Day 1 — A travel day (Boston, MA to Mexico City)
We woke up at the crack of dawn to get on a plane from the cold tundra of Boston, MA to beautiful, sunny, warm Mexico City aka CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico). The travel day was fairly uneventful (except Dallas Fort Worth is a massive airport and they make you walk a ton). After landing, we checked into our beautiful hotel named Casa Gonzalez. We decided to seize the day and venture out into our neighborhood. CDMX is a massive city filled with 24 million people. The public transport system is efficient and affordable. It is a very walkable city and there are always people around. It felt super safe even at night. We walked for 10 minutes to Taqueria Orinoco, a local chain that serves really amazing tacos al pastor. After this yummy meal, we were pretty tired and headed back to the hotel to sleep.
Day 2 — Mexico City
Started off this morning at a cute little coffee shop called Cicatriz. It’s a bit hipster but the quality of food was really good.
This was a major museum day. We started off by taking a bus (6 pesos one way = 0.33 USD) to the Museum of Anthropology in Parque de Chapultepec. Side note on the buses are that they only take a specific card that you can buy at specific stations. Since we didn’t have one, we had to ask someone to tap us in and give them money in exchange. It was kind of annoying but everyone was happy to help.
The museum of anthropology is the biggest museum in North America and it is filled with SO MUCH CONTENT. I think it would take a week to get through the entire museum. We tried our best and learned so much about different periods of Mexican and Central American history. There is so much to learn about and I wish I could learn more. The entire museum is so beautiful and very open and airy. There are tons of artifacts and it is pretty incredible to believe how old some of them are. After the museum, we were pretty tired and decided to eat the Museum Cafe which was not that great but good in a pinch.
The museum empties out into the park which is beautiful in and of itself. It is a massive park with several museums, lots of vendors and a castle. We walked over to the castle which is a museum as well. I hiked up the hill to the castle which has beautiful views overlooking the city. It is a wonderful way to get your bearings and see how large CDMX is as a whole. Walking up even a small hill in CDMX is a bit tiring because the city is at an altitude of 7,000ft. This is important to take into consideration if you are visiting the city. Everything is a little bit more tiring than at sea level.
After all of the museums we were tired and took the bus back home. After a couple hours of rest we headed out to a mezcal bar called La Clandestina. I am not the biggest mezcal girl but it was fun to try out. They also had pretty good tacos. We decided to uber home (a fun hack b/c the ubers are so cheap).
Day 3 — Mexico City
Today was a centro exploring day. We had gotten tickets to the Ballet Folklorico in the Palacio de Bellas Artes. This was such a beautiful performance and the actual theater itself was incredible. It has a Tiffany crafted stained glass curtain which was like nothing I’d seen before. THe performance itself was so energetic and fun. I liked that you really didn’t need to know much beforehand to enjoy the show.
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is located in the centro which is a big sprawling area with lots of shops and things to do. We walked through the main streets and eventually found ourselves in the Zocalo, a large plaza in the center of the city. There is a cathedral there that we popped into which was pretty nice. The plaza itself is so massive and it really made the city feel grounded. It also really nailed in the fact that the city is so big and filled with so many people.
Mexico City is built on the ancient Mexica city of Tenochitlan and many of its remains are underneath the city. One of the preserved archeological sites within the center is called Templo Mayor, an old temple for the gods. It is a museum where you can see all of the different parts of the temple. It was really neat to see an archeological site in the middle of such a bustling and vibrant city.
After all of this walking, we were pretty hungry and decided to eat at El Cardenal, a chain diner sort of establishment. I had some chicken w/mole that was really really good. I recommend eating here because the service is great and the food is good quality. This was pretty much the end of the day. We came back home and got some tacos close to the hotel.
Day 4 —Mexico City
A day of PYRAMIDS hehe. This was honestly so cool. We rented a taxi for half the day to take us to Teothihuacan, a city with lots of pyramids. It is a 45 minute drive with no traffic and it gets pretty hot so we decided to go earlier in the day. They don’t let people climb the pyramids since covid which was unfortunate, but they are so massive and beautiful to look at. I had never seen anything like this and it was really crazy to think people had built these 2000 years ago. The Pyramid of the Sun is one of the largest pyramids found and the oldest in the Americas.
It was honestly just so cool to walk around and imagine what life must have been like back then. There is a small museum that is also filled with tons of information. We spent a couple hours at Teothihuacan and headed back to CDMX to enjoy some Indian African Mexican fusion cuisine at Masala y Maiz. It was pretty good but not my favorite food. I also highly recommend making a reservation because they are pretty booked up. There is a place closeby called Cafe Nin that I would recommend over Masala y Maiz.
Came back to the hotel and showered. I was pretty full from the late lunch so we decided to get some sushi at a place close by that was surprisingly tasty. CDMX has a lot of Japanese restaurants and a lot of them are very well reviewed.
Day 5— Mexico City
This day started off as a bit of a flop. The plan was to go to Xochimilco, a neighborhood to the south of the city, known for its cute houses, and most notably, Frida Kahlo’s house. We got the museum and found out that tickets had been sold out for the day. The tickets for this museum sell out months ahead of time and are very difficult to get. It was pretty unfortunate but we decided to make the most of our time in the neighborhood and walk around. The houses are beautiful and there is a little market where you can try a lot of fruit, eat fun snacks and buy souvenirs.
After admitting defeat, we decided to pay a visit to the Museo de Modern Arte in the Parque de Chapultpec. It was a bit of a hike in the uber but the museum has one of Frida’s paintings. The museum is nice and a good place to rest. A lot of the art went over my head and a lot of the descriptions were in Spanish, but it was cool to see.
We decided to walk to Paramo, a cafe 30 minutes away from the park. The food here was pretty good but overpriced. I feel like it is a place to go for the vibes and to be honest it was just way too hot in there.
After coming back, we rested and showered. Dinner was at a chain called La Casa de Tono that was a couple minutes of a walk from the hotel. The food was pretty standard and the pozole was quite tasty.
Day 6— A travel day (Mexico City to Boston, MA)
Not too much to say about this day but I was sad to leave the warmth of Mexico. We were greeted by snow in Boston which was unfortunate.
Some reflections
CDMX is quite the amazing metropolitan city. Parts of it reminded me of Spain and parts of it reminded me of India. I was truly shocked by how large the city is and how many people live inside of it. There are so many places to eat and so many things to do. Everyone we interacted with was so friendly and I always felt welcomed in. I can totally see why people want to live there for a longer period of time. The food itself is one of the biggest selling points. There are so many things to eat and all of them are good. It is also incredibly cheap and you can do a lot of things within a budget.
I also have to give a big shoutout to our hotel, Casa Gonzalez. It was a very simple place but every time I came back, I felt like I was coming home. It’s such a blessing to have that feeling when you are in a new and foreign city. CDMX I will be back, xoxo, Rucha.
