travels.of.tara

On a cold, dark winter Friday evening in February 2020, I was making the most of a long work week by drinking in the office with my coworkers, a coping mechanism we had developed to get through those exhausting in-person work weeks. Somehow I found myself floating over to my computer and looking up flights, as I often did. I had seen a cheap flight alert earlier that day to a place I hadn’t considered visiting before but sounded intriguing. Minutes later, slightly tipsy, I booked a 6-day trip to Mexico City for April 2020. I remember casually telling my supervisor I’d be out those days. I excitedly started to plan, booking a hostel and getting recommendations from friends. And then, well, March 2020 happened.

I’ve been waiting nearly 2 years, but I finally made it happen and left the country, making what felt like a long-earned pilgrimage to Mexico’s largest city, from Friday December 3rd through Wednesday December 8th. As I reflect on the plane ride home I have to say that the trip exceeded my dangerously high expectations. I had an amazing time. From the first late-night taco to the blasts of colors to the deep history to the easy travel friends I made, Mexico City showed me a wonderful time.

I flew VivaAerobus, a discount airline that has just one flight out of JFK. Despite some worries about their poor tech and general Spirit Airlines-vibes, it was all fine and smooth, with just some minor delays each way. The airport on the way home was busier and very confusing and I felt rushed with a pre-dawn flight, but ultimately it all worked out, and they even bumped me into “VIP” which means absolutely nothing except I got to board first and happened to have a whole row of seats to myself.

As the flight attendants on the way there started their announcements in two languages and then stopped giving the English translation, I knew I was in for a bit of a culture shock. I audited a Spanish class once in grad school because it was free, but it wasn’t a great experience; and I like to think I’ve picked up some basics just from living in New York City. When I booked the trip the first time I started practicing Spanish on the Duolingo app. It is excellent and I plan to continue learning, but nothing compares to immersion and real conversations. Mexico City isn’t like European cities where everyone speaks English and you can get by just learning a pleasantry or two. In the tourist areas you may get lucky, but you really need to have a basic working knowledge of the language if you want to eat, buy something, or interact with anyone. My most common used and helpful phrases were “Solo hablo un poco espanol” (I only speak a little Spanish) and “Mi espanol es muy malo” (my Spanish is very bad). Some other favorites were “Soy de Nueva York” (I’m from New York), “Cuanta cuesta?” (how much?) and “Lo siento” (I’m sorry). I got by, at times with help from fellow travelers who spoke more fluently. I did have some moments of being totally lost, reminding me of some deeply embarrassing experiences in Spanish class. But I mostly did ok.

After an hour and a half long wait in the tedious immigration line, the culture shock hit me right away as I left the airport, seeing the crowds and old familiar craze of money-exchange spots and taxi peddlers. Mexico City is the largest city in the Americas, with 9 million people living in the city proper and 20 million in the greater area. There is a metro system, a bus rapid transit system, several regular bus systems and an informal/sketchy bus system. There are official taxis and unofficial taxis. Uber and similar companies are around everywhere. The bike share program is called EcoBici and there are decent bike lanes around the city. I took Ubers and the metro throughout my trip, often opting for the women-only section that is clearly delineated at every station. It takes a long time to get anywhere since the city is so vast, and car traffic is a big problem. My phone app kept saying air pollution was very poor or extremely poor and warned everyone to stay indoors, but apparently no one was listening. I didn’t really notice it, except for some hazy-looking air you could see in the mountainous distance. Part of the reason is the high elevation of over 7,300 feet and ozone issues (I noticed a bit of altitude sickness the first night), in addition to the car traffic. There’s a very strong outdoor masking culture there so that probably helped people feel ok about being outside, too.

Pandy hit Mexico City hard, but when I went things were really good and much better than back home, where it seems like things are reversing again. Even so, they take it seriously. Entering any museum, restaurant, or store requires a standard procedure of a temperature check, a person to give you hand sanitizer, and a mat to step on to sanitize your shoes. Some places also spray you with sanitizer front and back. 99% of the city is vaccinated, though it’s lower in other parts of the country. For such a huge and dense place it’s an amazing accomplishment. Someone told me the toll it took on folks really made people pay attention and want to do their part. If only Americans would act similarly.

Everything in Mexico City is cheap for Americans. As a lover of discounts, this was dreamy for me. Private room in a hostel with a private bathroom for a week? No problem, $50 a night. Uber to a tourist attraction a 40 minute drive away? $10. Opting for the crowded but fast metro? Just 25 cents a ride. Buying a delicious veggie taco from a street vendor? About 30 cents. This was a-ok with me.

