Day 1: Friday, May 6
On the first day I took a redeye flight from JFK to Mexico City.
I got in at 5:45 AM and spent about 45 minutes going through customs and
immigration. I had really hoped to be able to take the metro from the airport
to my hotel, Posada Viena Hotel. However after walking back-and-forth in the
terminal several times and asking somebody for directions, I realize that I
just didn't have the means to figure out how to take the metro. Apparently it
wasn't in the building? So I paid for an "authorized" taxi which cost
about 340 Mexican dollars or about 20 American dollars.
I got to the hotel at about 7 AM where I was happy to see that
they could give me a room immediately so that I could take a nap. However the
first room they gave me had an annoying tapping sound but I knew would bother
me and Leah when she got there. So after waiting about five minutes I repacked
my luggage and went down to the front desk and asked for a different room. They
were really nice about it and gave me a bigger room on the second floor with
two double beds. I set my alarm for 45 minutes planning to nap since it was
still so early, but ended up sleeping for about three hours until 10 AM. At
that point I got up and showered which was a good wake up because the heat
didn't work in the shower and then I went out to walk to the Museo Nacional de
Antropologia. The walk took the better part of 45 minutes and I was actually
pretty tired by the time I got there, even though I should've probably felt
rested. It was a little stressful walking around foreign city on my own, and a
good part of the walk was along the highway.
Once I got to the Chapultepec park, I caught the end of the
performance by traditional dancers who hang from ropes. Then I went into the
museum and spent a good two or three hours there. I think I saw everything! But
the best part was definitely the room with the Aztec Sun Stone. As I told Leah
later all of the Aztec ruins kind of made me feel like I was riding the Jaguar
roller coaster at Knotts Berry Farm. That's a little sad, I know. After I
finished at the museum I walked out and saw the native dancers again, and
bought a cupcake from a teenage boy who claimed he was a student raising funds
for his education. I don't know if that's true, but his English was pretty good
and obviously he was charming enough to get me to buy an overpriced cupcake.
Then I walked back to the hotel where I passed out again for
about an hour unintentionally and then planned what I would do for dinner
because I hadn't eaten much yet that day. I decided to walk to a restaurant
that was not too far away that was recommended in the lonely planet book that I
had looked at before coming to Mexico. I had a good walk there however when I
got to the location where the restaurant was supposed to be it was not there.
Fortunately the restaurant that took its place was a similar style of food,
from Guerrero. I ordered enchiladas de San Francisco and a Mexican chocolate
drink called chilate. Everything was really good and the bill came to about
seven dollars US.
After I left the restaurant I walked around the area and
explored the Condesa neighborhood, which has the Parque Mexico. Such a charming
park in such a charming neighborhood! I kind of fell in love with that area and
decided that if I ever lived in Mexico City, I would want to live near that
park. I also enjoyed all the people walking their dogs in the park and even
letting them off leash to run all over the place.
On the way back from the Condesa area I stopped in the Zone
Rosa, just to see what the party area look to see what the party area looked
like. (It was Friday night, after all.) lots of kind of Seedy looking bars and
restaurants including a Krispy Kreme. It's the gay area so there were lots of
gay clubs. I ended up going to a place called Cupcakeria and buying a mini
cupcake and a soda water so that I could sit at a table outside the shop and
people watch. It worked up pretty well except the cupcake was banana flavored
which was kind of gross. Also I only made it until 8:30 PM, before feeling
bored and sleepy. I walked home in the dark but it was only about a 10 minute
walk and basically fell asleep by 9 PM. However, I DID get woken up by amorous
neighbors, and just general noisiness in the hotel, several times during the
night.
A quick note about the best snack that I found in Mexico City,
which is mango sliced up in a cup with chili-flavored salt, some kind of red
sauce, and lime squeezed I too. It's $20MX, which is a little over a dollar US.
I ended up getting it 3 times throughout the trip.
