A capital 17th and Lo de Marcos 18th September -

Even though the only people actually reading this in full will probably be my parents (guiltily remembers not bothering to read friends' sumptious Middle East travel blog), I feel bad that I've somehow given a negative impression of the trip so far. That's politics for you! Especially when discussed by people who don't really know what they're talking about and are tired :)

The hotel I stayed in in Mexico City was lovely, the receptionist was really helpful, people were generally helpful, no-one shouted at me or was rude. Actually seeing the main square, which I'd pathetically only watched on TV the night before, was very satisfying. Kids were running around squirting funny foam in each other's faces, the mood was generally good and the sun was out... Sitting down in the sun was 'grt lush' (as they say in Brizl). And what an amazing piece of luck, I randomly bump into this huge party, by accident...

And the next day, when I went to number 222 Reform Avenue in a rough-arsed end of town where my trainers were probably not far off a week's wages, no-one hassled me. The mobile phone guy in the posh Reform 222 shopping mall in the centre had enough gel in his hair to do Amy Winehouse, and was a bit slow on the uptake, but got me sorted. And although the 'pink' zone of the city does occasionally bore with its American chain outlets and proudly exuded ex-pat wealth, it's also very lush with tropical vegetation and some genuinely funky localish shops.

And the anthropology museum was fab. Well worth the extra walk to get there even though I only stayed for less than an hour, I'll be back. Oh and when the bus company told me my ticket was for the day before, I wasn't too fussed, but a random woman at the counter saw me as I was about to start the painful phonecall to sort it out and came over, told me she was most unimpressed by the lack of helpfulness of the staff and did the phonecall for me - result, no extra cost and the ticket I'd been hoping for in the first place. Now that's something to ¡Viva Mexico! about. What a lovely woman. Thank you whereever you are.

Thirteen hours after leaving the towering inequalities and occasional bad whiffs of the capital behind, I had watched ´La grande vadrouille' (thanks Julien!) on my new-per, duper mini, mini 7" netbook, an episode of 7 Periods with Gormsby (couldn't advise any teacher to watch it, dreadfully politically incorrect :) and listened to some new stuff from my painstakingly reorganised and ipodised music collection. Woke up in lush tropical forests! Wow. Right near where I am in Lo de Marcos, but the express doesn't stop, so I went into Puerto Vallarta and back out again. To arrive at the beautiful 'El pequeño paraíso' and be met by the charming Antonieta and Eder and a beautiful self-catering flat with this as a view.

Was a beautiful sunny day, I swam, grazed my knees on stones while getting mashed up by the quite scary waves doing body surfing (lost goggles too :(, but got loads of lovely stuff at the food shop. Great start to LDM...