Mexico City: Colors, Cuisine & Culture

We had visited Mexico City when my kids were babies (I mean it, one was 8 months & the other 22 months). Of course, we had lots of fun then. But, I left with a little asterisk which read a strong desire to be back one day. Like any of the jinxed plans, this one would come up and get pushed down the list every now and then. Finally, after we moved to San Diego and the kids (now 8 & 6 year olds) presented us with a 4 days break from school - this seemed like a highly probably option. Soon the tickets, hotels & moods were booked for a quick Mexico City getaway. 😊

Colors, Cuisine & Culture Galore!

Day 1: A Day of Firsts

The first instance of flying from the CBX airport. Living in San Diego, flying any country south from the CBX airport seemed like the to do thing. So why be any different? The idea is to drive to the border, park at a paid public parking, enter the CBX airport from the American side, cross the border somewhere inside the airport, complete immigration and board flight from the Mexican side. Note, a much much cheaper flight. Lunch was Panda Ex (for 6 yo Abesh & me), Domino's pizza (for 8 yo Rupkatha & me) and torta (for DH & me) - note the me everywhere, Mom life! 😁 We boarded the 3 hours flight from the CBX airport to Mexico City, smooth.

Once at the destination, we hired a cab to our hotel. Soon we were zipping through the afternoon traffic letting the hustle, the people soak all in. It was a good hour drive to our hotel. But, if you're in a different country after wishing for long that doesn't really seem boring. Soon we were pulling up in front of our hotel, Hotel Catedral. Very centrally located, just a 2 minutes walk away from the main piazza in Zocalo, it was a great stay in two words. After relaxing in the lobby awhile, we checked into our room on the 5th floor and the most perfect view from the balcony winked back at us with the sun setting over the cathedral tops behind the colored homes dotting the green hillocks. 

Information - It was a warm welcome with a bell boy taking our bags to another offering us coffee, receptionists offering us on the house guavas and lollypops to the kids. And all this us for a little over $60 per night. What a steal!

Feliz Cumpleanos, Chiquita! 

We stepped back out to a slowly unwinding from the day & week (it was Friday) Mexico City to find our grub for the night. DH had pre selected to dine at the Cafe De Tacuba. It's an old school restaurant built in 1912, so, yes it was all the ghosts of Christmas past from over a hundred years. Along with the usual tortilla chips (freshly fried hand made ones) they also served fresh bread & yummy salsa. Nibbling over those, we enjoyed the live Mariachi performance and the overall lively homey and back in time ambience. Dinner for the kids were soul-filling chicken and rice soups, pork & mole sauce tamale for me & steak in mole sauce for DH. They was simply delicious! 

The cherry on the cake (literally & symbolically) was when they bought out a big slice of the tres leches cake with a lighted candle out for Rupkatha as she had just turned the eight. Bless DH to have communicated in his Spanish and let it be a wonderful surprise for his princess. 😍💖 With that it was time to call it a very memorable & special day. Until sunrise!

Day 2: It's a Party on the bo-o-oat! 

Woke up to a wonderful view with sun shining in a crisp blue sky. Coffee, showers and back at the lobby we filed into the breakfast area. Our package did not include the breakfast, but, hey it was just $9 for the grown ups & free for the kiddos. So for $18 we were having a breakfast fit for the kings and queens for all four of us. Special mention to their fajitas with nopal (nopal means cactus), house cheese, pork sausages & much to my daughter's glee their hot chocolate. In all three days there, the menu kept changing slightly which was kept it exciting. 

Party on a Boat

After that, thanks to the wonderful suggestion of our friend, Elizabeth, we decided to visit the Xocomilco. Xocomilco is a network of canals chock-a-block dotted with colorful boats. It was truly as our friend had described - a party on the boat! People, sunshine, music, laughter, beer, food - the quintessential party! Locals sell belly huggers (corn on the cob, beer, fruits, soda, tacos, rice & chicken) from rickety little boats. Cash is of course a must! Live Mariachi is practically everywhere. Almost every second boat had a Mariachi boat next to it or the Mariachi musicians in their boats playing the peppiest tunes you will hear in a very long time. Luckily for us, there were so many around, we got free entertainment so no clue how much they can possible cost. 😉

Munching on corn, drinking chilled beer and watching our kids sitting at the nose of the boat we meandered around the canal. We stopped at a Salamander Petting Zoo. There are quite a few of these and you can simply request your boatman to halt at one. DH took the kids in to see the facing extinction salamanders while I walked around the colorful exotic plants. Back in the boat DH flashed a picture for my 6 yo Abesh with a boa heavier than him around his neck - wooooaaahh! Soon we were back at the banks and walking around the very many little souvenir stores buying little boats and what nots for our mantlepiece. 

Brave!

A cab drive back to our hotel, we relaxed and unwound in our room for a little while. In the evening, we strolled around the Zocalo area where local performers dressed up in Aztec style and danced. It was quite a sight with their massive head gear and intense body paintings. We visited the Mexico City Metropolitan Church and walked by the Aztec Ruins. We walked down the Avenue Cinque de Mayo looking at the old buildings all around. Our first stop was the famous juice place, Jugos Canada. Of course, all is great but, special mention to their mango juice - it was so yummy! Next was Dulceria de Celaya. Built close to 150 years ago in 1874, this shop has been making the world sweeter ever since. Of course the kids were in a candy store, but, even the adults were like kids in a candy store. 😂 We grabbed the last two coconut-in-lime-peel sweets (famous for being Frida Kahlo's favorite sweets too), peanuts in molases slabs and little nick-nacks. 

