Hello Mexico!

Well, we're back in Mexico. We'll be in the country at least for the next two months I would say. No firm plans, but we want to see the Copper Canyon before we leave! Then maybe in the mid January time frame we'll tour around Arizona for a month or two in Sherman the motorhome. We don't arrive back at the motorhome for another three weeks, so we'll figure out our plan then.

So, we're in Mexico City, but really it's only for a stopover.

There was no easy connection for our flight to Puerto Escondido so we decided to spend two nights and a full day here before our flight to the beach. We've been to Mexico City before, so we're a little bit familiar with it.

We had planned on staying with the same couchsurfing host that we had stayed with the last time we were here, and he was looking forward to seeing us as well. But he was called out of town on business at the last minute and we only found out last week. So we tried to find a last minute replacement host but it didn't work out.

So I decided to try Priceline's "express" hotel deal. This is where they tell you what price a particular hotel is and approximately what part of the city it's in, but they don't tell you what hotel it is until you've bought the deal! So there's a certain amount of risk involved, but at least you have a place to stay and at a decent price.

I got us a deal for $33 USD per night. Once taxes, fees, and exchange rate were factored in it came to $90 CAN ($77 USD) for the two nights. Not bad.

Turned out that we got the Hotel Premier, an older property, walking distance to Mexico City's historic central district. The location was great, but the (somewhat dated) reviews weren't so great. But, I had also read that it was recently renovated, so we were optimistic.

Our flight yesterday from San Francisco was a little delayed and we got into MEX at around 3:45pm. It was probably the fastest customs and border clearance ever. Always a great way to be welcomed to a country! Thank you Mexico! There's a reason we keep coming back.

I had researched the best way to get to the hotel, and although the subway is dirt cheap (3 pesos, about 25 cents!) it would have been three line changes. Instead, a better option for us was the "metrobus" system. A little more expensive at 30 pesos (around $2.75) each but the one bus from the airport would drop us within a 15 minute walk from our hotel.

We went out to wait for the bus and read the sign that said cash was not accepted. So we had to go back into the terminal and buy a metrobus card. It cost 10 pesos for the card plus a 40 peso credit. We'll have to put some more pesos on the card in order to use it again for the ride back to the airport tomorrow.

Made it to the hotel without a problem and sure enough, our reservation was there. The normal price of the hotel is 700 pesos ($63) per night, so we did okay. Sure enough, the hotel has been recently renovated and it's totally fine!

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant. The bill was 400 pesos (about $36) including two beers, a glass of wine, and tax and tip. Not bad!

No pics today. We have internet, but it's not great. Maybe we'll find a TelCel store today and we'll get our cellular internet stick reactivated.