Easter in Guanajuato State

I spent Easter with Paty, Carlos and the family of Carlos in his hometown, Cortazar, which is in the state of Guanajuato north of Mexico City.
We went there on Thursday, taking a bus.

We arrived at the house round 6 in the afternoon, and of course, got something to eat first (great food).
We spent the evening talking about this and that and drinking Tequila ;-)

The next day, we went on a short trip to San Miguel de Allende, which is a lovely little city, but full of visitors for Easter. We also had our food somewhere on the way, again thanks a lot to Carlos Mum!

 Somewhere on the road to San Miguel                                                                

        Carlos Dad

             Having Lunch

        San Miguel

On Saturday, we all slept long and then went to the family's ranch to barbecue and have a great time. We ate a lot, drank some rum and just had a great time doing nothing, talking a lot, lauging a lot and enjoying the sunset. 

      Carlos preparing the food

                                  The wonderful sunset at the ranch.

In the evening we went to teh "City Center" for Dinner, and I had finally Esquites, and I loved it.

On Sunday morning, unfortunately, we had to go back to Mexico again. I would have loved to stay longer. Thanks soooo much to Carlos Parents.

Today now is my last day in Mexico City. Tomorrow I catch a plane to Villahermosa and then a bus to Palenque.

The first real adventure

What can I say?
Thank god, the day is over!

Everything started just so perfectly! I received an e-mail from a colleague from work with real good news (I don't know if I am allowed to tell already, so I just wait). I was so happy and made a big mistake: I checked the rest of my business e-mails.

And there the first shock arrived:
I received my phone bill for January: 17.000 €. Yes your right, that means 17 thousand Euros. Man, I was totally shocked. Of course I sent an e-mail to our mobile phone team, but still... I was shocked.

Then I finally left the house to go to the Nuevo Museo Soumaya. As most of you might now, I am very typical German, so I was well prepared, my map knew where to go and I followed the map. The adress was copied directly from the official document of the museum. Funny enough, the adress is wrong... there is no museum at all at this adress. So I went on walking until I arrived the mall in Polanco... there I connected to the internet again and did VERY MUCH research until I found another adress...

...

I just had dinner and a bottle of wine with Paty and Carlos and now I am feeling much better ;-)

...

so I started walking again... the google-directions were very creative again, but at least I saw the building and could adjust my route to finally get there.

In a later post, i will do a short retrospective (as I am in the sprint-mode now) on the museum.

After the museum I hit the metro again to go shopping at Parque Deta (which was my shopping place already four years ago).
There, the next adventure started.

I just can advice you to not try to pay with credit-card at Liverpool. I tried it. And according to the girl at the cash desk, my card never was accepted. But according to the messages, the credit card company sent to my mobile phone, my card was charged 7!!!! times with 1028 Mexican Pesos. I of course complained and after long discussions in spanish, I was led to the departamento de credito to discuss it any further. At the end they gave me a bottle of wine (but I had to ask for it) and I have to check my account tomorrow to find out if my card really was charged, if yes, then I have to contact my bank... hahaha... of course I have to contact my bank. I am just so so happy that I have skype out.

After this experience I left the mall to go back home. And lucky me, it just started to rain again, so I got soaking wet... I guess just what you have to expect from a day like this.

Finally back at home, I checked my work e-mail again and the good news is: the phone bill is wrong. The big german provider, starting with a T had it all wrong and there are some guys from my company working it out... one thing less to worry about.

And now I am going to watch RIO totally in Spanish. But at least I will get salted popcorn.

The plan for tomorrow? Talk to my bank about my credit card and then go and take pictures with the BIG camera in order to get used to it.

Las Trajineras & Coyoacan

The last 2 days I pretended to be a tourist ;-)

Yesterday in the morning I went with Paty and Carlos to La Reforma. That's the big street pasing the "Angel". Normally there is very much traffic and loads of cars, but now it is closed on sundays and people can walk there or bike or skate... was really great to see. We also went to Bellas Artes and the Zocalo... I just missed D.F. realy much.

