Chapter 9 - New York City to Salt Lake City

New York City – the greatest city in the world – lived up to everything it is famous for. We spent the majority of day one in downtown Manhattan. The gaping hole at the World Trade Centre site had an eerie feeling. We passed through the narrow road of Wall Street on our way to see the USA’s most enduring landmark, The Statue of Liberty. Amazingly, it can be seen for free on the Staten Island Ferry, which sails right in front of it. From Manhattan we crossed the easy river to Brooklyn and wandered the streets before walking over the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset back to Manhattan.

Day two was spent uptown. Firstly we checked out the USA’s most famous African American neighbourhood of Harlem, and then moved onto Central Park. A perfectly rectangle 843 acre park right in the middle of Manhattan lined with high rises. We were lucky enough to pick up some tickets to a Broadway Show via a lottery system that evening. We had box seats to “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” starring John Lithgow (from 3rd Rock from the Sun). The show was fantastic and it allowed us to see Times Square at night, which rivaled the strip in Las Vegas for the bright lights. Our final day was spent visiting two of New York City’s most famous street basketball courts, Rucker Park and “The Cage”, and then the most famous arena in the world, Madison Square Garden. We saw the Empire State Building, had lunch in Chinatown, went ice-skating in Bryant Park and visited the famed Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre at night along with the Radio City Music Hall.

NYC was one place I most looked forward to seeing on this trip and it was everything and more that I hoped it would be. Its greatest glory is free to see on foot in the remarkably differentiated neighbourhoods.


We swapped our coats, scarves and beanies for sandals, shorts and beach towels as we headed for Miami, Florida. Two days on the beach were great and it helped us to thaw out from the last couple of months. The high rise buildings lining the beach reminded us of Surfers Paradise in Australia but with a lot more cosmetic surgery, fast cars and Spanish. Miami was all about image.


We flew from Miami to Mexico City to spend nine days sightseeing in Mexico. Mexico City is a seething megalopolis (population 18 million) set in the mountains 2200m above sea level. It’s a city of colonial palaces and peaceful plazas, and sprawling slums and brown air. Crime is apparently a problem; precautions with taxis can’t be overemphasised, as robbery assaults on passengers are frequent and violent. We were warned not to travel on second-class buses between cities, as they are known to be hijacked by bandits.


We spent our only full day in Mexico City walking around “Centro Historico” and in the evening we attended a free Latin American concert in the heart of the city “Zocalo”. The following day we made a day trip to Teotihuacan, once Mexico’s largest ancient city and the capital of what was perhaps Mexico’s largest pre-Hispanic empire. Two huge pyramids dominate the ruins. The Piramide del Sol (the world’s third largest pyramid) was dedicated to the sun god and the Piramide de la Luna to the moon.


Passenger trains are virtually extinct in Mexico, so we took a bus (which is surprisingly luxurious) four hours west of Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende where we spent the next two nights. It was a lovely colonial town, with brightly coloured buildings, cobbled streets and plazas with splashing fountains. In fact, the town is so lovely that the Mexican government declared it a national monument. We spent a day in the Botanical Gardens, (surprisingly full of cacti) in the plains on the outskirts of the city.


From San Miguel de Allende we went west to Guanajuato, where homes and cultural attractions are literally piled on top of each other on the steep slopes of a ravine, with narrow cobbled streets and alleys disappearing into a series of tunnels. It was a beautiful spot to spend our one-year wedding anniversary. While in Guanajuato we visited the “Museum of Mummies”. These are not your typical Egyptian mummies that were preserved and wrapped. In 1565, the first mummies were dug up when it was necessary to make room for more. What the authorities uncovered were not bones but preserved bodies of flesh (due to the mineral content of the soil and dry atmosphere). There are now more than 100 mummies on display, some still in their original clothes, with strange forms and facial expressions. Space is still tight in the cemetery, so bodies continue to be dug up if the relatives can’t pay the upkeep fees! However only 1 or 2% of the bodies dug up are “displaying quality” specimens. The museum turned Kris white and put her off lunch (especially meat) for a while.


We were subject to another strange movie (this one in Arabic with Spanish subtitles) on our bus trip to Queretaro, where we spent one night. It was a lively city with possibly the nicest plazas (at night) that we had seen in Mexico.

From Queretaro we headed to untouristed Pachuca to see Kris’ friend, Sonia Padilla and stay with a Mexican family for our last night. Pachuca’s history is based around silver. Miners from Cornwall, England came in the 19th century, introduced “futbol” (soccer) to Mexico, and also brought with them Cornish Pasties, which are now sold all over town. We were lucky enough to experience some real Mexico City traffic on our way to the airport the following morning, which nearly contributed to us being stuck in Mexico for another night. “Thankfully” our original plane had mechanical problems and the plane could still be boarded one and a half hours late.

We have now returned to the snow in Salt Lake City, Utah.