6 days in the DF - Feb 2008

This was really a day of lessons learned.  Many things went right and many things went wrong.

What went right?  Well we found that getting around on the Metro is as easy and as cheap as everyone says.   This is an amazing bargain.  2 cents for a one way trip.  Try that in London.  Our plan this day was to go to Teotiahuacan by Metro and then by bus.  The directions I have seen on this and other sites is to go to the Norte Metro station and take a bus from there.  Seems easy enough.

Oh, but this is where the first misstep of the day took place.  There are two stations with the name Norte in them. Norte 45 and Autobuses del Norte.  Don't, I mean, Don't go to Norte 45.  It is nice, if you like a semi-industrial area.
Nice buildings, friendly people.  But no Autobuses.  How stupid.  Fortunately, this was a mistake easily remedied for another pair of 2 cent metro tickets.

 Back on the Metro and this time, got off in the right place.  Autobuses everywhere.  Sala 8 is what you are looking for.  Buy your ticket, get on the right bus, and the ride is straightforward and pleasant.

The ruins are worth the trip.  Everything you have a read about them is true.  Massive, awe inspiring, words fail.  You just have to see them.  And you just have to climb the Pyramid of the Sun.  It stands there like a challenge, and you see hundreds of people doing it,  and you know you will feel like a total failure if you don't make it to the top.  As I walked in that direction, I kept thinking, but I don't like to climb a flight of stairs.  I am going to die doing this.  And then you get to the bottom, and look up, and think, OK, I seel little old ladies and men, and young kids in grade school doing it, and you realize it is possible, and then you do it, and you stand up top and think . . .

Shit, now I have to climb down.  How is that going to work?  And you find out that going down is worse than going up, because now you are looking at these long flights of stairs, made of jaggedy and uneven rocks.  Uneven rises and treads, no railing for long stretches, and you realize that if you catch a heel, you are without a doubt, dead.  Oh sure you, you may stop your tumble on one of the platforms, and someone who is standing there may even attempt to stop you falling down the next flight.  But you know that they will then immediately jump back to avoid the blood spurting from all your gaping wounds, and you will bleed to death right there on the Temple of the Sun.  How very Aztecky.

Fortunately, no such drama ensued.  Louise and I both made it down in one piece.  Our knees very much crying out in pain, are little dogs in distress, but our brains knowing that now we need to hike about a 1000  miles (really maybe only 1) back to the autobuse to get back to Mexico City.  And we got one immediately, it was really nice and air conditioned and we got off at the Indios Verdes Metro just like everyone had suggested and we do the metro thing again. 

Pretty uneventful, except for that one change at the Hidalgo station when, as we were boarding, someone behind started pushing really hard, and everyone in front of them, me included, where squashed on to the metro in a big mass.  Not very pleasant, but no one lost there footing.

Except that I lost my wallet.  I mean my wallet was stolen.

I find out as I enter the hotel and reach for it for some reason.  Panic.  My immediate worry is not for my credit cards and money (not a whole lot of that in there at that time), but for my driver's license and other items I had in there.

I start calling my credit card company to report a stolen card, and then a miracle happens.  The phone rings and the receptionist at the desk tells me my wallet has been found and is at the Bellas Artes Metro station.  Of course it is without money and credit cards, but all my ID is there.  How did they know to find me?  I had left the receipt for the hotel in the wallet and it then becomes easy to track me down.  Lousie and I headed back to the Metro and found the chief of security who had the wallet.  Sure it was rotten that it was stolen, but it was also really nice of the person who found it to turn it in, and for the Metro police to make sure it was returned to me.  The damage done to me was minimal and I learned a valuable lesson or two or three.

Always have more than one credit card on a trip like this, and don't carry them together.

Make sure you have PIN numbers for more tall of your cards.

Notify all the companies whose cards you are carrying that you will be out of the US and where you will be traveling.

Carry what cash you need for the day, and leave the credit card back at the hotel.

If you need to use a credit card to retrieve money from a bank in Mexico City, take your Passport with you.  Your US Drive's License is not considered valid ID.

Don't let a bad thing that happens to you sour you on a whole city or country.  We have met many many more good and helpful people than that one (or more likely two or three) bad eggs.

Peace out.