Distrito Federal

When I was a little boy, my older cousin told me that Mexico City is the largest city in the world. In my head I tried to imagine how the biggest city in the world could look like and believe me, in my fantasy it looked more like the city from Metropolis! 20+ years later I’m sitting in my car and drive into this huge cluster of concrete and steel. With 21.2 million people it is still the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and most travellers on my trip ask me how bad it was driving in it… Astonishingly, not bad at all! I have the biggest respect for Mexican drivers. They drive fast and intelligent in comparison to the rest of central American drivers!

DF, like locals call the city, short stands for Distrito Federal and is the heart of Mexico. Thanks to my US friend Christina I had a so-called ‘connection’ here. Her name is Astrid and first thing I did was heading to meet up with her. Google Maps lead me to the amazing district of Roma. Contrary to the outer areas, Roma has a lot of parks and the streets are accompanied by huge trees- nothing like I imagined it. It rather reminded me of the cities that I have seen in Spain! Astrid greeted me warmly and after a quick chat we were off to meet here friends in a close by restaurant. ‘La Condesa' is probably the best and one of the cheapest eateries in the whole area! Omg, I’m getting really hungry now. If you’re ever in DF you have to visit this place! Here I learned a crucial lessen when it comes to drinking Mezcal as well, never shot it, just sip slowly while eating sliced oranges sprinkled with a mixture of ground fried larvae, ground chili peppers, and salt called "sal de gusano", which literally translates as "worm salt”. SALUT!

Later me and Astrid joined the Aussies in the hostel. At this point there was already the 26th in Australia and that means Australia Day! From my days back in Oz I remember that this is even bigger than New Years and that they go nuts! So there we were celebrating our arrival in the Capital and even more celebrating Oz Day! At this point I just want to add that I introduced Astrid to Steven and that I want an invite to the wedding, hahah!

Next day- Hungover. One day after that we met up with our crazy buddy Edgar, you remember, the Mexican from Guadalajara. We took a bus and drove out to the Estadio Azteca. With an official capacity of 92,000, it is the largest stadium in Mexico and the third largest football stadium in the world. Fun fact for you football fans out there, guess who has the biggest stadium in the world (and I bet you will be wrong)? No, it is not the famous Camp Nou in Barcelona (99,786) but the Rungnado May Day Stadium in North Korea with 150,000!
Unfortunately, it was closed so we continued the trip towards the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco. This area of DF is approximately a one-hour drive out of the city centre and is still in the city limit. Xochimilco is a canal system that is accessible just by boats similar to the gondolas in Venecia. We bargained for a while for a boat and after filling up the buckets with beers we headed off to our main goal- the island of the dolls!

This strange island is dedicated to the lost soul of a poor baby girl. who met her fate too soon in strange circumstances. The area has thousands of people, but this small island is home to hundreds of terrifying dolls. Their severed limbs, decapitated heads, and blank eyes adorn trees. You can read up the whole story about this creepy place here: http://www.isladelasmunecas.com/

To get to Teotihuacán you can jump on a bus in the city centre and one hour later you stand in front of those two huge pyramids that represent the sun and the moon. Honestly, I have to admit that I am not a great fan of crowded pyramids in the middle of nowhere, where tourists easily could represent a army of ants. Put on that 40C in shade and probably 50 in the sun- right, there was no shade! Been there, done that.

Astrid invited me to join her and her friends on an extended weekend trip to Oaxaca for a birthday celebration of her friend Nadia. An offer I could hardly reject. The boys would join in and so we drove five hours south! We started very early in the morning hours to avoid traffic, so I was dozing pretty much the whole way. Incredible thing: We didn't stop once during the whole drive and I was with three girls in the car. I think at the end I was the one most desperate to take a leak!
If you like food, you will love Oaxaca (especially the city). If it’s the Mole (different sauces with cacao) or the million other specialities with funny names they serve here, this might be the place with the best food on this side of the hemisphere! The markets of Oaxaca city are pretty famous. From all the surrounding villages the indigenous folks are gathering on the weekend in the markets and sell all kinds of goods. I’ll tell you more about Oaxaca on my second visit here a bit later.

On the last couple of pictures you can see Hierve el Agua. The way there leads over a bumpy unpaved road through the mountains. My poor friend Jack was a bit hungover and can tell you how terrible this road is! The site is great but unfortunately well known and it was midday on a weekend when we arrived, so you can imagine!
On the next day we headed back to DF while the boys would go for Cancun to get their flight to Cuba. My flight was going already the next day from DF. Ah, yes Cuba, did I forget to mention this? Yes, spontaneously I decided to get there, but soon more to that!