It was late and I was hungry after arriving, so after an ATM stop for Mexican pesos (I got about $180 USD, used cash for almost everything, and had money left over at the end), I decided to get “gringa’d” and took an unofficial taxi with no line to my hostel, trusting that a woman driver would be fine and paying a little more than I wanted to. Check in and the room were great; it felt like a trendy hotel room – including a balcony that opened to the busy downtown street – that also had hostel amenities and vibes like a rooftop bar, lots of solo travelers, and group excursions.

I stayed in Centro Historico, the historic downtown center, which features cobblestone streets, the giant Zocalo town square, and an architecture style that felt decadently European. It was a touristy area but did not feel touristy on the busy streets. Most visitors stay here or in trendier neighborhoods like Roma, La Condesa, and Polanco; the guide books warn us to stay away from certain non-touristy neighborhoods due to drug cartel activity, but sometimes I think those messages are a little exaggerated to scare white people.

Anyway, I was starving and took the hostel’s recommendation and walked to El Café Popular, basically a diner – and yes it was popular and busy at 11pm on a Friday night! They gave me an English menu but I could have gotten by with the Spanish one – pollo tacos is what I wanted and what I got. They crispy shell and flavor and cheeses were amazing and I was so happy.

Food is a real highlight of Mexico City. Everything was delicious. I came with a long list of foods and restaurants to try, and even as an admitted “non-foodie” I was really excited for the experience. As a pollo-tarian (I eat veggie plus just chicken and turkey) I didn’t get to try out all the weird meats like the famous al pastor tacos, but I had so many delicious options. I felt like I barely made a dent in all the foods I wanted to try, but there are only so many eating times in the day. Some highlights were the tacos, quesadillas, tamales, mole, nopal (cactus), churros, and sweet breads. Yum. A lot of it was familiar having lived in Jackson Heights in Queens, but a lot was also new. For my least favorite meal of the day, I was surprised to find out that the hostel included free breakfast, which I enjoyed a few times at the rooftop bar/lounge. I ordered fruit, which on their regular menu was $2.40 USD, and received a giant bowl of berries that would have cost me about $12 at a local NYC brunch spot. I also tried a bakery down the block a few times, where I had trouble ordering in Spanish but found some delicious fresh baked breads.

Ready to start my planned itinerary, I started Saturday morning exploring Chapultepec Park and some of Mexico City’s many museums. Chapultepec is twice as large as NYC’s Central Park, and at times gave me reminiscent vibes like paddleboards on a lake, the juxtaposition of quiet green space and tall buildings in the background, and the tourist-oriented vendors all over the place.

Chapultepec Park has many large and famous museums inside of it. I started with the Castillo de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Castle). After paying $4 USD for a ticket, you walk up a gentle hill for a while to reach the castle. There, you go through another round of security, which included relinquishing one of my precious water bottles – fortunately they didn’t count on me having two in my giant purse! (Tap water isn’t drinkable in Mexico and I hated having to rely on plastic, but it’s better than getting sick.) Finally, you are invited into the beautiful grounds of a full-on stone castle. Views of the city are gorgeous, but I was especially struck by some of the art and murals on the inside. It was my first taste of the large, famous Mexican murals. This spot didn’t have English translations, unlike many other spots I visited, but as art is meant to do I could really feel the political turmoil that had happened in that castle over the centuries.

After a long walk through the park, my next museum was the National Museum of Anthropology, one of the top attractions in the city. It was huge, and in about an hour and a half I saw maybe one quarter of it. The first room had an unexpected surprise of the bones of “Lucy” – the first discovered human remains. Otherwise it was a great natural history museum that helped me get some more historical context for Mexico. As I reflected with some travelers, it really makes you think about how little Americans are taught about Mexican politics or history, even though our fates over the centuries have been so closely intertwined.

