Yep, a place I have grumbled about going to quite some time – I was so looking forward to getting to Mexico City. But the flight to there should have been a signal that all was not right with my moons, or my alignment, my chakras had deserted me. I have not had more than just a touch of motion sickness queasiness in a few years, and my coping mechanisms seemed to always work, ahhh…not this time. We flew Rome to Atlanta, which, granted, was one of the longest flights in quite some time. By the time we were a couple of hours out of Atlanta I knew I was in trouble. Anyway, instead of continuing on to Mexico City that night, we stayed at one of the hotels at the airport and took the flight out the next morning. Good plan – plus Delta was able to re-route our bags to the flight we were going to be on! We were quite pleased to see them come out at baggage claim in MEX. The first couple of weeks were good – jet lag wasn’t too awful, we enjoyed exploring, the bed was comfortable in our apartment (yay!!), we found the BEST BBQ ever (seriously!). Then disaster struck. I don’t really care for shellfish anyway, so I’m not entirely certain why I tried those mussels, and I can assure you that it will never ever ever in a million years ever no way no how happen again. It wasn’t pretty. And it took me about three weeks to feel human again. So, here we are, in a different location already, and I haven’t even posted about the last stop. Sigh. But I had a good excuse this time! Okay, done whining.
Mexico City surprised me, in a good way, with the architecture. I did not expect Art Deco buildings. Not sure why it was such a surprise, but it was. There are a few buildings, mostly churches, that are from the time of the conquistadors (1500-1600s) – not many though. The cathedral, of course, is from that time. Anything Aztec was mowed down by the Spanish conquerors. A lot of the Aztec buildings have been uncovered in the area around the cathedral, and they are viewable from the plaza level. There is also a large museum dedicated to the Aztecs and walking paths through a large section of the ruins. This was one of the things the Husband requested that we do…and it was closed the entire time we were in Mexico City. It would have been super nice if the museum website had stated that it was closed for the time being. Grrr.
When we are in Europe we long for Mexican food (I’ve only mentioned this one or two dozen times)…when we are away from Europe we long for whatever was our favorite during that trip. Naturally we immediately asked our host where the best tacos were that was near our apartment! His answer? Right around the corner. And he was right!
Everywhere we walked in the city we encountered parks, fountains and statues. We were pleasantly surprised by this. Especially the parks – small, center of the street parks, massive parks, dog parks – all beautifully maintained. It was really a delight! And statues of all kinds. Our apartment was right off of Paseo de la Reforma – so the Angel of Independence statue was our landmark (and the US embassy was right across the street.
The food poisoning episode happened two weeks before we left Mexico City, so most of those two weeks are a total loss. We were signed up for an amazing sounding tour of Teotihuacán the weekend after the…incident…and I was not going to be the cause of missing out on that! I am so glad we went, it was definitely the highlight of the trip! Our tour guide picked us up not far from our place and drove us about an hour northeast of the city. It is suspected that if the conquistadors had seen Teotihuacán we would not have been left this incredible site to see. They passed by the site, not realizing what was there because it had been abandoned for about 700 year by then and was mostly covered up. The temples just looked like earthen mounds. So grateful for that! The temples, pyramids and city of Teotihuacán date from about the 1st century, with the site being abandoned by about 500. It is a spectacular place!! Definitely recommend a visit here.
After a few hours spent at the pyramid site, our charming and very knowledgeable guide, Alejandro, drove us to a local restaurant for a delicious lunch, then out to his house where they produce chocolate by hand. They roast the beans over a fire, then manually grind them – best chocolate ever!
I was so glad that I summoned up the energy to go on that excursion. The next day we were to go to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (my request to see of course) and…the Husband came down with Montezuma’s Revenge! We have spent months in Mexico with neither one of us ever having so much as a gurgle tummy-wise, so for both of us to get sick like this -wow. Needless to say, we did not go to the Basilica, which I am sad about. And we really liked what we saw of Mexico City. Yes, we stayed out of any potentially scary areas – but that’s just being prudent! But, for the time being, the place is tainted for us. We will get past it, eventually, and hope to return one day. And if I so much SEE a mussel any time soon I may turn a bit green.