The Arrival

Well well well. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but overall the best. All signs were for a completely full flight -- we saw the seat map, we were told it was a completely full flight at the gate (and so they gate-checked my bag), and when we boarded, the announcement was for a completely full flight. Marc always books us a window and aisle seat in the hope that the middle seat between us will remain free; if someone is seated there, we ask to switch and end up middle and window, and we were expecting that on our flight.

Instead, the flight had loads of empty seats, including the one between us. Even though it was just a five-hour flight, piece of cake, it was still so nice to have that empty seat. There was a good bit of turbulence at the beginning, but the flight was easy. The flight attendants spoke no English, and we speak only un poquito of Espanol, but easy. Breezy.

Since we were seated near the back of the plane, we got to Immigration late in the game, and since the plane seemed full of Mexican citizens, we expected short lines, and they did move quickly. The immigration officer was nice to us (much nicer than the US officials are to us!), and as we left there to get our baggage, we were flying high. Everything was going so well!

And then the wheels started falling off. Baggage claim was insane; it took a full hour before the luggage started arriving on the carousel, crazy, but OK -- both bags, check. While I was waiting, I thought I'd quickly take a tiny video to use for my daily 1-second video, and a young official came over to me very quickly to say that I couldn't take video because I was inside customs. I said, "Oh, I'm so sorry," and he kind of smiled and ducked his head and he may even have shrugged and done a tiny wink, and said, "It's OK, no problem." I can't begin to imagine how this would've gone for a Mexican citizen at JFK.

ANYWHO. Bags in hand, off to the rental car agency. Marc had reserved us a car at two different places, an hour apart, just in case we had trouble, but he couldn't have imagined the trouble we ended up having. The first place, no cars, we have no cars. And apparently no understanding of the word "reservation," either. But as we made our way from one counter to the next, it was the same story. We have no cars. There are no cars for rent. No cars. One guy said come back in 30 minutes maybe he'd have a car, but when we came back about 20 minutes later from trying other counters, he again said try again in 30 minutes, maybe he'd have a car. It was absolutely insane. One agent said we might be able to get a car for $100/day. We ended up taking a cab from Mexico City to Cuernavaca, which had actually been our original plan, before we got the rental car idea, but at that point it was Plan F and not our choice. Hmph.

Luckily a few things: our cab driver was very nice, his car was very nice, the roads were beautiful, he was a safe driver (around curvy mountain roads, and in the rain), and he eventually found our hotel after calling them -- we never could've navigated that ourselves. The charming owner of the hotel, Rodolfo, took our bags and took us directly to our room, saying we must be tired and we could check in the next morning. Another lucky thing is that it was nearly midnight, and while we'd planned to go to a nearby taqueria for a late dinner, it was too late but we had the yummy sandwiches Marc had made for us, so we gobbled them down and hit the sack. So tired, and it was only a 5-hour flight. (Also, two hours behind NYC because Mexico already changed time -- NYC changes on Sunday.)

I always take this shot, like an excited kid. :)

The sunset was long, and really beautiful

And then it winked to a close

I know you know this, but Mexico City is HUGE.

WHAT???? Never try to rent a car in Mexico City. I was pissed and confused and pissed.

We slept OK -- pretty thirsty because of the salty sandwiches and chips, and not all that cool in the room, but it did the trick. We got here, all our bags are with us, the place is beautiful, and our trip commences.