Last spring when my friend called to ask if I wanted to go to Mexico City for three weeks, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of being in a city with over 21 million people. But I was looking for an adventure and another passport stamp, so I said “Lets go!”, and I am so glad that I did. Although I like to go to beaches, and being immersed in smaller villages that hold tradition and culture, I had such an amazing experience in Mexico City.

We stayed at different hotels in the historic district right outside of the Metropolitan Cathedral for only $10 a night. We made the historic district our home base. We had a local bar we would go to a few times a week, and all the staff knew us and greeted us with hugs when we entered the doors. We had different restaurants we would go to where we could get three tacos for $1. We learned all the little tricks we needed to know for getting around the city. The best thing to me was how many people we met. We made friends with punk rockers from Guadalajara who were there playing a show, ladies from England who had a wild funny sense of humor, and boys from Colombia and Argentina who had been volunteering for months at the hostel.

Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, Mexico City also felt so safe. Everyone back home in The U.S always tells you horror stories when you are leaving the country, but Mexico City felt safer to me than any other place I’v been to in Mexico. I never had anyone following me down the street trying to sell me things, or anyone in my personal space. While we were walking back to our hostel at night the streets would be so quite, you couldn’t hear traffic, you couldn’t see other people. It would just be you, the night sky, and this amazing city.