Dean´s Diaries :-)

Well, the first week of my travels has come and gone and I´m pretty well settled now. Mexico City has been good to me thus far, and I´ve met soooo many great people already! I can see how this back-packing malarchy can become addictive. Inevitably it can be a little frustrating having only two sets of clothes, having to pull everything out off you´re backpack just to get that one item at the bottom, sharing a room with 9 other guys, all with their own sweet aroma, and having communal showers, but hey, it´s bloody good fun at the end of the day, and amusing none the less!

My first real challenge when I arrived in Mexico City Airport was trying to contact the ´Hostel Amigo´. I had no idea that so few people would speak English, and the few little Spanish words that I´d learnt suddenly seemed irrelevant as I tried to figure out the rambling of the people I tried to get answers from! Luckily, the woman who I bought a phone card from at the airport, connected me through to the Hostel. I quickly passed the phone back to her when I realised that the guy on the other end didn´t understand any English either, and so she conveyed my reservation details accross. To cut a long story short, 2 hours after I arrived, I finally got picked up and was on my way to the Hostel.

On the way, I tried to comunicate with the driver using my spanish phrase book (spot the tourist!!). He was very friendly though and we did manage to have brief spurts of conversation. We hit the city at rush hour, and wow…….what a rush!!! I had no idea before I came here that Mexico City is said to be tha biggest City in the World, with some 20 million people!!! (I think it´s also the city at the highest altitude in the world……but I have yet to confirm that) At that time of the evening, it honestly makes New York look like a sleepy city. There is so much going on. The drivers are bonkers, and the noise is deafening! The horns are constant….honestly….and the traffic police are blowing there whistles non stop. Mix in with that the hustle and bustle of the people, and the thousands of street vendors and stalls that are blasting music and you´ve got an earfull!

The hostel I´m staying at is great! From what I hear it´s one of the better ones around so I guess I´m being spoiled early on. It´s only 4 months old and is really clean, with beautiful high ceilings, a great communal area and a bar, where off course, a Corona is a must!

The streets in Mexico City are full of street vend