Duct Tape to the Rescue

Mexico City, State of Mexico – Tlayacapan, Morelos, Mexico

We’re going to start this post with a taste of Thailand. One of the many great things about big cosmopolitan cities is that they tend to have food from all over the world. Mexico City is no exception.

And the really good thing is that we were with Diana’s cousin Ann, who is from Thailand. Ann brings us to a place where she knows the owner and she orders for all of us. (I love it when people who really know just order for us . . . Diana’s dad used to do that in Chinese restaurants. He would order these big whole fishes and a bunch of other amazing dishes. Diana’s brothers and I would compete to see who could eat the most . . . So good!)

So great to connect with Ann, Diana’s cousin Emily, her husband Cliff, and Emily’s friend from high school, Nancy. Emily and Nancy are supposed to be on a girls trip – but Cliff had the time off and came along for the ride. Which was good – because otherwise it would have been me and four women. Would have been tough. 🙂

Turns out that Nancy is herself super fun and interesting. She tells us that she and her husband hiked various pieces of South America from Quito, Ecuador, to Ushuaia, Argentina over a four month period of time shortly after they started dating. Obviously interesting to us given our future . . .

She tells us her husband grew up until he was five or six in Hong Kong. He’s super into rock climbing, hiking and biking. Seems kind of going against the grain for a guy from Hong Kong. Sounds like someone we would want to get to know . . .

During dinner Diana and Nancy figure out that Nancy’s husband’s brother is a guy named Ben – who, it turns out, Diana and I know because he did his residency with Diana in Minneapolis in the ‘90s. We even brought Ben skiing. 

(Ben was not an amazing skier. As I recall I loaned him some equipment, but he somehow managed to go down one hill, take a hard left turn into the woods and break the skis. But he was a great cook and a wonderful doctor and friend . . .)

Such a small world!

And can I just say how great it was to have Thai last night. I mean Mexican is great and all. But after a month of tacos we have been craving vegetables – and maybe something slightly different. So nice.

This after we made pasta in the airbnb the night before. A welcome break from Mexican food – making us that much more eager to partake going forward. After all, Oaxaca is supposed to have unrivaled Mole, and cheese.

More on how amazing Mexico City is . . .

Diana and I biked some 32 miles around the city yesterday. So fun. We went to the Coyoacán neighborhood, where Frida Kahlo lived and where the Frida Kahlo Museum is still housed.

Really nice – and although we didn’t make it to the museum because of a ticketing snafu on our part – we did meet some new friends in the neighborhood.

We also went to the National Palace area – and that was amazing as well. Huge cobblestone plaza. Super impressive buildings. Great energy. 

Finally, Diana suggested that we go to one of the Mexican wrestling matches – lucho libre – with the cousins. So crazy. Super fakey – but those guys are good athletes, and the fans are SO into it. 

We are just so impressed with Mexico City. It’s like a combination of New York – with the energy, the museums, and Central Park, and Washington DC – with the National Mall and the Capital and public art – all rolled into one – except with perfect weather and no bugs. Oh yeah, and except that everything costs a quarter to a half of what it would cost in the States. 

This morning we stopped by Xochimilco – which are these Unesco World Heritage site floating gardens. They were not really a hit with Diana and I. We took a gondola tour and felt like we were in a worse version of the Kenilwirth Channel (which is, as far as I know, not a Unesco World Heritage Site). But it was only an hour and it wasn’t unpleasant . . .

I guess after the floating gardens we were rested up and we made some great forward progress. We went up, up, up until we topped out at around 9,500 feet. Super pretty up there. And then we came down, down, down – some 4,000 feet – basically didn’t pedal the last 15 miles into Tlayacapan – another Mexico Magic City. 

Added bonus. The scenery on the way down was incredible. Big rocky mountain outcropping/mountain/mesa type things. Feels like you are in the best Western movie ever. Sadly, the pictures don’t capture it all – but you get the idea . . .

It’s Saturday and it turns out this magic city is a big tourist destination itself – and it’s hosting a big festival tonight. We ended up going to four hotels before we found one with an opening. But all good in the end – and fun to once again experience the craziness of these Mexican festivals. 

One last thing . . . I feel like we banked some serious good karma on the ride today. As we’re biking along we come across Edwin – a super nice young man from Mexico City. He is out riding – preparing for a 600-kilometer tour he is planning for December. But Edwin has a flat and no pump to fix it. (We’ve all been there . . .)

We take the pump out and help him with his flat – sadly I have a lot of experience with flats – and send him on his way. As it turns out Edwin’s patch kit glue has run dry. No problem – I grab our “glueless” patches. They don’t work either. I guess water infiltrated the repair kit at some point. Now on our list to purchase in Oaxaca . . .

No matter. We have duct tape. We cut a little piece of our emergency stash, stick it on over the hole, blow the tire up a ton so that the air pressure holds the tape in place between the tube and he tire, and it looks like we’re good.

Hoping to hear that he made it back okay . . .