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!