Day 2: Saturday, May 7
I woke up on day two with a phone call from Leah at the front
desk. She had gotten in at around 9 AM. I came down and greeted her and showed
her to our hotel room. I don't know how she did it but she managed to stay
awake until we left about an hour later. We got breakfast at the cafeteria
connected to the hotel. It has pretty good prices and we were able to get a
solid meal of eggs, refried beans, fresh juice, fruit, and toast.
Then we walked to the closest Metro stop, and took the train for
about 30 to 45 minutes to get to the north auto bus terminal (I forgot the
Spanish for it). from the terminal, we were able to purchase tickets for a bus
to take us round trip to the Teotihuacan pyramids. It was surprisingly easy,
and we were on board the bus within about five minutes. Leah took the
opportunity to nap while we drove about 45 minutes to the pyramids. We got off
the bus and saw the same native dancers in the parking lot that I had seen
yesterday in front of the anthropology Museum and we stopped and watch them for
a little bit. Then we entered the actual park, and promptly got sunburned and
thirsty. For some reason Leah didn't want to put on sunscreen, so she got
pretty sunburned and that lasted for the rest of her time here. We did manage
to buy some water though before we got lost in the pyramids.
The pyramids were really cool and did not disappoint. We decided
to head straight for the main pyramid, the Sun Pyramid, since we figured it
would probably take most of our energy to hike the largest one, and considering
that we were at higher elevation than we were used to.
It's good we only had one pyramid! We were able to do it pretty
fast is long as we took breaks at each level. There were about four levels
before we reached the top. The top of the pyramid was not such a great view, it
was mostly factories and just not so scenic. But we were still happy to be at
the top. And we took a lot of photos looking up at the pyramid, which was
really the coolest part. After the hike we basically just went back to the bus.
We stopped briefly to look at the museum, but it didn't have much, and it
wasn't even in English at all. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the bus
back to the city, and then we took the metro back to our hotel where we took a
nap for a couple hours. Then, we went back out to try and "make the scene"
in Zona Rosa, and to get dinner. We went to a restaurant recommended by the guy
at the front desk of our hotel: Casa de Toño, on Londres street. I think it was
one of my favorite places that I've eaten at so far on this trip. It was very
cheap, authentic food, with vegetarian options, and very fast service. My
favorite part was probably the horchata, which I think was 10 Mexican dollars
(like 50 cents)? I also ordered pozole, Leah ordered "sope" which was
just a tortilla covered in cheese and lettuce, and we split a mushroom
quesadilla.
After dinner, we tried to take the metro to Plaza Garibaldi. We
couldn't take the metro all the way there for some reason (I think the train
just wasn't moving for some reason so we got tired of waiting), and we walked
through a fairly sketchy neighborhood to find the plaza. It was a lot of effort
to get there, but we didn't think it was that great of an area. We had hoped
for lots of mariachi bands playing, but we mostly just saw them standing around
in the center of the square. Furthermore, all of the restaurants in the area
looked very touristy and overpriced, and we didn't feel like it was worth it to
get a table. So within 20 or 25 minutes we decided to hail a taxi to take us to
the Condesa area, which Leah hadn't seen yet. It took forever for us to get a
taxi and we finally got one that didn't look official to me. But we decided it
was worth the risk and jumped in. Thankfully, it was fine. The driver was
friendly and gave us his card, and the ride only ended up costing about 50
Mexican dollars (less than $5 US). We decided to walk around the park a little
bit even though it was night, there were a lot of people around. We found the
cute little pastry (panadería?) shop that I had looked at the previous day and
took some pastries to go since they were closing. The owners weren't super
friendly (they didn't speak English, like most of the people we met on this
trip), and didn't seem to want to help us. But they were kind of the exceptions
to the rule in terms of the interactions with people so far--everyone seems
quite patient with my lack of English and kind, for the most part.
After
the desert I think we just came home? I think we walked home, but I can't
remember exactly. So it was kind of a failed nights in terms of having a crazy
Saturday night, but overall I think it was still fun.
