Mexico city metro

Ah stupid travellers!

The only thing i had been warned about while travelling in mexico city was to avoid taking the metro at peak times, its incredibly busy and best to stay away.  However Sarah and I found ourselves far away from our hostel, exhausted after a big day of walking and the only way to get home was metro at start of peak time. neither of us were prepared for the quick big squeeze onto the metro and got separted with me on the train and sarah stranded at the station.  Luckily about five mins before we got on the train we met a nice man Raymondo, who we were chatting to while waiting for the train,when we got to our stop, he offered to go back to find sarah as i didnt want to leave incase she was on the next few trains. soon after both arrived and we now have a little plan about what we do in that situation if it ever happens again :)


I FINALLY GOT TO CLIMB A PYRAMID! at Teotihuacan pyramid of the sun. I was so exicited on the way there i had completely forgotten about my terrible fear of heights, i only remembered when i had reached the first platform. Started hyperventillating, but managed to calm myself down, and then at each level i had to stop and take 10mins to calm down, reminding myself that this was a childhood dream and that i had to finish.  In what felt like hours but was quite quick really, i managed to get to the top, and so glad to get there it was a spectacular view.

                                          Sarah: are we really gonna climb that?

Just have to keep reminding myself, now is the time to start living fearlessly!

End of Guanajuato and beginnings of travels with Sarah

I'm a real mexican cowgirl!

or at least i went horseriding in the mexican desert, which looked like a backdrop to an old western movie.

Horseriding here felt abit different then back home, for one you have to wear proper cowboy boots, no riding helmet, just a hat and with different saddles, but it was fun and terrifying at the same time.  I was letting my horse get a drink from the trickling river when he started kicking his feet, then our guide starting to yell something at me in spanish...quickly translated by the other guys on the tour to mean if i dont get my horse out of the river he was gonna roll....was abit scared that i was gonna be trapped under the horse but i managed to get away.

After staying with the lovely Bre and Kent for 3 weeks, it was time to get out of my comfy guanajuato bubble and hike it back to mexico city to meet cousin Sarah. We spent 4 days in mexico city, on my prior trip i had put off doing a few things the first time i was here, so we could see them together, most important of which are the Museo national de anthropologia´and visiting Teotihuacan.

The museum of anthropology was amazingly huge and i think has re-ignited my passion for archaeology, with something like 27 exhibition halls im pretty sure we didnt get to see everything, especially because we got abit lost and started walking through on the wrong side of the museum.  We only realised at the end of going around when we saw the "introduction to anthropology" sign. Sigh!  After the museum we skipped across to chapultepec park and went to the zoo there where we got to see pandas. Unfortunately this zoo was abit rough around some edges, we went to see the safari side of the zoo and most of the animals exhibits looked like they weren´t there, and after looking closer at the exhibits there was only a little gap between us and the animals.  We spent the rest of the time there looking over our shoulders thinking that maybe the lion had escaped!.

Guanajuato, Mezcal and Bre!

After almost 3 years have finally made it to Guanajuato to visit my friend Bre! after coming here for a few months holidays she has ended up staying here for the better part of three years, and i can see why.  This town is beautiful, lots of winding, (hilly!) streets with beautiful brightly coloured houses and..... lots of partying!  I had been warned by previous visitors about this last part and that i had better build up my stamina to keep up with the people here and have been trying,  but between the strong and delicious tasting mezcal (like tequila) and cheap beers i've found it pretty difficult!

                                           Bar fusilado with all the different flavours of mezcal

Of course this town has alot more to offer then just bars, on my first full day here Kent (Bre's boyfriend) took us to the ex-hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera, this was originally a huge homestead built by the spanish, now with half the property split into a hotel and a museum.  This place is huge, with large sprawling gardens, each section of garden had a different theme, modeled on various countries, i'm told that back in the day it took over 200 people to keep the garden up and running.  The house even had its own private chapel with just 5 chairs reminding you that all this splendour was only for a family of five.

Next Stop....mexico's different "appreciation" of death, the Museo de Las Momias, which exhibits mummified remains of people dug up from the past 100 years or so. The first remains were dug up in the last part of the 1800's when space was running out in the cemetary and they needed to make more room.  When the bodies were exhumed they found that due to the mineral content of the soil and the extremely dry atmosphere that the remains had been preserved in a unique way (mummified).  Its abit of a shock realising that many of the remains here have living relatives and are only on display as they couldnt keep paying for there burial place after death.  There are various types of mummies here ranging from old men, pregant women, children, babies...coming from a different culture i found it quite confronting, especially with the children,  but I guess it does raise a pretty good question as to why i'm so comfortable looking at ancient mummies say from egypt (including baby and child mummies i have viewed) and not these ones.