Road Trippin'!

With the minivan loaded up we headed out on our first road trip.  First stop? Teotihuacan. You know...where the pyramids are. We raced to the top of Pyramid of the Sun. Jessica won.   

                           

                                           Pyramid of the sun behind us.  

The girls checking out the view from the top of Pryamid of the sun with Pyramid of the moon in the background.  

A panorama extending from pyramid of The Moon, down Avenida de Los Muertos to pyramid of The Sun.  

We decided to spend the night near the pyramids. We make every effort to avoid lame, overpriced hotels and opt for the "unique" places to stay. We stayed at a hippy dippy sweat lodge place in the middle of nowhere.  Turn right at the mangled, emaciated turkeys.  

Make a right near the guard dog who's supposed to be herding the cows and you're there!!!!!

We were the only people staying the night. The girls loved checking out the little sweat lodge "huts". 

              The grounds were gorgeous, complete with peacocks, doves and pheasants.  The family who runs this awesome place was nice enough to let us park Pepe (our minivan) on their property for the remainder of the week while we caught a bus to Mexico City.  

This week serves as a field trip week.  Although were not holding "class" they're still learning. They've learned;

1.) How to pack everything one may need for a weeks vacation in a really small backpack. 

          

2.) Mom's sports bra doubles as a secret wallet for money and credit cards when boarding crowded buses headed for Mexico City. 

3.) That there's a time and place for using the "I'm bat shit crazy" card.  This one may need an explanation, so please read on...

Heading to the pyramids we crossed over into Estado de Mexico while driving.  Upon paying our toll and crossing into the new state I (Aimee) was waved to pull over by some sort of official.  

                 "Geeeeeezus, why did you pull over?? This is a bullshit stop!" - Phil 

It was too late.  I had already pulled the car over.  Long story .... Short.  After 40 minutes of going back and forth with someone who's English is as good as my Spanish here's why we were flagged to pull over.

Entering into the Districo Federal with foreign plates (we registered our loser cruiser "mini van" in the Mexican state of Nayarit) you need to display a smog sticker. 

Because we didn't have out sticker our options were:

  ----pay a $210 fine to the dude who pulled us over. 

 ----allow a tow truck to haul us to "The Office" and pay our fine there. 

 ---- something about paying our fine tomorrow after spending the night in our car. 

I finally found someone who spoke clear English who said my fine was now $600 US dollar to which I told him he was lying. After losing another 10 minutes, I totally lost my shit.  While banging my fists on the wheel I was literally yelling. 

                             "I AM NOT A TOURIST CARRYING BAGS OF MONEY!!!"

                                      "I HAVE LIVED IN MEXICO SINCE JANUARY !!!!"

                                               He then asked, "Where are you living?"

                                         "WE LIVED IN SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE!!!!"

  I looked at Phil expecting his usual "calm the f%*? down" look I'm accustomed to and didn't see it. 

             I started slapping the dash of our minivan with my hand and started yelling again.  

                                   "DO YOU SEE THIS CAR? THIS CAR IS MINE!!!!"

"I OWN THIS CAR!!  I JUST WANT TO TAKE MY FAMILY TO SEE YOUR PYRAMIDS AND SHOW THEM MEXICO!!!!!"

He then asked to see my drivers license, pretended to look it over and let us go.  With the girls cheering me on, I slammed Pepe into drive, slammed on the gas and tossed a little gravel their way.  I was so mad, I was literaly sweating. 

"Hope you girls learned a valuable lesson ! There's a time and place to use your bat shit crazy card!". They clearly didn't want any of this crazy Gringa.

Now we are on to the Distrito Federal (Mexico City) for three days of exploring.