Estamos aqui!

Well, here we are!  We arrived safely, albeit exhausted, in Mexico City on Monday night.  But, as we never like to let an entire trip go without at least one adventure, we left one of Luke's suitcases in the taxi.  (Luckily, we were able to retrieve it at the airport on Tuesday.)  We just wanted to make sure we had at least one good story to tell right away :-)

For these first few days, we're staying with relatives of some friends of ours from D.C. - Jessica and Memo, their little 2-year-old son Diego, and Jessica's mother, Jay.  They have been wonderful - welcoming, helpful, and very patient.  We've been fed very well with delicious food - fresh fruits, lots of bread, cheese, and (of course) tortillas, among other things.  They've set up a mini "suite" for us, so we can have our own space while we stay here - a nice place for us to relax at the end of the day.  They've also taken us on a short driving tour of a couple of neighborhoods we're interested in living in, and have already set up some appointments for us to look at a few apartments this weekend.

Yesterday, Jay took us to see the Palacio Nacional (the Mexican equivalent of the White House).  We had our first adventure on the Metro (which is very busy, but very efficient and clean!), as we made our way to the center of the city.  El Palacio, along with La Catedral and a number of other governmental office buildings, surround an open plaza filled with people, pigeons and a few street vendors.  It was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen.  The buildings (especially La Catedral) are very old and very ornate - as soon as I saw them I could see all the history in them.  It's hard, and probably futile, to try to describe it all.  We didn't have our cameras with us yesterday, but I'm sure we'll return so that we can post some pictures.

There is much to tell, although we have only been here for a couple of days.  The sights and sounds of a brand new place are exciting and fascinating.  I won't write them all down today, but here's one sight for you to imagine:

Right outside the front of the house where we're staying, an older Mexican woman sets up her own little "restaurant" every day.  A table with a frying pan for making fresh tortillas, and lots of toppings.  A big green tarp, strung from surrounding trees, keeps the woman and the food in the shade.  Throughout the day (especially around 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when most Mexicans eat their main meal of the day), people stop to sit and have a freshly-prepared tortilla.  Although we've been advised to avoid eating food from street vendors like this, it's fascinating for me to see - something I'm not used to seeing in the U.S., but that is so much a part of this city.