One of Eitan’s close friends was getting married at the end of October and there would be a week of downtime on the boat with him gone. It didn’t seem like enough time to fly home and Guaymas didn’t offer much in the way of tourism activities, so I decided to fly to Mexico City for the week. I booked flights with similar departure and arrival times to Eitan’s so we could go to and from the airport together, which was quite a mission in itself. The closest airport to San Carlos/Guaymas is in Hermosillo, the capital city of the state of Sonora. To get there, we had to order a taxi at 5am, then take a two-hour bus ride to Hermosillo, then another 30-minute taxi from the bus terminal to the airport. We finally arrived around 8:30 AM for our 10 AM flights, and later said our goodbyes.
My flight into Mexico City arrived in the early afternoon and I decided to try out the subway system to get to my hostel. Mexico City has the second largest subway system in North America, behind New York. The fare was only 5 pesos per ride, or about 25 cents, and they even have designated train cars and waiting areas for women and children, complete with security guards, which made me feel even safer. It was easy to navigate the subway system and I arrived at my hostel before sunset.
Since we didn’t have much internet access before booking the trip, I just googled “5-day Mexico City Itinerary” and found what seemed like a realistic itinerary for me during my stay. The travel blog recommended Hostel Home, located in the neighborhood Roma Norte, and they happened to have a bed available at only $10 a night, perfect! After arriving at Hostel Home, I was greeted by the handful of people in the lobby, asking where I had just come from. I responded “Guaymas”, then followed up with “Hermosillo”, and could tell by the confused faces that no one had any clue where this was. I then explained I live on a boat in the Sea of Cortez and was surprised to see that no one had even heard of the SOC, either, despite it being a major geographic feature of the country. I came to find out that the northern half of Mexico seems to be a blind spot for most tourists and everyone I met during my time in Mexico City was primarily interested in the Yucatan Peninsula, Chiapas, and Oaxaca at the southern end of the country.
After arriving at the hostel, I was starving and asked the receptionist where to find some good street tacos. He gave me directions to a few taco stands down the street and I could smell the delicious food as I approached. There were about 6 stands, all selling what seemed to be the same kinds of tacos. Maybe each has some kind of differentiator, but this is something that always confuses me about Mexican culture. I will elaborate on this later. So, I picked the stand that was surrounded by the most people and ordered a couple tacos, then made my way to the other stands, ordering a few more as I moved along. Each taco was 10 pesos, or 50 cents, and each was delicious. I returned to the hostel completely satisfied having only spent $3 total on food.
Upon returning to the hostel, I met my bunkmate James, a 21-year old from England who just finished college and was planning to spend a year or so traveling from Mexico to Patagonia. Based on the way he left his phone and wallet unattended, I could tell this was probably his first time backpacking through a foreign country and tried to give him some advice on staying in hostels and the security of his valuables. Since he had also just arrived as well, I convinced him to book the tour of Teotihuacan pyramids the following day with me and we set off to meet the tour group in the morning. The tour had a total of six people. We boarded a bus and it was about an hour drive outside of the city to get to the pyramids. We learned about the ancient civilizations that occupied this landscape over the millennia and were surprised to learn that the city was eventually occupied by the Aztecs for many years before its eventual decline. It was really cool to see the large pyramid structures, but unfortunately, they were closed due to COVID and we could only observe them from the base of the steps.
