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Mexico city brought out the best in us. Starting the day with a work-out at the closest gym, following up with breakfast and headlines from Democracy Now before we hit the town and walked around visiting different museums. The last day in Mexico city we went up at the crack of dawn (kind of) for visiting the Aztec ruins just outside of the city. Since I started out my travel visiting Inca after Inca ruins in South America and continuing with ruins but from Maya in Honduras and Guatemala, I felt it would be a perfect way to finish of my Latin America trip - with Teotihuacan.

 

When I woke Keely up on the bus she muttered about "This was not the right stop!" even though the signs outside begged to differ. I got her off the bus in time and after paying the entrance fee of 57 pesos we entered the archeological site of Teotihuacan.

It was huge.

 

On a Sunday night in La Paz, Bolivia you have various options of what to do. Like any night you can go to the cinema, go out and have a nice dinner, go to a bar for a few beers or you can do like me and my companions did - go on Chicolita wrestling.

 

 

For 75 bolivianos you get the transport both ways, entrance, popcorn and something to drink. We got there, sat on the second row and what started out as fun got pretty boring after two hours. It was like repeating the same story over and over again, no matter if it were guys or girls. There was the good ones and the bad ones. The bad ones always started out strong, then it turned around and the judge helped out the bad guys turning the game around once more, leading it up to the grand finale where always the good one came out winning. Every game was about ten minutes and all were the same. For two - three hours. It was fun entertainment and definetly something different to do on a sunday night, but I was pretty sure I would not go to another wrestling competition again.

 

 

Then, five months later, I arrive in Mexico City where I and Keely are staying with a host through couchsurfing named Emmanuel. One of our first nights here he drops ideas about what we can do and he tells us about different museums, cinema and OH we have to go to the Luchas Libres! A little bit sceptic, with the Bolivian wrestling pretty fresh in my mind, I agreed and he got tickets for the three of us.

 

It was Friday night, the subway was crowded and so were the streets outside the arena. Well maybe this wasn't going to be like the Chicolita wrestling that took place in a barn in the outskirts of La Paz. After all, the arena where the games were held is the biggest in Mexico and in the beating heart of the city.

 

We went in and took our seats. Drinks wasn't included here, and tickets a little bit more expensive, but the service excellent opening a tab for us and bringing beer after beer, we didn't even have to get up from our seats. Then the competition began - and it wasn't the same at all. With enthusiastic spectators and experienced wrestlers the whole experience was a lot different. I couldn't stop myself from joining in in the shouting and screaming, something I dont know if I blame the surroundings or the beer on. Anyhow, we had a great time. And you know what? Even the bad guys won every now and then.

I left the arena, a little tipsy, with a whole new approach on wrestling. I do prefer a proper boxing (or of course kickboxing) match but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy an evening with men in thights jumping around pretending to fight. 

After an hour of waiting outside the hotel for a taxi in the middle of the night in Flores it finally arrived. It took us to the other side of the city were we got on a minibus, heading for the border. Little did we know when the driver dropped us off on a dead highway in the middle of nowhere, telling us to stand on the other side and wait for another bus. I will always have the picture of Keely sitting on her old fashion (and so cool) suitcase on the side of the highway in my mind. What could we do but wait?

After about 15 min waiting (definitely not too bad) a new minibus arrived and picked us up to take us to El Ceibo, the city right before the border. It was, as always, an interesting ride with the driver driving with his five year old son on his lap and a phone that never stopped ringing, sometimes he answered, sometimes he didn’t. But then, 10 quetzales later, we arrived by the border, all we needed to do was put the bags on our heads and start walking. All of sudden we were in Mexico.

Lately, by the people I’ve met on my travel, I have been known as the girl who basically can end up anywhere. The girl who travels with a plan – but that simply doesn’t follow it. Ever. But this border crossing was special. Once we were over on the Mexican side Keely and I turned to each other: “Sooo where should we go?” Since lack of knowledge of cities in Mexico we both were most familiar with one, San Cristobal de las Casas.

After walking about 500m – 1 km from the border crossing we found a bus that would take us to Tenosique. There we had to grab a cab for the station of the shuttles to Palenque. A very luxurious minibus later we were running after a man with Keelys suitcase on the head, taking us to the station of buses to San Cristobal. Luckily unknown we relaxed and thought that we would actually be in San Cristobal at a decent hour. Little did we know that we had to change once more in Ocosingo, and that meant to change to the worst vehicle so far on my travel. But two uncomfortable hours later we would arrive in San Cristobal, only 16 hours after the first taxiride in Flores.

We did San Cristobal very well without really doing anything. Most nights were spent with tacos in one hand and a tequila in the other, just like I always thought Mexico would be like! We met some really cool people and hung out – practicing Spanish every day. We didn’t know what to expect when we went to San Cristobal, but it was better than both of our expectations. When we went on the night bus to Mexico City we just weren’t sure if it was the right thing to do.

But here we are now in Cuidad de Mexico, also known as El Jefe, a beautiful and huge city where we yet have a lot left to discover!