In our most recent travels, we only had two goals: eat fantastic food and explore beautiful (and warmer) neighborhoods. Mexico City proved to be the perfect place to accomplish both.
We had known that we wanted to visit Mexico City for a little while (same time zone, short flight, great food!) and all of the sudden tickets were on sale so two weeks later we were taking off.
This did not leave the Mrs. very much time to prepare for our trip. She hastily filled out some spreadsheets but we were lacking some of the careful preparations that she normally does for our excursions.
After a long but mostly uneventful flight, we arrived to our charming hotel at 1AM in the La Condesa/Roma Norte neighborhood. This neighborhood was a little south of the financial sector of the city and between the downtown historic center and the largest urban green-space in Latin America. The architecture was charming and colonial and we came to realize there was a sizable population of ex-pats around.
Sunday morning we slept in before venturing out and realizing that the main boulevard near us was closed on Sunday mornings. Instead of cars zipping up and down the street, there were hundreds of cyclists, skate-boarders, runners, and walkers. We hopped right in so that we could admire some of the neighborhood.
From there we decided to make the short journey to the south suburbs of Mexico City. Xochimilco is famous for its Skittles-colored rafts. We purchased some horchata and hopped on for a ride up around the canal. Mariachis serenaded us as vendors tried to sell us their wares from their own little rafts. Even Adaline learned to say "no gracias" after we were approached far more often than we could possibly purchase.
Adaline loved the patos (ducks) and sitting right on the edge of the raft.
Afterward, we headed back to the hotel for a nap.
That evening we had the good fortune of meeting up with a mission friend and a Provo friend that are now married! They were kind enough to explore the city with us, take us out to eat, and to show off the Basilica de Guadalupe. Some of the nicest people in Mexico City, no doubt.
Monday was dedicated to a children's museum called El Papolote. It had everything: a water feature, a kitchenette, a mini-supermercado, an aquarium, a firetruck, other children running around, and a food court. We could have spent multiple days exploring this place.
During nap time, I snuck out and found an incredibly delicious, blue-corn gordita with nopales and pork. Brilliant. That evening we found a park, some flautas for dinner, and ice cream.
The next day we headed to Coyoacan to visit the legendary home of Frida Kahlo. This was a fascinating glimpse into the life of a stunning artist. We did not have enough time to see and absorb all of the intricacies of the home, but it was still probably the favorite stop of Mrs. Bluth's.
After a couple hours, we found a small indoor mercado where we ate some lunch (molote and enchiladas) and bought a yellow dress for Adaline. The neighborhood of Coyoacan felt a little like San Diego.
After nap time, we explored the neighborhood of Condesa (saw mansions!) and found another park to play in. We had a fantastic steak dinner at an Argentine steakhouse. They even had a kid's room where Adaline could watch TV and color while we enjoyed a great dinner together.
On Wednesday morning we did some more exploring of Chapultepec Park. We found some park toys meant for children, but there were sure a lot of dogs running around. Then we found a pretty neat bookstore where we picked up a few books and even slid down the in-store slide. We said goodbye to our quaint hotel since we were going to another hotel in another part of town to explore.
Soon we were exploring an enormous park (another one!) closer to the historic downtown. The next stop was 43 floors up in the Torre Latinoamericana. Although we had already driven all over the city, it was a pretty astounding sight to see it spread it in all directions.
We kept walking through the colonial downtown until we reached the famous historic Zocalo. The weather was pretty rainy so we only stayed for a few minutes before heading back. Fortunately, we found some ice cream on the way home. Then I stepped out that evening and had a fantastic pambazo and some rolled tacos.
The following morning we got up early and went straight to the bus terminal. A little over an hour later we were arriving at the architectural remains of an ancient civilization: Teotihuacan.
By the time we reached the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, we were tired again. I loved that you could feel how this was once a bustling city. The Avenue of the Dead that runs right down the middle of the ruins, feels like it is only a few years removed from heavy use. Absolutely a fascinating city.
You want to know a good way to relax after spending the morning climbing ancient pyramids? Go swimming. Strangely, our hotel required that we wear swim caps. Which was fine, but they had to lend us a couple. And they were still a tad wet from the previous wearers. But, oh well, we took a dip. Somehow we managed to squeeze all of this in before nap time.
After nap we headed back to the main plaza of Mexico City. Turns out it was the International Day of the Woman, and so we able to listen to a concert right in the heart of the city. Following that we took a peek at the Templo Mayor and then the massive cathedral right on the square. Today the weather was quite a bit better and we were able to spend more time exploring the plaza, especially the massive cathedral (real name: Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de la Santísima Virgen María a los cielos).
Soon we were just walking around this central colony looking at plazas, drinking horchata, and observing water fountains. We stopped for some more fantastic rolled tacos on our way to the hotel and that was that.
Before the city woke the next morning, we were in the airport headed home. Our only excitement was that I left my phone at the security checkpoint. Except they said they didn't have it so it was just missing. I boarded the flight thinking it was gone (and very glad that Google Photos just automatically upload!). And then two hours into the flight, a passenger woke me and told me he had seen me leave my phone and grabbed it to return it, but he hadn't seen me again until he walked to the back to use the washroom. Very odd.
