We arrived here at 6 AM as scheduled. Mexico City is two hours later than California.Freddie always takes the wheelchair option when we fly internationally, but for some reason there was an extra wheelchair when we arrived here so they insisted that I take one too. What a treat! Normally I like to walk, but I was tired.

We waited and waited for our four suitcases and it seemed as though they had been left behind. But lo and behold, someone went to check the transfer cargo and there they were.

So after an hour of trying to collect our luggage we were wheeled to the lockers where we had decided to store the suitcases, so as not to have to lug them around. The lockers were expensive, $40 to check in the suitcases, but we did it because we planned to take the free shuttle to the Ramada airport hotel just a mile from the airport. But, of course the shuttle never came and we didn’t have a phone and didn’t want to buy a phone card to call, so we finally took a $6.00 taxi.

Exhausted, we went to check in and were told we couldn’t check in until 2:00 PM. I explained that we had booked the hotel room from 6 or 7 AM that morning, knowing that we would need to sleep (we hadn’t slept all night). The receptionist insisted that there were no available rooms and I insisted that we had to have the room we had booked!

A nice man who was checking out offered us his room, which was available until 2:00 PM. The receptionist said that it wasn’t cleaned and the man said he had hardly used it. Then the receptionist left for a few minutes. When she returned she said she had spoken to her manager and that we could have a room.

They led us to the second floor and when we opened the door we saw a large couch and a round table with chairs. Walking through a small hallway with a bathroom on the left, we found our large bedroom! The manager must have told the receptionist to give us this wonderful corner suite on the quiet side of the hotel!

We slept until 3 PM Mexico time, which was about seven hours. Then we got up and were going to make coffee but we didn’t have enough water left and Freddie didn’t want to use the heavily chlorinated tap water.

So we decided to go out for coffee. Freddie walked without his cane, but his hip was hurting, probably from the uncomfortable seats in the first class Mexicana Airbus! We looked for a pharmacy so Freddie could buy some Tylonal. We also looked for a place to buy purified water. My Spanish seemed natural, especially after having the Spaniards visiting us at our home the week before we left. I am so pleased that I can speak Spanish. I was truly enjoying that today.

After asking and asking, we found a pharmacy where Freddie was able to buy some medicine. The pharmacists here stay behind bars! The neighborhood is poor and not a place where tourists wander. I asked the pharmacist to recommend a good restaurant with Mexican food and he told us about one down several more blocks. The one with the music on a main drag that we had passed he said, when asked, was not very good.

So after asking one more person, we found the restaurant whose name we still don’t know. It was of course a hole in the wall with locals eating there. And the food was good although the choices were small. When it came time to pay I realized that I did not have enough pesos left. When I asked about paying in dollars she said that no one ever pays in dollars. So she went somewhere and borrowed a calculator and we paid the balance with $5.00. She was very nice about it.

Later at dinner, Freddie commented on how nice the people here are. Many people at our breakfast/lunch said “Provecho” as they passed (like “bon apatite”), and of course “Buenos tardes”.

At the convenience store where we bought a bottle of water they also didn’t even know the price in dollars but the woman accepted $1, which was good. The price was 10 pesos and at the hotel 12 pesos = 1 dollar. So she did OK.

We came back to the hotel and used the free internet and then slept. We ate dinner in the hotel which of course was much more expensive and not as good.

Tomorrow we will have to figure out how to get our suitcases from the locker to the check-in. But tonight we will sleep.

SPAIN CHRONICLES 2010

April 13 Writings
April 14 – 15 Writings
April 16 -17  Writings
April 18 -20 Writings
April 21 -24 Writings
April 29 – May 5 Writings
May 6 – 13 Writings
May 13 – 25 Writings
May 26 – June 4 Writings
June 5 – 21 Writings
June 21 – 28 Writings
July 1 – 13 Writings
July 15 – 18 Writings