Mark and Bridget prepare to climb the Temple of the Sun in Teotihuacán.

On Palm Sunday, March 25, 2018, I flew with my wife Bridget from Los Angeles to Mexico City, landing about 2:45 in the afternoon.  My name is Mark Fischer, and we flew into the Mexico City basin over clear skies, so that passengers could easily identify Chapultepec Park and the historical zone with the Zócalo and the Cathedral.  Landing, we collected our luggage, and then switched on our cell phone.  Laura Lewis had arranged for us to contact Laura’s brother, Carlos Gavilán, who was going to pick us up with his friend Georgina.  But we were unable to make the cell phone work, and were anxious because we couldn’t contact Carlos.  Finally, to our surprise and delight, Carlos appeared.  He had left Georgina in the car and entered the terminal to find us.  We had forgotten to turn on the “roaming” feature in our cell phone.  We followed Carlos, met Georgina in the car, and drove to Carlos’ home and photography studio.

Nicolás San Juan 729 in the Colonia del Valle was the Fischers’ Air BnB.

From there we walked to the restaurant El Bajio, and had a delicious meal.  It was our first taste of mole, a Mexican savory sauce that features chocolate.  After the meal, we returned to Carlos’ house for coffee with his mother, Doña Carmen, his sister Adriana, and her daughter Daniela.  Adriana and Daniela spoke excitedly about their recent experience of skydiving, showing cell phones videos of their parachute landing.  Eventually Carlos and Georgina drove us to a spacious apartment that Carl Fischer had reserved, and we gratefully turned in for the night.  We had to be ready for a pickup on Monday morning at 8:00 for a trip to the pyramids of Teotihuacán.