Though Karl Pilkington might not be the best tour guide for practical international travel, he did have one important revelation to share on this week's episode of An Idiot Abroad - they don't actually have Mexican Jumping Beans in Mexico.

As part of his quest to see all seven wonders of the world, Karl visited the Mayan site Chichen Itza which includes the Kukulkan Pyramid, also known as the castle, and is considered one of the world's seven wonders. The temple was used for human sacrifice is surrounded by several other structures, including rows of ancient pillars which Karl refers to as "an Ikea for columns." ]]> cmb 2011-02-14T16:25:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/13/16238/7427

Mexico City managed to be left off the State Department's recent warning on travel to Mexico -- not because spring breakers are less likely to go there than Cancun or Cozumel, but because the outbreak of violence in the country has been concentrated further north. But the city is seeing plenty of through traffic as North Americans head to sunny destinations further south.

Japanese Tom Hanks Hiroshi Nohara liked Benito Juarez International Airport so much he lived there for almost half a year. But he must not have been checking his e-mail there -- at the price of $0.50 a minute through Telmex, he would have run out of funds long before being able to Priceline a ticket home. Sorry, those pics of you and your friends doing shots of tequila may not get uploaded to Facebook until after you've arrived home.

Reading your RSS feeds on spring break? Tell us where you picked up the signal.

Related Stories:
· Mexico Travel Alert [Travel.state.gov]
· Airport Lover Hiroshi Nohara Headed Home [Jaunted]
· Airport WiFi Map [Jaunted]]]> egw 2009-03-23T12:55:52-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/13/84954/8231

Japanese Tom Hanks Hiroshi Nohara is headed home, after spending 117 days in Mexico City International Airport and then shacking up with a mysterious woman known only as Oyuki for close to two weeks.

Nohara reappeared at MEX on Sunday, carrying three plastic bags full of clothes and blankets. His flight back to Japan left Monday, with a stop scheduled for San Francisco.

While Nohara never fully explained why he was living in the airport, we like to think that he was part of some Illuminati super-plot or was at least wrapped up in some kind of real-life Bourne scenario. 'Cause really... "The Terminal"? Honestly, it wasn't that good.

Related Stories:
· Man Returns to Japan after Mexico Airport Stay [AP, via Google]
· Japanese Tom Hanks Moving On Up [Jaunted]
· Japanese Tom Hanks Can't Get Enough Of Mexico City [Jaunted]

[Photo: China Daily]]]> pbb 2009-01-13T09:05:48-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/9/112547/1248

The sidewalks of Mexico City are being overwhelmed by gum, spit out and ground into the pavement to the tune of 70 pieces every three feet. So the city's point man in keeping public spaces clean, Ricardo Jaral, has a message for those of you who would toss your flavorless chew in the street:

When you finish chewing a piece of gum, you either have to put in a piece of paper and deposit it in a trash receptacle, or swallow it.

Isn't that bad for you? Jaral says nope:

I've always swallowed my gum, and it's never done me any harm.

At least you'll still be allowed to pop a piece on a whim: While you're now allowed to chew in Singapore, you can only get so-called therapeutic gum from pharmacies after showing ID.

Related Stories:
· Mexico Tells Citizens to Swallow Their Gum [MSNBC, via]
· Mexico City Will Eat Cake, 22,000 Pounds Of It [Jaunted]
· World's Largest Ice Rink Now Open In Mexico [Jaunted]

[Photo: laughingmonk]]]> pbb 2009-01-09T11:30:45-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/6/122025/6190

Happy Three Kings Day! Spanish-speaking countries all over the world celebrate the appearance of the Magi at the manger today, and nowhere is the party bigger than in Mexico City, which baked an 22,000-pound cake for the event.

The Rosca de Reyes, a sweet bread studded with candied fruit, measures nearly a mile long and contains 1,400 plastic babies akin to those found in King Cakes for Mardi Gras. (But you don't want to find this baby because then you have to throw a party for all your friends on February 2.)

Catch up with the festivities in Mexico City now by heading down the Paseo de la Reforma to the Monumento a la Revolución, a Porfirio Diaz-era structure where the Tres Reyes party moved in 2005 from the Parque Alameda Central. The parade, a relatively new addition to the celebration (dating back to just 2007) looks a lot like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, except for the dudes on camel-, elephant- and horseback. They're the kings of course.

Related Stories:
· Massive 11-Tonne Bread Readied for Traditional Mexico Party [AFP, via Yahoo!]
· Three Kings Ride Through Mexico City for First Time [EFE]
· Mexico City Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Remi.B]]]> egw 2009-01-06T15:30:44-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/5/234432/1971

Five seasons into "No Reservations" and Anthony Bourdain is running a little low on far-flung locales to eat his way though, so it's no surprise that this season starts in not-all-that-exotic Mexico City.

But Bourdain promises to show us that Mexico is about more than just tacos, tortas and quesadillas, and then proceeds to, well, eat a hell of a lot of tacos, tortas and quesadillas. Of course his are filled with tongue, tripe, brains and eyeballs, so what the ep lacks in imagination it more than makes up for in offal.]]> BS 2009-01-06T09:34:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/2/95735/05175

Mexico City International Airport's most famous (and only?) resident Hiroshi Nohara has moved out after spending 117 days in Terminal 1. Absconding with a mysterious woman known only as Oyuki, the now-clean shaven tourist is shacked up in an apartment in the Distrito Federal according to the newspaper Reforma. Oyuki says she invited the traveler to her place so he could sleep in a real bed.

Nohara's actually left the airport once before--to tour Azteca Stadium--but this time, he says, he's not going back. His tourist visa is set to expire in March, though how (or if) he plans to leave Mexico then is still unclear.

Though Nohara seems to have found his place in an unusual way, vacation rentals were a big trend in 2008, with families trying to keep lodging costs down and single travelers looking for crash pads that were big enough for Parisian dinner parties. The titan of the short-term rental space is HomeAway.com (and its offshoots), but different countries have their own local sites, Frugal Traveler Matt Gross reports, like Pap.fr, Kamernet.nl, Vivastreet.it. And of course there's always Craigslist, which now has a version for just about everywhere. Including Mexico City.

Related Stories:
· Man Living at Mexico Airport Has New Home [AP, via Google]
· Lessons From the Frugal Grand Tour [NYT]
· Japanese Tom Hanks Can't Get Enough Of Mexico City [Jaunted]

[Photo: China Daily]]]> pbb 2009-01-02T10:30:41-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/