Today was PACKED! We started the day bright and early at 4am and quickly got ready to run downstairs and be picked up at 4:20. A shuttle came to get us and we met two American guys (Chris from Florida and Jeremy from Denver) while we were waiting on the sidewalk. Niina was also coming with us and she joined a little later. The shuttle was empty when we were picked up so we each got a row of two seats to ourselves which was nice. We all tried to sleep on the one and a half hour drive out to Teotihuacán, but it was SO bumpy for no reason and we were picking up more people along the way. We were dropped off at a restaurant / gift shop kinda area for a quick snack (fried empanada shell with sugar, coffee and a little box of cereal), and then we were split into groups (ours was orange) and told to follow our guides for further instruction. We were instructed to leave our backpacks in lockers here and then head over to the shuttles. We drove another 15 minutes (initially with the shuttle door fully open, which had us questioning a few things about the safety of this tour but that was quickly rectified).
Once we got to our destination, we were brought over to the hot air balloons! The tour people took SO many pictures of us all around the balloons it was honestly getting annoying. “Oh one with you three, okay now one with just you two, each person individually, different pose let’s do it all again!” Once the photoshoot was over and the balloons were all inflated, we were instructed to get inside.
Our group got very lucky. We got a balloon with a small basket, only 10 people. The basket was square instead of a longer rectangle, which meant we’d all be relatively close to the flame. I was wearing my birks (not the smartest decision but I was running on 4hrs of sleep), so my toes were bare and it was like 9°C on the ground which was a little chilly but thankfully the flame kept us warm in the balloon. The basket was split into five compartments, one for the pilot and four for passengers. Maman and I were in one corner ourselves, and Niina was squished in with Chris and Jeremy. There were also a few other people we didn’t know in the other two compartments. The pilot gave us a little speech about what to expect, how to brace for landing and stuff, including the fact that he cannot direct the balloon at all, only control altitude. This was a surprising bit of news to everyone I think, but we just glazed right past it. We stood side-by-side and smiled for MORE pictures before our balloon slowly lifted off the ground.
I’ve always thought hot air balloon rides would be peaceful, but it turns out that whenever the pilot needs to adjust the flame at all, it’s really loud! It was a little startling at times. There was also a speaker playing Spanish party music the whole time which was not relaxing, as I’m sure you can imagine. The ride was beautiful though and luckily not cold! I was actually warmer in the balloon than I had been on the ground earlier. We were in the air for about 45 minutes, flying over the pyramids of Teotihuacán and the rest of the town.
The pilot was very precise, we flew super close over some trees a couple times and we just slowly floated over them at the last minute. Our landing was smooth, we had to bend our knees and brace our backs against the walls of the basket but thanks to the three men on the ground pulling down on one side, we didn’t tip over or anything. After the flight, we all had a small glass of champagne which apparently is tradition.
The sunrise was gorgeous and we got to watch it all throughout the flight with the other balloons floating around us!
At this point, the organization of the tour was extremely poor. We thought we had left our bags with ALL our things in the lockers in the restaurant and that we might not get them back before heading to the pyramids, which would have been awful. Then, we thought we might be going back to the restaurant just to get our bags and take a shuttle straight back to the pyramids, we really had absolutely no clue. It turns out that the plan was actually fine, we just weren’t aware of it because nobody told us! Our pilot drove us back to the restaurant where we had a real breakfast. There was a big buffet with salads and fruit and yogurt, but we kinda all felt like warm food. We found another area with chilaquiles, chicken, and soup, and then across the room there was also an egg and quesadilla station.
I ended up having a bit of nopales (cactus) salad, some fresh veggies and cheese, some guava in yogurt, some watermelon, some chilaquiles, a bit of chicken and some of the omlette Maman waited in line for (I gave up on eggs the line was moving so slowly).
At 9:10, we grabbed our bags from the lockers and got another extremely bumpy shuttle ride to the pyramids. We were driving on cobble stone most of the way. The driver gave us an hour to tour the pyramids by ourselves, which we felt like wasn’t that long at all but since we didn’t have a guide it ended up being okay. I’m really glad we got to go so early in the morning because it wasn’t that busy and it wasn’t too hot yet!
We wandered around the ruins for a while, passing all the vendors setting up their wares for the morning. Initially, we were on the lookout for vanilla because Carlos from the butterfly tour told us they had the best vanilla here, but it quickly became apparent that Carlos was wrong. People were selling beautiful handmade crafts, carved sculptures, textiles, and lots of obsidian trinkets.
