Mexico City - Part 2

I was still puzzled by the fee Axcel was charging, $120 was so little money, and so I treated him to lunch. I wanted to eat real Mexican food, not Mexican made in LA. It was a very casual setting, just like I asked him, nothing fancy. The smell was delicious and I hoped the food would be just as wonderful.
Axcel suggested the barbacoa plate for me and he would order Carne Asada for himself.
I thought Barbacoa was gonna be something like a Mexican barbecue style. I was mistaken but still the plate was very suculent. The Barbacoa is this young cow steak wrapped inside foil paper and cooked slowly with spices. It was a good surprise I have to say. The bill was $245 pesos.

Back to the road on our way to downtown I decided to give Axcel one more treat. He had been wonderful as a guide so far, plus the fee he was charging was so cheap. I took a big bag of M&Ms, the ones Randy gave to me before the trip and offered him. He was happy and surprised by the size of the package.

We drove by Avenida de la Revolucion, one of the most important and prettiest in the city. Indeed it was very nice and clean, filled with sculptures and mordern art. The independecy monument, a winged woman is also located in the avenue and is a mark of Mexico City.

Finally we arrived in the main plaza, another breathtaking sight. I really didn´t expect that out of this trip. An enormous plaza filled with people walking by and doing their thing. Indian descendents chanting and dancing, young people - the new hippies - playing drums and just hanging out. In one side the Palacio Nacional , familiar to me from Selma Hayek´s `Frida`, beautiful paintings from Diego Rivera decorate the walls of the Palace. Outside, by the right side of the Palace is a gorgeous Cathedral and all around the plaza are other old style buildings all decorated for December and Christmas complete the picture.

Back to the hotel, I asked Axcel to write down his email address and he added his phone number. I was so grateful for the day. I got all my money in Pesos ($140) and gave to him $20 dollar in propina. He looked at me puzzled.
`I think you understood wrong. It was 120 dollars not pesos. 120 pesos doesn´t cover the gas bill`.
I was soooo embarrassed and apologized as many thoughts came to my mind - `I don´t have any money`, `What am I gonna do?`, `Give me back my M&Ms!!!`

Actually, I was embarrassed and just thought that day was really worthy $120 dollars and maybe more. In the end I found an ATM machine that accepted my bank and withdraw the cash...