Mexico City, Mexico

MEM-MEX
Dec 28 2005 - Jan 2 2006

• Flew USAir from Memphis to Mexico City with a connection in our old North Cackalacky city of Charlotte. First class!
• Landed in Mexico City and fought our way through the crowded, unorganized Benito Juarez Airport and hired a driver to take us to our hotel, the Hotel Angel in a borough of the city called La Zona Rosa, downtown. The driver was very courteous and was eager to speak to us. Problem was, Nick was the only one able to communicate outside of Brad's outbursts of "lechuga, papas fritas!". Turns out the driver is also available for hire outside of the normal taxi duties. He suggested we hire him to take us up to the Teotihuacan Pyramids, about an hour north of the city. We told him we would consider it and in return he provided his business card.
• Arriving at the hotel, we checked in to our room and proceeded to give the driver a call to schedule a trip to the ruins. He agrees to meet us at the hotel the next morning and will take us to Teotihuacan for about $60 each. Then we got ready to get a start on the day - we were ready to drink some tequila. It's Mexico. Upon leaving the room, we discovered that the door to our room was not locking properly. A maintenance worker in the hallway helped get it fixed.
• We then head on foot to a few areas we were interested in seeing downtown...Paseo Reforma and a few other landmarks. After about 10 blocks a few bars got in our way of this and we ended up playing pool and doing a few afternoon shots of tequila blanco.
• Moving on to another establishment, we set up camp at its bar, where a friendly bartender thenceforth poured tequila down our gullets and forced us to continue drinking Dos Equis for the duration. Should it be going down this easy? Didn't matter. SOMEHOW, at the end of the evening (meaning, we were too drunk to continue), around 10 pm, we stumbled back to the hotel with the aid of Brad's perfect sense of direction.
• What's this? Hotel door not locked? Hmm thought this was taken care of (as we were assured) before we left. Cue drunk Americans' anger. Run 4 flights downstairs (no time for elevators...this is an emergency). Front desk clerk apologetic, yet doesn't seem to grasp the reason for our anger (something could have gotten stolen, duh). He gives us another room. We lug our belongings to this new room, and covering where there should be a balcony view is...a massive banner on the side of the hotel. Cue drunk Americans' rage. Run downstairs (again, in an emergency do not use an elevator). Desk clerk mildly annoyed at us. Yelling ensues (from Brad...in English...in a city where ONE person has yet to utter an English word). Not helping, needless to say. We demand another room, and this time we also demand an open service bar in the room. Because, you know, only more liquor can really make us forgive the hotel. Upon denial of this seemingly appropriate compensation, we demand the hotel manager. The desk clerk instead suggests the police. We decide to call his bluff and say that this is a good idea, and to get the police involved. He did. And there they were - somehow - in front of us, asking questions, within 2.5 minutes. And they refused to speak English. So Nick has to describe in Spanish the travesty and injustice that had just been done. The police lose interest and walk out the door. The manager is finally called and he arrives (speaking English!) to give us a new room. But no liquor. He offers a free dinner instead, which we accept. During said dinner, Brad is convinced that the cook in the corner of the restaurant staring at us has poisoned the dinner and refuses to eat it, and orders the waiter to wrap it. After leaving the hotel restaurant and heading through the hotel lobby, Brad decides that the best plan is to feed the desk clerk, so he tosses the foil package on the desk and yells something like "you hungry? eat that!". All in all, the new room suffices and for the rest of our vacation, we attempt to go through the lobby with our heads down, and not during nighttime hours.
• The next morning we met the taxi driver and he takes us to the pyramids. The drive takes about an hour, and given the events of the previous night, we are not exactly in a chatty mood. The driver, however, seems oblivious and continues to chat to Nick in Spanish the entire trip. Teoticuahan is an experience, too much to write about here, but check out the link to learn about its history if you are interested. We climbed pyramids, followed guided tours that weren't meant for us (because we didn't pay for a guide) and went to a few museums. This is where both realized that it's Nick's birthday!
• The next day we went to the Bosque de Chapultapec, a (very) large urban park, where there are museums, a castle, a zoo. Walked around for a while and on the way back to the hotel Brad bought (and ate) a torta from a street vendor. Mistake, you say? Not until we started drinking that evening was it clear. And then the drinking stopped and other things commenced. Enough said. You are warned.
  
• It's New Year's Eve and neither of us feel all that great now. One wrong move and it's over...at least we wake up when the shouting and fireworks are happening at midnight, grunt a "happy new year" and then fall back asleep
• With Brad (and now, Nick) feeling a bit better the next day, we head to Centro Historico, visit the National Cathedral, Zocalo (public square 2nd only to Red Square in size).
• Jan 2 we take one last walk of shame through the hotel lobby and ask them to hire a taxi to take us to the airport. We are charged for making a call to a cellular telephone, but we pay the $2 and get into the taxi. Upgraded to first class on the way back.