I ended up getting an obsidian Mayan calendar which can also be used as an eclipse lense if you look at the sun through it. The lady charged me $200 MXN (brought down from $250, I didn’t even have to haggle she just saw me hesitating).
We walked all the way down a long path lined with ruins to the pyramid of the moon (smaller, but with more definition than the pyramid of the sun by where the shuttle dropped us off).
There was a little row of more permanent shops down by the pyramid but we only had about 15 minutes left to get back at this point, so we just walked to the shuttle. Our guy was waiting with the shuttle in the parking lot so we hopped inside and thankfully there was only the group from our hostel plus one more guy going back because that meant we each had our own row of seats again. I had absolutely ZERO legroom and it was another hour and a half back to the hostel but I slept and read a bit so it was okay.
I really needed to go to a pharmacy to get some allergy meds to see if they’d help with my stuffy nose so Maman came with me. We walked a couple blocks and I got floss, Allegra, and Tedra which Carlos from the butterflies recommended in case we get travellers diarrhea.
We passed the Mercado Juarez on the street and Maman saw an ice cream stand just inside so we decided to stop. I got a scoop of strawberries and cream, and she got one scoop of lime and one of coffee. The fruit flavours were amazing, coffee was a bit watery.
Back at the hostel, we didn’t do much. I went up on the terrace for a little bit because it was hot in our room and then I came back down and just hung out.
Around 4, Maman and I were getting pretty hungry so we went back out to this little Gordita and Quesadilla stand we’d passed on our way back from the pharmacy. We got a chicken quesadilla and a bean gordita which were both very good, the girl who served us was on her phone the ENTIRE time though and clearly didn’t give a single shit so that was minus points.
Claudia (one of the owners of the hostel) had organized a lucha libre night for a bunch of us so we met on the terrace around 7:30pm. She led a big group of us down the sidewalk to our first stop, a taco stand. I made friends with Colleen from Vancouver Island, Adam from Belfast Ireland, and Lily from England during the walk.
At the taco stand, Claudia separated us into vegetarian and omnivore groups, then just handed out plates of mystery tacos. They were good, but I had absolutely no idea what I was eating. After we’d all finished she gathered us around and told us it was a mix of beef thigh, neck, and tongue. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten tongue before, and I definitely haven’t had the neck meat. The neck was the greasiest and fattiest and, in my opinion, the worst.
We could’ve had more if we wanted to, the second round was Longaniza which is a red-ish sausage, but I was good and full after the first ones. After supper we continued walking until we reached Pulquería La Hija de los Apaches. We went up the stairs and IMMEDIATELY were hit with a wall of sweltering heat. At first we were just kinda standing around by the entrance but it was a salsa bar and there was live music so eventually people started dancing. A guy called Sean from Austin (also from the hostel) came over to a group of us and asked if anyone danced. Everyone else was saying no no no but I’m not letting my six months of classes go to waste so I danced with him for a bit! It was super sweaty and crowded but it was fun. Sean had been taking classes for three years and was a good lead.
After about three songs, we couldn’t do any more so we slipped outside with some of the others to wait for the rest of the group, at which point they switched from salsa to techno music anyways so it was good timing.
We walked around the corner from the Pulquería to the Arena México where we were given lucha masks and taught the traditional chants so we could join in with the rest of the crowd. We were given our tickets, told to go up through a line of police officers who patted us down and then Claudia abandoned us at the door haha. We walked up the stairs into the concourse and were shown to our seats. The arena was packed! We were going to go to lucha on Tuesday but Claudia texted me and said it was a better show on Fridays so we decided to come tonight. It was definitely a big show! There were people walking around and yelling selling micheladas (beer with lime juice and a chamoy rim) and snacks, so Maman and I shared a michelada. It was okay, chamoy isn’t my favourite the beer was the best part.
The fights had started at 8 or 8:30 but we got there around 9:30 which was perfect. It was very interesting to watch the crowd, see how into it everybody was, and watch the choreographed moves (some of which HAVE to hurt for real), but once I’d seen one fight and gotten the experience it started feeling pretty ridiculous. I went and got one more beer with Niina, and some others went out for drinks after the lucha ended but a group of us just walked back to the hostel. Maman and I were EXHAUSTED from the day! All I wanted was a good long sleep.
See you in the next one!