First Impressions, Continued

So, I was talking about the driving in Mexico City. I don't know how to describe it very well, it's something that you just kinda have to witness, but maybe the best way to picture it is this: Imagine 4 lanes of traffic merging into one lane with no notice, and all the streets are packed. Or, imagine driving without stopsigns on crowded streets that crisscross. Another interesting thing is that in Mexico City they didn't construct the city for as many people as live here now so they kind of just stick streets wherever. So, the final product is a million really small streets that wind around and up and down hills. You honestly could never label a street north or south because it changes from second to second. Alright, enough about the traffic.

It was really cool seeing Ricardo's grandpa's house. He had told me a lot of stories about the house because he lived there for a while. He had mentioned that it is a 5 story house, so in my mind I kind of pictured like a huge mansion with a grandiose yard with trees and big fountain. Well, it looked nothing like I thought. I guess wyoming has trained me to believe that there is a lot of space :) There really wasn't that much of a yard, though there were trees, and it was very beautiful. It just is different because due to the lack of space people stack their homes basically. So his grandpas house is more of a house with 5 split levels. Also all the buildings are built with a lot of cement and rock (probably partially because of the earthquakes, nothing else would last very long) and they are very collorful and boxy (I don't think I have seen a peeked roof yet, everything is done in squares and rectangles). Okay, one more interesting note about how people build here-Mexico City is pretty much built in a valley but as the city has grown it has just expanded up the mountain side. So where his parents live and lots of other places in the city, they build one apartment complex, then cut a piece out of the mountain and put another building and then do the same all the way up the hill side. everything is very stacked.

Well, enough about describing the city, his house is very nice. They have a beautiful garden out back with a small track that goes around it. It is in the city but really feels like you are away from the city because there are so many trees and huge walls that separate it. Ricardo says that most of the buildings around here have been built in the last three years. Here are some pictures of this.