My first day in Mexico

Having left Philadelphia at an ungodly hour, I arrived in Mexico City around noon. I cleared immigration & customs, exchanged my dollars for pesos, and went to get a taxi. Fortunately for green travelers, the Mexico City airport has a secure taxi service where you prepay (i.e. no need to negotiate, no fear of getting hosed). But when I got in the cab and handed the driver the hostel address, he said (in Spanish) that it is a problem, that he always has problems, and that it would probably take two hours to get to there at that time of day. Looking to make the best of it, I cheerfully suggested, “Puedo practicar mi español!” (I can practice my Spanish!) He promptly reached over and cranked up the radio. Okay, guess not!

I arrived at the hostel without incident, despite driving in Mexico City bearing a distinct resemblence to a demolition derby. After checking in, I went to my room (with 5 bunk beds) and met my first friends here – sisters from Oregon. One was miserably sick from Montezuma’s Revenge, but both were very friendly and collectively wiped out any fear I had of not finding anyone to hang out with.

In fact, I found plenty of fun people and plenty to do. We crashed a wedding in a huge cathedral, watched break dancers who were a blend of Olympic gymnasts, hip-hop dancers, and Cirque du Soleil contortionists, watched an American gospel choir group perform in the city center’s square (so bizarre), and then went to a dance club in a huge group from three different hostels and effectively took over the dance floor. Apparently, I haven’t lost my groove, because I developed quite a fan club!

It was a full, incredible day and I was beyond exhausted when I finally fell into bed after 3 a.m. – over 24 hours since I last slept. Someone had swiped my pillow and the one blanket I had was insufficiently warm, but I couldn’t muster the energy to go downstairs to ask the front desk for more provisions.