Climbing the Pyramid of the Sun, and bidding the Tucan group farewell – we’re in Mexico City!

At 7am wearied-eyed group members shuffle onto the bus, and as the bus rolls quietly through the streets, we watch the town of Puebla slowly wake up as we leave for Mexico City. On the way, we stop for coffee and to take in the magnificent sight of snow-capped mountains, which is dubbed “Itchy & Scratchy” – a surreal sight for summer time in Mexico! A couple of hours later we enter the famous Teotuhuacan ruins, a spectacular and very large site, and home to the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun. This site is simply enormous, pyramid after pyramid span the horizon. The heat is in full effect, as usual, but it doesn't stop us walking half way up the Moon pyramid (due to restorations) and the full 248 or so stairs to the top of the Sun pyramid - a feat that most fitness levels can endure, given I witnessed mothers carrying babies on their backs, kindergarten-aged kids, along with 70-year-old grandmas successfully make the mission both up and down.

We share our final group lunch together, before returning back to the bus to our last stop: Mexico City. As we pull into the world's largest city, with a population of 25 million people (more than the entire population of Australia!), Mexico City needs no introduction as its hectic, compact, and loud intensity smacks us in the face. We pile our backpacks on and collect all our excess baggage from the bus and learn to battle the sea of people on the way to our hotel. Everything is rush rush as we dodge our way through the sidewalk that is littered with stalls, people, dogs, smells, sounds and non-stop action - basically an all out assault on each of our five senses! Although, some of the areas are less hectic, the zocalo (main square) surprisingly, being one of them.

During our farewell dinner, we swap memories and email addresses, and it suddenly dawns on me just how much we have experienced on the tour. In two short weeks we have clocked up so many amazing memories, visited a plethora of interesting towns, and drank so much cerveca and feasted on an array of corn-related meals that instead of satisfying my taste for Mexico, it has only ignited it. Where to next?

Happy travels,
Julia