In the afternoon I went with Dani, her husband, her family, some friends and Katrin to Xochimilco. This is supposed to be the Venice of Mexico City. There you can go on boats - las Trajineras - and go on a canal. We had really very much fun, although the canal was really so so crowded by boats, it was unbelievable.

After that we went to a nice restaurant to get dinner. And there I realised again, how big Mexico City is. A friend of Dani's was taking us in his car and we were driving for 1,5 hours to get there... and that's kind of normal for this town. At home, I am driving 1,5 hours to get from my parents place to my place in Munich (and that's 135 km).

Today I met Katrin in Coyoacan. This is supposed to be a really nice and good place to buy presents for your friends and family at home. But it's just so touristy, it was nothing for us. And the prices are clearly for the tourists who have no idea about Mexican prices. But well, Katrin got some presents and we were happy.

For Lunch we were meeting with Dani - it was 2 p.m. Definitely much too late for me if I was at work. Thank god, Germans are very strict about this habbit, and we always went to eat at the latest at 12:20 p.m.
But as I had a late breakfast, it was okay. And finally, I got my Tacos. I just missed Tacos al Pastor con todo (The meat is prepared like a Döner, and you add a slice of pineapple, onions and some herbs, and of course red and green salsa).

The plans for the next days are also made:
Tomorrow I will got to the Nuevo Museo Soumaya and afterwards shopping.
On Thursday I will go to Guanajuato with Paty and Carlos and stay there for Easter. There I will hopefully meet a friend, and also visit another friend in Morelia.
Next week wednesday, I will fly to Villahermosa and then take a bus to Palenque and after visiting the pyramids there, I will try and get a bus to Guatemala. I guess, this will be a journey of 24 hours, mas o menos, but the good thing is, that I have another 2 weeks to stay at the same place then.

And from tomorrow on, I can finally make some pictures. I of course forgot my "little" camera at home. I only brought the big one which I do not want to take with me all the time. But lovely Katrin left here small camera with me, so that I can pictures now whenever I want to.

The wedding

The Girls: Vic, Dani, Katrin and Heidi

Cutting the cake

I finally arrived in Mexico City last night with 1 hour delay.
The flight was okay, I slept most of the time. But one thing I will never do again: order "special" food. Apparently for Lufthansa that means... anything without any flavour that just tastes like nothing ;-)

Today I went to Dani's wedding, and to say the most important at the beginning... it was sooo nice.
I'll try to get some pix and post them soon here or on Facebook.

Everything started with meeting all the girls at the hair stylist (of course).
I was very very happy to finally see Dani again after 4 years, and also to see Kathrin again, which I haven't seen since Oktoberfest last year.

After having our hair done and looking just perfectly biutiful, we went to Dani's place to change into our nice dresses. And you won't believe it, but Kathrin and I had the same dress. Only, hers is dark blue and mine is bright pink. And of course mine was pimped by Mama, so it looks very unique.

From there we went to the restaurant, where also the wedding ceremony took place. Everything was so wonderful and the sun was shining. The wedding was outside in the garden and it was just perfect, with all the flowers and the sun and the pretty girls ;-)

The food also was great, just like the drinks and the cake and the Mariacchis.

But now I am really tired and jetlagged... so I just go to bed instead of going clubbing in D.F... I can do that some other day.

So, let's see what the next days will bring and where I will go. But I guess I will stay longer in Mexico than initially planned.

Stay tuned.

T-9

It's almost time.
And unbelievable, but true... I've got everything I (think I) need in the next 3 months in one (!!!) single backpack. And there is even some time left to sleep, before I have to get up and get ready to go on the big trip.

I just finished packing, I finished doing many last important things (like sending a letter to Mom and Dad). I still have to do some things, but right now, it was time to start a blog again.

Next steps will be to try and change the design (I guess I will do that in Mexico, if I have the time, or later), get a picture postet and try to integrate it with Facebook ;-)

And of course I'll try to give you regular updates on my adventures in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and last, but not least, Chicago.