I've met so far and also people i didn't know.  A lot of it was thrown together last minute but everything worked out great, and we got to do a lot of cool stuff.

We departed Friday night from the main bus station of Mexico City called "Tapo".  Our plan was to do an overnight bus ride because the trip is about 7 hours.  When we arrived at the bus station we ran into some difficulties about finding a bus for all of us, so we decided to be split up.  Not knowing the plan, I was a bit surprised when they said, "ok phill you'll take the first bus at 11 PM and we'll take the buses after you.  Just wait for us at the bus station."  ahhhh ok.  There ended up being no problems and I was able to get some decent sleep on the bus.  I arrived in Oaxaca a little before 7 AM, and only had to wait about 10 minutes for the other members of our group to show up.

Once we all arrived it was off to the hostel to check in and drop off our stuff.  We were lucky enough to check in right away and have a 10 person room for the 7 of us.  We settled in quickly then signed up for a tour of the touristic sites to see in the Oaxaca region.  Before heading out on the tour we grabbed breakfast at the cafe across the street, it had a pretty cool name.

Cafe Alex!

2 eggs, french fries, bean, guac, and hot chocoloate ($3.10)

The first stop of our tour was El Arbol del Tule.  One of the oldest trees in the world, it ranks #1 in the world for largest trunk circumference (around 138 feet).  It was a really cool site to see.

Arbol del Tule

Our next stop was Hierve El Agua, this translates to "boil water".  The water does look like it is boiling, but it is actually pretty cold.  Due to the rain of the day before and the morning of the mountain paths getting to this place were all slick mud.  We ran into a couple of difficulties, but our resourceful tour guide was able to get us to there.  And because of all the travel complications there was barely anybody there, allowing us some great pictures.

Bus stuck on the mountain road. the ground was slippery mud

That's me up there

Selfie

The main pools

Goin swimming

The next stop was lunch, which was a Mexican buffet.  I tried as many things as I could, and was able to experience my first taste of "mezcal".  But more to come on the in a bit.

Following lunch we traveled to some ancient Azteca ruins in the town of Mitlan.  The construction of these ruins were incredible because the designs weren't carved into the rock, instead they were made by thousands of small geometric pieces precisely carved for the design.

Mitlan

Small geometric patterns

Also visited a rug fabricator

They make their colors from natural things

Following the ruins we traveled to a local distillery and fabricator of "mezcal" which is a type of tequila.  Mezcal is very popular for mexicans but it is primarily sold in the southern regions of Mexico, Oaxaca being one of the most famous regions.  Distribution to the rest of Mexico is small, but it is increasing and there are many distributors to the US.  We were able to see the production process and try some of the raw ingredients.  After we had to the opportunity to try the different types of mezcal.  There were the three age groups: Joven (white, clear mezcal - the most sharp), Reposado (goldish - less sharp), and Anejo (brownish - very smooth).  There were also a number of flavors of "crema de mezcal, which were things like coffee, cappuccino, mango, and other sweet flavors.  But probably the best thing I did at this distillery was eat "gusano"....worms!  Actually was pretty nasty but had to do it.  Also the most common way to drink mezcal apart from sipping it is taking a shot, like tequila.  But instead of regular salt, they use "sal de gusano"...yes, worm salt.  Also an interesting taste but when in Oaxaca do as the locals do.

how they grind the agave

Mezcal prep pit

Agave

Mezcal reposado with a gusano on the bottom of the bottle

Sal de gusano and a taster of mezcal

Eating gusano...yum

That was our final stop of the tour, and we were able to get back into the city of Oaxaca not too late.  Our hostel was located 2 block from the "zocalo" which is a city's center plaza area, so we headed out to find a restaurant in the main plaza and grab some dinner.  We weren't looking to have a huge meal so we ordered two huge sampler platters.  Apart from the usual carne asada and chorizo there was also "chapulines"...grasshoppers.  yes grasshoppers, a full bowl of dead grasshoppers.  They have a very interesting flavor and I'm guessing huge amounts of spices are added to them.  I added a spoonful or two to my tacos, and they were actually pretty good.