Guanajuato

San Miguel de Allende is definitely more of a tourist spot compared to Guanajuato. All buildings are either red, yellow or something in between, what made me name it “50 Shades Of Red”. One exception is a very colorful street art area that is just at the entrance of town while coming from Guanajuato. Luckily, we were there in off-season, so the place wasn't overrun by the ‘Gringos’ (Mexican reference to US Americans due to the color of the uniforms).

We stayed at a completely empty hostel in a deserted 10-Bed-dorm nearly for free. If you’re visiting try to find the fish taco place (see picture). Since Baja California I didn't eat that nice Seviche or fish Tacos! All the restaurants there are very expensive but some of them offer a great view from the rooftops. So I advice you to get a frozen margarita at the Luna rooftop bar and chill a bit until you have a brain freeze. Another good, more local spot is the bar where Marilyn Monroe supposedly dropped in- unfortunately, I forgot the name after the Margarita! I personally really liked this old corner bar with old west doors and an outfit from a hundred years ago. We met real local people there and had a great time. There is a great story about a taxi drive and an iPad but you have to ask me about this in person!

Guanajuato

The city of Guanajuato is one of a kind. The architecture reminded me of Italy. The colorful houses are stacked into each other like little colorful boxes and cover all the hills around the beautiful centre. But what’s actually unique, is the miles and miles of tunnels that run underneath the city. Once a hub for silver mining, these channels are used now as the main transportation axis. And believe me, it’s a necessity as I figured out the hard way!

Once more I drove ahead of my mates. We chose before a ‘hostel’ in the very centre of town. What I didn't know though was that the roads in the inner circle of town would represent more alleys. Being not much wider than the Schwarzenegger and going up and down like tracks of a roller coster, it would be a real challenge to get through without scratches. In the end I realised that the hostel was situated in front of a plaza that wouldn't allow cars anyway. Once I had found a parking spot outside the centre, I began the 20-minute walk to our stay. The beauty of this place struck me immediately. Known for its university the crowds were pleasantly young.
 
In the ‘Centro Bharati' we had our reservation. The room was situated on the rooftop and the view from there was magnificent! A lot of my pictures were taken from there. Well, this came with a price, and by that I don't mean that it was expensive. Quite astonishingly, it was a great value with discounts for healthy food in the restaurant on the ground floor and as mentioned this spectacular situation. The downside was that you were not allowed to bring any meat, alcohol or other ‘toxic’ things inside! So poor Jack had to smuggle half of a chicken inside and eat it behind closed doors as if it was some illegal drug! On the other hand, we still fought this persistent disease and were glad that it wasn't a party place.
 
On one day we decided to drive a bit out of the city to visit the Cerro del Cubilete, which is one of the historically most important religious shrines in Mexico and marks the country's geographical center (well, honestly, we even didn't know that back then). The statue is 23m tall and the road that leads up to the mountain felt like a crucifixion itself for the Schwarzenegger- meaning super bumpy!
 
An interesting thing to do in Guanajuato is visiting the Museum of Mummies! Wiki tells the story as follows: The Mummies of Guanajuato are a number of naturally mummified bodies interred during a cholera outbreak around Guanajuato, Mexico in 1833. The mummies were discovered in a cemetery in Guanajuato, making the city one of the biggest tourist attractions in Mexico.

The bodies appear to have been disinterred between 1865 and 1958. During that time, a local tax was imposed, requiring relatives to pay a fee to keep their relatives interred. If the relatives were unable or unwilling to pay the tax, the bodies were disinterred. Ninety percent of the remains were disinterred because their relatives did not pay the tax. Of these, only two percent had been naturally mummified.
The Museum displays the smallest known mummy in the world, a terrifying embryo-mummy!

Jalisco

Arriving in Guadalajara we still were recovering from being sick. The city was supposed to be real fun and Mexicans tend to say that’s where the most gorgeous girls in Mexico are. Well, I can't confirm this, because in the three or four days here, I managed to get out into the city three times. Twice at daytime, when the heat would catapult me straight back to bed, and once at night, to a local football game.

One thing to do in the closer area was the tour to the origin of Tequila. And yeah, your guess might be right- its in the town of Tequila! We decided on doing a ‘guided tour’. Chloe and Edgar would join in. We met both of them in the hostel. Edgar is probably the craziest Mexican you can meet. Always drunk and/or hungover, but always smiling and super positive. So there we go, first stop at the distillery of Las Tres Mujeres. Our driver would guide us through the whole distillery and finish the tour in the basements, where the good stuff was stored in oak barrels. After the extensive tasting, this whole procedure would repeat itself all day long in different locations, until we ended up wearing Mexican robes! Apart from getting pissed I remember one essential thing I’ve learned that day. Never shot a good tequila (same goes for Mezcal)! First hold it to your chest and take a big breath to experience the full aroma. Then sip it and hold it for a couple of seconds in your mouth. Just after that you can swallow this Aztecan medicine made out of blue agave. The cultivation of agave is allowed only in five states and takes years until the so called ‘pina’ - the heart of the plant- is big enough to harvest. Salut!

