Back to CDMX – pana tripping

Sometimes you forget that Mexico City has a population of 22 million, it can seem so relaxed, tranquil and lush in the areas that you most frequent as a visitor.

However, there can be times when it feels like you meet all 22 million people in one go, and driving into CDMX on a Friday late afternoon gives you that experience. It was a bit of a rough start to our return to CDMX as we drove in from Guadalajara. After a 6 hour drive, we hit a wall of chaos! Poorly timed on our part, entering any major city on a Friday afternoon is never a good idea but this was another level. Only when you drive into the city do you see all of its layers. The airport is conveniently in the city, 20mins drive to the centre, so you miss out on a lot of the outskirts. After we had battled through the chaos for an hour or so, we suddenly got pulled over by a police car, a jarring experience everywhere but something you particularly want to avoid in Mexico. A first time for us though…. We hope the
last. He was a horrible man, pumped up with power and delighted at his find of two Westerners scrabbling to find their Spanish words in a car which had not completed its verification (a pollution tariff that you have to do every 6 months). So began a big charade in which he lied, pocketed our tarjeta de circulación, and threatened to impound the car. We got a friend on the phone, who knew how to play the game and he came to an arrangement with the kind police man that if we gave him a personal amount of £150, he would give back our tarjeta de circulación, not impound the car and allow us to just pay the fee online. The whole experience lasted an hour and was very unpleasant; you are totally helpless and they love it. We went home and paid the £90 online fee, which in reality was all that should have happened, instead we were threatened with paying £800, told our car would be impounded and had to give him a personal Friday bonus of £150! Moral of the story, NEVER give the police any reason to stop you here, stay above the line at all times, as they are very happy punching way below it!

It was quite a rough start to CDMX and we felt violated – it made us very much pine for the quieter cities and towns of our travels. The next day we settled into our friends lovely flat in the centre of Roma, which
we had rented for 3 weeks whilst he travelled around Europe. The need for a home is certainly strong now. Then excitedly that weekend we went to Pride parade – the biggest one in Mexico – with 260,000 people attending – it was a riot of colour and love!

Then Ana’s phone got nicked. A classic group hustle in which we got surrounded in a shoving crowd, Ana felt someone brush her pocket and then ‘poof’ the phone which was in the other pocket was gone! Pippa accosted someone straight away, who was too quick and eager to show us the contents of his bag, empty, backed up by a woman behind ‘see no phone’ in perfect English, they definitely did not fit the Pride scene. Oh well, it could have happened in any city – we got out of the crowd and went back to cancel everything.

So after a shaky start back in CDMX, we began to reopen back up to Mexico City and enjoy being settled in one place. However we did decide that we wanted to try living in Guadalajara in September, to compare the two cities. In the meantime we had two months ahead of us in CDMX to flex our connections, pursue some creative projects, make some new friends and enjoy the city – so we did just that….

We got invited to Malinalco for a weekend to stay with a really lovely English couple and their new babe. Malinalco a beautiful town 1.5hr drive out of the city and a classic getaway for Chilangos (residents of CDMX). Damian had bought a piece of land 20 years ago and has been developing small beautiful houses each with their own unique views of the mountains of Malinalco. It was the perfect weekend away.

Then before we knew it Joaquin was back to claim his flat back, so we found ourselves (very happily so) back at Guadalupe’s in Coyoacan for a few more nights. We love staying and spending time with Guadalupe and she took us to the BEST club EVER – Patrick Miller, a Mexico City institution from the early 90s. EVERYONE MUST GO, and be warned if you come, we will go!