2011-September-14: Day 30

Still on the bus! It's Wednesday now and we're supposed to arrive in Mexico City around 1pm. We stop at this pretty cool roadside cafe deal for a 20 minute breakfast (our longest stop on the journey) and, though the food looks good, I just get a little yogurt drink to save on money and food cravings. Back on the bus we go through this cool city, which I believe was Queretaro. Back on our grind and we get to the Mexico City terminal around 2, I strap on my bag and head out in search of internet and a bite to eat. Wondering through some little residential area I found this cool looking place with a nice looking guy and some inexpensive food, so I ordered three tacos bistec with everything.
These are two of them with the two different, delicious sauces. I preferred the red.

Then back on the road, decided to walk toward some tall, domed building, which of course was a church, and it led me to a Starbucks, which of course had internet, so I set up shop there for an hour or so, Gabby gave me her address and pristine directions which I thoroughly mutilated. First off, I was supposed to head a few blocks East and I went about a mile West before deciding "I think this is West!" and turning around. Another mile and I'm back at the Starbucks, keep heading East, find the name of the street I'm looking for, but the sign is pointing forward...whatever that means, and the little street at which the sign is located a) is tiny, and b) has a name which is completely different, so I keep going a few more blocks, not finding Insurgentes Norte (the street I want), and decide to turn around and pretend the little, differently named street is in fact Insurgentes in disguise. So I'm supposed to catch the Green Line (3) metro toward Universidad and get off at Eugenia. I see a bunch of green buses frantically weaving their way through the crowded streets, and some of them say Route 3 on the side; in addition, I see one which is headed toward UAM, so I decide to hop on that and hightail it out of there! Of course, there is no mention whatsoever of stops so I just keep looking around and finally see some neighborhood entitled Xochisomethingorother and I'm ultimately looking for a Xochisomething street, so I get off a little after that, head back in search of that neighborhood, fail to make a turn and end up somewhere completely different, realize my mistake, turn back around, find the turn I miss, realize that the neighborhood is XochisomethingdifferentthanwhatIwant, ask a passerby if she's familiar with the Xochi I'm looking for, to which she responds in the negative, and head back to where I exited the bus, thinking maybe I didn't go far enough. Instead of getting on the bus again, I keep walking the route and apparently end up at the end of the line terminalesque thing and ask a Route 3 driver how to get to the Eugenia stop. He is a bit boggled, but takes my notebook and says he understands and he'll take me where I need to go. So we driver off and he takes me back where I began, then a few blocks further East and voila! I'm at the real Insurgentes! So now I need to find the Green Line 3...but I thought I already did...? I cruise down Insurgentes a ways, through a teeming bushel of kids, find a bus stop and ask a lady if the Verde Tres will be coming through here. She is confused and asks to where I am going and I respond "Eugenia" and it clicks for her. I want the Metro! Yes, exactly... She points to the tracks and I realize "Metro" is short for "MetroRAIL," like train, subway, something on freaking rails. AhA! So I head for a bridge which seems to get me over the freeway and to the train, but it goes over both sides of the freeway, with the train in between also surpassed. Confused, I backtrack and the woman sees me again and tells me to go farther, so I go to the next bridge: same outcome. So I go farther and finally see some stairs which lead underground and think I have struck gold! I had, I found the green line toward Universidad, got off on Eugenia and from there my travels were succinct. I arrived at Gabby's 3 or 4 hours later than I should have, but it was fairly fun and I had a place to stay. Gabby and Allison were extremely hospitable, I got my own bed and room, plenty of advice and suggestions, and slept well!