Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Today I started to realize that it’s going to be a really long trip… (yeah, it took me a while) 🙂
I’ve been wandering around Veracruz most of the day, I’m skipping the museums in favor of the real, contemporary life. The city can’t be described as beautiful, but the people living in it for sure are! My host cooked a really tasty pasta, not really italian, but I appreciated it a lot! (yes, pasta can be delicious even from non-italian hands. I only supervised the cooking time) 😛
I spent some time with Dora’s friends, drinking cafe con leche a the Cafe’ la Parrochia, the oldest cafe’ in town (200 years and counting…). If you happen to pass by Veracruz, that’s the place to be!
I’m seriously thinking of shortening my hair, and get some white clothes. Dressing in black is not so smart here… 😉
For the rest, not much. I’ll probably be in Xalapa for the weekend, and there are some plans to visit the island of Janitzlo during “dia de muertos”. Nothing planned yet, but as I learned until now, planning is not really necessary in Mexico. 😉
Anyway, stay tuned, you’ll get more news in the upcoming days.
And for tomorrow, vamos a la playa!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Yeah, I finally got out of the Monster-City! 😀
I spent the last day walking around the Park of Chapultpec, reading a book and watching people. It’s really a sight! Lots of families, young lovers, sport-fanatics, a bit of everything really… You can go from the really crowded areas to the quiet, almost-alone ones, and I really enjoyed a day alone. And I managed to catch up on my book 😛
Evening came, and I had to catch the Bus at the TAPO bus station. The trip was quite uneventful, beside me falling asleep on the cold air exhaust and waking up with a frontal headache and painful, swollen eyes 🙁
But anyway, I got in Veracruz by 7AM, spent another 3 hours reading and having a look around, and then I met Dora, my first CouchSurfing contact. She’s really a fantastic person, she let me bring the stuff home, and then we had a long walk in the center, showing me around and explaining the history of the city. I also managed to buy flip-flops, FINALLY 😀
Then we met two of her friends, who coincidentally have studied Italian and can’t wait to practice with me 🙂 Well, I have to be useful, once in a while…
Last thing: the weather here is kind of HOT (27C at 8PM), but I can’t really complain… Or should I? 😛
Besos a todos!
Yes, yesterday i forgot to post 😛 I’m just about ready to move, only need to pack up my stuff, check out, leave the backpack here (for now), spend the day around, come back and catch the bus at midnight.
Yesterday night was a blast, I’m really going to miss the nightlife of this city! (or maybe not… Veracruz is around the corner) 🙂
Anyway, all good as usual, if not better! My spanish is (slowly) improving, probably in a couple of months I’ll be able to speak without using italian words 😛
That’s all, for now. More updates when I arrive in Veracruz.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
First things first: What did I do/visit/see today? NOTHING! (and I can say it with a BIG smile) 😀
Ok, but I managed my first couchsurfing contact in Veracruz, so I went to the bus station and got a ticket for Sunday night. The trip is going to take 7 hours (instead of the usual 5), but at least I won’t arrive too early in the morning.
What else? Not much, this morning I visited the huge bookfair in the Zocalo (the central square of the city), but I couldn’t find anything interesting AND cheap. All the sci-fi stuff was too expensive, and the rest wasn’t interesting enough 😛
Nevertheless, I want to read some books in Spanish, so I got “100 anos de soledad” in digital format, and I’ll start from that one. At least I know it already… 😉
Tonight it’s gonna be Reggae night, I honestly don’t know what to expect… You’ll find out tomorrow!
Today I went back to the usual tourist stuff 😉 I visited the Templo Mayor (and the museum), which was the center of the world for the Mexica culture (which overlaps a lot with the Aztecs). Funny thing is, because the temple was in a specific place, and they couldn’t make a bigger/better one in any other place, they kept building on top of it.
Result: 7 different layers, on top of each other 🙂
But then the Spanish came, and decided to just destroy it and build a church on top. Which basically summarize the entire concept of religion and progress 😛
Anyway, really interesting stuff! I also had a long walk in the center, around the Calle Regina, full of students, interesting street art and vertical garden. My camera decided to die exactly in that moment, of course… :-/
Anyway, in 3 days I’ll be gone from here, and I’m currently trying to get into the CouchSurfing business and get a place to sleep in Veracruz. Crossing finger, it should work 😛
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Small update: after yesterday, I decided to post in the afternoon/evening, at least I will have a fresh image of what I just did 😛
Today was Xochimilco day, first vising the Doloros Olmedo Museum, and then a quick trip to Xochimilco itself. The Museum was fantastic, and it’s probably the biggest collection of the Mexican artist Diego Rivera (which I’m starting to like a lot).
