Started to get nervous yesterday on the bus ride in when the "entrance" to the Mexico City appeared to be never-ending. Pulling in after the 6-hour trip from Guanajuato, I noticed there were thousands of people in the bus terminal, which is definitely bigger than the Louisville airport. I started to worry that I would never find Morgan and Anuar, her friend from San Luis de Potosi, and that I'd be lost wondering around the second largest city in the world for eternity.
But I jumped off the bus, took a look around and saw a curly-haired girl waving frantically with a big cheesy grin... ;)
I couldn't help it, I started jumping up and down. I grabbed my mochila (backpack) and ran to the entrance. We both squealed loudly as Mexican bystanders watched curiously and Anuar, a total sweetheart, grabbed my backpack so that Morgan and I could squeal and hug and cry. I couldn't believe she was in front of me. Still can't.
We walked to Anuar's car and took off. Seriously thankful that I didn't have to think about getting around in that city. It is so utterly monstrous, busy and crowded. I saw multiple public buses that had people's faces smashed in the windows. Anuar says it takes him an hour to get to the hospital each morning, two hours to get home at night. My nerves were on red-alert, and I kept thinking how I could never deal with this shit, until the next morning at breakfist with Anuar's mom, when she was telling me about an abundance of design jobs in DF. I started considering it – pero solamente por un momentito...
Apparently 9:30 pm is not too late to get your teeth cleaned in DF. We walked to what looked like an abandoned building, Anuar pushed a button, and a man came and opened the un-marked door. We passed through what looked like someone's garage into a regular-looking dentist waiting room.
We ended up waiting for two hours, but it didn't really matter because Morgan and I hadn't seen each other in two months and had loads to blab about. Quite a unique first introduction to the city.
When we finally left the dentist, it was Mexican dinner-time (10:30-11 ish) so we went to a fancy-pants barrio in DF called La Condesa with restaurants from every ethnic group. On the way in I saw a street sign that read something like "Oujoujitla" and was trying to pronounce it phonetically out loud, "Wa-Wa-WHEETLA!" Anuar thought I was sneezing or had something stuck in my throat and came to see what was wrong. After I told him I was trying to pronounce a word, and not choking, we were crying laughing, many jokes about this to follow.I was craving anything but mexican food, so we ending up eating at a sushi joint called Japonéz.
I felt totally under-dressed having ridden in a bus for six hours and the fact that I only brought one pair of shoes, my beloved chacos, and it reminded me almost exactly of the time Morgan and I spent our first night in Buenos Aires, totally under-dressed and travel-logged to a sushi restaurant with our brand-new friend Kelvin, and proceeded to get totally smashed and miss our flight the next morning. But that's another story... Because I hadn't had sushi in two months, we knocked out a solid portion, then had fried ice-cream for dessert to celebrate our arrival. (Notice the small, square bowl in the center of the photo. It's soy sauce with chopped chilis to spice it up. Mexican style!)
My favorite shot of the day; Morgan looking stunningly-gorgeous. (And she claims she isn't photogenic.)
Anuar's mom put us up for the night and we crashed hard. They opened their doors, offered us everything in their house, at one point she said, "estás in tu casa." The next morning I got to meet her properly – a super nice, incredibly-welcoming and bright Mexican doctor. She organized breakfast for us: yogurt, fresh fruit, cereal and cafe, and we chatted in español about the ins and outs of living and working in Mexico City. It was very obvious where Anuar had learned to be selfless, sweet and giving and it made my first introduction to DF feel more like reuniting with old family than visiting a big, scary city.
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