Mexico City

Hello Mexico City!!!  We touched down into Mexico City after one of the best flights ever!  We flew for 3hrs on Interjet from San Jose, Costa Rica in comfort and with full bellies.  The plane wasn't too full so we had the choice of seats, brand new leather seats I might add, and there was tons of leg room between each row. TVs dropped down to play us a movie, in Spanish, but it was still great to watch.  When it was refreshment time the cart came and they handed out bags of chips and whatever drinks you wanted, for free.  Cans of beer, bottles of wine, juice or pop were available, seemed crazy to us because usually you only get a small glass of water, pop or juice to drink and then a small bag of pretzels or cookie!  Service was great and who doesn't love free stuff!! Haha

We were so excited to get to Mexico City and to explore the big city.  The city is the fifth largest in the world and has a population of over 21.2 million people and is one of the most important financial centers in the world.  To be honest, we were very nervous to be in a city of that size and we weren't sure we made the right choice to stay a few days before heading to Huatulco.  Now that we have been there and have left we are SO thankful we went and spent time there.  Only regret is that we didn't have more time!  We may stay again on out way out of Mexico seeing most flights are directed there anyway.  What a city, we absolutely loved it!!  The hustle and bustle of the city can be seen and felt everywhere but it wasn't overwhelming to us at all.  The layout of the city is designed so well that it is quite easy to get around, you just need time with a city that size.  We booked a hotel close to the airport and one with a free shuttle to and from the airport.  We maneuvered our way to the gate where we were to be picked up after spending over an hour in the Immigration line up.  We held our breath as we went through seeing we had no flight booked out of Mexico and we were not sure if they would allow us in our not.  We didn't want to be planning our lives around a flight when we were unsure of our plans, we still have no house booked for after January 10th.  They let us through and stamped us for 180 days in Mexico but this picture below almost got us kicked out.  Apparently you can't take pictures in the Immigration area, I took it and I had about 4 security guards on me in seconds!  EEEE little scary and terrible timing when we were trying to get in with no problems!!

Woke up Friday morning ready to hit the city and take in the Museo Nacional De Antropologia, we had heard it was an incredible place and it was rated the #1 thing to do in Mexico City. We decided to take the subway system there, we had received a map from the hotel staff and it seemed easy enough. The cost was .33 cents per person to ride and it would take it us really close to the museum, only about a 2 block walk once we got off.  As we rode the subway around the half way mark Rhett started to turn white, get dizzy and feel like he was going to throw up.  We got off as soon as we could, we had no idea where we were but we knew we couldn't continue on the subway.  We walked up to street level and flagged a taxi down, we made it to the museum from there in about 10 min. 

The following 5 hours of our lives were spent exploring the absolutely incredible and beautiful Museum of Anthropology. The kids were free and Doug and I were $4 to tour through, such a great price! There are 22 halls/rooms, gymnasium size rooms, dedicated to different cultures that lived in ancient Mexico. A lot of the information is in Spanish but there is enough written in English that you can figure out what is trying to be said. The objects also speak for themselves. The halls are filled with art, clothing, artifacts and statues all from years ago and the collections from each cultures is so impressive. Each hall on the lower level also has an outdoor court yard attached to the displays full of massive statues, reconstructed houses or ruins.   It is a place that you need to spend some time at, so much to see!!!  One of the most incredible places I have ever been to, a must see place in my books!!

After the museum we wondered around the park outside for a bit checking out the street vendors and the watched the High Flyers performance.  Seeing Rhett didn't do so well on the subway we decided to taxi it home, over an hour later and paying $15 we arrived back at our hotel. We had a wonderful first day in Mexico City and we loved every minute of it!  Such a drastic difference to our normal life but the kids all embraced it all and went with the flow of it all.

Saturday morning our plan was to head to a place called Chapultepec Park, also known as Bosque de Chapultepec.  It is one of the largest city parks in the Western Hemisphere, just over 1,695 acres, it is known as the "lungs" of the city with all of the trees that replenish the oxygen to the city.  We were actually in one of the sections the day before when we went to the Anthropology museum but didn't realize it.  We decided to try the subway again, I'm not sure if Rhett actually got motion sickness the day before or if it was a combinations of a few things against him.  He had burnt his hand pretty bad on a waffle maker during breakfast the morning before and he was shaken up from that. I think that may have been part of him feeling rough on the subway. We also made sure he was hydrated, had some gum and was able to sit down.  He made it to the park no problem that morning so we were happy about that, we saved a lot of time and money by taking the subway. Our goal for the day was to see the National Museum of Art and the Chapultepec Castle.  The park was free to enter and we were able to walk our way around with no problems.  We put on a lot of miles that day, the park was HUGE!!

