Finally, we are in Mexico...it's hard to believe we woke up in Raleigh this morning! Our day started when at 5:30 when Jordan dropped us off at RDU. The actual flying was uneventful...we met up with Heather and Nadareh in Charlotte and flew the rest of the way to Mexico City with them. Matt and I got to practice our Spanish with a guy on the plane...it was a little bit of a reality check to say the least, but I know I wasn't prepared for the Mexico City airport. Luckily, Heather and Nadareh had two guides waiting for them in the airport, Chris and Erica who are Mexican students from BUAP. They turned out to be life savers. They helped us change over money, find a place to eat, and then find a bus to Puebla. The bus ride was almost three hours and we all slept...almost the whole way. In Puebla we all split up. Heather and Nadareh went to meet their host family and Matt and I found a hotel, the Hotel Victoria near el Zócalo, or the main square in the historic district of Puebla. For less than $300 pesos a night, the hotel is amazing. All the floors in Puebla are tile, and all the stairways and balconies have quaint iron railings. The city is laid out in perfect square blocks and the streets are cobblestone and completely packed with taxis and pedestrians. Everything is stucco and tile, and every other store smells like yummy Mexican food. The area where we are seems pretty old...it's absolutely gorgeous.
We didn't realize where we were or how amazing Puebla is until later tonight. First we had to buy phones, which turned into a huge ordeal. After at least two minutes of us struggling awkwardly to communicate in Spanish that we wanted cheap phones we could use for a month to call the U.S., one of the salesmen goes, uh do you speak English? Turns out he's from Chicago and probably speaks better English than either of us. Three hours later we had phones and Chicago guy had helped us find an atm. Lesson learned: when in doubt, ask if they speak English!
By the time this was all over with, we were starving but everything looked closed and dark. We walked a couple blocks looking for food and then came around a corner and discovered that we were in the Zócalo, a huge square lined by shops and restaurants. There's a park in the middle with festively lit palm trees and one side of the square is bordered by el Catedral de Puebla, which is huge and awesome. Hopefully we will get to come back and see the inside. Dinner was amazing. For roughly $8 USD we got enough food and drinks for at least 4 people. Tacos Dorados (which turned out to be fried tacos) and enchiladas con pollo. And an authentic Mexican Corona...Bienvenidos a México!
What proved to be a pretty stressful and challenging day ended pretty well...we have alot of Spanish to learn but it's gonna be AMAZING. Hello Mexico!
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