May 14, 2025
Although, we successfully traveled from home to Mexico City today, our most exciting moment occurred at home in our backyard before departing.
While enjoying our coffee and tea this morning, we were contemplating our final packing when an unexpected and tragic turn of events struck. Jane, checking the birdhouse camera, spotted a snake inside. Over the past few weeks, we have been closely following a pair of Carolina wrens as they built a nest, laid eggs, and began raising their young. Lately, the devoted parents have been making regular trips with insects and other food, dutifully feeding their peeping chicks and removing the resulting fecal sacs.
Our hearts sank.
I quickly climbed onto a step ladder, opened the front door of the birdhouse, and used a grabber tool to safely remove the intruder—a young copperhead, about 2 to 3 feet long, with a noticeable bulge in its midsection from a recent meal. I secured the birdhouse and disposed of the snake.
To our amazement, the parent wrens returned almost immediately. After a few moments of cautious assessment, they resumed caring for their chicks. Although we can’t see the nestlings hidden deep within the structure, their persistent cheeping suggests that more than one survived the heinous invasion but, sadly, it’s clear that at least one life was lost.
The Heinous Bird House Invader
After recovering from that unexpected emergency, we resumed our final preparations for departure—checking in for our flight, installing an eSIM card, double-checking our packed items, adjusting the thermostats, and so on. Everything went smoothly. We had a quick lunch of reheated homemade pizza before calling an Uber around 1:30 p.m. for our 4:48 p.m. flight. Thunderstorms were passing through the area, but fortunately, we avoided getting drenched.
At RDU, we checked in with Aeromexico (a Delta affiliate), exchanged some currency to ensure we arrived in Mexico with pesos in hand, and moved quickly through the TSA PreCheck line despite its length, and had plenty of time leftover for waiting at the boarding gate.
Our direct flight from RDU to Mexico City was aboard an Embraer 190. While the aircraft lacked some modern conveniences like video screens and USB ports, the seats were notably more spacious and comfortable than those on most airlines—a worthwhile trade-off, in my opinion. The seating layout was two seats on each side of the aisle; Jane took the window seat, and I took the aisle. We were served drinks and sandwiches on the uneventful five-hour flight.
Arriving in Mexico City
After landing and disembarking, we breezed through passport control. Since we had only carry-on luggage for this trip, we were able to move quickly through the bustling airport to the arrivals hall. Outside, at the designated ride-share pickup area, Jane promptly hailed an Uber ride. Soon we were winding our way through narrow streets and traffic-choked highways—a chaotic introduction to Mexico City by night.
We’re In!
About 30 minutes later, we were dropped off near a busy corner marked by a lively restaurant and our hotel, Durango 219. The night guard, Noel, greeted us and handed us an information sheet outlining important details like elevator usage and our room access code. He kindly escorted us to our second-floor room to make sure we found it easily and understood the entry procedure.
After checking out the comfortable and nicely appointed room, we decided to visit the rooftop restaurant, only to discover it was closed for the evening. Undeterred, we headed down to the ground floor to try the adjoining restaurant, Babero’s. There, we relaxed with a couple of beers and shared appetizers—tuna laminates with macha sauce and peanuts for me, and hot brie with fried bread for Jane.
Room at Durango 219
Late-night Snack at Babero’s Restaurant
Afterward, we returned to our room for some much-needed rest. We’re excited to begin exploring this dynamic city in the tomorrow morning’s daylight.
PS – When we landed and took our phones out of airplane mode, we recieced a slew of motion detection notifications from our birdhouse camera. Our wren family was continuing life as usual.