The Museo De Arte Moderno was our first stop and we walked around for about an hour looking at the different paintings, sculptures and wood carvings by various artists. The museum is part of the Intituto Nacional de Baellas Artes and prepares exhibits for national and international contemporary artists.  The kids were free to get in and Doug and I paid about $4 to get in, so affordable!  The building itself was quite the piece of art and I loved looking through it. Can't say all the kids enjoyed it but I think the arts are important and they need to be exposed to many different things in life.  Looking at someone else's creations can sometimes spark an interest or awaken your own creativity.  "It won't hurt you," pretty sure I said that a few times that day(lol), and it is good for you to see the hard work of others!  Some of the pieces of artwork were so incredible and so unique.  There were actually a lot of pieces outside as well, neat to walk outside to look around.

 I was very happy we were able to go. LOVED IT!!

Next destination was the Chapultepec Castle which is on top of the hill that is located in the middle of the Chapultepec Park and it is 7,628ft above sea level.  The site of the hill was a sacred place for the Aztecs and the castle that sits atop has served as the Military Academy, Imperial residence, Presidential home, observatory and is presently the National Museum of History. To get to the castle we had to hike up the hill on a paved path winding around the beautiful castle, was a couple of km up.  To see such a place in person was something else, Doug and I both felt overwhelmed.  It was just so incredible!! So much history and so much to learn in one place.  The castle was so beautiful and the details in all the rooms were unbelievable. The view of the city is also pretty incredible from up there!! I keep saying it was beautiful, incredible or amazing but I really don't know how else to describe it to someone! Sorry, can you tell we loved it? What a place!!

The kids soaked up the Social Studies lesson for the day and we were done with museums for awhile.  From there we decided to surprise them with a trip to the Zoo, another section in this huge park.  To get there we had to make our way through Vendor Lane, WOW!!  The vendors were lined up for blocks and they yell constantly.  They are not yelling at you but just yelling!! We could hear them up the hill when we were at the castle! Lol   Shouting out what they are selling basically and trying to out do their neighbour who is selling the same thing.  Not much variety in what they were selling but the prices were crazy cheap!!  We were probably the only Caucasians in the park but it didn't matter, we were not targeted for sales nor did we feel like people really cared we were there. We were surrounded by beautiful people, amazing food and drink and Spanish music could be heard in between the Spanish yelling! Haha We loved it!!

After our fill from the vendor shopping and we had some lunch in their kinda outdoor food court we made our way to the zoo.  The free zoo!!  Where do you ever find a free zoo??  Mexico City that's where!! Crazy that it was free!!  We only saw one area where of the zoo because it was getting late and we didn't want to ride the subway back in the dark.  We really only travel around during day light, safer and easier that way. Kids enjoyed the zoo, what we saw anyway, just your typical zoo, nothing too outrageous.  The food court in the zoo was spectacular though, never seen so many choices!!

Our day in Chapultepec Park was amazing, we saw so much and loved it all!!  We ended our day there with a stop at the cotton candy stand which the kids had been eying up.  For $2 we purchased the biggest bag possible to share amongst us all and even then that was too much.  We ended up giving a big chunk of it away to some local kids to share. 

We made our way home on the subway that day, we squeezed our way on and we almost had to get off for me this time.  Didn't realized I was so claustrophobic!! It was so packed on the subway that day we couldn't move or sit down for almost 30 min and it was really hot, it was a bit much! Felt good to step off and catch my breath. I think it was a bad time of day to be travelling, rush hour had started and we stepped into a mob of people on the move.  Riding the subway in Mexico City is something we didn't think we would be doing on this trip but now that we have done it I think we could do anything!!

Sunday was the day we were on the move again, this time to Huatulco, Mexico. Flight time was 11:20 so we were up early and off to the airport.  We needed to make sure we had enough time to work our way through the enormous airport, it turned out to be very easy!! There are so many wonderful people in this world, they so willing to help and we are so grateful for them!! We were very nervous about our time here in Mexico City but as we left that day our hearts had been changed forever! We can't wait to return!! The city has so much to offer through their culture and through the history within.  Doug was over the moon with the prices of everything and it felt good to be honest to be in a cooler climate. I actually wore capri leggings and straightened my hair for two days!! Haha
We truly enjoyed our time here walking around and taking it all in, Mexico City is one of my new favorite places!!
Farwell Mexico City!!  We are all safe, happy and our hearts are full!!

