Back in Benque!!

I arrived in Benque Sunday night, and my mood was immediately brightened by the gorgeous weather we are having- sunny, 80 degrees with a nice cool breeze.  I admit I was leaning toward grumpy after two days of riding buses, but how can you be in a bad mood in such good weather?  The bus ride actually wasn't that bad- our longest stretch was from Mexico City to the Mexico-Belize border.  That was 19 hours, but I slept a lot of it.  Mexico city was a lot of fun.  We actually had a harder time with the language then I expected, because hardly anyone spoke English, and between the three of us we spoke maybe 50 words of Spanish.  We did a lot of shrugging and giggling.  People were really nice, but they must have thought we were idiots.  Here's one of my less bright moments:

 

waiter, to Cathleen: (in Spanish) Do you want your receipt?

Cathleen, smiling with no idea what he said: Que?

waiter, patiently: (in Spanish) Do you want your receipt?

Cathleen, enthusiastically: I'm from America!

 

Yes, I thought he was asking me where I was from, and didn't realize what he was really asking until he ran after me, waving the receipt.  Oops.

So here are some random things about Mexico City:

-Most of the city is sinking- you can actually see buildings that are crooked.  We stayed by the Basilica, and when you look down the aisle, the side chapels slope away from you.

-You can get pretty much any movie for 10 pesos, which is a little less then a dollar.  We got Ocean's 12 and Bridget Jone's Diary 2.  Blatently pirated (as in a film of the movie screen) but fun.

-The city is massive.  When you are flying in, all you can see is city, from horizon to horizon.

-The Metro system is massive, too- 11 lines.  We rode 9 of them in the 4 days we were there! It only costs 20cents (US), and that is unlimited rides until you exit.  Of course, sometimes you are so packed in you don't need to hold on to a pole, because you can't move anyways.

-The Tilma is big.  You ride by it on a moving sidewalk.  There are tons of massive roses growing all around the shrine. 

 

Lots more stuff, which I can't remember now, so I'll write more later.  Happy New Year!