The Meet Up

So you've heard Greg's border crossing tale, now for the other half.  I left San Antonio via a plane at 11:30, arriving in Mexico City two hours later.  I quickly passed through customs and hopped in a certified cab to one of the hostel address I had written down.  I checked into a nice hostel downtown and went site seeing around the historical district and checked out a few museums.

The adventure part started the next day when I was supposed to meet Greg at the pre-arranged meeting spot (seen above).  Evidently more pre-arranging was needed.  I had written down that we were to meet at 7PM in the town of Toluca, about an hour west of the city.  I used the metro, which is easy to use and fantastic, and then caught the bus out to Toluca.  Along the way, I finally got to see how sprawling the city is, including the slums.  Quite a sight.

Finally, arriving in Toluca a few hours early, I hopped into an internet cafe, shot an e-mail to Greg and texted the satellite phone to indicate that I was waiting to meet him with open arms.  I asked a few locals if I was in the correct location and they all assured me that I was.  Starting at 6:30 like a lion walking its den, I started to do laps around the bus terminal, both in and outside, with my big duffel bag.

Finding Greg would not be challenging, but identifying David, our host in Mexico City, would be the more sticky issue.  With that in mind, I was scanning the crowds as I prowled my bus terminal, trying to make eye contact with those who looked like they were waiting for someone.  Eventually, I made eye contact with a young Mexican male and we both held it for a bit as we walked by each other.  He glanced back at me and I at him.  I decided to approach him to see if it was David.  I greeted him and asked if he was David and he exclaimed, "Si!"  I thought it would easy sailing from there.  Upon further questioning, the looks became more perturbed.  It became clear that his grasp of the English language was more limited than mine of Spanish, which is saying something.  I decided that the easiest way to get to the bottom of this was to go onto google translator and type messages back and forth.  The conversation that followed was this:

 (As I typed, David, sitting a foot away, just stared at me and blinked a lot)
Me:  I am looking for my friend Greg Esser and was supposed to meet David Inda.
David:  What is "Inda"?
Me:  Sorry!  You must not be the friend I was looking for.  Thank you anyway!
David:  I can be your friend...

I got up and left.  However, he and his friend must have decided the bus station was the place to be, so in the next 2 hours of pacing the station, there were a lot of awkward waves and avoiding of eye contact.

As dusk settled, I realized the rendezvous was a failure, booked a room, and went to bed to await attempt number 2.