Day
3: Sunday, May 8
Day 3 we slept in a little later then the day before and skipped
breakfast to just eat breakfast bars instead. Then, we took the metro to
Coyoacán to see Frida Kahlo's house (La Casa Azul). It was a beautiful morning
and a great day to see the museum. I purchased the iPod audio guide, which I
think was worth it. It basically gave me a little more detail about Frida
Kahlo's life, and it just felt really cool to be in the place were she and
Diego Rivera spent most of their days. After we finished at the museum, we
walked south to the Jardín Centenario (the colonial area of Coyoacán), and
since it was a Sunday afternoon, there was a lot of stuff happening. We walked
through an art fair, and saw lots of musicians (no mariachis, sadly) performing
in the park. We had lunch at a kind of fancy restaurants looking out at the
park which seems like it would be a cool place to eat because it was in the
shade but was surprisingly hot to the point where I almost changed restaurants.
But Leah was really hungry so we decided to stay and stick it out. She ordered
a pair and arugula pizza and I had chile relleno and lemonade (with mineral
water). The food was good but super cheesy and rich.
After eating that really rich food, I went and got a Nutella
churro, which just made me feel even more disgusting. But it was really tasty!
After that I think we both withdrew some more cash from the ATM
since we were running low, and then we walked back to the subway, which took 20
or 30 minutes, but it was a scenic walk.
We went back to the hotel room to relax a bit after the trip to
the Kahlo house. Then we walked to Chapultepec park to see if we could go in
the castle. However by that point it was already around five or 6 PM, and the
castle was closed to the public for a performance and it would stay closed
until Tuesday morning. So we had to wait an extra day before coming back. So we
walked to the little lake in Chapultepec park and I bought some cotton candy
which I really didn't need but I ate all of it. On the walk back to the metro
station we also saw a bakery that we had seen the night before but didn't stop
in called Esperanza. Hooray! We stopped in and got one or two things each. Leah
didn't really like the sweet bread she got, but I really liked this cinnamon
sugar roll called Pan de Muerto.
And then we decided to get dinner, but not a lot of stuff was
open since it was around seven or 8 PM on a Sunday night, apparently things
close pretty early here. We decided to walk to a place that Cammy's friend Sara
had recommended to me when she studied abroad in Mexico City called La Rambla,
in the Doctores neighborhood. Sarah said that it had good Uraguayan pizza. I'm
not sure if you just miss remembered where she went or if they totally changed
their menu, but it was just basic Mexican food when we got there. We definitely
over ordered. I got tortilla soup and Leah got something like a Spanish
omelette? And I also ordered salmon and Leah also ordered cheese quesadillas.
And I also ordered a lemonade and I also ordered a Michelada. Again, too much
food. I only drink about half of the Michelada and Leah couldn't even eats more
than one slice of the quesadilla. What were we thinking?!
So
that was a day of eating a lot of food but we had a really nice time at the
Kahlo museum and in Coyoacán.
One
thing I forgot to add is that we stopped at an artisan market in Coyoacán which
had decent stuff but not amazing stuff. I ended up buying some little Frida
coin pouches for Kaylan and Liz and Michelle, and Leah bought a Lucha libre
mask for Urb.
Day
4: Monday, May 9
Leah's last full day in Mexico!
First we had breakfast again in the cafeteria connected to the
hotel. Leah had an omelette and I wasn't hungry so I just had a coffee and
fresh papaya-which was really good.
Then we took the train to the Zócalo, which is where the
national parliament and other important government buildings are located. We
had planned to see the Templo Mayor, but I didn't realize it was closed on
Mondays (like basically all the museums in Mexico City). So we just went to the
main square and took some photos with the giant Mexican flag. Then we walked
down the street a little bit to the education building where Diego Rivera's
murals are. I really enjoyed that part because it wasn't crowded at all and you
could get up close to a lot of his murals. My phone app also told us a lot
about the background of the murals such as what they were depicting and why
Diego Rivera chose those topics to paint (communism, etc.). We probably spend a
good hour to two hours just in the building looking at the murals. Then, we are
both hungry, so we decided to try going to Cafe Tacuba, one of the oldest and
most famous restaurants in the city. It didn't disappoint, in terms of decor.
