Landed in D.F.

Arriving at the Terminal del Autobuses del Norte

I wasn't ready for DF. I thought I was but I wasn't, and I wonder if anyone ever is - it's crazy. Crazy, cray, cray, loca, loca, LOCAAAA!!
What I'm about to write about may not seem so crazy... I think ultimately it's the place, the feeling when you're there; a state of mind!

At this point I'm still adjusting to life back on the road and well, I'm certain that la ciudad is going to help, in a give-you-a-shot-of-tequila-and-smack-you-in-the-face kind of way.

Let me start properly by saying that la Ciudad de México ("la ciudad", or, if you're really down with the kids, simply "DF") is ginormous. It's the fourth biggest capital in the world, with a cool 20 million inhabitants.

And one of the first things that I realised, was that 4 nights in la ciudad is nowhere near long enough. I think even a month might not cut it!

My project management skills are currently on holiday. Not with me in Mexico, but somewhere faaaaaar away. As such, pretty much all elements of advanced planning have gone out of the window. So when I arrived on Sunday afternoon and started Googling the museums that I wanted to visit, I immediately found out that museums are closed on Mondays in DF. Bravo, Siân. Well played.

That left Tuesday and Wednesday for museuming. Except that on Wednesday I'm going to spend the day with my friend Haydee (see here for hilarious video of Haydee having no shame). So actually, it just left Tuesday for museuming.

When I woke up on Monday, what to do? Well, there was only one thing for it really, and it was to visit Teotihuacan, the pearl of a city of the pre-Columbian era and the most visited archaeological site in all of Mexico.

Getting to Teotihuacan was a piece of cake. (Don't listen to the stories about it being dangerous, everywhere is dangerous). It's a metro ride to Autobuses del Norte, and then there's only one bus company that sells the bus tickets - go into the station, walk all the way to the left and the penultimate ticket booth is the one selling the tickets. It's 100 pesos / £4.30 return and the bus drops you right outside entrance 1 at the pyramids, and picks you up at the same spot for the return. Easy!

As it had taken me a while to get my derrière into gear, I didn't arrive there until 1.30pm. My friend Maxine had been a day earlier and forewarned me about torrential rain, but as it happened, it was baking hot. It isn't called the Pyramid of the Sun for nothing!

La Avenida de los Muertos, from near Gate 1

It took me a good 20 minutes just to walk down la Avenida de los Muertos, and arrive at the great Pirámide del Sol. And then another 10 minutes to psyche myself up to climb it in the stifling heat. What a trek! The climb is as steep as it looks, with a rope to hold onto, if required.

The hike up

Let's face it, once you are there, you can't not do the climb, really, and you are rewarded with beautiful panoramic views at the top. Not forgetting the gentle breeze, which gave a little respite from the heat!

On the way back down I wanted to take some pictures of the Pyramid of the Moon, so halfway down I walked out to the end of a ledge. I realised I could probably walk the whole way round, and no one seemed to want to stop me, so I carried on walking and walking until I'd walked all the way round. Strangely there was no one else doing the same,  so it felt quite nice, like for a few moments I had the whole place to myself!

After the heat of climbing the Pyramid of the Sun I decided that I wouldn't bother climbing la Pirámide de la Luna, but again, by the time I had reached it, I couldn't not! Besides, even if mildly steeper, it's not as high and you can't climb all the way, so it was relatively quick work!

La Pirámide de la luna, from La Avenida de los Muertos

Looking back on La Pirámide del Sol from the Pirámide de la Luna.

I'm slightly ashamed to say that I didn't visit the museum, but it was just so hot, and after climbing both pyramids I was spent! Rumour has it that the Museum of Anthropology has lots of pieces from Teotihuacan, so hopefully I can redeem myself there!