Hi there from Mexico City. Its hot, its polluted, its packed but its a fun city to be in. Es Muy Bien!!!!The city is deemed to be the largest in the world and its not hard to see how this is true. Flying from Tutxtla on Monday afternoon I was stunned at how vast the size of metropolitan Mexico City is. The city also happens to be the the highest in the world and at times the lungs have taken strain….and no, there is no marijuana here! Not that I touch the stuff..

The past three days have been great fun walking the streets, taking a tour out to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, visiting the impressive church of the Lady Guadalupe and relaxing at the Hostel Amigo. Really good hostel which has been voted number 2 in the whole of the Americas. The streets remind me of New York and there are so many people its often good to slip into an air conditioned shop just to escape the heat and the constant surge of bodies. The central plaza is amazing and the ongoing stream of lime green VW beatles is synonomous with Mexico City. You have to be vigilant with personal effects so the camera has stayed in my daypack most of the time.

Had to decide last night between the mexican wresting (think of Jack Black in Noche Libre) and a friendly football match between Mexico and Paraguay at the legendary Azteca stadium. Thought I would miss out on catching a game at the stadium as it was a week day but this friendly was organised ahead of the Confederations Cup in US next week where Mexico are participating. So easy choice there….football it was. Will have to catch the wresting on tv one day.

The stadium has a capacity of 114,465 seats, making it the third largest Football stadium and the third largest team sports stadium in the world. It is alternatively known as Coloso de Santa Úrsula. It is the home stadium of the Mexico national team and the Mexican club America, and the one-time home of Atlante, Cruz Azul, and Necaxa. It is also the only stadium ever to host two World Cup final matches, in 1970 and 1986. It also hosted the 1986 quarter-final between Argentina and England in which Diego Maradona scored both the Hand of God goal and the Goal of the Century, in memory of which a bronze plaque of his goal was placed outside the stadium. In addition to those notable events, the stadium also hosted the Game of the Century, when Italy and Germany played in a memorable football match, won after extra time by Italy 4-3. To honor this match there is a monument in front of the stadium.

My father and I had sat up the entire evening listening to the radio broadcast of the 1986 World Cup Final. At that stage South Africa did not compete and by default Denmark was our team. They had started well but lost to a decent Spanish side in the second round after nailing both West Germany and Uruguay. I still remember how close and nail biting the final game ended up being. Good memories and disappointed that the Germans lost but when I eventually saw the full game on TV (relatives in Denmark sent through a highlights package a few weeks later), the pure genius of Maradona was clear to see. This was a deffinate on my trip to Mexico and I am fortunate to have seen an international match on the hallowed ground. Its a truly magnificent venue!  

Great atmosphere with super friendly fans sitting around us. Close to 70,000 packed into the arena. We….six others from the hostel joined…. ended up sitting high up in the stands above the halfway line and very conveniently near the Corona beer stand. Was handed a sombrero to keep by the local sitting next to me…..unfortunately dont have any more space in my backpack…nice touch and a few photos of the game will be emailed to him in due course. Friendly bunch of fans and they appreciated us gringos with our Mexican football shirts on. Chanting and shouting whenever the Mexicans got their act together and moved the ball around. Even more cheering when the cameraman found a good looking woman in the crowd…..its not a difficult task. Tough job for the cameraman! Screaming “Puto” whenever the goalkeeper took a goal kick. Very comical….look the English equivalent up. The game did tend to be slow at times and against the run of play Paraguay scored the only game of the match. Thats when the crowd actually turned against their heroes and started cheering each time the Paraguayans had the ball at the feet and booing when the Mexicans gained possession. Very bizarre but shows how fickle soccer and sports fans are in general. The game ended with most of the fans showing their general discontent and a minor brawl happening with both teams as they walked towards the tunnel. Guess its expected when Latino temperaments are involved.

The evening did not end there. The subway system was closed after 11.45pm and we were all forced to take a local bus. The moment we got on to this vehicle of mass destruction it was clear that a spark plug had blown. A few kilometres down the road and the engine packed up…..we ended up stalled in the middle lane of one of the cities busiest thoroughfares! So stranded four train stops from the hostel and no idea what to do next. No problem though- another bus pulls up, packs us in, then pushes the other bus off the road and on to our final destination. All entertaining and made the evening for me.

