Mexico City 2007.

Dear friends, I could not techno tonight because I have blisters the size of baby fetuses. Instead I am served overpriced cerveza by a bartender who is the worst person I have ever met. He seems to have learned English by watching Claude Van Dam movies, you know the ballerina. Actually, he seems a little like a bartender from 21 Jump Street. Point being, I´m at hostel, amigo, in the historic center of Mexico City. The first night I was here a girl was topless at ten o´clock. Later I left my room to go the the bathroom to stumble upon a frenchie in nothing but a tie and a smile. He was pleasant enough, I was just worried when he sat down on the hostel floor. Athletes foot you know, you gotta pee on that shit.

Anyhoo, it´s late, and I feel like I´ve been away for a very long time.

Here is a quick recap: My favorite bit of Mexico City thus far is the bootleggers. They fill their backpacks with speakers and sell CD mixes on the metro. Their sound systems are incredible. The other day we were heading out of town and this kid got on with a 90s dance mix. It was so amazing. It´s loud here, everywhere.

Present day [Mexico City] used to be a lake, and as a result it´s all sinking. All of the sidewalks are wonky and the cathedral leans to one side. There used to be these fantasy Mayan islands, which where later adopted by the Aztecs. Cortez had fun for a bit and then drained the whole region. The only remnants are these canals just on the outskirts in a town called Xochimilco, a town with a street that translates to ¨children killer¨. You can take a boat ride through the network of waterways which are jam packed with taco boats and boats with old guys playing marimbas. There is also an island there called Isla de las Munecas where a man by the name of Don Julian strung thousands of dolls he fished from the canal. I guess he wished to mollify the spirit of a little girl who drowned there by decorating with decaying dolls. Cool, right?

We spent a day at Teotihuacan, climbing Piramides del Sol y de la Luna. This is the site where Aztecs believed that all of the gods sacrificed themselves to start the sun in motion, er something like that. It was pretty awesome, our tour guide told us where to get mushrooms in Oaxaca, so that was an added bonus.

Mexico City: traffic is ridiculous, run when you can. 18 million people live here, OMG. The smog is just as bad as advertised. Our snot has been black all week. However, it´s so beautiful here, and there are people making out on motor bikes all over.

We leave Monday morning for Guanajuato. so, there is more to come.

I am a little homesick already, rather friendsick, but I´ll manage.

Hasta pronto!