Mexico City – one heck of a crazy town [Not so S.O.F.T]

An octane fuelled megapolis of over 20 million, the city has a larger population than all of Australia.

It all started with the taxi driver, who strangely resembled Montezuma, who hated us on sight. We bought a taxi voucher to avoid being ripped off, and foolishly assumed he knew where he was going. He spoke none of the Spanglish the other drivers use. Then he didn’t know where to go and couldn’t read the numbers on houses.

We realised afterwards that he had a literacy issue; he didn’t make any more money by driving us around in circles.

We have noticed that bus drivers seem to hate us getting on their buses and are generally unhelpful. Anyway, we knew he understood our swearing as we left the taxi!

We arrived at our airbnb to find it was at the top of a long stairway, a bit like the Teotihuacan pyramid. We were all panting with the altitude and carrying bags. Then we discovered it was on a main road. No barking dogs but masses of traffic all night. Roaring trucks and motorbikes.

Then Miguel across the road started to jackhammer at about 10 o’clock on Saturday night, as you do. Nothing like extensive renovations on a Saturday night!

Another surprise is the weather…it is so cold! Generally warm in the middle of the day, but temperatures plummet in the afternoon.

The day of the dead arrived and apparently it is a family day. The streets of trendy hipster Roma Norte were almost empty. We dressed up anyway because any excuse will do. I think it amused the locals no end, we must have still looked like gringos under the makeup.

Lots of little alters were around the neighbourhood, but I think all the action was in the centre of town. We were too tired to even try to work out how to get there and we were really scared of another taxi experience.

The National Museum was truly amazing and detailed. It was exhausting, and a place that should be visited again. A very sophisticated and blood thirsty culture. I was starting to see Aztec dots before my eyes as it was too much to absorb.

Ignoring all the tales of kidnapping and robbery, we took the public bus to Teotihuacan and the pyramids. As this is a senior disabled honeymoon, we needed all the savings we could get.

The trip was mildly traumatic, but we managed to get there and back. Again, the altitude is a problem and the steps of the pyramids were steep and dangerous.

The Panama made it to the top (what a showoff), and I rested halfway up, but high enough to look down on the peasants below. The hawkers were fairly persistent but we thought we got some good deals inside the complex. I think I was taken for a ride outside the complex when I bought some earrings.