Dinner was at the Restaurante Catedral, located at the ground level of our hotel - how convenient! The kids happily devoured their salmon, rice and veggies platter, DH his tacos and me my warm chicken and veggie soup. With that we called it a night on our second evening in the beautiful Mexico City. 

Information - as of February, 2023 the prices for the boats are about 600 pesos per hour. And a boat ride of 2 hours is good enough, 3 might be a tad too long. The little Salamander zoos are about 100 pesos each to go see them and take pictures with snakes, hedgehogs. Remember: you cannot touch the salamanders as they are critically endangered. 

Day 3 - Let your best miles be those covered on foot - check mark! 

Artsy trio!

This day was planned on my whim to walk endlessly around Mexico City. After yet another very full breakfast, we walked around and reached the Museo Nacional de Arte or MUNAL (National Museum of Art). Not exactly on our list but, we decided to hop in. We got introduced to the artwork of Jose Maria Velasco who specialized in painting the barren brown landscapes of countryside Mexico. The building itself is covered with beautiful carvings and is a splendid example of the early 20th century constructions. Next we visited Museo Postal (Postal Museum) with its winding golden stairs, ornate rooms and cycles, cars and stamps from over a hundred years ago. 

Walking some more, we hopped over to the Palacio de Bella Artes next with its famous Diego Rivera murals. There's lots of art work from across the decades. Special mention to the mural which was broken down at the Rockefeller Center only to be re-worked in Mexico City. Look out for the hallways which sometime become one ways (weird!) inside the museum without any signs. 

Secrets at top of Mexico City!

Our next stop was at the more modern building - the Torre Latinoamericano (Latino Tower). Forty-five floors tall, it was the highest building in the entire of Latin America until recent. Whooshing up the elevator soon we were standing in the short queue to go up the winding steps to the open air top of the tower. As promised, it was a breathtaking view from the top, giving a 360 view of the expansive never-ending Mexico City flanked with hillocks around. We idled for a while at the indoor coffee shop, Cafe de la Gran Ciudad. Just a regular, but, a halt there a moment to step away from the craze, the maze of every day life & just breath. 

By then our bellies had long forgotten the huge breakfasts we all had had and soon we were being seated outdoors on a fine February afternoon at the restaurant at the House of Tiles, Sanborns de los Azulejos. More scrumptious rice, more sopas (soups) and meat added to our grub list. It was late afternoon by the time we left. We started back towards our hotel. As it was Sunday evening, the streets were milling with people, shops buzzing - it was all so festive indeed. Once back at the Piazza de la Constitucion, we saw the Ceremonia de Izada de Bandera (Flag Ceremony). Before this, I did not even know it was a thing. Research later taught me that every morning, at 8 A.M. soldiers hoisted the flag & lowered the flag back at sunset, and the latter is what we witnessed. Huge crowds had gathered for witnessing it, hawkers selling some very ping sugary things - there was certainly a buzz in the air & quite an event to witness.  

An evening in our balcony watching the sun bid adieu as did the crowds slowly. A light dinner and soon we were saying night night to the day that was. 

Day 4: Curtain Fall

I did it!

Packed, breakfast-ed, checked out - soon we were storing our luggage in the hotel lobby as we had almost the entire day to kill before our late evening flight. My DH was head bent on visiting the Teotihuacan - flat topped Aztec pyramids built close to a thousand years ago. It was an entire city complete with temples, homes, columns, frescos and a central road. Brown battled ruins today, it's intriguing to imagine what a thriving city filled with people like you and me it was. Despite being winter, it was quite sunny and thank goodness for our big sun hats. 

Information: winters in Mexico City are quite the mixed bag - you would need everything from sun hats & sun screen to jackets and caps. But, in case you forget something - ample stores to shop from right outside the Pyramid gates with hats as cheap as just 40 pesos. 

We existed from Gate 2 and strolled over to a roadside eatery for lunch. It was so colorful!! 😀 Once again, my kids studied the menus and ordered for themselves. Rupkatha ordered sopa con pollo (chicken soup), Abesh a chicken & rice with tomate sauce, DH a sizzler & I finally some tacos. Given the sunny walk, we humored the kids' wish for Coke - hard word deserve awards. 😃 DH and I shared a handsome glass of pulque (a local alcohol made from the agave plant - or cactus alcohol as I called it). It was really good and a must try. 

As as I said..colors. cuisine & culture!

We decided to brave the local bus from Teotihuacan to Mexico City central bus terminal - and a journey it was! The seats are comfortable with curtains on the windows. Somewhere into the journey two local singers climbed on singing famous songs just in Spanish. Both the kids were beside themselves with glee. Tasting the complete flavor of local Mexican life we sat at a coffee shop, Moliendas De Mexico, for quite sometime at the Terminal. Soon it was time to get moving as we taxied back to our hotel. Relaxed and made our way to the airport. The airport is decently sized and luckily we found a very small kids area with a play structure. Dinner was closer to home at Chillis. 

Soon we were on our flight back home, but, the asterisks remains - the asterisks which reads that I will come back again.