Mexico
Cinco de Mayo

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    • Day 232

      Mexico City

      April 27, 2023 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

      Express visit of the capital of 🇲🇽

      We wanted to skip Mexico City because we don't like big cities and with our van it's always complicated and we are worried of being robbed.
      But our friends invited us to stay at their place which is safe and easy to get to.
      Google maps told us it's only 1h20 to their place so we decided to visit them. As we reached the city we got stopped by a policeman. He told us that with our van we were not allowed to drive on the fast lane in the middle and driving there would cost as a 400chf fine. Vini and I were about to start to arguing and telling them that it's not true and we wont pay the fine as he said that they will make an exception and let us go but we would have to drive on the lateral road.
      Later we saw some signs that trucks and cargo vehicles were not allowed but our van is far from that.. As we asked our local friends, they told us that they also have heard some stories like this and the police likes to make a show and ask for money everywhere they can.
      Did you know that in Mexico you don't have to take driving lessons or do an exam? You just pay 200pesos and there you go. Many people don't even have a license, they just drive!

      We left the van at our friends place and went for a short sightseeing tour with our friend Carol and her son Diego. The city is huge but it's very green! Beautiful colonial architecture, trees and plants everywhere.
      The next day we went to a climbing sector only 30min out of the city center where you had the best view over the city. Short climbing session, rewarded with delicious quesadillas next to the parking. We tried to leave the city early because of the traffic. It took us still around 2hours to get out of it. Was also challenging finding the right way as google maps always wanted us to drive on the middle lane but we wanted to avoid it because of the police..

      After leaving the city we crossed the impressiv volcano "Popocatepetl". 5426m high is this activ 🌋
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    Cinco de Mayo, Q20264952

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