Xochimilco, however, was a bit of a letdown. The place is famous for its canals, but not much else… I asked how much was the cost for a boat ride, and they said 350 pesos. My reply: “amigo, es mucho dinero!” risposta: “si, pero io tengo de trabajar.”
Of course, the standard price is 200 pesos. No thanks, and I went away.
Not much else to see, but the pastries i bought there were quite good 😀
I also tried to visit the “Centro de la Imagen” (photography museum, or something like that), but it’s closed for renovations 🙁
On the bright side, I’ll stay here another 4 days, leaving on Sunday evening to… somewhere (haven’t decided yet!) 😛
All in all, the first week was great! The only problem is getting used to be at 2200m above sea level 😉 Now, let’s think about the future movements…
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Ok, this update comes a bit late, this morning I forgot to post 😉
Yesterday was kind of a slow day, I went to the sactuary of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and took some pictures for my mum 😛 (no, I haven’t found the light, I’m still an atheist!)
Today I managed to visit the Trotsky Museum (really interesting, that’s the place where he spent the last years in exile, and also where they killed him with a pickaxe…) 🙁
Then i wandered around Roma and Condesa, the middle-high class part of the city. As I’ve been told before, you recognize it immediately for one thing: the public parks are full of dogs! (which you won’t find anywhere else in Mexico City). Beside that, they are really nice, well preserved, and full of villas and expensive looking buildings… again, this is the rich part of the city.
I was planning to go visit Xochimilco but i run out of time… which means that I’ll probably prolong my visit for some more days.This city can really suck you in! 😀
On a separate note, I’m starting to upload some pics, this is the photogallery I’m using:
http://photo.contaminati.net/ciaby
There is no real order in there, and I just started. Please be patient, uploads can take a long time on this part of the planet… (yes, I’m still spoiled by the Dutch standards) 😛
Anyway, that’s all for now, if you have any special place you would like me to visit (and take photos), comments are there for a reason!
Yesterday was arts&food Sunday 😉 I visited the Palacio of Bellas Artes, which hosted an exposition on Brian Nissen (never heard of him, but I liked it!), and some of the best murales ever made. One in particular, “El hombre controlador del universo” from Diego Rivera, is a masterpiece which takes a good 20 minutes just to fully watch and appreciate. Have a look here: El hombre controlador del universo.
Having some spare time, I also had a quick glance at the Palacio Postal, right on the other side of the street. An impressive building, google it and have a look!
In the afternoon I met Alberto, a friend of my sister’s partner, and we went with the entire family (wife, 2 kids and mother-in-law) to a fantastic restaurant called “Los Danzantes” in Coyoacán. The food was great, I finally managed to taste the Chapulines, and they are delicious! On top of that, I tasted some fantastic Mezcal from Oaxaca. So great, in fact, that I can’t wait to go there again 😉
On the way back, we got lost with the car, wich produced an unexpected tour of all the most non-touristic parts of the city. Not something to do every day, but interesting anyway 😛
Plan for today is still undecided, I’ll probably go and visit some ruins which I neglected until now… I know, history and all, but I like so much more the contemporary life 😀
That’s all for now, more updates will come in due time. 😉
Yesterday was the non-turistic day 😉
Yep, I didn’t do anything related to history, culture or art. On the other side, I spent quite a lot of time walking around looking for things. I _finally_ managed to get pen&paper, and my predictions were right: there was an entire AREA of the city just for paper related stuff! (I’m talking about more than 100 different shops…)
I also got shampoo (I was starting to feel a bit knotted), flip-flops are still impossible to find 😛
The evening I was in Plaza Garibaldi, and it was really worth it! Lots of Mariachi around, I tried the “pulche” and got to know the Mexico City nightlife. To be honest, it felt a lot like the “Movida” from Genova, just bigger, better and louder 😀
Anyway, I’m liking this city more and more. Only downside: yesterday was Saturday, and the streets were packed with people. I mean, REALLY packed with people. Probably I just need to get used to it 😉
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Quick update:
- The anthropology museum was a blast! It contains EVERYTHING about all the mesoamerican culture, both before and after the colonization.
- Zona Rosa is not bad at all 🙂 Lots of bars, clubs, nice people, doesn’t really look dangerous. Or maybe I was just lucky… 😛
- What to do today: no clue. I’m still trying to put my thoughts together and make a plan. You’ll probably read about it tomorrow.
And no, I still don’t have pen&paper 😉