To really enjoy the food, for my first afternoon I booked a biking and food tour through Airbnb Experiences. It was amazing! The small group of us met at a cute bazaar and biked around the Juarez, Roma, and Condesa neighborhoods, about 9 miles in total and feeding me enough to make it through bedtime, though we ended at 6:30pm. It was all completely flat except for one tiny stretch in a park, so it felt easy and pleasant (much easier than NYC biking). One of our three guides was aggressively biking into intersections and blocking traffic for us to make it feel even safer! It was a great way to see a lot of areas, and I really enjoyed talking with fellow travelers from British Columbia, Toronto, Dallas, New Orleans, Germany, and Russia. The food stops were great and hyper-local, some inside busy mercados (huge indoor flea market-type places that are all over the city), and some from street vendors. I opted for all veggie options and enjoyed tamales with “fungus” (this was not mushrooms… I don’t know what it was but it was delicious), beans and spicy-sauce basket tacos or sweaty tacos (named for how they are steamed and sit in the baskets before sold on the street), a delicious green juice with cactus, cheesy green corn tacos/quesadillas from a street vendor, sugary churros, and nopal cactus/cheese and seasoned hot gooey tacos – I think this simple one from inside a mercado was my favorite. We ended the fun day with some beers and mezcal – a popular Mexican drink made from local agave plants that is becoming increasingly popular and artisan in the U.S. Tequila is a type of mezcal made from blue agave from certain regions in Mexico. I tried a few mezcals during my stay, some were very smoky and others were smooth, all really nice. I took the metro back to the hostel and got off a stop early to see some other neighborhoods, and enjoyed a crowded street life. I capped off the night by checking out the hostel rooftop bar and having a happy hour margarita ($2 USD).

I woke up early Sunday to jam in some exploring near the hostel before my afternoon excursion. I built my own walking tour, starting 2 blocks away at the Zocalo, the giant historic town square featuring a huge Mexican flag in the middle and surrounded by a cathedral, the National Palace (a government building), and many other gorgeous buildings. I passed through here a few more times and it was packed, full of peddlers, tourists, and local families enjoying themselves – plus kids with giant balloons shaped like pencils that they were catapulting into the air. Hustlers played circus-type music by turning a crank on a box and aggressively demanded tips from passersby. There were tons of police everywhere, many blocking off the streets to cars and generally feeling intimidating – even the female cops with perfect hair held back with big blue ribbons. There was lots of street noise that made its way back to my hostel room, though in the middle of the night it was dead quiet, offering a stark contrast.

Around the corner from the Zocalo was the Templo Mayor, some ruins discovered right in the city that is open for the public to view. I opted not to go in for the paid museum, but did learn from some signs that just a few years ago they discovered a whole lot of human skulls in the ruins, suggesting ritual sacrifice. At least, that’s what I got from my Google translate app (I was amazed by this recent discovery – a free app and you just hover the camera above any words and it translates them instantly!).

I wandered down Madero street, a crowded pedestrian-only strip, seeing some awesome architecture including a famous tiled building. I wandered into a garden right off the street and was greeted by over a dozen statues by famous artists Dali and Rodin. I passed by the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a famous and gorgeous building/museum/performance space, though I didn’t go inside. Across the street I did pop into a free museum to see a giant mural by Diego Rivera, which featured hundreds of historic Mexican figures and archetypes interacting. An English translation identified each character with descriptions like “a young student schemes how to become a corrupt politician.” I made my way over to a 2-block strip that comprised Mexico City’s Chinatown, which was quiet in the morning but featured some really pretty decorations.

Already getting tired of walking for a few hours, I made my way to the Popular Art Museum. With free Sunday entry and few crowds since it was early, I was blown away by this place. It was a relatively small museum and I got through everything in a little over an hour, but it was just so colorful and fun. Bright pinatas lined 4 stories of an indoor courtyard, with exhibitions in the surrounding rooms including one I enjoyed about the duality of life and death and Dia de los Muertos. Everything was super colorful and non-pretentious and I had a great time here.

Speaking of colorful and non-pretentious, my next stop was Xochimilco, a famous series of canals that are known for colorful wooden boat rides. About a 40 minute Uber ride away, I entered a huge parking lot that led to a long busy strip of outdoor food and drink vendors next to the water, where there were tight rows of the colorful boats docked and stretching for what seemed like half a mile. I met up with my group through Airbnb Experiences at the entrance. Our guide Ana encouraged us all to buy some extra beers for the couple-of-hours-long boat ride, and showed us how to get micheladas and cheladas – a tasty Mexican drink based on beer, lime juice, and chili peppers. The dozen or so of us boarded our wooden boat, piloted by our trajinero who propelled us with a giant stick from the back – something like a Venetian gondolier but at a bigger scale. We got to know each other around the table, including several American couples and one other solo traveler from Turkey, and Ana shared some of the history and culture of the canals.

Mexico City was originally a giant lake. Its Aztec founders had been looking for a place to settle and were waiting for a sign from the gods of an eagle eating a snake on top of a cactus. Legend is they saw it, and then filled in the lake to build the city. So the canals were originally part of the lake, and little islands along the way are now used as farms for local restaurants and such.