Sinola

Honestly, I don't consider Baja California as the ‘real’ Mexico. It’s way too much influenced by the nearby States and tourism in general (you can tell by the prices). Getting to the mainland, my hopes were high. In Mazatlan we met Luz, a friend of a friend of a friend… Mazatlan turned out to be a very popular tourist hub as well, specially known for the famous Spring breaks. To put it short- not what I was expecting at all. 

Driving south, we crossed into the state of Nayarit and unexpectedly found the little beach paradise called San Blas. At that point I didn´t know yet that this place would have quite a big impact on my further travels. Staying at a cabanas (beach hut) right on the beach, treating ourselves with ice cold Modelos (beer), life would be just great.
As you might know, Mexicans are mainly Christians and they celebrate the ‘Three Wise Men’ (I hope I’ve got the name right) by baking a seemingly endless sweat bread. On the centre plaza, which is located in every little town in front of the main church, the celebrations would be amazing to experience and additionally feed us for free. On the next day I met our neighbours, Steve and Jack, two Aussies traveling in a 4x4, as well on their way down south. It quickly became clear that we would join forces and travel together.

That said, we headed the next day to Sayulita. Sayu was a nice, clean, gringo-nized surf village with all the merits a traveller can buy. Accommodation though was incredibly expensive and cheap street food was hard to find. On the other hand we enjoyed a nice steak and great Pale Ale. One touristy thing we did here was a ‘Booze-Cruise’ on a catamaran. This cruise would get us incredibly drunk and high, but as well to the Islas Marietas. One of the islands attractions is the Hidden Beach. What I didn’t know is this fun fact: Situated in a sort of open sun-drenched crater, this beach is artificial and was created by the explosion of a bomb that landed accidentally in this location during military trials in the past century.
Unfortunately, it’s so popular that you see pretty much just red life jackets!
In Sayu it was time to say good-bye to Rolando. After a couple of weeks of traveling together we would part ways. He would head up to Yucatan, while me and the Aussies would drive further down south.

The story about Puerto Vallarta (short PV) is told quickly. All three of us got pretty sick and spent most of the time in the nasty little hotel room re-infecting ourselves. Well, this sounds kind of weird, but what we talk about here is air-transmuted bacteria!

PV apparently is famous for its gay scene. The funny thing is that back in those days Jack would wear a ridiculous moustache and look kind of gay (sorry mate, but you know its true ;P). One night we would crawl out and try to get some street food. My Spanish was still very limited, but still way better than the guys´. So we ended up getting hot dogs at a street stand. After a while I would start a conversation with the blokes sitting next to us and ask where there was a good place to go out. They would go on for a couple of minutes, always pointing in the right direction. Once they finished, I added that we’re not gay. “Ahhhh, sorry then don't go to the right but to the left!” Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong about being gay, I made my fair amount of interesting experiences on this trip, but it’s definitely not my kind of thing.

Yeah! My first entry from 2015!!

Baja California

Considering all the advice, I drove straight through Tijuana and of course regretted it later. After spending a couple of nights in Ensenada, my buddy and I agreed on getting to the southern tip of Baja as fast as possible - destination El Pescadero near Todos Santos.

Because I was already kind of sick of the arid landscapes and there wasn't much more to see in Baja, we decided to drive like crazy fools. This way we covered the whole of Baja, from North to South, in three days! After the long drives we would usually spend the nights somewhere in the wilderness camping mostly close to the sea. There is not a lot to report. Maybe this little story is worth sharing: for the bonfires I was collecting driftwood on the beach. As soon as it was on the fire, I noticed all these red scorpions crawling out of the branches! Considering that we were in the middle of nowhere, with at least a couple of hours drives in either direction to the next hospital, I was lucky none of these buggers stung me. We spent Christmas in the ‘Surf Camp’ in El Pascadero. The hostel was packed with surfers from all around the planet and it was nice to exchange some information on further travels. A couple of days later Ash joined me in Cabo San Lucas for the upcoming New Years Eve. After 2006/07 in Sydney, it was my second new years that I spent outside of Europe.
A couple of days later the ferry from the capitol of Baja, La Paz, took us to the mainland of Mexico.