Road to Mexico City, Sunday 6^th September

It was time to say goodbye to our last campsite before Mexico City. With only a few exceptions, most people had upgraded and so had I to my own rustic shed with just a bed in it... rather than the opulent cabanas with en suite showers and toilets that most other people upgraded to. It was also a little damp and my clothes smelt of damp the next day on the bus...so aplogises to anyone who caught a whiff.

The mountain road is tortuous but there were road works where there is a new wide and straight road being built with deep cuttings and large embankments. Some the little remote quaint village’s natural charm was the journey to get there but soon it will be just another turn off a main road.                       

Outside the village there were charcoal burners making wood into charcoal which I didn’t get a picture of as we went past a couple of days before. There was a distinctive smell in the air and a lot of smoke but it was hard to distinguish between smoke and mist.

There was more open country to get through before stopping for lunch at the small town of Maravatio together with our own military escort for short distance along the motorway which we picked up at a petrol station and they followed us until our turn off to Maravatio when they over took us.

Being nice weather and a Sunday the markets were heaving and it seemed that everyone was out for their Sunday lunch.

I and David ordered a large sandwich between us but this somehow got confused and we ended up with one each. It was a large flat bread with salad, two types of cheese, beef, chicken, bacon and sausage plus a guacamole and picante chilli sauce each in its own little plastic bag. I ate half and some of the rest for an afternoon snack and had to throw the rest away. 

We got to Mexico Districto Federal, called such to distinguish it from the country and shortened to DF pronounced Defe.

There was no time to waste so Lawrence and I did a whistle stop tour of the historical centre, Contesa de Oribispo’s residence, the Plaza Mejor with the main cathedral, National Palace and Town Hall. Up a side street and nosed into a courtyard where there was a cultural review being presented...note the crooked pillars so we didn't stay long in case it fell down. Past a museum showing Diego Rivera’s works, an Aztec ruin and a main shopping street although we took some back streets to void the crowds.

That evening we said goodbye to several friends as seven people were leaving the group. We had a farewell meal in a well known local restaurant with some history, the Tacuba with some interesting architecture inside.

We were serenaded by a group of yrn musicans, one in the srcond photo with a huge moustache.

Most of the group, L to R, Lawrence, Gabi,, Paoka, Zoe, Clare, Maegan, Seb and Becky.