It had beautiful Mission style Spanish painting on the walls, but the service
was not so friendly and the food was only OK for its price. Leah got a tamale
that was cheese but ended up being very spicy, so she had some trouble eating
at but I helped her. I ordered a Mexican hot chocolate and flan, both of which
were fine but not amazing. But again, I think it was worth it just for the
atmosphere.
After we ate we tried to look around at some museums but of
course they were all closed. Finally, we ended up at the Palacio de Bellas
Artes, which is beautiful on the outside and interestingly Art Deco on the
inside. We kind of hung out in there for a little while just taking the chance
to sit down, and I ended up being able to buy a ticket for the Wednesday
performance of the ballet folklorico for the cheapest price of only 300 Mexican
dollars or about US$15. I was really happy that they have seats that cheap, but
I'm curious to see how bad they are!
On the way back home from the historical center, we stopped at
the market that is supposed to be one of the best ones in the city called
Centro de Artesanias La Ciudadela. It was a giant market with so many options
for actually really cool stuff, and it wasn't very crowded at all. Leah and I
both bought painted pottery for souvenirs, and I bought a painted bracelets
made of copper (I think). We also bought a brightly painted wooden hedgehog,
from a salesman who spoke pretty good English and claimed to have been a boxer
in Inglewood, California during his heyday.
After
the market we just walked back to the hotel where we hung out for most of the
night, partly because it started to rain. But it was Leah's last night in town
and even though she claimed not to want to go out, I basically forced her to go
out because I couldn't believe we were spending her last night in! So we walked
in the rain a couple blocks to find somewhere to grab a snack. We ended up
finding a cute little Italian place that was just a couple blocks away, and had
a deal on a personal pizza plus a beer which I ordered, and Leah had a glass of
wine (which was SUPER vinegar-y). All in all I think it ended up being a pretty
nice last night for Leah even if we didn't go out and party.
One
thing I forgot to add is that Leah and I tried to go to a couch surfing event
at an ice cream place in the very southern part of the city, which was a real
pain in the neck to get to and not in a very scenic part of the city. By the
time we got there, we were too early, so we got some appetizers at a nearby
Italian restaurant while we waited until 6 PM to meet the other couch surfers.
Then, a little after 6 PM, we walked over to the ice cream place and didn't see
anybody there. We waited for 20 minutes and no one who look like a couchsurfer
had showed up. I started to think that maybe I had picked the wrong place. So
we finally gave up and took a taxi back to our hotel where I looked up the
event on my phone, and saw that it had disappeared, which I guess means it was
canceled!? So that was kind of frustrating.
One more note! On Monday nights at about 11:30 PM, I also got
the news that Ari's brother Oren, and his wife Jessica, had their baby! A baby
boy who is yet to be named! (He will be named at the bris next Tuesday, when I
will thankfully be back in the city).
Day 5: Tuesday, May 10
Leah had a flight at 7:50 PM so she decided we had to be back by
4 PM. We got kind of an early starts after eating breakfast at the cafeteria
again. This time we both got omelettes and toast. Leah also got her massive
glass of "natural" yogurt (it was definitely sweetened).
We walked to Chapultepec park and got to the castle at about 10 AM
which was a good time because there were not a lot of people there and it was
still sunny outside. Before entering the castle we stopped to feed some
squirrels that were cool looking and pretty brave. Inside the castle grounds,
we took lots of scenic pictures and basically forced ourselves to look around
the museum par, which was larger than expected. The part showing Emperor
Maximilian's living quarters was actually kind of cool and a nice change from
seeing all of the Aztec ruins that I had seen at the museum on the first day.
