Trip to Mexico City

We finally did it - we travelled to Mexico City. Up until now we had travelled through the city only via the airport. I needed to update my passport, and felt it better to go to the Embassy myself to make sure everything was correct - especially the passport photos.


For those of you who don't know, Mexico City is huge! The entire population of Canada is about the same as Mexico City. To keep smog down, they have rules about what kinds of vehicles can drive on what days - and since we drive a 4x4 truck, I didn't even want to try to drive it there. So for the first time, we tried the bus system.


The bus system in Mexico is far better than good old Greyhound in Canada or the US. They have different levels - from economy to executive to first class buses. The prices are reasonable if not down-right great. So here is how we scheduled our trip -


We took a city bus ($12 pesos/$1 US) from our little town into Cardel, then took a $20 peso ($1.67) taxi ride to the ADO bus station in town. The city buses around here are like retired school buses - pretty run down - all standard transmissions - and a/c only available through the windows when the bus is in motion. Then we bought our tickets for an ADO bus to Jalapa, Veracruz. My ticket was $50 pesos ($4.17 US) and the boys were half price each. The ADO bus is more like what I remember Greyhound to be like. They were air conditioned, but there wasn't much room to move around. The ride from Cardel to Jalapa is less than an hour, so no big deal.


Then we waited in Jalapa for a few hours while we waited for the next bus to Mexico City. Oh, I have to tell you about the restrooms at the bus station. You have to pay to use them - no free bathrooms. It costs $3 pesos/person (or child) ($.25US) - not a lot, but somehow the idea of paying to use the restroom in a bus station seemed wrong. In addition to that - once you are in the washroom - you have to notice the toilet paper rolls on the wall - if not, you will not find any paper in the stall. Perhaps the Mexican people are better at guessing how much paper they will be needing BEFORE they go into the stall - I am not used to making this estimation. Of course, the first time I used the washroom - I did NOT notice the dispensers on the wall, so luckily I have the habit of keeping some extra tissues in my purse for emergencies......




From Jalapa to Mexico City we took the executive class - ADO-GL. This cost me about $280 pesos ($23US) and once again the kids were half price each. This bus was much more comfy - screens lowered down like you would find on an airplane, they provided you with head sets, beverages, coffee and tea service at the back of the bus and mens and ladies washrooms. The seats were roomier and more comfortable. The boys of course thought this bus ride was great - they got to watch movies (although they were only available in Spainsh) and they had room to stretch. The bus goes non-stop to Mexico City - so we were expecting to arrive by about 8:30.


We picked a bad day to travel. A big rain storm hit Mexico City - flooding the underpasses, making travel nearly impossible. It took us about 2 hours to get to the bus terminal once we were inside Mexico City. We stopped in front of a Walmart for at least 45 minutes of that time, - too bad I didn't know how long - could have gone in to shop....



Once we finally got to the bus terminal, we found the taxi pick-up location. We couldn't believe our eyes - a huge line! It is now 10:30 at night - we are all hungry, tired, and the line goes on forever. We stood in line for a few minutes thinking that it will still move along quickly - WRONG. Of course, the taxis that serve the bus terminal are exclusive - so not just any taxi can go there. Add to that the problems with the roads, and only one taxi every 15 minutes was arriving to take people where they wanted to go in a city of 35+ million people! We left the line to try to find food since I didn't think the boys could hold out for who knew how long. Only one place was open - and they were only serving a limited menu as apparently their power was out. The bus station was flooded in many areas - so I'm not sure if the power was turned off due to the flooding or knocked out - either way - no pretty. We got a club sandwich for the boys to share and headed back to the line. Now it was even longer. The line had to be at least 50 meters long. I took a photo of about 1/3 of the line in front of us - the remainder wound around the corner to the taxi pick-up location.The photo is a little blurry as it was dark, but it gives you some idea. Having eaten, the boys were tired, so they layed on the ground and moved up when they had to.

We finally got to my in-laws appartment at about 12:30 in the morning! Whew!

The next morning I went to the embassy to take care of business. After spending most of the day running around - goal accomplished. I returned to find out that all the other retired couples had temporarily adopted my children as grandchildren for the day - G had so much fun - he played basketball with a couple of them - one of which seemed to hit it off with. C spent time with his Grandmother who let him find all kinds of games and print-outs on-line. We met a cool couple who know my Grandparents in Hayward California.



Our in-laws (suegros) live in the appartments behind the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Temple in Mexico City. The appartments are church owned - as they are currently serving a Temple Service mission. The next morning I took a few photos of the boys in front of the appartments and then the temple, and we were on our way back. Well, that was it for our visit - I saw very little of the city other than the Polanco area where the embassy is located. We headed out in the morning, this time our trip back was fast and event-free. We just might consider another trip just to visit sometime.....