The Metro Market

Well, today was the last day of this trip unless you count the day of traveling back to the States. I try to do that especially when we have our first class upgrades, but it makes for a pretty boring blog post. So this will be it.
We left Merida this morning and flew on Aeromexico to Mexico City. We checked in at the Hilton Hotel right inside Terminal One - which is always tres convenient for next day travel. This time, though, we also picked it so that we could quickly drop off our luggage and head in to the city to visit the Museum of Anthropology. The original plan was to get a little more of a feel for the Mayans and other ancient Mexican cultures, and certainly we did. It's a great museum with amazing pieces so that now Michael is thinking we need to visit Aztec sites.
BUT, it wasn't only ancient societies and cultures that we observed today. You see, we took the metro from the airport to the museum. Now given that many of our friends would have had reservations about coming to Mexico in the first place, more of them would have hopped a cab rather than take the subway. However, the metro here costs 3 pesos. Seriously, 3 pesos. No matter where you go. That's less than 30 cents. To anywhere. How could we pass up that kind of bargain just based on the cost savings alone?
Yet, we got even more value than we bargained for. We got to study anthropology. From the young couples engaging in PDA's that were just this side of having actual sex to the vendors on the trains, it was truly enlightening. The salesmen were amazing. They were selling everything from 'chiclets' (in this case Orbit gum for 3 pesos a package or 2 for 5 pesos) to candy to otter pops to books to mix cds. The last guys must be part of a franchise because even though they were all selling different songs they all had the same cd player hooked to the similar 'backpack' speaker system and they'd play a few seconds of each song and then announce it like a radio dj.
It would drive me crazy if I had to put up with all of that on a daily basis, but we are still on vacation so it was just plain interesting. A little touch of Mexicana, so to speak.
So, signing off for now but not to worry. Our next trip is only a few weeks away: South Africa and Mozambique. Until then, Happy Trails.