Getting to Mexico City
June 2, 2003 on 7:11 pm | In Mexico, Travel | No CommentsGetting to Mexico City from Phoenix was half the adventure today. Preparing for the big day-our first international flight together-Chris and I spent the night at a great little hotel in Phoenix, conveniently close to the Sky Harbor Airport, according to our map, in hopes that we would have a smooth easy going, stress-free departure to Mexico City, DF, the following morning. Or so that was the plan.
A wrong turn on the way to the airport meant we were a little short on time when we finally found the long term parking section. With only 2 hours before our international flight was scheduled to depart-we ran to catch the next shuttle to our terminal, making it just in time to hurry up and wait in the long security checkpoint line.
An airport worker, browsing through the line, told us, “I don’t think you’re going to Mexico today.” He said there was an 85% chance we wouldn’t be allowed to board. The complication arose because of a government website that stated we only needed a driver’s license and a tourist card to go to Mexico. We had been to the Nogales border town without any trouble whatsoever. According to the airport officials we needed a birth certificate or a passport-and we hadn’t brought either!
We made it through security to our gate to see if they’d let us board and were told we’d need an affidavit of our citizenship- which the lady said we could buy at the information booth for $2–but…and there is a big BUT-the information booth was back on the OTHER side of security! So here we go again…
We were literally running through the corridors with all our baggage. We found the information desk, but had to wait in another line. Thankfully, it was a shorter one, but then we discovered the lady at our gate had given us the wrong forms to have signed. We filled them out anyway, “I, Sandra, Mother of Sandra, certify that Sandra can go to Mexico..signed Sandra.”
Rushing back to the long line at security, the employee who had given us the 85% chance of not going, recognized us and was pleased our chances seemed to be improving. Thank goodness he let move up in the line, but even so, the clock was ticking and it took 20 minutes to get to the front. We had to take our shoes off again, only this time, security wanted to search Chris’s bag because of an unidentified object-funny that they only noticed it the 2nd time-makes you wonder how many things might go through undetected.
We finally made it back to our gate to turn in our affidavits, but a different employee was now there and she said we had the wrong forms and she couldn’t accept them. And just when it was beginning to feel hopeless, the lady who had given us the wrong forms showed up. She said it was her mistake and the other lady became much more cooperative. They hunted down another employee to notarize the correct forms-thank goodness, as the plane was already being boarded.
The last ones aboard, I found a girl in my seat who didn’t understand English-here we go again, I thought. Luckily she seemed to understand when I showed her my ticket and Chris & I were able to sit together.
From the window seat, I could see the baggage boys dropping and throwing luggage into the cargo bay…at least that was one thing we didn’t have to worry about as we had carried everything on with us…although we were a bit short on leg room as the overhead storage space was already full.
Three hours later, our plane landed safely in Mexico City, DF-where it was a very cloudy and humid 73 degrees. The local time was 2 hours ahead, or about 2:30 in the afternoon. Going through customs was smooth sailing. The lady didn’t even flinch when I presented my affidavit, rather than a passport.
Next, we found the rental car place where we waited an hour for the one customer ahead of us to be helped. Meanwhile, I sat down on the bright blue sofa to relax, and observed my surroundings including the cleaning lady. She finished washing the windows and stood around as though waiting for something-was she waiting for the window to get dirty again? Was that her only function-keeping the place tidy and passing the time? After a while, she went to talk to a girl (fellow worker) and their space bubble was very small-just inches from one another. I wondered if they were sisters, but they didn’t look much alike. The window washer was probably mid-thirties and overweight, dressed in old clothes, while the other girl was young and slender and dressed very professionally, in a suit. The bigger girl put her arm around the younger girl and they sat in close proximity in a sisterly way. It was just interesting, something I’ve never seen in the states.
Finally, Chris made it up to the counter, but when he gave his credit card, it wouldn’t go through for some reason. Finally I coughed up my credit card, and that worked, but we were both aggravated to see we were being charged more than double what our online reservation had been for. The weekly rental price of $130 became almost $300 after taxes and insurance.
We were taken to the place to get our rental car, which wasn’t exactly what we had reserved but close enough, a little blue economy thing. A guy went around the car with us noting every scratch or ding on his chart. I took a seat on the passenger side (Chris would have to do all the driving since i was under 25). The three guys working there helped Chris look at maps and find the best route to get to our hotel. This took 10 or 15 minutes. I was surprised how much time they all had on their hands-they seemed so laid back and unrushed. We were the only customer there.
Once on the road, the comfortable slow pace abruptly ended and things got scary. Mexican drivers have a very different method of driving-they’re crazy! Sometimes there weren’t any stop signs or lights and it was like a free for all with cars coming from 4 or more directions all at once. It was very unorganized and dangerous. I watched in horror as a bus side swiped a taxi right in front of us and both just kept on going as though this were a common occurrence.
The road was filled with old dented and beat up cars. There were taxis everywhere, and I really wished I was in one, as Chris was getting really stressed out and there often weren’t even dotted lines to help distinguish one lane from the next. There would be 5 cars racing along at highway speeds, switching lanes left and right without blinkers, on a road clearly not meant for more than 3 cars.
There were many very close calls and it was such a relief to finally get to our hotel sometime after 5P.M. Checking in was the easiest thing we did all day and they valet parked our rental car. A bellboy showed us to our room and even insisted on carrying our bags. He turned the lights and TV on and promptly departed too quickly for us to even fish around for a tip (which is unusual). We found a bank and each exchanged $60 for $601.50 in Mexican moola. We went out to eat dining on green rice with chicken, I don’t know what the green sauce was, but it was good.
We walked around a little while and stopped another place for dessert-some fancy mini-cakes. We carried our leftovers back to our hotel. Everything seemed to be closed, it was already dark and starting to sprinkle.
This is an unusual hotel room-but not very fancy for a 4-star. The ad said there was a pool, but there doesn’t seem to be one, no fridge or microwave. But on the bright side, the king bed is comfy and inviting and the hotel soap is circular and cute. The TV only has 10 channels and no remote. It looks like it’s from the 80′s. I’m not complaining though, just observing. Considering we only had a 15% chance of getting here, I’d say today’s our lucky day!