Bailey's Big Adventure: A Trip to D.F.

This descanso (my weekend off) was one of the most enjoyable ones yet. Friday I spent most of the day walking around downtown Cuernavaca and Saturday I visited Mexico city with Wesleigh! Wesleigh is a fellow volunteer who is originally from the best city in the world, SEATTLE! haha Wesleigh, Meghan and I often brag about how great Seattle is to the other volunteers. As a side-note/random fun fact about the Northwest, out of all of the NPH volunteers (about 34 I think?) in the 9 countries, 16 are from the Northwest. That's more than any other area in the US and even in the world. Yay for the great Northwest! Anyways...Other than being picked up in Mexico City 4 months ago when I arrived, I haven't had the chance to explore the city so I was excited to finally make time for it this weekend. Wesleigh and I took a ruta (city bus) down to the Pullman station (it's like a greyhound station) to catch a bus to Mexico city. After the 1 hour bus ride, we hopped on the metro system to head to the zocalo, or the main square. To figure out where to go, we used a magazine article titled "Mexico City Unmasked: 20 insider tips to demystify the metropolis" that Meghan's mom sent her (thanks Meghan's mom!). Our first stop was to a rooftop cafe called "El Mayor". The word we used to describe it was "swanky". We joked about how we felt like scrubs compared to the other people at the cafe. I enjoyed a iced chai tea and a Cappresse panina and Wes ordered a panini as well. The food and view were great, but what I really enjoyed was just relaxing and conversing with a friend. :) For the rest of the time, we just walked around the city. Some areas reminded me of downtown Portland or Seattle, except there are WAY more people in Mexico city. The magazine article said "Known locally as D.F., for Distrito Federal, Mexico City sprawls across almost 600 square miles-- it's roughly the size of Houston but packs in four times as many people." We stopped at a bakery called Pasteleria Ideal, which was founded in 1927. It is a self-serve bakery, like most bakeries in Mexico, so you grab a tray and some prongs and go at it! Apparently we were a little too eager when we got in trouble for trying to take cookies out of a cupboard that apparently was off-limits. The best part was when they packed all of our cookies into a cute little box and tied a ribbon around it. On the bus ride home, Wes and I took a bite of each of our cookie choices. They were a little dry (typical for pan dulce in Mexico) but my favorite was the one with a little caramel in the middle. All in all, my first trip to Mexico City was a great experience and I can't wait to go again to discover more of it's hidden gems.

Here is the link to the pictures!

Today (Sunday), I walked down the street with all of the volunteers who have the same descanso as me (Wes, Sarah, Alli & Natascha) to use the pool at a nearby hotel. It was really relaxing to just sit in the sun, read magazines and listen to music while drinking a mango margarita. I made sure to cover my back from the sun, but I guess I forgot about my legs because right now they are lobster red. Nothing is as bad as when I burn my back though, so this is no biggie.

I'm so grateful for this wonderful descanso weekend. I think next time we might go on this 10 hour hike....haha I hope I don't die!