Merry Mex-Mas

We got to Mexico City and managed to navigate the metro system without too many complications, then as we were getting out of the subway-stop next to our hostel we collided with what seemed to be some sort of revolution. Riot police had locked the gates and protesters were trying to break the barricades. Tony and I weren't in a great position stuck in a tight tunnel with our large backpacks and immediately thought of worst case scenarios. It worked out fine in the end and we found out the demonstrations were due to a recent rise in the subway fare prices, from 3 pesos to 5 (roughly 20 US cents to 40.)

On our second night in town we found out that Mexican Football League was holding it's final at the local Azteca Stadium, so naturally we made it our mission to see that. We went with a couple of people from our hostel and managed to scalp cheap tickets outside the stadium and got in to an incredible atmosphere. The stadium holds a bit over 100, 000 people, is the only stadium to host two World Cup finals, the venue where allegedly the "Mexican Wave" was invented and the place where Maradona or God scored that infamous goal using his hand. Unfortunately the local team, Club America, lost and the lively atmosphere got kind of subdued, but all in all it was an amazing experience. We stayed in the city, which by some standards ranks as the largest in the world, for almost a week and had a great time, largely due to the fact we had an amazing guide in Gabriela, a Mexico City girl we met a few weeks prior in Cabo San Lucas. She drove us around the crazy traffic, and showed all different neighbourhoods and sights, even giving us some much needed culture at the Casa Azul, the former house of Frida Kahlo. Then we decided beaches were much needed again and took a long bustrip over the mountains down to the Pacific Ocean, and the small town of Puerto Escondido.

The town's name translates to "Hidden Port" and even if a lot of people have found it by now it really was a beautiful place. We intended on staying for a couple of days and then head up north, but due to Christmas holidays all buses were fully booked and we were "trapped." This turned out to be very fortunate as we could then have a great Australian Christmas feast, with six Aussies, seafood and alcohol galore, Secret Santas and me the token Swede. We ended up staying in this slice of paradise, fishing (didn't catch anything), swimming with turtles and just general beachbumming for a week before we all went our separate ways again and Tony and I could get a bus north towards Yucatan.
(In footwear related news I can bring you the sad message that the trusty flipflops which I have been using since my runin with the Mocambiquan law finally gave in after serving me very well. I decided to buy a new cheap pair in Puerto Escondido, which lasted me all of two days before snapping and therefor I opted to pay the expensive price for a quality pair which will hopefully accompany me for a long time to come!)