But there were a lot of rooms that just had old stuff that we didn't really
understand because they were not translated into English. Let's just say that
the main appeal of the castle was definitely the views of the city and the gardens.
After walking around the castle for couple hours, we couldn't decide if it
would be worth it to go to the museum with Leah so she could see the
anthropological stuff, or just go to lunch and then go back to the hotel. We
eventually decided to just walk through the nice area of town again
(Condesa/Roma) and get lunch on the way back to the hotel.
We ended up going to a really cute looking restaurant that had
lots of "super foods" and health drinks on the menu. Leah ordered a
beet and avocado wrap and I ordered a pumpkin soup and a mango Mojito that had
very little, if any, alcohol in it. It was kind of funny because Leah realized
as soon as the wrap came that it was mostly made of fresh vegetables which
she'd been trying to avoid since she came to Mexico. But the damage was
basically done so she decided to just risk it and eat it.
We walked back to the hotel from the restaurant which took 20 or
30 minutes and then we hung out until Leah had to catch a taxi to the airport
at around 4 PM. I was sad to see her go, of course, but then decided to focus
on planning the next 2 1/2 days that I had left in Mexico City. I thought about
doing a food tour which was kind of expensive for $50, or taking the hop on hop
off bus. Ultimately I decided that neither of those things were that important
to me, so I decided to just do my own thing without any kind of tour for the
next few days. Then I walked around for the evening and explored the Roma
neighborhood, which I hadn't seen much of before, but which Sarah said had
become the trendy part of town. I definitely came upon some very trendy and
cool looking shops and restaurants, although a lot of them were closed because
it was Mother's Day (apparently it's on a Tuesday here?).
I
ended up walking around until I was really hungry and then went to a Korean
restaurant near the Zona Rosa that was OK, but made me worried that I was going
to get sick from all the uncooked vegetables in the bibimbop. So I only ended
up eating about half of my meal because I got paranoid. Then on the walk home I
discovered a yoga studio and a place where apparently they play live jazz and
blues? So I might try going by there again. I made myself brave enough to ask
at the yoga studio about a drop in class and got information about a class the
following day. And the first class is free!
Again
another note that I forgot to add was that I plan to try the couch surfing
thing again after Leah left and go to a Cuban salsa class with dinner. It was
supposed to start at 8 PM, but when I checked on the details after Leah left in
the taxi at around 4 PM I saw that the event has been canceled! This, after 30
people had RSVP'd for the event!! Well, as Leah said, it seems that the couch
surfers in Mexico might be a little more flaky then she has found in other
countries.
Day
6: Wednesday, May 11
This was the first day that I had all to myself since Leah left.
I woke up early at 6:45 AM to take a yoga class at a place called green yoga
about a block north of the hotel. The class was from 7 to 8 AM and it was
supposedly level to hatha yoga. I don't know if I'm just out of shape from not
going to yoga for a while and not working out for the past week, but it was a
pretty challenging class. However I'm glad I did it and it was free!
After the class, I walked over to the Oxxo (basically 7-eleven)
and got a cappuccino and a bottle of water and then came home and showered and
tried to leave a soon as possible to go to the Museo Dolores Olmedo, which I
knew would take at least an hour in transportation. I took the line nearest the
hotel, line 1 for 4 stops to line two, for 10 stops. Then I transferred to the
light rail, and took that for 14 stops. All in all, I'd say the trip took about
an hour and a half. I reached the museum successfully and it was just as
beautiful as all the reviews and Sarah had suggested it would be. The gardens
were beautiful and I saw lots and lots of peacocks displaying their feathers,
and the crazy Native American breed of dogs, that is apparently endangered and
is bred at the museum. They are hairless and grayish brown and pretty darn
ugly! But still cute in a weird way. I had already read online that all of the
Frida Kahlo art was on loan to a museum in Russia, which was kind of a bummer.
