El Nino's Big Adventure

El nino took his first plane trip to Mexico September 1. We had been hearing on the news about all the flight delays and were trepidatious about the whole airport experience. So imagine our surprise when we arrived at 8:30am (2 hours before our flight) to find no lines. There were no lines to check in our bags, no lines to pass through security, no lines for a latte at Starbucks. The airport was like a ghost town. And to top it off, our flight left on time and arrived in Mexico City on time as well: no lost luggage, no upset baby, no worries at all.

I am still amazed at how easy going and resilient el nino is to new experiences. He took the plane ride (5 hours) in stride. He ate; he slept; he played. He didn't seem to mind that he was restricted to a couple of airplane seats. I guess there is some good to living in a miniscule apartment, hey?

We got to el's grandparents' house about 5:30pm and promptly proceeded to eat. My mother-in-law is an excellent cook. Because of graduate school and my subsequent pregnancy, it has been 3 1/2 years since I have tasted la comida de suegra. "Ooh la la," is all I can say. Too bad el is still too young to experience his abuela's cooking; he'll have to wait until our next trip.

Our friend, el's "Uncle" R, came with us and was a big help in the airports. It was his first trip to Mexico as well, and he gamely agreed to rent a car and drive in Mexico City. Let me just say, he made it through 3 1/2 days before he gleefully relinquished the rental car. But before that, we took both cars to Teotihuacan where the Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon are.
This was our neice R's favorite place to visit during the week. I carried el to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun in the carrier and danced around to the Rocky theme song when we made it to the top.

Teotihuacan is the largest pre-Columbian city in the America's and dates to about 200 BC. The last time I visited was well over a dozen years ago. At that time I was amazed at how little organization there was in visiting the site: no tickets, no gift shops, just individual vendors setting up shop hapharzardly around the area. My, how things have changed. Now there are tickets to come in and several gifts shops as well as a restuarant. My mother was a trooper and came with us to the site as well, though there was much too much walking required. So she remained at the entrance area reading a book. She was able to see the Pyramids from a couple of vantage points before the day was done, however.

So this gets us to Tuesday. We had several more days in Mexico and several more events took place before we came home.