Wow Mexico City… what a way to start our trip! We managed to fit so much into our week here and there is so much more we didn’t get a chance to do. I could write 10 posts about our time here, but here are the highlights.
The Metro
Our plane landed a little after 5am last Tuesday, after a night of very little sleep for either of us. The exhaustion probably explains why it took us nearly 40 minutes to even find the metro station next to the airport – but that was just the start of the adventure. Once we found the metro line to our hotel, we were stopped by a security guard who told us that the section was only for women and children and pointed John in a different direction. John then asked if I could go with him to the other section, and the guard gave us a look that suggested he can’t imagine why I would do that but said I could… this should have been our first hint for what we were about to walk into. The minute we rounded the corner there was a giant sea of (mostly) men quickly making their way to their platforms. The crowd alone felt chaotic, but that’s nothing compared to what happened when a train pulled up. It was like something out of a movie, crowds moving in super speed pushing into the already full cars in the 3 seconds you have to get in before the doors slam shut (not exaggerating, the doors are terrifying and give pretty much no warning). John and I stood there with our giant backpacks and watched a few trains go by to understand the strategy before throwing ourselves in. We made it in the next one – I’m sure to the delight of the morning commuters who were now being pushed against our backpacks. We then learned the importance of knowing ahead of time when your stop is coming up so you can prepare to push out of the train – let’s just say we didn’t make it out in time and had to backtrack a bit when we finally made it out (again, you get 3 seconds). Thankfully we got the hang of it through the week and it became a very easy, convenient mode of transportation for anywhere we wanted to go.
The City Sites
We learned Mexico City is the 6th largest metropolitan area in the world, and it truly feels that big. We decided to take a hop-on/hop-off tour bus to see more of the city. While we mostly enjoyed the views from the top of our double-decker bus (where I earned my first sunburn of the trip), we did get off a couple times to explore. The first being in Del Carmen, the neighborhood of the famous Frida Kahlo house and museum. Unfortunately tickets were sold out for the museum for over a week out, but we did get to wander around the very cool neighborhood and grab lunch at a local restaurant. Our second stop was at the National Anthropology Museum. We arrived late enough in the day that we got admission for free, but that also meant we got kicked out earlier than we would have liked! We got to see a great exhibit on Teotihuacán in preparation for our tour the next day, though (see below).
We also spent a morning exploring the Castillo de Chapultepec in the beautiful Chapultepec park. It is located on top of a hill and has beautiful views of the city, plus a sizable museum within the castle.
Our favorite place to walk around was the Condesa neighborhood where our hotel was located. There are beautiful greenery walkways in the median of many major streets, and tons of great restaurants, cafes, and bars all around. We learned on our bus tour that it is considered the “hip and trendy” neighborhood, and we definitely agree!
Teotihuacán
We took a guided tour to Teotihuacán, an ancient Aztec city that was established around 100 BC. We met up with our tour group at 6am, which at the time felt unreasonable but by the end I wish we had met up earlier – the sun and heat out there are no joke! We learned that most of the temples in this city were built in layers because whenever someone new came into power they would want the temples to be bigger. Instead of tearing down the old one, they would just build on top of it. This is lucky for us because the top layers have been destroyed over the years but the bottom layers remain fairly intact! The city’s drinking water system was pretty nifty too. A series of tiered pools, each at higher elevation than the next, are connected by small gated tunnels. When the first pool fills with water, a gate opens to fill the next pool, and so forth.
Passion Play of Iztapalapa
Probably the coolest thing we experienced this week was the Passion Play in Iztapalapa. Easter is a week long celebration here – Semana Santa – and every year on Good Friday the community of Iztapalapa put on an impressively elaborate Passion Play with usually over 1 million people in attendance. Hesitant of a crowd that size, we decided to go late and ended up settling in at a shady spot (how’d we get that lucky?) mid-way through the processional. For multiple hours we watched people of Iztapalapa carrying huge wooden crosses miles and miles in the hot sun, most of them barefoot. The amount of effort and dedication was truly amazing. They were all leading up to the end of the procession, where actors played the Romans on horseback and Jesus (known as El Señor here) was actually being whipped. It ended in the reenactment of the crucifixion at the top of the hill – which we didn’t see in person due to the crowds but saw some clips on TV. It was unlike anything we had ever seen, and we’re so glad we were able to witness such an important and unique celebration.
As we were watching the people going by, John started speaking (shout out to John’s Spanish skills) to the man next to us asking about details of the celebration. It turns out his grandma lives in the neighborhood and a large group of his family goes to the celebration together every year. We were all introduced, and they so graciously invited us to join them for a meal at his grandma’s house after the procession was over. We had the best time getting to know the family, and were served cheese-stuffed peppers, shrimp mole, and fish tortas (along with many cervazas). We spent a wonderful afternoon with them, and hope we’ll be able to meet up again sometime in the future! Hopefully by then my Spanish will be better so John won’t have to be the translator the whole time.
Xochimilco
On our last full day in CDMX, we headed to Xochimilco to ride a trajinera (a gondola-like passenger boat) through the ancient Aztec canal system. Our Uber driver dropped us off at the boat launch, where eager vendors tried to lure us to their boats. One named Alejandro offered us change so we could pay the restroom fee, earning our patronage. Neither of us are skilled at bartering, but we had heard that we should talk our way down from the standard 500 pesos/hour. Fortunately, it was a slow morning and Alejandro was one step ahead of us, offering us a discount at our first hesitation.
Our boat guide was a young guy named Yon, who told us he has been working there for 6 years. Yon and the other drivers push and steer their trajineras with long wooden poles that they drive into the riverbed. Not the most efficient way to get around, but we weren’t the ones putting in the work! Well, with one small exception – Yon let John take the driver’s seat for a minute, but he almost steered us straight into the riverbank.
The trajineras are painted bright red with names on the front in white (ours was “Elenita”). As we rode down the canals, we were passed by floating food and drink vendors and mariachi bands. We bought a beer and a pulque (made from the fermented sap of the maguey plant), and listened to the bands play for other groups.
Other than for a bluff decorated with highly disturbing baby dolls (look it up!), we had a relaxing day out on the water.
The Food
Tacos tacos tacos! I’m not sure if you’re keeping up, but John is at 16.5 tacos for the week and I’m at 11.5. Street vendor tacos are definitely superior (and so much cheaper). Although we did go to one taco chain – Taqueria Orinoco – that was truly delicious.
Other than tacos, the highlight of our food journey was my belated birthday dinner at a restaurant near our hotel – Antolina. Delicious octopus, plantains with mole, and cheesecake!
Adios for now!
Christine