But I still saw all of the Diego Rivera art, and some full guards, and some art
by this other artist named Paulo O' Higgins or something like that (not super
impressed by his stuff, to be honest).
I was a little disappointed that the museum had not so much art
but I try to enjoy the gardens and all in all I think I probably spent about an
hour at the museum. And then I had to take the hour and a half train ride back!
It's kind of funny that I spent three hours getting to and from the museum but
about an hour at the museum itself. Oh well, I guess it's a good chance to get
an experience of what it's like outside the main part of the city. The trip
home was really hard for me because I had only eaten granola bar while I was at
the museum so I hadn't had very much food, and I ended up standing the whole
way back on all of the light rail and the metro so I was standing for over two
hours if you include the time at the museum. It was really hard not to feel
lightheaded and I kept having to remind myself to take deep breaths if I felt
a little dizzy.
Butts, it all ended well because I went straight from the nearby
subway station, the one nearby the hotel, to a fish taco place that was
recommended by the food tour people (it was listed as one of the stops on the
food our website that ended up not taking). It was called Tres Galeones, and it
was REALLY delicious! I ordered a small Pacifico beer and a fries crab taco and
a fried fish taco (en estilo de baja, or something like that). A nice cheap
lunch for about seven US dollars total.
I really wanted something sweet after that, so I got the mango dessert
again, and then I ended up going to another coffeeshop recommended by the food
tour people called Espressarte. I got a chai latte there and a
chocolate-flavored concha. Then I walked to the Parque Mexico to sit on a bench
and enjoy eating it while Reading the New Yorker on my iPhone. I think I ended
up staying there for about 30 to 45 minutes, and it was really peaceful and
nice. Then I walked back to the hotel from there which took as usual about 30
minutes.
Hung out in the hotel for a while after all the snacking
(writing this journal!) and left for the Ballet Folklorico at around 7:30. It
was raining pretty hard outside. I had my light rain jacket and my umbrella,
which helped, but I was also wearing my open-toed sandals (you can't wear
sneakers to an evening performance!) and I felt pretty gross walking on the
sidewalks and streets. I basically felt almost like I was walking barefoot in
the rain, my feet were so wet.
Got
to the Bellas Artes building about 30 mins early, but thankfully they didn't make
people stand outside in the rain. I went up to the third level, which actually
had a really good view! I was expecting the worst with my cheapo ticket, but
I'm really glad I didn't pay more. The show was really entertaining and fun.
Lots of live music and LOTS of dancing with big skirts. I moved to the front
row of the balcony since there were so many empty seats, and got to have an
unobstructed view. The show went precisely from 8:30-10pm (felt a little like
watching a cruise ship show, almost -- but better), and then I took the metro
directly home. No dinner tonight. It's too dark outside and I don't have the
energy to wander around to find something.
Day
7: Thursday, May 12
So on Day 7 I woke up and couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I
knew that I wanted to see the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but was
worried that I would regret not visiting the scenic town of San Angél. So, I
decided to try and do both of them. First I went to the one that I was most
excited about, the Basilica, and that was a fairly easy 30 minute trip. It
wasn't as overrun with pilgrims as I'd expected, and I was able to see all of
the areas that I hope to see relatively easily, such as the new cathedral the
old cathedral and the place where the Native American supposedly saw on the
Virgin Mary. I got conned into buying tchotchkes and ended up buying a keychain
in a magnet and a glow-in-the-dark Virgin Mary and I even took a commemorative
photo writing a plastic horse (for only $30 MX = less than $2 US). I'm still a
little embarrassed about that.
After walking around the Basilica and the area for me 30 to 45
minutes, I walked back to the train and took it back one hour, just on one
line, directly south to the stop closest to San Angél. The stop wasn't that
close to the actual town, so I had to walk about 20 to 25 minutes. Once I got
to the town I did think it was very picturesque. There were bougainvillea
blooming everywhere and the roads were cobbled. However there really wasn't
that much to do there besides walk around. And I was wearing my sandals, so it
was kind of hard for me to walk on the cobbled streets. Parent Lee there's a
famous market there on Saturdays but I already miss that one so I basically
just walked around until I felt like I've seen everything which took about 30
minutes.
