Mexican Adventure I

Finally, after months of waiting I boarded a plane to take me to Mexico City on 9th July. About 11 hours later I arrived, took a taxi to the Terminal de Autobuses del Norte and then one of the very comfortable coaches to the town of Aguascalientes, where I spent the first weekend with a  good friend. When I got there after having been on the road (or in the air) for more than 24 hours, I had indeed passed my first adventure.

Getting out of the plane and through immigration was like everywhere else in the world, but Mexican customs has a kind of lottery for the passengers: you push a button and when the green light appears, you may walk on, if the light is red, you must have your luggage inspected. I was lucky to get through everything in no time, so my next task was to find a desk where I could buy a ticket for an authorized taxi. No problem. Then I bought a telephone card - again no problem - and then tried to ring up my friend . Hmm ... several times I dialled something wrong, but in the end got the right number. Mexican telephones work like phones all over the world, it was just me who was too stupid to dial correctly.

Well, the taxi ride was amazingly fast considering that it was Friday evening and Mexico City was hit by two storms. At some point I thought I should have taken a boat instead of a taxi, but the driver sailed through the water bravely.

In Mexico you don't have railways like in Europe, you travel by coach, and although everybody says that they are cheap, comfortable and very reliable, they really are. I could sleep well during the night ride of 500 km, and the reason why my bus was nearly 2 hours late was the storm in Mexico City. I got a document from my school stating that I am a teacher in three languages: German, English and Spanish (Gracias, Guillermo!) and so I got a discount on the bus and for someone who is used to German railway prices this was like travelling for free. And how can you not like a country where teachers get discounts ????

My first weekend was spent seeing a bit of the city of Aguascalientes and its food (very important) and after the World Cup final I took the bus to my next destination: Guadalajara, where I am doing a two-week Spanish course.

That's all for today ... nos vemos !!!