I knew this would be a fun experience, but I don’t think I was prepared for how much of a party it would be! Apparently that’s how locals approach Xochimilco. There was lots of drinking mezcal and our beers, music, yummy food, passing boats selling more food and mariachi bands who play for tips, all in a peaceful waterfront setting. At one point we each took turns doing a local tradition of taking a shot of tequila, sucking a lime, and then a shot of a non-alcoholic red sweet drink to represent the Mexican flag colors – and after all this we each took a turn pushing the boat with the giant stick. One stop included a creepy statue of an urban legend woman who drowned her children after her husband left her and started a new family, with the legend saying that taking a photo with her was good luck. We saw big cranes along the way, and made a few stops on some islands to use the primitive toilets (you flushed by filling a bucket with water and tossing it down the toilet… which I didn’t realize the first time, oops). One of our stops was to see a tiny aquarium filled with some native axolotl, a little amphibian that is helping cure cancer because it can regrow its limbs. The drunker we got the more we were all dancing on the boat, and by the time we docked in the evening I was sad to leave.

My new friends – the Turkish solo traveler and a couple from Brooklyn who had left their 3 kids home with their parents – exchanged numbers and made plans to meet up for dinner later that night. (International travel is so much easier with normal cell phone service – which I paid a little extra for but found invaluable for getting around.) I shared an uber back with the solo traveler and took a nap before heading back out. We met at Azul Historico, a nice restaurant in a courtyard with twinkle lights on trees that many had recommended to me. Our Turkish friend was very chatty and we learned a lot about her work in the restaurant industry and how much she hates Milan, and ate some decadent food (I had mole enchiladas). We stayed there late, and as they looked for a bar I chose to leave to get some sleep before my early morning the next day.

Monday morning I woke up before sunrise to meet a coach bus about a block away for a day trip to Teotihuacan, the site of some famous ancient pyramids. I was tired but the comfy hour-or-so bus ride helped, including a stop for coffee and our guides pointing out some highlights in English and Spanish; I was especially struck by the dense colorful houses in mountainside towns. I chatted with my seatmate a bit, who was from San Francisco and Persian and whose name was also Tara.

As we arrived and broke into English and Spanish groups, we learned a little history and entered the area with tickets. I was tired, and something about the larger group with a quieter morning vibe had me paying attention a little less than usual, but I really did enjoy the massive scenery and historic pyramids and temples, again really sensing the history from seeing my surroundings. I absorbed that it was pre-Aztec and there were a lot of wars, and at one point it was just abandoned. There was a good amount of walking involved to get from our starting point of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl past the Pyramid of the Moon to our end point of the Pyramid of the Sun. Apparently you could normally climb up the big pyramids but they had been shut since 2020, which given how much we were walking in the unforgiving sun was fine with me.

A side note about weather: essentially it was perfect desert spring everyday. I don’t think I saw any clouds at any point. Overnight it would drop into the 40s and it would be chilly in the mornings, but the sun would quickly warm things up and by mid afternoon it was in the mid-70s. It was lovely. I somehow managed not to get a sunburn.

Since we were there early we avoided a lot of the crowds, but it was already getting nutty by the end of our visit in late morning. Peddlers lined the whole area trying to sell trinkets and reeling people in with whistles that sounded like bird calls. I even ran into my NYC friends from the previous night, who had hired a private guide for their tour.

Next, the bus took us to what is probably a big tourist trap, but felt really cool and fun. It was a stop where they tell you about the local rock obsidian, and then take you to do a liquor tasting where we learned a little about different mezcals, tequila, and the fermented pulque drink. We were let out in the gift shop and then ushered around the corner to a restaurant, where I had lunch with another solo traveler from DC. Lunch was a buffet so I got to try a few things, and toward the end there was a drummer and dancer to entertain us. We had a little time outside before leaving to explore a cactus garden, and then napped our way back to the city that afternoon.

After a little break, I spent the late afternoon and night wandering around. A few blocks away I enjoyed Churrería El Moro, a well-known spot to get delicious churros that you can dip in hot chocolate. The streets were super-packed around here, with few tourists, and I had a great time feeling the energy walking around. I made it over to Mercado de Artesanías La Ciudadela, a huge mercado I really wanted to check out. It was pretty empty inside but huge, and there were some really great crafts and gift items at hundreds of booths. I had some trouble finding postcards, which happens in some cities (I collect them and like to send them to some people!), but finally found a few here and later in the airport. Around sunset I headed over to Torre Latinoamerica, a tall building with an observation deck that is supposed to have excellent views. The line was long so I decided to skip it, though I ended up coming back the next evening on a whim. I tried the guidebook recommendation of going to the restaurant/bar floors to avoid paying the $8 USD and getting a drink instead, but the bar insisted I also order food and I was not excited for that, so I snapped a few quick photos and left. I chose a spot called Café Tacuba for dinner, which was known for its beautiful old building and decorations. I struggled with the Spanish a little but enjoyed a nice beer and some veggie quesadillas (per a friend’s tip, quesadillas don’t automatically come with cheese in Mexico City, despite cheese literally being in their name!). After dinner I wandered the busy streets to find Plaza Garibaldi, a square known for bringing together all the mariachi musicians, which was a fun sight to see! I didn’t stay long, and took a long walk back to the hostel to crash after another long day.

