Well, i've woken at 3am in my hotel room in Mexico City and thought to start this story off with a summary of the journey so far. The fantasies and dreams of relaxing on a quiet beach lined with palm trees and sleepy bars and restaurants will always be tainted by that mind numbing trip to get there, but when you think about it, flying half way around the world over about 30 hours is still an amazing achievement (as compared to ye old sailing ship of yesterday year).
A small stuff up with the bookings meant I had to check-in again at Sydney, but even so, I was glad I decided to carry on my back pack, instead of tempting the gods of lost luggage. But waiting in the line I was informed about some visa waiver fee I had to apply and pay for to get into the US of A. That was the first time I thanked my little iPad for being there when I needed it.
The 4 hours from Perth and the extra 4 hours or so waiting at Sydney don't compare to that 14 hour killer to LA. I was fortunate to have two nice ladies to sit next to and the light conversation helped past the time. But even a few wines and a parade of in-house movies weren't enough to get me any sleep. I had another 3 hours to wait in LAX before the flight to Mexico City, so after dosing up on coffee and sorting a few emails and Facebook posts, I kept it together to finally make the 3 hour flight.
I forgot to mention the first message I got from home was from my bro who said my mum couldn't get into my house with the key I left her. She had kindly offered to house sit for me but her first night was a disaster and she had to drive home. Fortunately it was just a nana moment and the next day they had sorted out the problem. She didn't even try the right key!!!
So after refreshing myself at the NH Centric Historico hotel I took a stroll to the main city plaza in MC. The sights and smells of this place brought back a tide of memories form my last trip here 5 years ago. That combination of colour in the market stalls, the dance of Indians to the beat of a drum, the scent of the smoke form the cleansing smoke ceremonies, the arms of Mexican boys around their girlfriends, the poor people asking for loose change on the street, the look and feel of the local currency, and the babble of Spanish being spoken at speed everywhere, reminded me of my first foray into this amazing country.
I fly into Puerto Escondido later this morning and look forward to seeing Bambo again. Whether he'll meet me at the airport or not is still not known, but I'm pretty sure I can work out how to cover the 60km to San Agustinillo if he's not there. So far the whether is good, and I'm expecting about 30 - 32 C in SA. Bring on the good times! :)
