We spent Xmas in New York, which was great. Perhaps slightly spoiled by our heavy jet-lag (it lingered for around 5 to 6 days) which prevented us from getting out at night to see the Xmas lights and stuff, which I had dreamed about ever since watching Home Alone 2.
We spent Xmas morning in a lightly snow covered Central Park and our Xmas lunch consisted of NY style Pizza and a Hot Dog (we had chicken and vegies for dinner, which is a little closer to the traditional meal, i guess).
New York was the only place so far that has almost been exactly what I expected. The way it is portrayed on TV is spot on. I also wouldn´t be surprised if it contained the highest amount of insane people per square kilometre anywhere in the world. Crazies eveywhere!! Really looking forward to getting back there at the end of the month and exploring properly.
Now on to Mexico.
I must admit, I was a little nervous coming into Mexico City. The statistics and media reports about the place are quite alarming and paint it as an extremely crime ridden city.... which I suppose it is. We arrived very early in the morning and between the airport and our hostel I saw what I thought were three separate crime scenes, attended by police cars with flashing lights. Turns out, the police have their lights flashing permananently to make their presence more obvious. As if a dude with a shotgun, finger ready on the trigger, on every block isn´t enough of an indication of their presence. So it took a day or two to realise that the police cars driving around weren´t all in a hurry to get to another shooting or something.
Cops and crime aside, Mexico City was a pretty awesome place. In our first three days in Mexico, we saw/experienced the following:
- Cops on Segways.
- Ancient Aztec pyramids.
- Buses and Trucks with bullet holes through their windscreens, still being driven.
- A fire breathing man who performs for traffic waiting at a red light, then collects money. Similar to the guys on the corner of Hoddle and Victoria washing windscreens except much more dangerous.
- The Mexico City favelas (which house 12 million people) that are almost entirely concrete grey in colour. If you paint your house, it means it´s finished and you have to start pàying taxes.
- Pandas (at the Mexico City free zoo. Funny that we went through China seeing nothing of Pandas, but then see some the minute we get to Mexico).
- Intense catholic devotees crawling hundreds of metres on their knees and bawling their eyes out in a pilgrimage to the citys holiest cathedral, where some guy supposedly made the virgin Mary appear in the lining of his coat.
- Fantastic colonial architecture.
- AWESOME food.
- Guys swinging and twirling 30m high in the air from a platform slowly making their way to the ground (pics below).
Given that Mexico City was my least anticipated place in mexico, i can´t wait to see what the rest of the country holds for us.
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