Back in CDMX: A lesson about how to get around

I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get back to Mexico City in time to catch my flight to Los Mochis to begin my "paquete" on El Chepe. I have paid for a tour which includes the return train (Los Mochis to Creel and back to Los Mochis). The distances are long in Mexico, and I didn't want to miss out on getting a seat on a flight. (I've done my time on long-distance buses, and I'm not a young person who can bounce back easily from a shitload of missed sleep.) 

So, I'm here in Mexico City again, which is not a bad thing. CDMX is an interesting place. And I am a city girl (well, I was, when I was a girl). It's just in Sydney, with a car, the state's my oyster. However, here, I wouldn't dream about driving. I know my limits, and driving in Mexico City is definitely one of them. I don't know how the drivers do it. It looks like chaos to me. The drivers seem to be very well-attuned to the driving conditions. I've only seen one accident, and it was a fender-bender. 

So, yesterday I was on the main road, Insurgentes, looking at a map, planning how to get to the Museum of Anthropology, in Chepultepec Park. And I found myself in the path of a whirlwind, who told me her name was Gabriela, that she used to be a flight attendant (trust me). She asked me where I was going, and swept me up in her path. Her husband was also being dragged along in her wake. Before I knew it, I was flying down the footpath being taught how to cross the street safely, the names of the main streets I should be aware of, and where to get a bus. She even wrote notes for me on a scrap of paper as we flew along the footpath Then, Gabriele tried to arrange a purchase of a bus pass for me ("You shouldn't take a taxi. Always take the bus"). Well, unfortunately, the bus stop we landed at had no bus passes for sale. So she went through her handbag and found me a pass she no longer used, had the hubby go off to find the machine to recharge it, and I was a card-carrying bus user. She herded me onto a bus, told the driver to put me off at the right stop, and I was away!

Got to the museum, and joined a free Spanish-language tour. But the museum was overwhelming in size and information. I started to feel a bit sick, as I followed the guide around and tried to understand the commentary, and get my eyes around the people in front of me, so that I could see the display he was talking about. Also, it was my brunch time and I thought that maybe if I had some food, I'd stop feeling sick. I slipped off and started looking for a restaurant. 

Brunch under the belt, I decided that I'd rather go and sit in Chapultepec Forest under a tree, and relax, rather than return to the museum. So, I followed the signs to the lakes, taking photos all the way. Here is one. (The monkey headdress/water pistol seemed to be a hot item among the park users that day.) 

Continued on to find the  path to the castle, which is now a history museum. I'd been here before, but it's definitely worth a second visit. And even more so because it was free for me because of my advanced age. 

So then the rain, and the adventure began. For some strange reason, I had no internet connection, so I couldn't use Google maps to plot my path back to the bus stop. Couldn't work out why because I knew I had paid for 30 days connection with lots of data. I walked around in a frazzle, as the rain started falling harder. Lots of the stalls were also selling rain coats and umbrellas, but I decided that the rain would stop soon. . . it didn't. I finally had to crack and buy the last rain protection on offer: a silver cape for 50c. 

I bumped into a guy on a bicycle going in the opposite direction. He looked like a fellow-tourist. I asked him if he knew the way to the Anthropology Museum. He told me he'd just come from there, looked it up on his phone, and pointed me in the right direction. Why did he have mobile coverage and I didn't, I asked myself. 

So, back to the main road and the place from which I'd headed to the museum. Somehow managed to choose the right side of the road to wait for the bus. (Of course, I didn't trust myself with that. I confirmed with a couple waiting that the bus leaving from that stop was going in the direction I wanted to go.) It was a long queue and the rain cape was billowing up like a parachute. I thought I must have looked a fright--what with the horn on my forehead that had bloomed after a mosquito bite yesterday--and the billowing silver rain cape, covering the camera backpack, making me look more like the hunchback of Notre Dame than an old gringa. 

When I got on the bus, I couldn't find my pass. The bus driver  motioned my on. I was holding up traffic. Later the two young women I was sitting next to told me the bus driver let me on without paying because I was too old to pay. 

The two young women sitting near me on the bus argued about which stop was the right one for me to get off. I took the advice of the more strident one and had to depend on her advice and my own feeble abilities because I had no internet and no google maps to help me get home.

The streets were full of Friday night revellers. So much raucous noise! (I'd put my cameras away as I didn't want to be targeted as a tourist any more than was patently obvious.) I put my head down, followed my nose through the crowded (and sometimes, a little scary streets) and somehow managed to get back to my digs. 

I still think it was a bit of a miracle. (Well, I have visited quite a few churches and cathedrals over the last couple of weeks!) But anyway, I did get back to my room. I asked Eduardo to check why I had to internet coverage, and he said I'd used up what I had paid for. It was on his advice that I got the package I did. I figure I'd used up all my data using Google maps. So, I paid for another package. I bought a package three times the price that he suggested was sufficient. Now I hope I'll never have that kind of adventure again.

Well, that did give me a lot of confidence! All in one day, I'd ridden a Mexico City public bus and found my way home down streets I'd never walked before. Maybe I can improve and develop a sense of direction!