Bienvenido a México

First days en los Estados Unidos Mexicanos

14.07.2014

Though it took a while before I figured out how to get to my gate in Paris, it was nothing compared to the time I spent at the Mexican airport. I arrived a bit late in Mexico City as my plane had to circle above the airport for 30 minutes due to an air traffic jam. Going through immigration was not difficult, they barely looked at my papers but the whole thing is super unorganized and has taken more time than was necessary; f.e. the person organizing the lanes is more than useless. After that my luggage was checked very thoroughly, each bag, and they asked me questions about it! My luggage was checked 5 times during my first 3 days, at the airport a couple of times, at the bus station and on the road from the trunk of a car when we were stopped on the way to Pachuca. The Mexican airport is also not the most well- structured one and I have never experienced such a slowliness in selling tickets! I was repeatedly told that I cannot buy sim cards anywhere and the wifi is even worse than in Paris, something I could not believe when I was in France. But then again, I am spoiled from Estonia, even Germany is far behind in this regard. So I had some trouble telling my friend when I will be arriving as there were also no public coin-phones, only payable with visa card, and of course mine was not accepted. Just as with almost all ATMs which forced me to open a Mexican bank account, which is a foreigner-unfriendly process due to its (new) requirements.

With Eduardo, who I had met just like 2 months before in Riga when my friend Jasmin came to visit me in the Baltics, I went around Puebla. Puebla is one of 31 Mexican states and also the name of its capital. Its origin in today's form is from the Spaniards who founded this place 1531 in order to secure a trade route from Mexico City to the port of Veracruz. But settlement dates back thousands of years, the youngest ones known by the general population are the Aztecz. Those before include tribes and cultures with funny names such as Mixtecs, Olmec-Xicalancas and Nahuas. Earlier findings cannot be connected to names.

At a certain point in time the Spanish people came and the great pacifist Hernán Cortés called for peace talks, f.e. in 1519 with the Massacre of Cholula (an old city, now part of Puebla). It was peaceful after that. As can be seen in the video, the Spaniards also tried to take over land spiritually and built their own Christian buildings. Today many Aztecs pyramid are covered by plants, some can be entered for a small fee.

Pachuca seems like a cursed place...