Hasta la vista

Instead of being sat in the Chadwick Lawrence Stand tomorrow I will be swapping bitter for tequila and heading off to Mexico on holiday.

By Tuesday afternoon we’ll be out on the Pacific west coast at Punta Mita, a small beachy peninsula town 45 minutes north of the much larger Puerto Vallarta. The area is dominated by a couple of large hotels, one of which we will make our home for almost a week. The plan is to pretty much do nothing except test the water and experience the local cuisine and selection of beverages.

On the way to Punta Mita we will stop in Mexico City for 3 nights. I have never been to what is considered to be the 3rd largest city in the world by population. Over 20 million people live in the city and only Seoul and Tokyo are bigger. You mention Mexico City to most people and they shudder, and always have a tale, mostly second-hand of how polluted and crime-ridden it is.

The capital has not always had the best reputation but it has made great strides to clean itself up and has positioned itself as one of the most important economies in Latin America. We won’t venture much away from the commercial and cultural centre of Cuauhtémoc, where we are staying and won’t take any risks, particulary eating from the dreaded street vendors!

We are travelling to Mexico City in what is their  rainy season, and hope to avoid some of dramatic weather that hit them last week. The picture in Punta Mita should be of hot days and thundery late afternoons.

I’m looking forward to the history of Mexico City, of which there is bucket loads and the beauty and peacefulness of Punta Mita. Hasta la vista.