Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Mexico City.

Some reflections on mexico city, as we sit in the heat and humidity of Puerto Escondido.
We flew in on Thursday afternoon and immediately realised that conversation in English was going to be sparse.
With our infantile Spanish we managed to get to the correct hostel though, no mean feat in a city of 25 million.


This is what they call the sun pyramid at Teotihuacan. Apparently this is just the name the Aztecs gave it when they found the place abandoned in the 13th century. It was originally quite a nice place by the sounds, but the Aztecs used it mainly sorts of human sacrifice and cannibalistic rituals.


And here's the view from the top. It was a very steep, very hot, very dodgy climb on 1000 year old steps. The place is spectacular and would have been more so in its heyday. In the areas where the Spanish haven't wrecked it, everything is cemented in bright red and white mosaic.  


This is the site of the main church in Mexico city. Everything is leaning over at Guadeloupe from the consistent earthquakes and the Swiss cheese bog that the city is built on. The city is sinking 10cm a year.


This is my new favourite food. Its called tlayudas and is a blue corn platter with pickled cactus, black beans, cheese and the most amazing salsa.

 

The Mexican "Policia Acrobacia". A bunch of well dressed nutter policeman, who did amazing stunts on clapped out Harleys, while the bikes stalled, spluttered and smoked. Viva Mexico.


Our friends Mathias and Victoria from Argentina. They were wonderful and we became quite close over our time in the city. Hopefully we can visit them in Buenos Aries in a few months.


Apparently there are a group of select individuals in the city, who go for 15 days without sex. Then climb up this pole and sit on a square of wood. After a while they throw themselves backwards, only to be caught by wound up ropes which slowly spin to the ground. The whole time one guy is playing a tiny flute and drum. This is important to make sure that everybody in the city continues to have babies I think.

Well, that's all we have time for from Mexico city, the tablet is nearly flat. We should be able to check in after a week or so in Puerto and Chacahua.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Venice CA:

This should be the first of quite a few posts. We're hoping to do postcard style summaries for each stage of the trip for friends and family (you) to have look at, if and when you feel the desire to.

We've just had 4 days in Venice, CA. I'm writing now from our hostel in Centro, right near the Zocalo in Mexico City. 

Venice was like a slightly grotty version of saint kilda and nobody has yet been told that Rollerblades aren't cool. We stayed right on the beach and walked to and from Santa Monica every day, and went to all the classic Hollywood sights. 

This ale house was next to our apartment block. It was packed day and night, and served proper American burgers. They also had about 30 locals boutique beers on tap. It was awesome. We also fell in love with the Chipotle Mexican grill.

The sunsets were amazing and the weather was clear and warm the whole time, until we had to walk a mile or two to get the bus to lax. With our packs, at 6:45am, it poured, flooded all the streets, and our shoes. thank goodness for goretex.

The original location of muscle beach. Now a weird sort of circus training ground. Its in use 24/7 though...

The Santa Monica pier is always crowded, but it's still kind of charming. 

We love giant pizza!

 Lots more adventures, but we can't fit them all. We'll check in again soon, cheers. Nick and Laura