I looked up on one of my apps (Triposo) what else there was to
do in the area and they recommended this museum called the Carmen Museum? Or
maybe it was the Convento de Carmen. In any case the description said that
there were bona fide nuns that you could see in the crib so that was
interesting enough for me! I walked around the convent and actually thought it
was pretty cool had some pretty garden seminal fountains and the crypt was
definitely the best part.
After
finishing looking around the convent, I walked back to the restaurants that
were near San Angél and I got lunch at a little creperie. I ordered my usual
drink of a lemonade "mineral"
And I ordered cheese enchiladas with green sauce. The food took
a little while to prepare, and while I waited, I realized how hungry I was!
Thankfully everything was really good (it also came with a basket of bread that
I ate about 8 slices of) and the bill came to exactly $100 MX, or less than $6
US. Good deal.
After that, I decided to to get back on the same metro line and
go back 2 stops to Coyoacán to catch the film "The Lobster" at 4:30pm
at the Cineteca Nactional, which Leah and I had stumbled upon on our walk to
the Frida Kahlo house a few days earlier. I got there at around 3:30, which
gave me enough time to purchase a ticket (only $50 MX = less than $3 US!!!!)
and look around at the shops at the big complex. It also offered free wifi,
which was nice.
The theater itself was quite nice, with assigned seating and seats
that were in good condition. The movie was super bizarre but in a good way, and
not really unexpected, since I've seen the other film by Yorgos Lanthimos,
Dogtooth.
After
the film it was about 6:30, so I felt like I had time to treat myself to a
churro (plain with powdered sugar) and a "chocolate especial," which
apparently just means with whipped cream and green marshmallows on top?!
Then I walked to the subway, only to find that at 7pm, the
trains are ridiculously crowded. As in, I waited for 4 trains, and each one was
totally packed, with maybe one or two people being able to board. I decided to
give up and maybe try to take a taxi, only to find that lots of people on the
street had the same idea, and there weren't any readily available taxis. How do
people live like this on a daily basis, if they finish work at this time every
day in Mexico? I don't get it.
Well, with no rush, I decided to just kill some time at the
mall, which was coincidentally right next to the metro entrance. The only
annoying thing was, I kept on setting off the shoplifting detectors! I have no
idea why. It happened at 3 stores,which was enough for me to stop entering any
stores and just kind of stroll around. Then I went to a Starbucks and bought a
Perrier bottle of mineral water (I was still full from hot chocolate) and used
their wifi until I had come up with a plan for the rest of the night: Go to
Zinco Jazz Club, apparently the best jazz club in Mexico City. It opened at
9pm, and I knew that if I went to the hotel first, I would probably lose
motivation to go out again. So I got back on the metro at about 8:45pm, and by
9:15 I was at Zinco. It had a $200 MX cover to see Fran Dominguez, a cuban
trumpeter (about $12 US). By the time I got there, I was hungry, so I ordered
Fettucini al Pesto (gasp! No Mexican!) for dinner. I also learned from the
doorman that I had about an hour and a half to kill before Dominguez came on.
And my phone had about 10% battery life left, since I hadn't been home all day.
So I put the battery on "preserve" mode (or whatever it's called) and
ate my pretty good pasta and read the New Yorker on my phone for about an hour.
Then I ordered a "Mezcoco" (basically a pina colada with mezcal)
cocktail to drink until Dominguez came on, at about 10:40pm. The music was
really good! It was a little corny and synthesized on a couple songs, but I
really enjoyed it. Not too loud and a very tight band. Everyone was there to
see the musicians -- except for an annoyingly stereotypical group of Americans
who were talking very loudly (especially the women!!) when the bassist was
playing a long solo and everyone else was being totally quiet. I even tried
shushing them (as did a few other people), to no avail. Le sigh.
