I’ve mentioned in earlier posts about some of the strange and wonderful things that have happened to me – and doubtless everyone else who travels frequently to the sort of places I go – maybe when I’m not posting about ‘current’ events, like now, on this trip to Mexico, but when I’m at home, I’ll post a few more. I tend to avoid blogging when I’m home, unless some great things happen like people being healed over the phone, as you, like me, I’m sure, get totally fed up on Facebook, at least, of seeing photos and descriptions of people’s meals, their dogs, and how many times they’ve been to the loo today…

Mostly, here in Mexico City, taxi drivers are nice – though they are prone to change the meter to a higher rate when a gringo gets in the cab! They love it when a gringo tries hard to speak Spanish, and there’s pretty nearly always football (soccer) in common, and I love the conversations.

I got in a cab today, though, and within seconds of completing the ‘formalities’ – ‘buenos dias’, ‘como estas?’ (How are you?’ and your required destination, the taxi driver, who looked remarkably like Groucho Marx, instantly started to tell me that his father had been shot….and his brother… and his son: not your usual sort of cab conversation, you’ll probably agree. Fortunately, it wasn’t a long trip, and I did my best with my Spanish, but conversational vocabulary about murder, suicide, and death doesn’t come very high in my own personal vocab range yet! I did feel very sorry for the man, though, and gave him double the fare as a tip, told him I’ll pray for him, and wished him ‘Dios te Bendiga’, God bless you….

It’s probably not surprising you get an occasional grump cab driver, as the traffic in this mega-city is like nowhere else I’ve ever been, and the driving is frequently ‘interesting’! This beats London, New York, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, and other big cities hands down, though I have to say I’ve not yet been to Tokyo. I love it: it’s sometimes a thrill a minute, like India, with cars weaving in and out of non-existent gaps, yet you see very few accidents.

Trouble is, even when I’m a passenger, and not driving, I tend to drive like I would here, or Cali, when I get back to the UK….. 🙁 Lots of hooters honking….