Mexico – Arriba Arriba

17 December 2019. 1 of 4

The holiday started with one of those ridiculously long days when you switch time zones and arrive before you departed and your brain can’t quite work out where the routine of the day is up to.

This holiday I’m traveling with Abhinav and we’re doing Mexico with stopovers in San Francisco and Los Angeles at either end. Arriba Arriba!

To test our patience and bladders, it took almost 2 hours to get through Customs into Trump land mainly because 10am is morning tea time and 90% of the Custom’s officers have a break at the same time. Not quite how I’d run the show. At least there was no waiting to get our bags…

Abhi’s wonderful friend Nav treated us to fantastic hospitality for the 3 nights we had in San Francisco staying in downtown Dolores. Comfy bed, glorious food and convenience plus.

Our itinerary was all about Abhi’s friends and family so our days were very relaxed and friendly going between social eating appointments. We visited the Stanford University campus in between eating to enjoy the sculptures of Rodin and immerse ourselves in a bit of educational history. We felt intelligent being there.

We did get our steps and heart rates up in plodding the hills and streets of San Fran in the fog. The different architecture and colours of the houses are so interesting – I’m always surprised how the residents make living on such steep hills work. There was some 2020 election paraphernalia but mostly people were focused on their extravagant Christmas decorating.

We arrived in Mexico City on Friday evening. Abhi’s 300+ days of Spanish on Duolingo (language app) is paying off very well. On Sundays in Mexico City many museums and art galleries have free entry for citizens and foreign residents – Abhi’s Spanish is so good we passed as foreign residents! Woot Woot!

Mexico City has 25 million people so it’s very full and busy. It’s colourful, dry, affordable and makes for wonderful people watching – anything goes in CDMX. Transport, tours and shops operate mostly on time and seem to be mostly organised. The city is generally safe, although after dark it’s best to stick to the tourist areas.

Fortunately for me, tall white women aren’t particularly special in Mexico, unlike India. It seems Japanese women are in demand for photos with Mexicans. Yay!

Our general itinerary for the next few weeks is to travel east then north across country using local buses.

Here are a few photos to go with the story.