Day 1 - Mexico City, Mexico - June 8th

Mike and I left Boise Thursday around 5:00 p.m. and drove to Bountiful. We spent the night at Amber’s house and Tom gave us a ride to the airport in the morning. Our flight was supposed to leave at 10:00, but it was about 30 minutes delayed. We still arrived in Mexico at 3:00 p.m. They are one hour ahead of Nampa time. Our first stop was at the Mexico City Temple. A few in our group stayed and went through a session. The rest of us got back on the buses and went on a city tour. Traffic was very thick. We arrived at the hotel at 6:00. We then walked down the street and exchanged some dollars for pesos, and came back to the hotel to find out where a good authentic Mexican restaurant was. So we walked another 5 blocks to a restaurant called The Marioche Place. There was live music and great service. Our waiter suggested we try some appetizer called escamole that was “muy delicioso!” So we did. It was on fire as it was brought to the table. It was probably some soft little white beans with cactus and onions in a yummy sauce, but it looked somewhat like a bowl of maggots. I was a bit nervous to try it. It came with tortillas and guacamole, so I ate it and it was very good. I ordered some chicken mole dinner, and Mike had a bean and pork soup. The mole sauce on my chicken was brown and I didn’t like it very much. I found out later that mole sauce is chocolate (unsweetened) and chili sauce. Mike loved his soup. We then walked a little more around the city. We are in downtown Mexico City and it is a little nicer area than the rest of the city. It is still very dirty and Mike called it dumpy. Garbage is everywhere. Buildings are all dilapidated. But it is much worse outside of the downtown area. There are 26 million people living here—one of the largest cities in the world. Mike was surprised at the traffic, and how there are no traffic laws. Our guide even said there are only “traffic suggestions