Today has been very chilled with some last minute shopping, taking photos and relaxing at the hostel.

So its off the airport at 6pm and then on the BA plane back to Mud Island. Its been all good and would do it again! Chat to you all soon.

Cheers

Paul

Hello again from a sunny and beautiful San Cristobal. It makes a pleasant change after all the rain and bad weather over the past four days. Its been pouring down donkeys and iguanas in this part of the world! San Cristobal lies in the Mexican highlands almost 1,100 kilometres south of Mexico City. Its a really beautiful town with avenue after avenue of colourful houses and churches. Arrived in town yesterday after a gruelling nine hour bus ride from Lake Atitlan in Guatemala…more about that later on in this blog. Staying at a really nice guesthouse called MI CASA and its owned and managed by a really friendly Swiss girl. Amazing where people end up in this world. She has such a great opportunity as this place is really awesome.

Its Saturday today and the place is buzzing with people heading to market and enjoying time off work. Today is a day of walking around the town for me along with capturing photos as this place has an abundance of interesting things to capture. Off to the Mayan ruins of Palenque tomorrow and that will then be my share of ancient archeological sites for some time to come. PS: people have been asking where the photos of this trip are….well the easy answer is that they will be on the site in the next two weeks or so. I have not been carrying a laptop with me (as loads of fellow travellers have) so its not been an easy task to edit and upload the photos. Five more days and then I fly out of Mexico City on 6 June back to London. Will then be there for 2 days and fly home to South Africa for ten days to visit family and friends. The original plan involved Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua however I have seen and experienced what I wanted of Central America and its been a once in a lifetime experience….never to be forgotten! The travelling has been good but its now time to head back and start working again….unless I win the lottery!:-)

After my last blog I spent two more days in Antigua helping the kids in the afternoons and doing a mountain bike ride in the surrounding hills. Really good experience even though the altitude gets to the legs. Was great fun and very rewardiung working with kids. On my last day we had a mini leaving ceremony where I was presented with a small plaque that the kids had made for me. Sad to leave but there is only so much one can do and my time has been restricted. Hopefully we can find a way to drum together some support……the people are really poor in these parts.

So back on the road via a bus trip to Lake Atitlan which is three hours from Antigua. The lake has been described as one of the most beautiful in the world and in my travels I have not seen that matches its grandour. Huge expanse of water which has three big villages and volcanoes flanking its shores. Took a boat across to the village of San Marcos and found a comfortable bungalow for the evening. The heavens opened once again and it then continued to rain for the next two days. The village is full of holistic schools and there are plenty of people chilling out from the general rat race. It strikes me as a place that grabs you and can very difficult to escape from. If you own property on this lake you are a very lucky person and it looks like the Americans have started investing down here.

The next day I headed back on the boat to the main town of Panajachel for the evening as I had an early morning bus to catch to San Cristobal. Not much to do with the rain beating down so caught up on some reading and email. Funny how techonology makes it possible to be on the other side of the world and still keep in contact. Who actually buys postcards these days??

Up at the crack of dawn and on the turismo bus to the Mexican border at La Mesilla. Treachourous roads along the way after the rains had dislodges rocks and trees from the mountainside. No matter to our driver…Speedy Gonzales made sure that everybody on the bus was on edge. SG had a habit of crossing his heart/praying every time we passed a church (iglesia) on the way. There are plenty of churches in Guatemala so he was an active boy. However with the amount of praying by the passengers every time we overtook on a blind rise or sharp curve, my feeling is that the final score was Speedy 65- Bus 123!!

The important thing is that we made it to the Mexican border in one piece although we had a near miss with a chicken bus about two kms away from the immigration point. The immigration officials gave me zero problems, stamped the pássport and thanked us for visiting Guatemala. Really enjoyed my time in this country. Transferred buses and then headed along through the province of Chiapas with Speedy Gonzales’ twin brother……he kept on laughing every time we missed a pedestrian. Good marijauna down in this part of Mexico!!! And after all that I find myself in this chilled out town. Will have to check out the local nightlife tonight.

Have an afternoon flight on Monday from the local airport to Mexico City….not prepared to undergo the 14 hour overnight bus. Next update will more than likely be from Mexico City, which should be a fascinating place.

Hope you are all keeping well.

Adios. Hasta manana.