For my final full day on Tuesday, I made my way over to Coyoacan, a cool area with colorful architecture far across the city. I decided to take the metro and do a long walk to my destination, which allowed me to see some less touristy areas. A little side trek from the busy highway/metro corridor with lots of street vendors took me to a quiet suburban area with a Japanese-style park. I felt very safe though it was pretty empty, but then noticed two separate men doing something to themselves down there, and well, I just crossed the street and got out of there.

After a long pretty walk I made it to my big destination, Frida Kahlo’s house. The deep luscious blue color popped from the street, and I used my timed ticket to go into the courtyard as it opened at 10. This was the house where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived together. You could walk through the house seeing their old bedrooms and belongings, as well as a lot of their artwork and old photographs (if you wanted to take photos inside you had to pay a few dollars for a permit, which seemed like a rip off to me so I skipped it but snuck a few anyway). Outside I really enjoyed exploring the gardens in the courtyard. There was also an exhibit of Frida’s clothing. It was a really cool spot!

After the house I wandered Coyoacan some more. I was exhausted, but made it to the main town square area and really enjoyed the parks and street life. I wandered through the Bazar Artesanal Mexicano, another huge mercado, and bought a delicious basket taco on the street. It was a great area just to hang out, but I was getting very tired so decided to Uber back to the hostel, which somehow took about an hour with some wild gridlock but was still probably the easiest route back.

Traveling “in these unprecedented times” is always risky, even when things seem alright. For example if I had been in South Africa this week it’s possible I wouldn’t have been able to come home! I did get a little mid-trip news as the U.S. changed its entry requirements, moving the testing requirement from 3 days to 24 hours before your flight. Fortunately I knew it could be coming ahead of time and was easily able to build it into my last day. When I had contacted the hostel about it ahead of time, they recommended an urgent care-type place a 20 minute walk away. I could make a reservation online but it seemed a little complicated. When I asked them again in person, they surprised me by saying they could have someone come to the hostel and do it for me right there, no language barriers or culture shock required. The catch, of course, is that it cost $40 USD, compared to the $25 I would spend at the clinic or the airport or anywhere else, but it seemed like a very easy decision. I scheduled it for 3pm on Tuesday. They ended up being delayed about an hour but it was fine. The tech met me in the lobby and went up to the outdoor roof area with me, took the test and told me my negative result, and said it would be emailed to me in a few hours. I paid on my card with him and that was it, so easy. I didn’t fully relax until I got the email that night, but ultimately it was fine.

For my final activity Tuesday evening, I joined a hostel-organized activity to see Lucha Libre! This is Mexican wrestling known for colorful masks and theatrical performances. We met at the hostel bar, were given some food and drinks, and told to pick out our masks – I opted for the hot pink with blue accents. Our guide was the hostel worker who helped me schedule my test earlier, and the small group of solo travelers became fast friends – including people from the UK and US, and one person who explained their fabulous quality of life while living in cheap Tijuana and working in San Diego as a server everyday, allowing for frequent long weekend trips. We took two slow ubers a short way to a neighborhood called Doctores that guidebooks say not to go to, but is home to Arena Mexico, the large main venue for Lucha Libre. Our guide helped us understand what was happening, describing the matches as half-real – with real kicks and punches but generally choreographed moves and planned theatrics. We had chosen to root for the “bad guys” and everyone gets really into it, yelling Spanish curses (including kids!). It was a hilarious and fun experience! We took the metro back together and spent a little more time hanging together on the rooftop bar. I got a few hours of excellent sleep before my early-morning flight home the next day.

As I catch up to finish writing this two weekends after coming home, New York City is in the throws of another violently-fast spreading variant. Holiday parties are being canceled and I’m worried about the possibility of travel being limited again, especially with 2 flights booked and another 2 planned in the next 4 months (I got aggressive in travel planning this fall when things felt alright). Given the state of the world, I’m so deeply grateful I got to have this wonderful experience in Mexico City! I got me out of my head and let me have a lot of fun and experience a new culture. Hasta luego, Ciudad de Mexico!