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Day 2:
It was a short night with little to no sleep, but we arrived in Mexico City less than five hours later. The customs queue took an hour and by that time it was already past 7am. We planned to have a lengthy layover in Mexico City and didn't have to leave until 3.40pm. A few days earlier we had messaged our friend Sonia, whom we studied in Germany with back in 2012. She happened to be in Mexico City today and was thrilled to show us around. She picked us up with her boyfriend Alan and we then drove towards the old city. Even though the earthquakes just recently struck, we did not see any evidence of the damage. Sonia mentioned that only certain buildings got destroyed and some were buildings that had already survived the 1985 quake. Sonia brought us to a fancy breakfast place called 'El Cardenal' right by the National Art Museum. The hot chocolate here was beyond amazing and so were the baked goods. For breakfast we had an egg on tortilla with beans. Once refuelled, we went for a long walk to check out the hot spots. The temperature was perfect, but the rain picked up at times. We stopped by the massive cathedral near the constitutional plaza. The plaza is the second biggest after the Red Square in Moscow and it was pretty empty on such a gloomy day today. The National Palace was still closed so we continued towards the palacio de bellas artes. This theatre was supposed to open at 10am, but was still closed when we arrived just past 10am. After asking around we were now told it would open at 11am. For now we just got to admire it from the outside. Since we still had some time, we drove to bosque de Chapultepec, a park with some nice pathways, dotted with old trees. We also got to see the only French castle that was build here. We made a couple other stops on our way back to the airport, but prior to dropping us off, Sonia took us to her old neighbourhood for lunch. This was definitely our highlight as we got to see a different area of Mexico City that is seldom visited. We had the most delicious quesadillas at Licuados, a typical hole-in-the-wall food joint. The food was prepared in front of us on the spot and we stood outside to enjoy the delicious tacos and quesadillas topped by the best salsa ever. We were super grateful that we got to spend a day with Sonia and Alan, and be guided through Mexico City by locals. We are now back at the airport struggling to stay awake, after being up for over 30 hours, as we get ready to board our two hour flight to Managua, Nicaragua. The flight to Managua went by quick as Ash and I both passed out for a little bit. We arrived in humidity, hot temperatures, green scenery and were greeted by our driver from Granada. We didn't plan on staying in Managua and headed straight for Granada, a colonial city in the south. The travel excitement finally came back as we got to appreciate the differences this place has to offer. As we drove south, we passed by simple houses, people standing around on the side of the road and bikers pedalling along the shoulder with no visibility equipment at all. The smells brought back familiarity, but were foreign at the same time - the delicious smells of street side asados, mixed with the occasional stink of burning piles of garbage. The drive took much longer than expected, due to bad traffic and the horses trotting along the shoulder made us slow down a few times. Granada impressed right away! We dropped our bags, had a welcome shot with a couple of French Canadians and went straight into the streets to explore. We filled up on some Tex Mex food, bought the usual 5 litre jug of water and wandered the narrow streets of Granada. We are looking forward to some more exploring tomorrow! We survived the long journey down here and since its so hot & humid, there is no point in showering! Welcome back travel life! Day 1:
The day has finally come to put our backpacks on! It was much easier packing for two weeks and I decided to just take my alpine daypack. Going super light makes things easier on the road. It's a strange feeling blogging again and to be honest the first few sentences were a struggle to get down. I am sure this will all change once we are actually in Central America and on the move exploring blog worthy spots. On a different note, the Calgary international terminal looks fancy & expensive. Since we are on the last flight out, we got to explore the small D wing that seems to be home to all international departures excluding the US. There are only a handful of restaurants & shops, but there are two 'fun zones' - a children's play area basically, which would also serve as great sleeping grounds for a night at the airport if that need was ever there. As we were wandering around, we all of a sudden heard the announcement "this is the final boarding call" for our flight. So we had to hustle over to the gate which was promptly closed right behind us. It will be a short night for us, and we expect to arrive in Mexico City in the early morning. Goodbye Calgary and see you in two weeks! |
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November 2022
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