Hola! Mexico!

So, here I am in Mexico City. Flew in from Washington D.C. on Saturday evening. It was quite a tiring flight. First of all, the bus rode to Dulles airport from near our hotel took half an hour longer than expected - the bus driver hadn't a clue what he was doing and got lost repeatedly! I was napping happily and so didn't realise what was going on but at some point the passengers started yelling, "you're going the wrong way!" and "some of us have jobs we could lose because of this!". He finally got us to the terminal and these angry passengers stormed off threatening to complain. Did a self-check in at departure - the check-in staff just make sure our baggage isn't overweight and counts the number of bags we have. We then have to lug our baggage to the screening station where the chappie hauling bags told me "go to the other end and watch your bag drop down the chute, then you can go off." Not very reassuring. Finally of course at the security clearance, we find we have been randomly assigned for more thorough screening! Wonderful. Anyway the journey and checkin process took 2.5 hours in all so it was fortunate we gave a lot of time.

Arrived at Mexico City at about 10.30pm DC time and 9.30pm Mexico time. Finally checked in and found that our Hostal Moneda is indeed a true backpacker hostel... strictly no toiletries, not even a tumbler for my toothbrush and towels like sackcloth (good thing I brought my own) and worst of all no hairdryer.

Having said that, the hostel grows on one. There is breakfast and dinner provided (but this is a sort of risky business, yesterday was fine but tonight's food is somewhat scanty - good thing I have a spare banana) and there are tours going out from the hostel. There is also of course free internet access. I'm typing in this blog from one of the terminals. Meals are served on the roof of the Hostal.

It has a great view of the Catedral Metropolitan. The Catedral is lit up at night and I can see it every time I turn my head to the right. There is an open bar so I have a nice bottle of Corona beer next to me and some Mexican music in the background. As I said, it grows on one.

The patrons of this place are mainly European - not sure why. There are a number of Brits, Germans, etc. Not sure about the rest. We meet each other on the conducted tours and then at meals. We don't exchange names, it is really the backpacker life indeed.