Today we got up late (10:00 Mexico time) and started walking to the historic center. It’s about a mile from where we are so it took a while to get there. On the way we stopped at Alameda Center which is a large park that reminded us of Parc du Luxembourg in Paris. There were many street vendors setting up their little carts in the park. They sold all sorts of Mexican food, jewelery and whatever else. We were getting really hungry by this time so we started looking around for food and all we could find were street vendors which we are supposed to avoid because we don’t want to get tourista. Down the street across from the beautiful Belle Arts museum was a 7-11 which turned out to be where lunch was. For 5 dollars we all got triple layer sandwiches that although didn’t taste any better than convenience store sandwiches in America did the trick.

Third day on our trip and we still don’t have access to money. Our paid days at our hotel are up so we’re moving whether we want to or not. I dug through my hidden money belt where I keep photocopies of passports etc. and found $33 U.S. So I changed it into 300 pesos at a money exchanger. That and the money I had left got us one night stay at the Hotel Catedral right behind the Zocolo. In addition to being out of money our old hotel decided to raise our room rate to 1100 pesos a night. This hotel is worth 100 dollars in other parts of the world but not in Mexico City where cheap hotels are a plenty. The Hotel Catedral is just as nice and costs half as much (about $50). We are also one block north of the Zocolo and we can see the back of the Cathedral from our terrace. Our street out front turns into a market street from 9:00am to 7:00pm so it’s like living in Turkey with all the music and venders shouting their deals. It’s quite a neat experience to say the least. We are on the 6th floor (5th in Europe/Mexico) and we have a balcony overlooking the street. The balcony is a bit scary as it doesn’t seem like it’s held on real well and we’re a long ways up. Yesterday I took a nap on the bed and listened to the street vendors advertise at the top of their lungs. I wish I knew more Spanish as I don’t know what they’re selling. The Mexican people love their markets or so it seems. Everywhere you go you run into another market not like any you would ever see in the States outside of yearly craft markets. The difference is these markets run every day just like they were a big department store.

Went to Chapultapec park, saw the castle from a distance and went to a very nice zoo for zero dollars… Tiring day as we walked forever. The Giant Pandas were cool as were the cats.. We ate tortas at the zoo which were pretty good.We walked to Zona Rosa and tried a few more ATMs to see if my money had been turned on. I also checked my email and I got an email from my Mom and the bank saying that I can´t use my card as a visa card or as a visa debit card in Mexico but I can use it as an ATM if the ATM machine had our logos on it.

We later found an ATM inside a bakery with the cirrus logo on it and we got money. Thank God that´s over. We are limited to 2500 pesos a day but this is Mexico so that´s realistic.

All of the days are blurring so I think this is day 4, maybe 5. I´m behind on writing the blog entries because I don´t always have internet access. I started writing them on my laptop but I rarely get to connect it to the internet.

Today we went to Teotihaucan which is where the big pyrimids are. We made it to the north bus station as early as we could. When we left the hotel it was still dark. I was originally a bit uneasy about this but the only people we saw outside were businessmen going to work and shoe shiners sitting at their stands. The metro was empty so it was easy to travel. We had to make 3 transfers before we got to the station. The bus stations are quite large and layed out like airports. After asking someone where the teotihaucan bus is we found the little booth that sells it. We bought our tickets and waited in the lobby. I kept looking at the busses and none of them said Teotihaucan but a tall Mexican guy (The ONE tall mexican) came up to me and said I think your bus is here so we followed him. He was traveling with a white girl. On the bus I thanked him and started to talk to the two of them. She (the tomato as he called her since she was badly sunburned) was from Germany but spoke perfect South African english.