I asked Sean what he wanted for his 40th birthday, and he said he wanted a trip to Mexico City! He has always wanted to visit. I was a bit hesitant and told him maybe he should go with our brother-in-law Dave instead, but after talking to my sister, we decided we'd all go and make it a couples trip! I cannot emphasize enough how much Mexico City surprised me. It was SUCH an awesome trip and a really amazing travel destination. I am so glad we all ended up going.
We landed in Mexico City in the afternoon and once we made it to our Airbnb and unloaded, we decided to walk around the neighborhood a bit to check it out. We were stunned by how beautiful the city was. And so clean! Tree-lined, canopied streets and parks and flowers everywhere. We headed to dinner that night at a place our friends recommended and it was really good. The tortilla soup was what they remembered, so I ordered it and it did not disappoint. We loved the homemade corn tortillas and the live mariachi band.
Day 2
We started our day early with a tour we booked through our Airbnb to Teotihuacán. The ruins are 30km or so outside the city and I honestly loved the ride there. It was so interesting to see outside the city and hear more about living there. We learned the wealthier people live toward the bottom of the hills, while poorer people live up higher. There are no roads and in some sections, gondolas have been built to help transport people from one area to another. There is a lot of illegal building where people build without a permit and as a result, are not given access to electricity or water until they have lived there for TEN YEARS! It is definitely humbling to think about.
Our tour of the ruins was one of the first so our group had the place almost to ourselves for the first hour or so. We have toured other ruins before, but Teotihuacán is by far the largest. They are still actively excavating it, which is something I find so fascinating. At the beginning of the tour our guide had Sean run out to one far corner of this plaza area, while we stood really far away on a platform in the center. The acoustics were so good, Sean could hear our tour guide speaking in just a regular speaking voice. It was crazy! We enjoyed walking around the expansive area and checking out the Avenue of the Dead and the huge Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Sun. Our guide sort of ditched us after the first hour, so we tried to figure out what we could on our own after that.
Temple of the Sun. It's hard to tell from pictures just how massive this pyramid is.
Temple of the moon
Avenue of the Dead
These popsicles they were selling in a little shop at the ruins were one of my favorite things I ate on the entire trip. They were SO good! Mine was fresh mango.
Sean had to tell his favorite Spanish joke to anyone who would listen. He told it to this guy and got the best reaction I think he's ever gotten. This guy was laughing pretty hard!
The joke:
Sean: What is the laziest animal?
Usually people guess a bear or sloth.
Sean: No, it's a fish.
Person: Why?
Sean: What do they do all day?
Person: "Nada" (swim in Spanish, also means "nothing" in Spanish)
laughter ensues :)
After touring the ruins, our group headed to a local restaurant for lunch. It was fun talking with the group of women also in our group about their other world travels. We ate right next to a cactus farm where our restaurant harvested the cactus they use for their dishes!
I loved driving through this little town that was all decorated to celebrate its Patron Saint Day.
On our drive back to Mexico City, we passed this church, which our driver told us is where the piñata was invented. It was originally in the shape of a star with seven points-- each representing a deadly sin that you beat with a stick!
We got back into the city in the early afternoon, so we decided to head to the Anthropology Museum next. It was a great addition to our earlier adventure to the ruins and helped answer some questions about the people who lived there.
Outside Sean bought a new shirt he'd had his eye on and bought elotes for a snack. Apparently they use a special type of huge kerneled corn during a few winter months, and that is what we got.
One of the things I really loved about Mexico City was the tree-lined walkways in the middle of the streets for pedestrians. They are so pretty and so well maintained! We saw workers constantly sweeping them with brooms made out of twigs.
Next it was on to dinner in the older, historic center center of the city at another restaurant recommended by our friend: Balcón del Zócalo. The view of the city from the terrace was really cool!
After dinner we walked around for a bit. We found a cool street with modern shopping stores in very old buildings. We loved the tile wall we found with hand-painted tiles from 1725. We walked a bit further to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which was beautiful.
Earlier in the day I saw a churrería in the city that looked really good. We looked it up and there was a location not far from where we were, so we decided to walk there. Turns out it was the original location and known to be the best churrería in all of Mexico City! It was so fun watching them make them and swirl them in the hot oil from the window outside. They also sold a bunch of different types of hot chocolate. I ordered churros and the Mexican hot chocolate and both were amazing. I've only had one churro since returning home and it tasted like garbage compared to the ones we ate here. The inside of the restaurant was so cute and was decorated with paper marigolds hanging from the ceiling. I loved this place so much I bought a mug to bring home to remember it!
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