Mexico City 2014 Week 2
Monday, our one and only day off. A large group of circus folk went to the pyramids, and then to other destinations such as the cathedral. I didn't go because I went to the pyramids last time, but will steal some pictures as soon as people post them ;)
I stayed home to rest and to take care of my mouse problem, i.e. I went to Wal-Mart to buy rat poison. Here are some photos of Mexican Wal-Mart.
Very similar to an American store, but set up more like a Sam's Club.
Instead of the smiley they have a yellow shopping cart mascot :)
An aisle dedicated to tuna. There was also a rice-and-beans aisle and one just for juices and nectars. It is very difficult to find fruit juice without added sugar here.
The bakery.
The meat section.
I got the rat poison and also a storage bin to hold food/keep mice from my food. For the ride home I got a popular Mexican snack: a pressed cake of nuts and seeds held together with a sort of caramel coating.
Back at home, I spent several hours removing all of my items from storage so that I could drop rat poison down into the gap between the wall and my floor. I was pretty tired after that, so enjoyed a relaxing evening of chilling out.
On Tuesday Brett and I went to the Mercado de Artesanias de la Ciudadela. We'd been there two years ago, it's a great place to buy souvenirs. The quickest way is to take the metro. Mexico City has one of the largest metro systems in the world, but it's so well-organized a child could navigate it. Each line has an associated number, color and symbol, and the map is easy to read.
(photo courtesy interzone.com)
Waiting in line for tickets:
Emerging at our last stop near the market, we saw a really cool wall made up of a pattern of plants.
Brett taking a pic of the market wall :)
Some of the souvenirs for sale...beautiful handmade blankets and clothing; clay, wood and obsidian sculptures; wrestling masks, ponchos and sombreros of course; glassware, silver jewelry, and instruments.
We ate lunch at a small restaurant inside the market. I got the world's plainest burritos (I'm scared of the food, remember) and Brett got some awesome chicken mole, and we both had Mexican Coke. After shopping for several hours, we got back to the train in time to rest up for the evening show.
After that, there wasn't much time for sightseeing. We had ten shows in four days, so I used my downtime for relaxing.
The catering area, where we could buy meals using pesos or dollars and also use some internet.
The junk food selection in the vending machine. Pinguinos and BubuLubu are very popular :)
On Saturday Jameson and I walked to an Oxxo next to the arena. On the way we saw a very loud protest in progress. In my opinion, animal rights groups in Mexico should focus on the stray animal problem in this country. In the market right next to the arena, there were sick, starving, ragged dogs and cats every day begging for scraps and defecating near the food. To me, that seems like a bigger problem. But whatever.
A video clip courtesy Jameson:
Click to viewI'm glad we're finally done in Mexico City. Next we have one week in Monterrey. It's about 7,000ft lower in elevation than Mexico City, but will be 30 degrees hotter. Oh well :P