It wouldn't be an international Delia-trip if the luggage wasn't lost

The trip to the airport was fine, the flight was smooth. Clearly something had to go wrong.

For those of you who do not know, I lose luggage during international travel at an alarmingly high rate. I am so cursed, that even people who borrow my luggage have issues (hi Nicole!) This is the first time it's happened with a direct flight. This is the reason I try to only use carry on luggage for international travel, but they keep making check my bag :(

By time I got through the shit-it-looks-like-my-luggage-is-still-in-SF conversation, I over-paid for a taxi to my hotel. It probably wasn't the wisest move but I was frustrated, which I didn't have a right to be; the flight was four hours. Four hours and I'm in a different country. 

(I paid the equivalent of $4 to be able to brush my teeth last night and this morning. These are the judgement calls that must be made when one's luggage does not accompany them to their destination.)

Anyway, my hotel is above a restaurant. It does not have much of a lobby but the staff have been great. Everything is opened by code. Yesterday, at the height of my anxiety, I was not able to operate the elevator and got stuck in there. The nice woman behind the desk came inside and taught me how to use it AGAIN.

It's a nice room. It was even nicer when, after using Google Translate to email the Lost and Found people at the airline, the luggage showed up at the front desk earlier than I expected this morning.

I have extra travel tooth paste now, if anyone's interested.

The other thing that happened today is that I realized I had not packed a pen. This seems silly to most people, but in my world, not having a pen is like leaving 1/2 of my fingers home. Mexico City has a lot of a lot of things, but a dearth of pen-selling establishments. I finally found pens at a store selling souvenirs and other various things.

Today I decided to walk to the historical center. It was a little more than an hour each way. I was going to Uber, because I haven't bothered to learn the public transportation system and Ubers are cheap here, but I like walking so I can get a sense of where things are. 

The Zocalo is the main plaza. Unfortunately, there were gates and barriers up, and some bleachers for a performance that was going on, so it was hard to take in the space as a whole. It's one of the biggest public squares in the world (I just read this in my guide book, so it must be true.) They have these big things:

This is the Catedral Metropolitana:

I did a lot of walking around the area. I mostly looked for food. There is A LOT of food around. There is everything from Burger King to fancy restaurants. I ended up on line at a taco place that the locals seemed to like. They had a special- five tacos and a coke for 65 Mexican pesos (doing the math in my head, that's less than $4.) I thought I was ordering chicken but what I got was five different tacos. Don't ask me what they were. I think one was bean, one was potato, and the other three were various meats. I ate two there (everyone was standing at counters and I'm pretty sure I was the only tourist) and put the other three in the bag they give you with your plate. I drank a regular coke like it was 1982. 

This is what the 1/2 eaten tacos looked like by time I got them back to my room:

I spent a few hours knitting and resting. I did not sleep well last night. I hope tonight is better. 

This evening I went to an Italian restaurant and ate a little pepperoni pizza and a piece of banana pie. I did not take pictures. 

Tomorrow I'll hit some museums. They are closed on Mondays so I couldn't go today.

Thanks for reading.