3/23 – Our Boat Hits a Tree
Today we hit Chapultepec park yet again. We wanted to see the Voladores (the Flying Men) and get on the lake with some rowboats.
The Voladores are right outside of the Anthropology museum and do pretty much continuous shows throughout the day. It is pretty cool to see and I recommend it. No charge, but a cup is passed after each show for coins.
After seeing them we headed for the lake to get some rowboats. We wanted one for five, but they were all out so we took one for four and my wife stayed ashore. You need to leave an ID as a deposit (my US driver’s license was fine) and it cost us $6 for one hour. They also have paddleboats. The lake is big and it was fun to row around it and see all of the other people out and about. However, our destiny lay to the south with bigger boats. After circumnavigating the lake, we headed for Xochimilco (pronounced so-chee-MIL-co).
To me, Xochimilco was the highlight of our trip. Getting there was pretty easy…2 pesos for a metro to Tasqueña and then 2 pesos on the Tren Lijero (Light Train) to the last stop. Or almost to the last stop. The last stop is Xochimilco and it is under construction so you get off one stop before that. Lots of taxis are waiting for you there…we passed them all by. We saw a bus with the name “Embarcadero” and hopped on – 3 pesos (tourist prices?). Anyway, that was a waste as it is a 10min “L” shaped walk to the Embarcaderos (the places where the boats are tied up) from the place where the train lets you off.
I had done my research and knew the “normal” price for the boats was 160 pesos for an hour and that price was per boat and not per person. The first guy that approached me told me 160, but then once we were seated on the boat tried to tell me it was per person. We walked off.
We then got prices of 400, 300, and 200 pesos. Finally we met a nice Mexican woman who told us to walk down to the next Embarcadero (a 2min walk) and we could get a good price. We had barely begun when we met a man from there who offered us his boat for 110 pesos…a little more than $10. We were off.
Right before we left he asked us if we minded sharing the boat with 3 women. The boats are huge…ours could probably hold 15 people easily, so we said no problem, the more the merrier. That being done we were off.
It was good we had the Mexicans with us (two sisters and their mother, all older than us) as we had no clue what to do. Not speaking Spanish (and no one speaking English) meant we had to resort to hand signals and pantomimes. The ladies helped us signal the guys in boats for food and we enjoyed candy apples, potato chips (not exactly, but close enough), and corn on the cob (with lime!). The food costs between $1 and $2 for the “junk” stuff and $2-$5 for the “real” food (tortas, tacos, etc.).
The boat also stops at a “garden” where you get off, walk around for 15min, and get back on. Again, without the ladies there we would have thought this was the end of the trip.
It is hard to describe the experience. Picture huge colorful floating barge/raft/boat things floating down a narrow river. Now throw in smaller canoe type boats that zip in and out selling everything from food to flowers to songs (bands will serenade you as you float down the river). Now add in an inexperienced driver (they steer and row with a long pole that pushes off the river bed) and you have all the ingredients for a fun time.
Our guy hit everything – other boats, the shore, and a tree. That was, in my opinion, the best. The Mexicans with us seemed to enjoy it too. My kids got up on the boat and danced as mariachis sailed past us. They suntanned on the edges, they ran around and played. Again, it is hard to describe, but there are dozens of these boats floating around. Most are full with families. Some have hired “food” boats to trail them and cook for them. Others have band boats attached. Everywhere you look you see colors and people laughing, dancing, and having fun.
Note, we went on a Sunday which is when I recommend going. Other days (except for maybe Saturday) are not as busy and I don’t think you’ll get the true vibe of Xochimilco.
One last note – you’ll be offered drinks before you leave. Say how many you want and you’ll get a bucket with them in it. When you return, you’ll be charged for whatever you drink (ours were a little over $1 each – possibly a tourist price).
Total cost for the trip including food and drinks – just under $20. Hitting a tree – priceless.
With that experience under out belts we returned back to the Inn and went to bed as we had to get up early the next morning.
3/24 – I have a Heart Attack
OK, not a real heart attack but it felt like it after climbing the Sun pyramid. There are great resources online on how to get to Teotihuacan (pronounced tay'-uh-tee'-wah-kahn) by public transportation. I will merely add here that it is a) easy and b) cheap. A 2 peso metro ticket to Autobuses del Norte and then a $3 bus ticket to the pyramids ($1.50 for kids). The bus you want is all the way to the left when entering the bus station.
When standing in line for tickets I heard some English being spoken. Immediately I turned to find the source and discovered it was a couple and two kids. The relationships are complicated, but short version – man was an ex-Spanish teacher who was now a principal and the kids used to be his students at another school and he was taking them to Mexico. Oh yeah, they have their own kids (3 of them) who were left at home for this trip. Anyway, we hooked up with them and found we have identical travel likes and dislikes. They helped us barter with some of the vendors at the pyramids and we helped them…have nice company :)
The pyramids were pretty amazing to me, although having seen no others I had nothing to compare it to. The view you get from the Sun pyramid is incredible. And when you climb back down you are like, “I climbed that?!?” For the Moon pyramid you can only climb halfway up, but since the steps are so high it feels like you made the whole trip.
There is a restaurant there called La Gruta which is inside of a cave. The food was the best we had on the trip, but it was also the most expensive. We just ordered appetizers and (with tip) it was $65. To put it in perspective, that was one-half of the total money we spent on food for the entire trip.
Anyway, we headed back to the Red Tree House to prepare for dinner. Remember way back at the beginning of this trip report where I said we had bartered a dinner from Jorge? I asked him to make it something small. Well, small it wasn’t.
But before dinner Jorge gave us a tour of the rest of the B&B because by that point we were the only ones left. He had more guests arriving the next day, but it was empty for now. The house is beautiful and we saw hummingbirds in the garden. After the tour it was dinnertime and we expected something small but good.
What we got was a two-course dinner (soup followed by a main course) that was excellent. Jorge’s friend Mario came over (we had met him the night before) and brought some special dessert. Needless to say, this was far more than we expected and we were overwhelmed by Jorge’s generosity.
After dinner, the kids went to play with Abril and my wife and I joined Jorge and Mario for a little wine. Well, a lot of wine. We had a blast and all shared some personal stories. I don’t believe I have the right to reproduce them here, but it was nice for both Jorge and Mario to open up about their lives and experiences. It was also easy to see the pride that Jorge has in the Red Tree House, and it is pride well placed. Part way through the night a woman came in who was living in Mexico and was looking for a hotel for her parents who were coming to visit. She left an hour later after some good wine and conversation.
That night, to me, was the epitome of the feeling you get while staying at the Red Tree House. I didn’t feel like a “guest” of Jorge’s, I felt like a friend. It is a relaxing sensation that is hard to describe, but it feels so good.
Eventually we said goodnight. Jorge had guests to welcome in the morning and we had to start our last full day in the city.