Departure from Dallas and arrival in Mexico City

The hotel

I don't know what's a bigger milestone - living in Texas for a decade (TexMex being a part of the package) or living in Texas for a decade and not visiting Mexico at all, save for the 2 day trips across the border for visa purposes. I don't believe I had anything against visiting Mexico, I was just mersmerised with the idea of Europe side of travel that it never struck me that there was a treasure chest right next door. And when I would toy with the idea of a trip down south, something would happen and the trip wouldn't happen.

I had visited Mexico on 2 former occasions for my visa stamping. And even though they were tiny towns, I was quite impressed with what I saw. It reminded me a lot of India - small roads, colourful, chaotic and lots of people on the street.

Donceles Street - cobbled, narrow and very quaint!

Next came where??! I didn't want Cancun, I knew THAT. I was dead bored of seeing pictures of the town, and I'm not a beach person anyway. So Mexico City seemed the obvious place, and I was later told of its riches - the city with 23 million people, the city with the most museums in the world, the city that was inhabited by the Aztecs and then the Spanish, just so much of heritage and nice things supporting the town. That made the choice so much easier for me, and so off I went.

The flight from DFW to MEX is quite short really - 2 hrs in air, a total of 2:30 and by 8pm I was on Mexican soil. As the plane pulled into the gate, it reminded me of any big world city. Surrounding me were jumbo jets of Lufthansa, BA, KLM along with B777s of Iberia and Air France! Wow, I  didn't think airlines would fly jumbos to Mexico City!

The structure of the airport and the white tiles reminded me again so much of India. Immigration was a breeze (my GOD, are you allowed to talk on your mobile in the Customs hall??!!), picked up luggage and went to the main arrival area. And boy, India again! It was packed, and noisy, and hot. And lots of placards, and people and taxi drivers. My Gray Travels personnel had come to pick me up. One thing I could tell at the get-go is that language IS going to be a problem. Even the Grayline people couldn't speak English, and my Spanish is erm... un pocito.

We left by 815pm and the drive was....again, interesting. Mexico is so much like India. So much like Mumbai to be particular. I kept thinking of Mumbai every step of the way, which is kind of sad as the terrorist attacks in Mumbai had begun the very same day. I could tell I would like this place - buildings of all sorts of shapes and colours, bright, dull, well lit, etc. And the traffic jams! We made our way to the city centre, the first building that came to my attention was the Bellas Del Artes which looks beautiful by night with its yellow tinted domes. And we went through narrow streets before I reached Hotel Catedral around 845pm. I like this area - lovely buildings, cobbled streets, something tells me I'll enjoy this 4 day sojourn.

The hotel looks good enough, checked in and was offered a sweet deal at checkin time - pay by cash and save  a further 10%. And I could take a day or 2 to pay up as well! Wow! Anyway checked into my wonderful room - compact, clean and nice with a bathroom (and I'm thinking, just 40$ a night after the discount, WITH paid breakfast as well). Headed downstairs for dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel, had my dinner and I can already tell I'm NOT going to like the food here. The veg choice is minimal. And the veg food reeks of beef. But I did like how they serve fresh nachos and salsa sauce irrespective of what you order. The salsa is really spicy and nice!

I slept by 11pm that night, the coverage on CNN International was very sad and engrossing, tons of deaths in Mumbai and the terrorist situation still continuing. It was a bit worrying to see Mumbai attacks, and as I mentioned earlier, especially when I'm holidaying in a city that reminds me so much of Mumbai!