Here we are again 😉 The first day wasn’t bad at all. I discovered some interesting things about this city (and Mexico in general):
- The shops are grouped together by type. It took me 2 hours to find one mobile phone’s shop, which was next to 20 others of the same kind 😛
- The numbering system for landlines and mobile phones is kind of convoluted. You get a phone number, plus a prefix for the area, and of course the international prefix. This is valid for ALL kind of phones. If you call between two phones of the same area (in my case, Distrito Federal), only the caller pays. If you call to another state (let’s say Chiapas), then both the caller and the called pays. If you call a number in the same state, don’t use the prefix. If you call outside, use it. If you’re sending SMS, never put the prefix in front. I’m pretty sure that this has to do with technical and historical reasons, it just makes the entire experience quite painful 😉 Anyway, this is my phone number (or so i hope): 0052-55-17790192 (international prefix + DF prefix + local number).
In any case, have a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_Mexico
- The nightlife in the “Centro” area is quite ok, not so scary as they describe it, and I already got a Mexican friend who is showing me around and telling me what is safe and what isn’t. Tonight I’ll have a look at “Zona Rosa”, you’ll get the report tomorrow 😀
- Finding pen&paper was next to impossible, however I found out that all the paper shop (papelerías) are in Calle de Mesones, not so far from here. I’ll have a look today 😛
- What else? Today I’ll go visit the Anthropology Museum, which is supposedly one of the best in the world. Yes, I still need to upload the pics from yesterday, but I’m lazy, just bear with me a little more…
Last thing: my throat is not really getting better, however I bought some Paracetamol, that should help me survive the day.
Thats’s all folks, Hasta mañana!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Just landed (well, actually yesterday, but I was too tired to write anything..) 😉
Mexico City is beautiful, exactly as I remember it. There are some things you always have to remember when you go around, like:
- – never pick up a taxi on the street, call a taxi company and let them pick you up (unless you want to be robbed, of course) 😛
- – try to look and behave like a normal person (i would say a local, but I don’t look that much mexican… yet). Behaving like a tourist is the perfect way to get harassed, stopped every 5 meters, and in general a good way to attract a lot of unwanted attentions. Wearing rugs helps a lot in that sense 😛
I just visited the Palacio Nacional, where you can admire the astonishing murales from Diego Rivera. They depict the story of Mexico from the pre-colombian period until the middle of the XX century. They are basically a modern version the ancient cave paintings, just a lot better 😉 If you ever happen to pass by, spend at least 1 hour there to admire them. Bonus point, it’s for FREE! 😀
To-do list for today:
- get a mexican mobile phone (roaming is painful)
- get shampoo, flip-flops, maybe some aspirin and band-aids (yes, i managed to get a cold on the airplane… so sweet!)
- get pen&paper (most important thing in a trip, and i forgot it!)
- go out and try some proper mexican food 😉
Well, should be enough for now, pictures will come later…
Thursday, September 20, 2012
As usual, I forgot the update the blog 🙂 But, considering that the departure date is getting closer, I just wanted to let you know that i’m still alive, with paperwork, vaccines and all the stuff needed for a long trip.
I’ll be leaving Italy the 2nd of October, destination Amsterdam. If you want to meet up for a drink or just say hi, do it that week! On the 9th I’m leaving to Brussels, and from there, the 10th, to Mexico City 😀
Anyway, my phone number is still the same dutch one, If you want to get in contact, you know how 🙂
More updates soon…
After only 3 posts, this blog has been abandoned. Sadly 🙁
Now, more than a year after, i’m re-starting it to share my experiences about my trip, all the beautiful people i’m going to meet, funny/crazy/stupid ideas, and everything else as well 😉
If you want to know what I’m doing, just have a look once in a while. Or subscribe to the RSS feed. Or something like that…
Just to recap the last week: landed in Milano, passed by Genova quickly, jumped on a train to Roma, then L’Aquila for the Italian Hackmeeting (which was great!), and now I’m back in Roma for some chill-out time. Next step: Firenze (actually, a small town close by).
More updates are on the way.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Second update from Aglou:
the courses are going strong, yesterday we spent 2 hours explaining the filesystem structure, file ownership and permissions, normal and super users…
In the past week we also explained the basic applications for normal users (word processor, excel-style sheets), the basics of image manipulation on Linux (gimp mostly, difference between raster and vector graphic, file formats, etc. etc.), how to install and remove programs.
This week we’re going to talk about internet, the IP protocol, how to setup a small webserver and how to populate it (static HTML, dynamic websites).
The other courses are also going quite well (italian language and juggling).
The only bad side of the story is the weather, we got rain for the past 4 days, and is not getting better… Oh well, at least it’s not -5 😛
To all my dutch friends/colleagues: i miss you all, especially the ultra-geek discussions, but don’t worry, between courses, day-to-day problems and huge dinners i’m keeping myself busy! 🙂
See you soon….
P.S. have a look at the pictures on the other blog: http://nomadsmarocco.noblogs.org
My trip is about to start. I spent the last week collecting all the legal papers (for the laptops), buying towels (always bring a towel!), and meeting friends and relatives.
The backpack is waiting, all my clothes are (almost) clean, and i’m ready 😀
