On The Auditory Road

I had a truly beautiful sleep that night in Mexico despite the sound of distant cries and gunshots and the fact my bed was covered in what I can only assume were blood and spunk stains. I handed my key into the reception and explained as best I could that I wouldn’t be needing another night there (I would find my couch surfing host tonight [at least that was the plan at the time])

I went and found the nearest metro stop and purchased a single ticket for 3 Peso/ 15p WTF?! How the hell this system made any money I’ve no idea but I liked how much it cost. The train came and I simply got off at a stop I thought would be vaguely in the centre of the city which actually worked pretty well.

I walked down a few roads, ate some beautiful street food and went off to see what I could find, I eventually came across a beautiful Catholic church or shrine, something of that ilk anyway which you enter by walking down some steps only to step inside and find that the building is huge and beautifully ornate. I sat down and contemplated life for a moment and tried to work out what it was that I really wanted from it. After 5 minutes mass started to my complete surprise, I hadn’t been to mass in a long time but decided to stay and see how it was. I had a wonderful revelation during the service, I didn’t need to be here, I didn’t need to keep traveling to find what I wanted because I already had pretty much everything, I would return home early to my family that love my and my friends who I love just as much (and I hope feel mutually.) I smiled inanely all the way through mass and left feeling totally content, I would enjoy my day in Mexico City and then head north that night on the bus back to the USA to continue my journey up the east coast.

After some more wandering I got to the main cathedral, government buildings and public square. I visited a photo/video exhibition set up for the countries bicentennial which was very well presented (and had extremely well produced sound) I clapped with all the others and made my way out.

I had a look round the cathedral and realised just how much time, effort and money went into building the place, everything was made of gold or else some other expensive material but the place was truly revered (unlike most holy places in the UK) and it was nice to see so many people with real faith. Faith of any kind is a huge comfort.

I was boiling hot by this point and went to buy some ice cream; I had chocolate in a home made waffle cone (she little made it in front of my eyes) with melted chocolate on top (which obviously went hard after hitting the ice cream) and sprinkles, it was the best ice cream I’ve ever had (that I can remember, I know I had good gelato in Italy but I was too young to remember properly.)

After some more aimless wandering I came across some sort of rally outside the city courts, I had no idea what I was supporting but I shouted angrily along with the rest of the crowd and then joined the street party that spontaneously broke out; singing and dancing with the locals. This was very welcoming and everybody acted like I was their neighbour or best friend.

After all this frivolity I decided I would start to head back towards the bus station. I did this, purchased my ticket to Austin and was all set to go, I had 3 hours to spend doing whatever I liked so I bought 1l of tequila for about 7 quid (and it was really good tequila as well!) sat down at a roadside food stand, ordered a chorizo Torta (which was the shit) talked to a few locals, they initially laughed when I put so much chili on my food but gave me great respect when I ate it with great enjoyment.

After short talks with two guys named Viktor and Julio and being asked for about the 100th time by the same woman something in Spanish which I didn’t understand and me for the 100th time replying “NO HABLO ESPANOL” I was finally ready to get the long bus trip back up to Monterrey and from there into the USA and up into Texas to Austin where the start of SXSW festival beckoned.