An adventure of a lifetime… and it’s only the beginning

¡Hola! from Mexico City!

It is currently 12:45 am (the time I started writing this post), and I’m here to tell you that I just had the BEST first day in Mexico City!

My day started at 4 am when I woke up and drove to the Detroit airport. I am so thankful to live so close to such a big airport!

Anyways… I flew 5 hrs direct to Mexico City, where I was greeted by my driver who was holding a sign with my name on it. Epic.

Not gonna lie, I was not feeling the greatest after my flight. I was SO hungry for lunch, and the turbulence followed by a bunch of potholes was not helping. Shoutout to my mom, though, for reminding me to pack snacks. At least I was able to eat a couple of Kind Bars!

It took about an hour to get from the airport to the hotel since there’s so much traffic in the city. When I arrived at the hotel, a very kind gentleman (hotel staff) helped me bring my bags up to my room. He asked me, “¿hablas español?”, and we talked in Spanish for a little bit. In this moment, I knew my Spanish was RUSTY. I haven’t used it since my sophomore year of college! It was fun to talk a little bit with him, though.

Since it was already almost 2 pm by the time I got settled into my room (which is amazing by the way), I decided to find a place to eat near the hotel. I did a quick Google search and found this place called Taquería el Califa, which was a less than 10 minute walk away.

I sat down and ordered a couple of chicken tacos. BEST TACOS OF MY LIFE I KID YOU NOT.

I ended up ordering a couple more 😆 The service was amazing and my food came out really quickly, which I appreciated since I was in a bit of a time crunch.

By the time I made it back to the hotel, it was already time to transfer to the concert venue – Expo Santa Fe. This was the perfect time to start getting to know people on my trip! I talked with Samantha (NY), Alina (Ukraine/Cali), David (Australia), and Vlad (Romania). We were having a hoot making jokes about all of the potholes 😂. Samantha is also here alone, and she’s been on several Cercle Moments. She said that the last time she went on one, she was the only solo female traveler in the group!

There was a long line of people waiting to get in that stretched all the way down the street… and we got to skip the line completely! We were also the first ones in the venue. Since this is the first time that there has ever been a Cercle Odyssey concert —a 365 immersive experience— we were actually the first ones other than the Cercle crew who got to see the setup! Insane.

Lona (Cercle team member) showed us around, pointing out the VIP lounge and best-view platform. We had about 45 minutes to chill before the concert started, which was perfect for introductions and getting to know people a bit better.

The concert itself was absolutely phenomenal. I cannot possibly explain just how amazing it was, but just trust me. The visual components and music complemented each other perfectly. I also had a front row view of the artist, Ben Böhmer, the whole time. I got to hear some of my favorite songs AND my new friends and I were dancing together! It was so much fun.

After the concert, there was a huge debate over whether we should stay for the next concert or go get dinner. I stuck around for a while, talking with Vlad, Alain (New Caledonia), and Alina. I was having a great time, but I was ravenous. I made a last-minute call to join the other half of the group who was leaving to go to dinner, even though I didn’t really know any of them well yet.

Once again, the bus time was a great opportunity to talk. However, we were all so hungry to the point that we had no energy left. When we got back to the hotel, we —Lily & James (Cali), Mark (Cali), Chris & Cheryl (Cali?), JJ (Mexico), Ross (Mexico) and I— immediately started walking down the street looking for a place to eat. JJ found us a nice restaurant, and to be honest, I didn’t even catch the name of it. It was incredible, though! There was live music, and the place was beautifully decorated. We ordered a few of every appetizer (shrimp, fried potatoes, calamari, squash blossoms) plus a few entrees (seabass, pasta) and dessert to share. The calamari came in a hippo dish, which I just loved. It happened to be the only photo I took from today 😅

Eventually, the live music turned into a regular playlist. We kept laughing about how quickly the music would change up… one minute, an elegant Mexican song was playing, and then the next song would be some popular rap/pop song.

I was also laughing because JJ kept calling me “Clarita”, and it’s really starting to stick! I may just ask everyone to call me Clarita when I get home hahaha.

By the time we finished dinner, it was well past 10 pm. However, JJ wanted to show us his super extraordinary balcony that is going to be hosting the 40 of us for our rooftop party tomorrow night with WhoMadeWho. It was the perfect night, so we all just sat up there for another three or so hours. I layed down on this comfy patio chair / bed thing with Lily and we talked the whole time. At the end of the night, everyone gave each other hugs. Including me! I got hugs too! Even though they all know each other from previous Moments, I feel like I belong here. Everyone is so welcoming! I am so excited to meet the rest of the Momenters who are arriving tomorrow.

That’s all for now! Buenas noches 🫶🏻

Clara