Ya llegue!

I can´t believe that I´ve only been here for a couple of days. Katie and I have already done so so much, it feels like we´ve been here for at least a week! I LOVE IT HERE. The city is just incredible. Dios mio I don´t even know where to begin.

Katie and I connected in baggage claim at the airport at around 8pm, about 6 hours after my flight landed. We decided to take the metro because our hostel doesn´t provide its shuttle service on Saturdays. Of course, right? Let me tell you--if you have about 120 pounds of equipaje, don´t take the metro from the airport to your hostel just to save some money. Although it can be totally entertaining, it´s a huge pain in the ass when you realize that you don´t know the metro system and are lost, have about 20 flights of stairs to ascend or descend, and that´s its 9pm and you look very gringa y turista with all your stupid luggage. Thankfully we received unsolicited help from about 5 guys at different points in our trip, and I even scored some digits! haha, I probably won´t be cashing in on that offer.

Despite the headache, I totally fell in love with the metro. You can get anywhere for $2 pesos, which is about $.15 USD, and there´s always someone selling something or singing or playing music for a few pesos. It´s really chaotic and it always guarantees a belly laugh about something or other.

I also immediately fell in love with Mexico City--the first thing I saw was the Zocalo at night, which is totally incredible. The Palacio and the Catedral are so striking and the energy of the Centro is just so lively, it´s amazing.

OPn the 6th we wandered into the Palacio, and saw all of Diego Rivera´s murals there. Afterward we finally met up with Mirelle, and before taking us to her house to share the rosca de reyes, she took us through the Catedral in the Zocalo and treated us to a tour of the top of the Catedral! We were above the entire City, actually walking on the ceiling while mass was taking place. Y que vista! We finally headed to her house in the evening, and a ton of her friends came over to hang out. We thought we´d have a really traditional dinner to celebrate the Dia de los Reyes, we thought we´d eat tamales or something like that, but Mirelle was like, ¨¿qué quieren comer? ¿A ustedes les gusta sushi?¨ And when it turned out that the sushi place didn´t deliver, we just had pizza. We finally cut the rosca de reyes, a big circular fruitbread (that no one really enjoys) that has little dolls inside. If you find a doll in the piece you cut, it´s a blessing, but you also have to throw a little tamale party for everyone in a month, so no one really wants it. Katie found two in hers!!

Right now I´m in Cuernavaca, staying in a really amazing little bed and breakfast about 3K away from the Centro. We´re going to visit some ruins today and go out tonight. This weekend, Mirelle and her friends are taking us out dancing, to Teotihuacan, and to Six Flags Mexico City!!! Crazy. I also plan on checking out lucha libre, ballet folklorico, and Frida Kahlo´s house in the coming weeks. Oh, and the food here is incredible--we´ve had good luck so far.

There´s so much more to talk about, but for now I´ve gotta head out because we´re catching a bus to the ruins. I´ll upload pictures asap.

Les mando abrazos y millones de besitos! Hasta luego!