Leaving our American road trip behind we arrive in Mexico City ready to spend a few days relaxing. Unfortunately Mexico city has other ideas. We are greeted with the sound of people shouting and car horns blasting. With a population of 20 million the streets are ram packed and we are happy to be dropped off in a fairly secluded square where our hostel is located.
Our hostel may be basic but it has a roof top bar which serves bottles of beer for £1. Its nice to finally meet other travellers with stories of places to visit in Mexico and South America.
After a few days of R&R we are ready to face the chaos. Our hostel is conveniently located in the Downtown Historic district where the main square (Zocalo) and many of the museums are located. When we get there we are met by half of the police force of Mexico in full riot gear. We have heard Mexico is unsafe but this seems a bit much! Apparently this isn't for the tourists, we just happen to be in the city while the presidential elections are being held and there are numerous people who want to protest.
You would think the number of police officers would make us feel safe, however the next day we saw a police man punch a guy in the face and throw him to the floor in front of us.
We spent most of the day at Templo Mayor, an ancient Aztec temple which they have uncovered under the city. It is an important place as it was here the people are said to have saw an eagle, perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak which symbolised the centre of the universe. This is also the image which is at the centre of the Mexican flag.
Next stop was our trip to Teotihucan. This day was slightly spoiled by our hostel room key being pick pocketed on the metro. Hopefully this is the only crime we encounter during our trip through Mexico.
Before leaving the city we spent a day in the National Museum of Anthropology. The excellent galleries and displays will tell you everything you would ever need to know about the peoples of Mesoamerica. The diversity of the peoples and history in this area is amazing.
Once we had absorbed as much as our brains could handle we headed out to the nearby park which felt more like a fairground with crowds of people selling hotdogs, candyfloss and popcorn.
Despite the petty theft and policeman assault Mexico City is still a great place to visit. The locals we have spoken to have been friendly, funny and helpful. Even with our awful attempts at speaking Spanish. Unfortunately this isn't the relaxing place we are searching for so after 5 days we head South in search of peace, quite and more Tequilla.