I stayed for the first set, which ended at around 11:30pm, and
then kind of ran to the metro (I was pretty paranoid about it being late in the
middle of the city). It was my one very brief time of having a creepy
drunk/homeless man kind of follow me. But he only followed me (saying
"Mami!") for about 10 feet because I was walking very rapidly/jogging
away from him.
I
got home around midnight, and crashed!
Day
8: Friday, May 13
Good
morning – I slept in late because I was pretty wiped out from the previous day.
I’d planned originally to get up around 8am to try to get to the Templo Mayor
in the Centro Historico and see the ruins of an Aztec temple that had been
discovered when the government was building a new government building. However,
I ended up desiring more sleep than that, so I didn’t have enough time to make
it into the city. I wasn’t too crushed about it, and decided to buy some last
minute souvenirs back at the Centro de Artesanias La Ciudadela. I walked there
in about 20 minutes and ended up spending more money on souvenirs than I had
the whole trip – I spent $15 US on a beaded virgin of Guadalupe figurine for
the new baby, and then I splurged on a $30 US beaded gold purse for myself. I
ended up having to withdraw cash twice while I was out, since I spent more
money than I’d expected to, and I still needed cash to tip the hotel maids and
the taxi driver to the airport.
I
walked back in the hot sun (finally the sun was out in full force again!) and
packed up my stuff in time for the noon check out, and then left my luggage at
the front desk while I went in search of my last authentic Mexican meal. I
found a cute restaurant that I’d eyed before a couple blocks away, but it
turned out they only sold pre-packaged sandwiches, which was a little too
boring for my last meal. So I went across the street, where there was a cute
restaurant called something like Marquellaise, but they weren’t totally open
yet. The lady who was opening it, though, spoke really good English (such a
relief after no one spoke it for most of the rest of the trip!) and asked if I
would mind waiting a little bit, they could cook something up for me. I was happy
to wait, since I didn’t need to leave till 1 or 1:30pm, and it was only
11:45am. I ended up ordering fish tacos “al pastor,” since it was a seafood
restaurant. They were really good! Rather rich sauce that I worried might give
me a stomach ache, but it didn’t. Also had a lemonade mineral to drink with it,
of course.
Then
I went back to the hotel (about 3 mins’ walk away) and asked for a cab. The
same old man that had driven Leah to the airport a few days earlier took me to
the airport as well. The trip was relatively easy (a couple close calls, in my
opinion, but maybe that was normal driving in Mexico City), and the fare was
only $200 MX, much cheaper than my $340 charge to drive in from the airport. I
still wonder if they took advantage of me, despite being supposedly the “authorized”
taxis….
I
got to the airport and tried to check in at one of the automated stations, only
to be told that they couldn’t find my reservation. Then I waited to talk to an
actual person to check in, only to be told again that it looked like my
reservation had been cancelled. They sent me over to the customer service area,
where again I waited for about 20 minutes (with only one person in front of me
in line) and was finally told that because I had skipped the leg of the flight
from Acapulco to Mexico City, my whole flight was cancelled, and I would have
to book a NEW ticket to JFK if I wanted to leave today (it was the last flight
to NYC that day). I had 30 minutes to decide, during which I cried a fair
amount to myself and kind of stared into space and made frustrated sounds.
Finally, I just booked it ($575) because really, I didn’t have much of a
choice. My original roundtrip flight to Mexico had cost $574. Crazy, no?
Anwyay,
the rest of the trip home was fine; the flight left mostly on time, and I got
lots of candy to eat on the flight back. I stayed awake by watching 2 movies:
Enough Said and Minority Report. It was actually quite a pleasant flight. And I
got back into JFK at around 11pm, and got home around 1:30am.
Overall,
despite the major annoyance of paying for a new ticket, this was a really great
trip. I am definitely glad I decided to make the best of it and travel to
Mexico City despite the original plan falling through.
