Enchiladas verdes - Mexico 2005

Ciudad de Mexico
November 1st, 2005

This trip does not want to end just yet so this is me again with yet another chapter.

If you´re wondering about the subject line that probably only Rosie (yo!) will understand, we just returned from dinner. I know it´s still early, not even 6 p.m. but they close early, even here in the capital. That and we were hungry. Silke´s amazing travel book provided us with another advice where to eat and we ended up in a nice restaurant with even some historical background. One of the Mexican heros ate there once and shot a hole into the ceiling. I forgot the name, something with Z and, no, it was not Zorro. Name will follow. Not surprisingly, the menu was in Spanish only but we noticed some hints what each item was. More or less. Pescado is fish, carnes is meat, entradas is starters. So far so good. I ordered little pieces of beef filet and the waiter uttered a warning that it was muy picante, very spicy. I´ve had my share of spices during this trip and I thought nothing could top the spicy-hot sauce, which we had as an appetizer in Yaxchilán. I was wrong. It was beef filet in a red chili sauce and unfortunately the only thing I could take off was my blousse (top underneath). Our little basket of bread was empty soon and the waiter came to my rescue asking ¿más pan? - more bread? No kidding. Don´t get me wrong, the food was excellent but it was spicy-spicy!

We are staying at the Hotel Catedral again. I had emailed them yesterday evening from Puebla and our room was waiting when we arrived. Miraculously, we managed to find our way out of Puebla rather fast this morning. When we hit the autopista to Mexico City the awesome sight of the two vulcanos that surround the area greeted us. The bigger one, Popocatepetl (sp?), is active once in a while and you cannot hike there. Still, it was a breath-taking sight with the snow-covered top.

We reached Mexico City around noon and crawled through the car-congested streets of this hellish city. The airport was our destination because we wanted to return our rental car. Three days early but we both did not have the slightest inclination to spend more minutes than necessary driving here. We followed the airport signs and already saw our exit when... the police stopped us again. This time though we had been in a long line in front of a red light, not moving at all, but they still waved at us to pull over - which was easier said than done in this traffic chaos. Wisely, we had hidden our money again because we somewhat had expected another stunt like this.

Ok, police, two officers, Silke rolls down the window. The first guy says something to Silke when she doesn´t react, I tell her he wants to see her licence. The other guy keeps walking around our car to search for anything missing. Officer 1 seems to think that I speak Spanish and addresses me mostly. I´m all smiles and blink with my ojos verdes. He asks if this is a rental car and then he says that the licence plate is only valid until Oct 31st. Huh? In all Spanish words I can muster (not many) I try to explain that we are about to return the car to Alamo. He then asks for tickets - which I understand but ignored. Instead, I hand him the contract of the rental agency. He reads it - or attemps to read it, talks to his colleague and asks - possibly - if we go home today. Home? if home is our rental station, si, we go home today. More talking to the colleague, pen already ready to probably write down the amount they want. The first officer points at his watch and, si, home today.

Ahora. Avion. Aeropuerto. Alemania. Magical words apparently because they let us go without asking for any obscure payment. Is that the way of the Jedi or what? (Speaking of which, today´s Nov 1st and Episode III will be out on DVD around the globe today.)

We went some sightseeing around the Zocálo this afternoon. This big place is supposed to be the 2nd largest open piazza in the world and it was decorated today for the Dia de Muertes. I´ve never seen such a colourful celebration of the dead. There´s lots of police and military guys (which machine guns!) walking around because there are *so* many people here these days. It´s not scary though unless you´re afraid of masses of people. We visited the govermental palace, which is famous for its awesome wall paintings by Diego Rivera. Very impressive. There´s one painting called the History of Mexico and it covers a whole huge wall. You get dizzy just looking at it. I tried to capture it on film but it was close to impossible.

Tomorrow we´ll visit with a Mexican lady I met here. It´s actually a long story again. A few months ago I got an email from a "Sentinel" fan because she wanted to put one of my TS pictures on her website. I had heard her name before in the fandom and asked in return very politely if she knew an online road planner for Mexico and explained our idea of this trip. That was in July or June. She gave us some advice (and actually told us that such a trip would be dangerous, like everybody else.) Anyway, we exchanged a few emails and shortly before we left for Mexico, she offered to pick us up from the airport on our first night and take us to the hotel. We tried to decline but she insisted. So, she collected us from the airport - accompanied by her son and drove us the hotel. Mind you, she doesn´t live in Mexico City but one hour away. We were so surprised that she just offered to come and do this. That evening though there was no time for dinner or a proper thank you because she had to drive home. However, when it became apparent that we´d have some time now, I emailed her again and asked if she would like to join us for dinner tomorrow evening. So, we´ll meet tomorrow. Funky, huh?

Funky as everything so far...