16th December

The room-mate is called Mangirdas from Lithuania - I know this as he staggered in at 2.30am this morning. He seems like a good laugh though and obviously up for a beer. I will refer to him as "Mikey" from now on. He left early to go on a pyramid tour while I waited for the dreaded "Welcome Meeting" with the tour leader at 10am. Breakfast was great - bacon, egg, frijoles (black beans), toast and hot salsa.

Met the others at 10. There are 15 on the trip THIRTEEN of which are women, so it seems Mikey and I are the only fellas. There are 3 Thai girls, 2 Chinese, 2 Aussies, 1 Kiwi and a Scot. There are also 2 no-shows as yet but I know they too are women. Met the tour leader, Leslie, woman number fourteen who is from Chicago and seems nice.

Left before 12 headed for the Zocalo square with my beatches in tow. Chatted to a few on the way there - Beth and Jackie the Aussies are good fun and we seem to share the same sense of humour. Manita from Thailand is the best looking but looks about 19. Shahela from Scotland is the only other Brit but is studying in Manchester so stuff to talk about there.

It is Sunday and some of the streets were deserted but up by the Zocalo they were packed. I have a map of the city – you wouldn’t believe this thing, when opened out fully it is a big as a bed spread. It took 15 mins to find the hotel and the square.

The square is very impressive but ruined by the fact they have build an ice rink for Christmas. We visited the Cathedral, the National Palace including checking out the murals of Diego Rivera and the Aztec ruins. In the end it became too hot for sight-seeing so we stopped off in a café called Starbucks. At this point the jet-lag kicked in, some of the girls went to the Anthropology museum, I went to the supermarket and then bed.

Mikey arrived back enthusing about the pyramids and we all met at 7 for dinner. Our new joiner is a foxy chick, Victoria, from Adelaide and there is still one missing from the gang. We ate in a Cuban restaurant called La Bodeguita del Medio. Mikey was off with Russian mates so, again, I was with surrounded by women. Food was ok, Camarones (shrimp) in tamarind sauce, frijoles and Cuba Libre. Spoke to a few others – Suzannah is an ex-Brit living in Wellington but as she poo-pooed my idea of secret santa she has immediately been relegated to division 2. Nothing else interesting apart from an unbelievable conversation between Suzie (Chinese) and Manita (Thai) while looking at a glass case of T-shirts, mugs etc of Cuba.

Manita: “Who is that man? I have seen him everywhere in South America”
Suzie: “That is Miguel Castro”
Steve: “Sorry?”
Suzie: “Miguel Castro. The Cuban Leader”
Steve: “Do you mean Fidel Castro?”
Suzie: “Ah yes, that’s him”
Steve: “But you are looking at a picture of Che Guevara”
Suzie: “ Who?”
Steve: “It’s not important”

The Cuban cabby gave us an impromptu tour of the city and I finally turned in wondering if I could get away with telling Suzie that Che Guevara was a Cuban footballer.