XXXXX from the Steel family

Ncaragua to La Fortuna to San Jose

To think about our last week of our travels is crazy!  It is unbelievable to me what we have done in such a short time! Three countries in five days!!  We were on the go with our final destination being the San Jose International Airport for Dec 1st, flight time being 1:20.  Our journey began Monday morning with a 6:00 am private pick up from a friend of Marvin's, the tour guide we had for the turtle tour.  He drove us to the Nicaruguan border where we passed through very easily and with no hold ups.  We were there early enough to beat the lineups and the weather wasn't too hot yet, much easier to walk ourselves through the process without battling the heat as well.  We really didn't have a set plan on how our day would go because the information out there about how to bus your way to La Fortuna, Costa Rica is really wishy washy.  Many articles stated that a private shuttle or car rental is the only way to go, the public bus is too long and can be tricky to do because bus times can be hard to line up.  We decided to go with it and see how it all went.  If the busses were there we would take them because the cost for bussing compared to a shuttle is crazy, the bus total per person was $15 per and a shuttle would be around $65.  We did know after Liberia we had two other bus connections to make before we arrived in La Fortuna and the last connection was a 12:30 bus in Tilaran and it was the last one that day.  If we missed that we would be faced with having to figure out a new plan of action. We are not afraid to try things out, we like saving money and we had the time to do it, so away we went!  We were in luck because as soon as we exited the immigration office in Penas Blancas ( border town) there was a bus to Liberia just about to leave.  As we drove down the highway, to our left still sat the make shift refugee camp for all of the  African Americans trying to make their way through the border.  Rows and rows of tents were everywhere, fires burning, garbage piling up and people were everywhere!  So heart breaking to see!! To me, it looked like there were more people there now as to when we first went through in Oct. More and more refugees are coming thinking they can pass through not knowing a baracade had been put in place, trapping them there. I hope this all ends soon! :(
We arrived in Liberia and 20 min later our first connection to Canas left with us on the bus and we made it to Tilaran and hour before the last bus left to La Fortuna.

 The drive through the country/mountain side to La Fortuna was so beautiful!! It was rainy and foggy for the majority of the ride from Tilaran but what we saw it was so green, lush and clean.  Our bussing day went so smooth!!   We spent over 4 hours on a bus that day, kids were awesome little troopers and we were happy to finally settle into our hostel! We had booked a private room at the Arenal Hostel and Resort and it was only a short walk from the bus depot which was a bonus for us walking with all of our luggage. Super cute little place!

La Fortuna is a small city in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica. "La Fortuna" is Spanish for "The Fortune" which represents the area well due to it's ample supply of tourist attractions and extremely rich land.  Majority of the tourism surrounds Arenal Volcano which can be seem easily from the small city, we only saw the base of it due to the fog which I hear is very common.  Pretty rare to see the whole volcano in full due to the weather in that area.  Arenal is in the top 20 of the world's most active volvanoes, it was pretty incredible to be there and to see what we could anyway! Waterfalls, hot springs, white water rafting, hanging bridges and a sky tram are just a few other things to do in the area. So much to do but we didn't do any of it, haha!!  Beautiful great place but our budget wasn't willing to stretch to do any of the tours.  We forgot how pricey CR was, after being in Nicaragua for a while we were blasted with the cost of being back in CR.  So we made our own fun! We are really good at touring around on our own and checking out anything free!  We like to see the "real" life side of places and we find the tours are often manufactured in a way to impress the tourist, just my take anyway.  We walked the streets of La Fortuna, ate in local sodas, went to local parks and stores. 

After 2 great days in La Fortuna and one room switch due to some squeaky, scratchy and running critters on our roof we caught the 9:10 direct bus to San Jose.  Our 4 hour ride was absolutely amazing!!  We drove through the farming communities up in the mountains and it was something else.  We passed fields and fields of the worlds produce that is shipped out of CR.  We saw fields of lettuce, carrots, onions, potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, coffee and more coffee!!! The highway was cluttered with semis hauling the produce out and how they maneuver those roads is pretty impressive. We drove through a city called Zarcero which is the capital city in the province of Alajuela and it was so amazing, such a memorable place.  It is elevated 1,736m above sea level and it is home to the most adorable well manicured gardens and church in history!! I wish we would have time to explore this city, looks like a very interesting peaceful place to be.  Maybe next time!!

Such a different side to CR that we haven't seen in our time there and we are so thankful we saw it! I sure wish my family could have seen it! I have a lot of farmers in my family and I think they would have loved and would have appreciated this area.  I will always check labels back home now and seek out produce, sugar, coffee and rice all from Costa Rica. :)

We hopped off the bus in a city called Alajuela, which is where the airport for San Jose is and from there we caught a taxi to our hostel. We wanted to be close to the airport and a free shuttle there was also important to us since the size of this airport is huge and we like to eliminate any stress possible.  Travel days are usually our least favorite days but we just research a ton and take one step at a time.  It all worked out perfectly and we caught our flight to Mexico City without any snags after enjoying the afternoon before our flight out at the City Mall.  This huge mall was about three blocks away so we just walked there and enjoyed the sights and looked around the stores for a while.  Nate was beyond excited to be there because they had a store similar to our Toys R Us back home so he needed to try out as many new toys as possible.  We have been in villages, out in the country, on a beach or in surf town for the past three months so to be in this fancy mall seemed really odd!!

We are really excited for our time in Mexico, as much as we loved our time in Costa Rica and Nicaragua there is something about Mexico.  We have been going there for years and just love it!! So grateful that we have had the chance to explore and spend time other countries. We truly respect the culture and the people of both CR and Nicaragua, such beautiful places!! We are ready see family and to continue our incredible adventure!!  We are all safe, happy and our hearts are full!!

XXXXX from the Steel Family