Sample platter with grasshoppers in the center

The following day we visited Monte Alban, which is a huge city of ruins located on top of one of the hills surrounding the city of Oaxaca.  It was so extensive.

Monte Alban

That night was "el grito" so we headed back to the city center to grab a table in one of the restaurants on the main plaza to get a good spot for the festivities.  After a great dinner of tamal and carne asada we waited for the festivies to start.  There was a small procession, then chanting of Viva Mexico, and then fireworks.  It was a spectacular sight.  After there was a mariachi band planning nearby so we enjoyed some of the traditional mexican music.

Tamal oaxaquena

Carne asada oaxaquena

Fireworks

Mariachi!

Gettin into the Mexican spirit

The following day was fairly uneventful except for the huge procession of the army, police, and firefighters right outside our hostal.  The trip home took a bit longer because of all the people trying to get back into Mexico City.

The procession begins

Bazooka...why?

While we were enjoying our time in Oaxaca, Acapulco was getting hit hard by a tropical storm.  They had to shut down the airport, and the main highway in and out of Acapulco fell apart in 3 places.  We were lucky to escape this storm in Oaxaca.

 Other great food:

Tlayuda - fried tortilla, mole, carne asada, cheese

Tamarindo - sugared tamarind

Helote - grilled corn, mayo, salt, and spicy spices

Doin' Fun Things

Coming up on 2 months living here in Mexico City, and my weekends have been packed with trips and adventures all over Mexico.  A quick note about where I live.  I live in Mexico City but it's incredibly big, so the area I live in is referred to as the "el DF" (or the distrito federal, which mean the central downtown area).  So if I refer to "the DF" that is what I mean.

Check out the places I've visited...

Jalcomulco
My first trip in Mexico, and it was an incredible trip.  Jalcomulco is a small town near Veracruz, Mexico (which is on the east coast of Mexico, almost directly east of Mexico City).  I undertook this journey with a number of people I didn't know, but by the end of the trip we were great friends.  The purpose of this trip was to go rafting but we did much more than that.

Our adventure began Friday afternoon when we (my french friend, Marie Laure, and I) left directly from work to an Avis to rent a car.  We got a nice bright blue hatchback, though it may not have been the coolest

thing, it got great gas mileage.  We did get stuck in the Friday rush hour traffic leaving Mexico City, which is just terrible, and it was even worse because it was raining and that slows everything down even more.  But after getting out of the mountains surrounding Mexico City it was smooth driving the rest of the way.  We finally arrived around midnight, and I was pleasantly surprised to our living accommodations.  The pictures are a bit blurry (camera problems) but it was basically a tent with four beds raised on a wooden platform with a huge awning over it to protect the tent from rain.  But the tent did its job and protected us from mosquitoes and rain.

Our accommodation

The pool

Saturday was an early morning with the guides walking around the "campsite" with pots, pans, and drums telling everyone to get up.  After a great breakfast of a bunch of local Mexican breakfast foods, we got a gear and headed to the river.  The river was a nice muddy brown color but when you're in the rapids the color doesn't matter too much.

Breakfast

As some of you know, I have had many experiences with white water rafting, but I am embarrassed to say that I fell off in the first rapid.  But I will say that these rapids where HUGE and we got stuck in huge wave and everyone except the guide and one of my friends fell out.  Well the actual story is that we got stuck in the wave and I started to laugh as my buddy fell over the side, then all of sudden the next thing I know I'm being flipped backwards off the boat.  Luckily I got a grip on the rope on the side of the boat so I didn't lose the boat.  What can I say, karma is a bitc*.  The rest of the river was incredible and everyone had a great time.

After the fall.  I'm the only one in the front haha

The rest of Saturday was spent at the pool with some Dos Equis.  Dinner was awesome with more Mexican cuisines.  Think I'm getting used to the spicy food, even throwing on some spicy salsa onto just about everything I ate that night.

Dinner with spicy guac on everything!

