Hola todos,
It was a beautiful day for us to hit the calles and explore the streets of Mexico City. And we had a morning walking tour to get to. Vamonos!
El Angel, the statue and bus stop near our hotel.
Our first adventure of the day was grabbing the bus to get downtown. It wouldn't have been difficult, except for the fact that neither my mom nor I had bothered to do any research into 1) how to obtain a public transit card, 2) whether we would need individual cards or could share swipes, and 3) how much each trip would cost. So we floundered at the station's machine for a few minutes, successfully getting one card, until two extremely kind women took pity on us. One offered to pay our bus fares, which was so generous. But we had a transfer and I knew that her short-term help was just a band-aid--we needed to learn the system! They told us that we could use just one card between the two of us and that trips were MXN $6 (6 pesos), roughly 35 cents, each. And then one of the women got on the bus with us and, after finding out we were headed downtown, told us that she was headed that way too and could chaperone us the whole way. These interactions--the sheer kindness and generosity of complete strangers--are the ones that make international travel so rewarding.
It was rush hour and the bus should have been packed, but we all got seats. In comparison to New York, the orderliness of getting onto the buses and the lack of fare evasion is almost shocking. The buses are cleaner, cheaper, and more frequent than in NYC.
The back of the bus was reserved for women and children, noted by the pink handles and poles. I've also read that subway train cars have similar reserved spaces.
We successfully made one bus transfer with our guide in the lead, and we got into the downtown area. We were now in the centro historico, surrounded by layers and layers of history (literally--archaeologists have found ruins underneath plazas and buildings), important government and cultural sites, and a weird blend of both people dressed in business attire and tourists.
We were a bit early for our walking tour, so we walked around to get a feel for the area. We stumbled across their supreme court, so of course I had to snag a photo! I'm pretty sure the security guards were a bit surprised to have someone excitedly stop for a pic.
We also stumbled across this Franciscan church/convent. If I translated the sign correctly (the odds of which are decent but not 100%), Hernan Cortes stayed here in the 1500s during a portion of his time in what would become Mexico City. Wild.
I loved walking through the streets before they were flooded with tourists and seeing what local life is like. There was a pedestrian street that doubled as some sort of breakfast/hot foods mall. People were buying lunch sandwiches for later in the day, hot coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice para llevar, and chicken and beef tacos to eat right then and there. Pastries and churros were also in the mix.
I got a scrambled egg sandwich. The default toppings were mayonnaise, avocado, and cheese. I opted out of the mayo and got it toasted. (This sando set us back 30 pesos, or roughly $1.50 USD.)
We met up with our walking tour and got started on what would be two hours and thirty minutes of a history refresher and some fabulous sightseeing. (We did this free walking tour with Oscar. I totally recommend!) I say "history refresher" because I learned a lot about Mexican history, especially the rich history of Mexico City, in my Spanish classes in high school. It was really cool to finally be in the place where the stories I heard a decade ago actually happened.
Our first stop was the Metropolitan Cathedral, built in the most ancient part of Mexico City and right next to the Aztec's main temple. The Cathedral was even built using portions of the Aztec temple. The building that exists today took roughly 250 years to complete and so contains several architectural styles that are incorporated throughout the design. It's certainly not the most ornate cathedral that I've been in, but it was quite beautiful. And several altars and chapels had beautiful and ornate designs.
The red stone in the exterior of the Cathedral is volcanic stone.
Oscar told us that because Mexico City was built over a lake, it is sinking about 10-15 centimeters each year. (If you do the math, that is roughly 4-6 inches per year. Which sounds too dramatic. But Google agrees and some reporting places that number at an even more dramatic 40 centimeters per year!) Meaning that lots of buildings are leaning slightly in weird directions and there are occasional gaps between sidewalks and the buildings they're up against.
Something that my mom and I noticed separately was that the streets are fairly clean, even in the highly trafficked downtown area. There aren't piles of trash or litter on the sidewalks or streets. But there also aren't a lot of trash cans? Confusing, but appreciated.
The tour took us past two buildings exhibiting styles influenced by Arab design, in vogue in Spain at the time these buildings were made.
This one is called the Casa de Azulejos, named for its decorative tiling on the walls.
We walked by the ruins of the Templo Mayor, the main Aztec temple complex on which downtown Mexico City was built. The detailed stonework is incredible, and even more so when you consider that the Aztecs lacked modern engineering tools!
The Palacio Postal (below) is a functioning post office. It was built by an Italian architect, and the metal gates and marble floors were imported from Italy. It was the first building in the city to get electricity and an elevator, and it was beautiful to walk around and see.
And no walking tour would be complete without food recs--one street is well-known for its frequent food stalls that cater quick snacks, or anteojitos, to locals.
So, after the tour was over, we walked over to a food stall for some fresh, hot lunch. I got a tostada and a taco, and my mom got a sope. The dishes were loaded--hypothetically, they're supposed to be snackies. But they're basically full meals each.
A husband-and-wife pair manned the grill, and their son assisted with the toppings and the cash.
My mom's sope. The green stuff on top is grilled cactus!
We were both pretty tired from the walking tour and dehydrated (the sun had come out and the day was warmer than we had anticipated). And I'm recovering from whatever cold I have. So we decided to head back to the hotel for a quick midday siesta. We took an Uber (unusual for me, I know, but they're so cheap here!) and almost died several times. It appears that traffic rules are mere suggestions, and there were a handful of instances where we or another vehicle drove against the flow of traffic.
Back at the hotel, some water and a little nap in an air-conditioned room perked us right back up. We set off for some late afternoon walking in the Bosque de Chapultepec, a huge park.
The park has a ton of trees, so the walk was nicely shaded and a beautiful array of greens. And there's a sizeable body of water in the park where folks rent peddle boats for water adventures.
We eventually headed back towards the hotel, keeping our eyes open for a dinner spot. We landed at San Burgos Tacos for some tortilla soup and local culture. I also grabbed an al pastor taco because I just can't help myself. The soup bowls were *loaded* with tortilla strips and were super flavorful. We got a side of extra tortillas, not expecting the soup to be so dense. (The waiter did a double-take when we ordered the tortillas... we should have known.)
The food here also came with a sauce assortment, with flavors ranging from creamy lime-cilantro (light green) to super spicy (black, orange) to sweet and lemony (yellow). We used the extra tortillas to sample the salsas.
We ambled back to the hotel to unwind and rest up. We're both a bit sunburnt from today's walking, so we'll have to better about sunscreen tomorrow!
Besos,
Tina the ExploraDora
Step count: 32,925
Taco count: 5
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