Mexico Day 206

Bustling, grimy and slightly threatening - I love it here in Mexico City. The effects of the altitude has taken us all by surprise, the first two days were spent cautiously, not going out much and resting a lot with me coping with a permanent headache. By the third day we were off on our adventures. A trip to the pyramids was a highlight of the entire visit - so old, imposing and incredibly steep - all of us got out of breath with heart palpitations being 2000 and something metres above sea level. We were taken to the pyramids by a taxi driver aptly named Marco Polo.

Marco Polo who took us on another road trip the following day to celebrate Martin's birthday (complete with homemade cards and cakes from the bakery round the corner but few actual presents) Firstly we visited the Freda Kahlo museum (exquisitely blue and yellow even though her painting are somewhat disturbing) and the Trotsky museum which was sadly lacking in socio political commentary and consisted mainly of photos of Trotsky feeding his chickens and writing about the virtues of having such an absorbing hobby! Following a delicious meal of corn and bean soup, potato tortillas, fried cheese (a delicacy which Martin claims to have eaten in 5 countries during this trip) and guacomole, we headed to Xochimlico to catch a gondola to float - or be punted - through the flowering gardens where we were serenaded by Maharachi bands whilst nibbling on barbecued corn on sticks. Maybe not such a bad birthday after all!

The next day was spent at the zoo (a kids day after all the grown up activities). Surprisingly the zoo was free to enter and was a huge and well stocked, full of huge beasts - lots of camels, bisons, big cats and all manner of monkeys. The most thrilling part was the reptile exhibit which of course went down a treat with Zac.

Mexico City is fabulous, rich in architecture, culture and all manner of goings-on. We were concerned about safety initially but after a few days we felt fine. I saw one guy obviously eyeing up my bag (that was in the bottom of Maxi's stroller so it was a bit of a target I guess) but he was easily deterred and good naturedly moved on to look for other tourist mugs. The last day of our 6 day trip was market day and the streets were impossibly full of people selling all manner of items for next to nothing. The number of people who live here is inconcievable and over a cooling beer, from the roof top garden of the Holiday Inn (what tourists we are) we could see over the Zocalo the main square (about as big as Tiannamen Square ie huge) and down the surrounding streets all teeming with people - a scene that has obviously been played out for years and years and years. Feeling a touch philosophical we hit the streets to sample the local delicacies, we finally fell on a street vendor cooking blue corn tortillas stuffed either with refried beans or white cheese on the road side that were then spread with green lime salsa, a sprinkle of cheese and some hot peppers - totally delicious. Martin, Maxi and I ate our fill while Zac looked around for "safer" food ie chips or milk shake (he really doesn't eat much at all at the moment but still seems to be full of energy and growing like a small weed!)

And so we left mexico to set off on the next leg of the journey. Maxis has started asking how long we are going to stay somewhere - usually asking "Is this our hotel room Mummy? Are we staying here for a minute/ five hours/ten weeks (depending on his mood!) And so off to parent hell - I mean Disneyland...