We were able to escape from the pot and pan wake up call on Sunday, but we still had an early morning because our activity of the day was "canyoning".  Basically they put us up in the mountains and we had a follow a stream/river down the mountain.  We spent a lot of time in the water and climbing over the river rocks.  It was a long day of walking but time flew because there was always something new to look at or a new obstacle to get past.

After returning to the campsite we hung out by the pool for a while then packed up and evened out the check then headed back home.  A fairly uneventful trip home, but we didn't get back until midnight.  So Monday was a rough day.

Reppin 'Merica

A nice glass of tequila reposado

Ocotal & La Marquesa
Ocotal is the name locals use for a running trail in one of the forest preserves in the south side of Mexico City.  I was a bit out of shape and the high altitude made it difficult for me to run for a good distance but I was able to get in about 2 miles (sorry for the excuses haha).

This site is in Spanish but will give you an idea of what the trail looks like:
http://www.endondecorrer.com/Donde-correr-en-Mexico/Correr-en-el-Distrito-Federal-o-DF/el-ocotal

The prime time to go running is in the morning so we got there around 8.  And after about an hour we sat down by one of the juice stands that makes fresh juices.  I got "el verde" (means "the green") which was apples, pineapple, and I want to say parsley but not entirely sure.  Regardless it was delicious.

After Ocotal we headed further away form Mexico City to La Marquesa which is small town with a lot of tourist stores and outdoor activity centers.  We stopped for lunch, and like any good local I had a beer at 10:30 AM.  But the highlight of this trip was my lunch, grilled fresh trout. WOW it was so good.  I got the whole fish including the head and bones so I ended up using my fingers to get all the meat I could.  It was just too good to waste.

Xochimilco
This was an incredible day trip coordinated by a local student agency that sets up excursions/trip for incredibly cheap and OPEN BAR.  Well the open bar part I was a bit unsure about so initially expected this trip to be a two hour trip on "las trajineras" which can best be described by the picture below.  Normally these boats fit around 10-12 people on them, we had about 30.  The boats are piloted by a single man with a pole to push off the bottom of the river.  The only problem was that the boats were overloaded with people and the river is really shallow so there was a lot of moving around to help balance the weight of the boat.

It was an incredibly fun trip with a decent amount of tequila, which everyone drinks like water here.  And I made a bunch of friends from the many games of flip cup we played on the boat.

All the trajineras ready to go

Camping in Pichacua La Isla
This was another weekend excursion set up by the student agency, and wow was it a wild weekend.  My weekend began by arriving 10 minutes late to the meeting point where we were supposed to leave and finding no one there.  I was a bit confused because when has any trip in Mexico left right on time.  For some reason everyone had decided to meet at a different place so I was extremely happy that I didn't get left behind.  Turned out 10 minutes late wasn't a problem because the bus didn't come till an hour later.

The bus ride was an adventure in itself with beers, tequila, and loud music.  Basically a moving club.  We didn't arrive to our campsite until 1 AM, and after throwing our stuff into tents we headed to the beach party.  It was neon party that last late into the night/early into the morning.

The next morning was a bit rough after sleeping on the bare ground with my backpack as a pillow.  After a quick breakfast we headed to the beach to begin our day of beach volleyball, beach soccer, group games, and ice cold beers.  We did attempt to do some body surfing but the waves were huge and the currents incredible strong so it turned out to be much more of a workout than expected.

That night was another beach party and while being incredibly fun, I was able to see an incredible natural phenomena: a mother sea turtle laying eggs.  I arrived just as she was covering up the eggs, but turns out there were some locals there that collected the eggs and rode off on their horses.  So because the eggs were gone we helped the mother back into the ocean.

Sunday was another rough morning, but by 11 everyone was ready to leave and we were able to leave the campsite by early afternoon.  It was a great weekend with a lot of sun, beach, and beers.

Sorry for the lack of pics for this trip, my phone died before I got there Friday.


Also check out some of the food I've tried down here...

Milanesa (though not as good as my moms or grandmas)

Burrito (I guess this is what burritos look like in the DF)

Flautas con carne