Marek Delay
We land in Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world, late in the evening. The first thing that strikes us is the lack of air to breathe. Surprisingly, I am not able to say a longer sentence without being out of breath. The airport is huge, after walking part of the way to passport control, we have to sit down on the stone floor for a moment. If you think air pollution in the largest city in the world is to blame? Probably yes, but the altitude at which it is located has an equally big impact. Well, we are not much lower than the top of Rysy, Polish highest peak. The air here is rarefied. Sometimes you need acclimatization to recover.
I look at my watch, we have very little time until the next flight, to Merida in Yucatan. A little over an hour. When we see the queue at passport control, there is a slight anxiety that we will not make it. After nearly 30 minutes of standing in the crowd, we are almost sure that we will not make it.
Passport control
A Polish woman standing in line in front of us tells us the story of her son. Well, a few days ago he was arrested for drug possession. Apparently, he was framed (of course, every criminal is innocent). He was offered that he could leave for a small fee. A thousand dollars. My mother came to Mexico with money. Oh shit, what are we doing here, I’m thinking. And how will a similar adventure befall us?
Passport control is not easy. The immigration officer shakes his head before we can show him our passports. We have new documents, we can’t prove that we come several times a year. I translate, nosotros no somos gringos, somos Polacccos. He asks to show the hotel reservation or the return ticket. A nervous search begins. Phew, we have return tickets on our phones. Stamp my passports and we are in Mexico. Compared to the road border with Guatemala, passport control in Mexico is pure pleasure.
Overbooking
Now a crazy run to get our luggage, then even faster to the baggage check-in for a domestic flight and we are at the gate … 5 minutes too late. But but, according to the display, we still have an hour. How is it possible, we laugh happily, because we made it. Our phones missynchronized the time (how did this happen?), in fact, it is an hour earlier. The most important thing is that everything goes according to plan.
None of that, overbooking… We were chosen as unlucky. We do not get on the plane. And again, knowledge of Spanish comes to the rescue. Nosotros somos turistas de Polonia. Oh, then get in. Was it supposed to be a small malice towards people looking like tourists from the States? It doesn’t matter, we won’t find out anyway. We fly to Merida. This is the most important thing. And with adventures? Now we could laugh about it, if it weren’t for the fact that after getting on the plane we fall asleep in no time.