Taxis, anthropology, politics, and more taxis

From Hotel Hacienda Cocoyoc we took a loonnngg bus ride back to Mexico city, first dropping off some people at the airport, and the rest to a hotel downtown by the Zocalo and the central Cathedral. We hit Friday rush hour so it took over an hour to get through Mexico city. That night we went to a dinner party hosted by one of the organizers of the conference. It was a lovely meal, except that it was a long taxi ride from the downtown hotel to our host's house, exacerbated by traffic as many, many people left Mexico City for the weekend, heading to Cuernavaca and other outlying areas.

The next morning I checked out of the hotel and rode the metro to the famed Museum of Anthropology, filled with fabulous artifacts, sculptures, monuments, and even recreations of massive temples from Mexico, all in the heart of Chapultepec Park. I only had a few hours, but I took a nice walking tour of the exhibits. Since my Spanish is weak, I didn't spend much time reading. It was spectacular.

Afterwards I headed back to the hotel to pick up my luggage and, I planned, a quick taxi ride to the airport. And that is when the adventure began. I didn't know there was going to be a massive political rally down town...in the Zocalo...and heading down the street right past my hotel. The hotel bellmen were very kind and led me down the street to find a taxi. And then another street. And another. Because of the chaos, there were few taxis to find, and although the bellman tried phoning for a taxi, it couldn't make it through the traffic. Nearly an hour later, I finally got in a taxi, heading for the airport. I still had 1 hr 45 minutes to my flight. If there were long lines for a boarding pass--I had only carry on luggage--or through security, I was doomed.

Luckily the lines were extremely short, somewhat surprising for the Mexico City airport, but I was grateful. I got to my gate with over an hour to spare. Donna had been a few days in Little Rock, visiting her Aunt Joan. We met up in the San Diego airport, picked up our car, and went home.