I flew to and from DC on Mexicana Airlines. Months ago, they had a 40% sale on tickets and we snagged the opportunity to get the round-trip flight for about $367 USD. The flight had a layover in Mexico City for an hour and a half. However on the itinerary receipt was some small text saying "Una escala tecnica", or in English a "refuelling stopover". I figured the plane would land somewhere briefly to refuel, or maybe a refuel in Mexico City itself before we left. It turned out this small print meant a full-scale layover in Cancun! All the passengers except for 10 of us had Cancun as their final destination.

The rest of us continuing passengers also had to get off the plane with our belongings, go through security and US immigration procedures (though I'd done some of this in Mexico City), and then wait 45 minutes to reboard a separate plane to Washington DC. To the credit of the staff, the service was excellent and they guided us through the process easily and quickly.

At midday I met Dan Bold at a very funky bookshop in Dupont called Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café, and we decided to check out the National Aquarium.

A word of advice for tourist places in DC - many call themselves "National" purely because they are located in DC, not because they are any good, or are federally funded, or are the best example of something. For instance, the Aquarium was overpriced for what you got - a bunch of underground tanks showing you different small fish species, and one alligator and one squid hardly worth their names. I normally like aquariums but this one was dead boring.
 

After a catch-up and good conversation, we headed out to the Pentagon City Mall to go clothes shopping and pick up wedding gifts for Shane and Dave. Tasks eventually completed, we shopped a bit at Target, looked for an open takeaway joint, then settled for McDonalds drivethrough. The service guy there told us the ice-cream machine was broken, but we saw him through the server window give a woman an ice cream! Laughter ensued, and I got my ice cream from the lazy employee.

Sunday morning we went to the Christ Our Shepherd church on Capitol Hill. The sermon was very good and intelligent, about the nature of truth and how we should approach truth-seeking.
 

The main purpose of my (Andrew's) trip to Washington DC in June 2010 was to go to the wedding of my friends Shane Bauman and Dave Martel. But given the expense of the trip, I spent four full days in Washington DC to meet up with other friends and have some fun.

At Dulles International Airport I managed to get through immigration, security and customs in about 45 minutes. I took the 5A bus to Rosslyn Station in Arlington (cheap and fast - the best way to the airport), then a taxi to my Couchsurfing host Richard's apartment at Dupont Circle. I arrived at 1 am.

Shane and I went for dinner at a Mexican take-out (ironic, I know) called California Tortilla in Chinatown. The food was far more Americanized than what you find here in Jalisco. In general, I was amazed at how large the portion sizes are at the U.S. restaurants and take-outs. They could last me for two meals. I soon learned to order the "small" or "kids" sized dishes, but even they were a little large.
 

After lunch at the Ronald Reagan Building food court, we walked to the Washington Monument. It's free to go up, but at this time of year you need to join a line starting at 6 am to get a ticket for that day to ascend. You can only book in advance by phone or internet. Needless to say we were too late for tickets.

Dan left to pick up his bags and move to his friend's house, and I went back to Dupont to pick up my bag. I was a little early to get to Tonetta Landis' house so I chilled and people-watched for 45 minutes in the shade of Dupont Circle park.

I took the Metro to south DC, Anacostia neighborhood, and I swear I was the only white man at the station, among hundreds of people! Tonetta and Jeremy Stanton met me and took me to Tonetta's house.





On Saturday the three of us drove to Sandy Point State Park on Chesapeake Bay for Shane and Dave's wedding. It was a wonderful affair. About 70 guests arrived, the ceremony was beautiful, and a BBQ picnic lunch was served afterwards. The Bay had amazingly warm water for swimming, albeit a bit silty. Frisbee and beach badminton games were set up, drinks were served, and we spent a fantastic day there alternating between food, swim, play, relax, and chat. I met a number of great people from the Gay Christian Network (GCN), many of whom I'd only known before from their posts on the website message boards.
 

At 6 pm we decided to drive back. I had a very interesting chat with a guy called Nathan on the way. This vacation was filled with interesting people and lots of chin-wagging about all sorts of topics under the sun. I thoroughly enjoy this! We got Chinese takeaways and listened to a few old-school dance/soul songs to celebrate Tonetta finishing her teaching school year.



Afterwards we went out for brunch at the Starfish Café then I got a waffle icecream. Bad idea given the heat - my hands and mouth were soon a mess and needed a wash-up! We explored the Capitol Hill "Farmer's Market", which really was a combination of a flea market, antiques and crafts market, fresh food market, and other market selling.