worldtrippin

Happy New Year

Posted in Mexico II | 02. Januar 2008, 04:04

Finally all worked out fine. A couple hours before I left puerto escondido I got a hold of Eri and she told me where to meet in Mexico city. I spend the afternoon walking around and taking some pictures, I havent taken any in a while. I also bought a mexican Pincho farmers outfit which suits me very well, I think, haha. Ill put a picture up, soon. The night bus was pretty good and modern, I slept ok and wasnt tired when I got to Mexico City (people call it D.F. here) at noon. I ate something and saw another message from Eri that we meet in front of the Bellas Artes museum. I took the metro to get there and couldnt believe it - 2 pesos for the subway! That is probably the cheapest thing I have seen so far, besides guatemalan bus travel. I got there early and made myself comfortable to wait for her.

Suddenly a boy and a transvestite sit down next to me. The transvestite touches my shoulder and asks me what my name is so I told him/her. Then he/she asked where my girldfriend is and I said so, too. After a while he/she asked where I am staying and I said that I didnt know yet, that I am waiting for a friend who worked it all out. The he/she said that I could stay at his/her place and he/she would take care of me, haha. I laughed and said that I prefer girls. Conversation was over when his/her girlfriend, yes it was a real girl, arrived and they moved away.

Shortly after this a guy walks up to me and presents himself as Xavier. He stayed also in Valencia when I lived with Eri and I didnt even know he was coming, too. What a reunion!We talked for a while when Eri walked up. She is a lot skinnier than I remember her and looks very good, now (she also is a vegetarian and has soup for dinner, she told me later). We checked into a very nice hostal right in the city center, highly recommedable! It is even cheaper than the ones in puerto escondido and very much better standard.

The plan was to spend the traditional new years eve dinner with the family of Xavier, who invited us. After spending the afternoon walking around a little and going back and forth with the subway, Xavier explaining things of interest, we took a cab towards his house. His family was very big in terms of family members and a huge table was formed. I was starving, but later they explained me that is was tradition that noone would eat until the grapes have been eaten. It is tradition (also in spain) to begin the new year with one grape for every month in the new year. That meant no food until 12pm! I was dying! We had a little small talk for a little more than a little while before the traditional part started. The family chief, Xaviers grandmother, held a speech and commanded the scene. First she thanked the lord for everything they had, than we ate the grapes and then we threw rice and lentils over our shoulder for good luck. Here comes the best part. After that we all gave each other hugs, yes, every single person in the hall had to be hugged and we wished each other the best for the new year. That was definately better than bottle-rockets and china-crackers.

After the dinner, finally, we went to an irish pub where we met a friend of Xaviers to spend the rest of the night. We got a bottle of Jack for the four of us and emptied it by the time the bar closed. We wanted to go somewhere else but it took us long to get there and by the time we got to the hostel it was 6 am. At 8 someone tryed to call me and since then I couldnt sleep anymore. Today we spend the whole day on the tour bus and froze our butts off by the time it got night. Yes, it is very cold here and I am glad that I bought some clothes in puerto escondido, which I unfortunately wasnt able to put on before nighttime. We split up because I am staying one day longer to see some museums and go the valle de las mariposas tomorrow, then we will meet again in Guanajuato, where Eri lives and I will be able to stay in her house for a while.

Cathedral

View from the Latinamerican Tower. This was a good day. Smog let us see the mountains..

Bellas Artes

Xavier and Eri in front of the cathedral

I guess you have heard. Mexico City is build on a former lake. The ground is still full of water and abusing it the whole city is sinking. It sank about 9 meters till today. You can see it everywhere in the buildings. In the cathedral they hung a pendulum to mark the inclination.