Xochimilco and the canals

My last full day in Mexico.

Xochimilco had been a separate town that was swallowed by the capital but kept the both peaceful and vivid atmosphere.

It's main attractions are the channels where you can travel with cheerfully coloured boats (for a good price, of course) and can see the floating gardens.

It is also worth just stroll on the streets where you bump into little bridges crossing the branches of the canals time after time and you can observe birds hunting for fishes making vivid the shallow water.

Toward the center and around the market the streets are full of the vivid noises of everyday life, that was dominated by the cheerful ones of the children on them way to home.

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Complication around my return -- it is ok now

If you change flight in the US you need a permission called ESTA. I faced this fact only when I was not allowed to check in on the airport.

You can apply for ESTA online filling in a form with all of your details except for your dog's name. First I starts to fill in an other form by mistake and I was surprised why it insists on my address to stay in the US. After a while it was said that I do not meet a 'transit visa' only an ESTA. Than I started to collect all of the required info: my id number, the address of my last employs, etc.

When I finished even with paying the administration fee of $14 it was 3:30 pm. Officially my flight for Chicago should had set off at 3:00 pm. Fortunately and unfortunately it has a delay of at least 2 hours. So I was able to check in with the kind help of the friendly stuff that I appreciate but in return I will miss my flight to Europe so I have to spend almost a whole day in Chicago.

But I am on my way with full of beautiful experiences and colorful pictures.

Taxco

Sweet little VW Beetles (VW bogár). A lot.

Taxco is a pretty village climbing up on the mountain side. So its vertical size is comparable the horizontal one. Mountains are all around.

Lots of VW cars are used, mainly for taxies, as they can climb up in steep slopes because the back wheels are driven (hátsó kerék meghajtású).

The silver mine nearby and jewelry are the causes the prosperity of the town.

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Basic English

I have learned a new word in English that seems to be one of the basic ones. As a proof here is the conversation between a Mexican guide and me at the entrance of the Placio Nacional:
Guide: Do you want to see the murals?
Aniko: Pardon?
Guide: Do you want to see the murals?
Aniko: What does 'murals' mean?
G: Do you speak English?
A: Yes, but I don't know this word.
G: Do you speak English and don't know what does 'mural' mean??? [With the intonation like: 'How on Earth could you state that you speak English if you do not know such a basic word like 'mural'???')

Teotihuacán

Yesterday I visited an archeological place where some colorful decoration of the walls remained and we can see them either on them original place or in the museum of the site together with numerous devices and sculptures and useful explanations, even in English.

You can climb the Pyramid of the Sun and enjoy the nice view over the smaller pyramids surrounded by the hilly landscape full of cactuses.

I also visited the Basilica de Guandalipe that is a vast, modern, circle-based building, that can his over 20,000 people.

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Cathedral and around

In Mexican cities the main square called 'Zocalo'. Usually it is a nice park. Not in Mexico City. There it is a paved square with no else decoration than a huge Mexican flag in the middle. No plants, no shadow.

On the Zocalo we can find the lavishly decorated Cathedral and the 'Placio Nacional'. In the second one there are murals (huge paintings) on the wall depicting the life in Mexico before the Spanish and them influence in a stunning way.

Also visited the square around the Santo Domingo church and ate 'quesadilla' there.

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Mexico city, the final destination

Arrived to Mexico City successfully. The hostel resembles a good old and moderately clean student hostel but as a result of some issue around my reservation I got a private room so I am ok with it.:)

After a bit of thinking, asking and examining the map it was easy to find a metro to the hostel.