We decided to mix it up a bit accommodation-wise by staying in two different parts of Mexico City during our four nights stay, mainly so that we could familiarise ourselves with different areas and because Mexico City is vast. Downtown Hostel was recommended to us as an affordable and cool place. In a renovated bank it is pretty hip but in true hostel style, we were back to sharing bathrooms and at this stage of the trip we are totally over sharing showers. Plus, the Airbnb we had booked for the last few nights was way cheaper, not to mention more comfortable than the hostel. After wandering round the city centre for a few days, we were glad to leave the throngs of the tourist traps and retreat to the much quieter residential area of Roma Norte. We should know by now that we prefer to be further out of town where the locals live rather than in the thick of it all. Seven months in and still learning! Feeling ravenous we headed to El Cardenal restaurant for an early dinner. A very traditional restaurant and clearly a bit of an establishment based on the size of the queue outside. It served its purpose but I don't think we’d rush back. The food was tasty, the portions huge, but it was all delivered with very little finesse. Palacio de Bellas Artes is as impressive as it sounds and a building that surely can’t be missed, both because of its central location but also because you don't want to miss it, she’s a beauty! As a prominent cultural centre and having hosted some of the most notable events in Mexico City, it is also known as the ‘Cathedral of Art’, with murals by Diego Riviera covering the walls. The queues for entry to the exhibitions were ridiculous when we went and we were sure we wouldn't see any of the art anyway with that many people, so we enjoyed the AC for a bit and headed to the House of Tiles instead. The House of Tiles is unsurprisingly exactly as it sounds, an imposing house covered in tiles with a beautiful courtyard interior, you certainly can’t miss it when in this area of town. El Moro Churreria is the place to undoubtedly find the best churros in town, I might even go as far as saying in Mexico! A real institution and made freshly in front of you, you’ll know you're at the right place when you see the size of the queue outside! Mercado de San Juan was recommended to us for the exotic meat selections (think lion burgers, waaaah!), cosmopolitan food stalls, and what was reputed to be one of Mexico City’s best coffee at Triana Cafe. This place sells literally everything edible on earth! Including many things I am sure most would class as inedible, and by this I mean grubs. So many grubs and bugs. Deciding to save insects from the undergrowth for another day, we stumbled across an amazing Spanish deli, Baltasar, offering all the hams and cheese you could ever dream of. It has been a while since we had a ham and cheese sandwich that good! Fuelled, we decided to hit the La Ciudadela tat market in search of more souvenirs for the fam and most importantly, a beaded puma skull. Sounds odd I know but really, they are very fun. You can get cheaper ones where the beads are placed on by hand on to plastic moulds but the best are the wooden carved heads, their wonky ears lending to their authenticity. After hours of searching, we found him, tried to negotiate, failed, walked away defiantly, then returned with cash in hand an hour later. Oh well, we tried. And the poor bloke’s only trying to make a living! Plaza Garibaldi, with its infamous hoards of mariachi bands competing for the attention of tourists and locals alike, is a very fun place. Getting there however is not! Our guide book did not provide the most favourable review for this plaza, with it being aimed at tourists, they are also a target and there is reportedly a lot of crime. The surrounding streets are absolutely not to be negotiated at night, we were a little freaked, even in the middle of the afternoon. But the square itself is full of life, mariachi bands gather every evening from around 4pm and belt out the classics with gusto. They even give you little impromptu auditions to show off their voices before you pay for the full thing. The atmosphere is electric and the performances addictive. On our way back to the hotel, we wandered past the main post office, an incredible little gem of a place and the spitting image of the Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Harry Potter. We were also advised no trip to Mexico City would be complete without a trip to the Opera Bar. It is ridiculously touristy, a little naff, and entirely missable. Why do rumours of these can’t be missed places travel so far when they are in reality such a let down? So, Mexico city is BIG. Everything is so spread out, the traffic is terrible and it takes an absolute age to get from one side of the city to the other. It is essential that you plan your activities based on the regions of the city so you aren't dashing around all day. Getting the metro is by far the best way but rush hour should really be avoided, we had a fairly nasty experience where we were rammed in to the carriage and some dick blocked the doors when it was our stop. Tears weren't far away! A visit to the Luis Barragan studio has been at the top of our wish list for a while, well I have to admit it was more on Rob’s list as I only heard his name for the first time a few weeks ago. We were unaware however that you have to book ahead weeks in advance. Damn it! But not to be defeated, we decided to just turn up anyway and hope for the best - it worked! We were to return three hours later and we would get two spots on the afternoon tour, score! In the meantime, we visited Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo. A small but beautifully formed and very digestible gallery. The best exhibition was a show that documented the variety of handicrafts made across Mexico. Both delightful and with a contemporary spin, there were displays of Mexican hats from across the various regions in Mexico and ‘farolitos de papel pintados’, aka paper lanterns. The historical roots of the farolito can be traced all the way back to China, Spanish merchants made this link possible. From the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries Spain held both Mexico and the Philippines as colonies. Trade relations linked the Philippines with China. These links gave Spanish merchants access to Chinese goods, which they began to export to other places. Chinese paper lanterns, imported from the Philippines to Mexico by Spanish traders, proved popular in the New World. The Mexicans used them for many kinds of celebrations, including Christmas! East meets West wherever we go! The Barragan house was everything we had hoped it would be. One of Mexico's most famous architects, his home in Mexico City is now a private museum and is listed as a world heritage site. He was a master of colour, light and space and his style encompasses a combination of Mexican heritage with modernist forms of abstraction. Sadly we weren't allowed to take photos but Rob sneakily managed to get this one whilst our guides back was turned! No one works a fluro pink wall like he did! In the architect’s owns words: "I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery." Magical indeed! And at last, what we hoped to be one of our most exciting foodie experiences was upon us - PUJOL! Another restaurant featured in the Chef’s Table Netflix series and rated number 20 of the world's best restaurants, this place has been on our list for a long time. Our reservation had been in place for months. Game on! Highlights were this baby corn coated in crushed Mexican ant sauce, the best soft shell crab we have ever eaten and the 1333 day old mole! Topped off with a tour of the kitchen and a cheeky photo with the Pujol team! It did not disappoint, service was sublime, decor a dream. How did we get so lucky?! The Coyoacan area of Mexico City was made famous by two of it’s most well known residents, artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Frida first met Diego when she was an art student hoping to get advice on her career from the Mexican muralist, Diego. Despite being married at the time, a courtship ensued and eventually they were married, then they were divorced, then married again a year later. Their relationship was a fiery one to say the least, full of volatile tempers and countless infidelities. A friend suggested we walk down the beautiful Avenida Francisco Sosa to the square to admire the great and very varied styles of architecture. Coyoacan has a lovely village feel about it, full of low level houses, lots of independent coffee shops and small plazas dotted all over the place. And of course Frida is EVERYWHERE! The Soumaya Museum designed by Fernando Romero, and the Jumex Museum designed by David Chipperfield are undoubtedly two of the greatest buildings in Mexico City. And they stand side by side which is awesome when you've been running around a city as big as this. The Soumaya is home to a private art collection of nearly 70,000 works from 15th to mid-20th century including the world’s largest private collection of Rodin sculptures. It is an extraordinary space and a joy to walk around. The upper levels were more interesting to us and we basically skipped the earlier artefacts. The Jumex had a wonderful and extensive Warhol exhibition. We have seen so many Warhol canvases in some of the greatest museums in the world but seeing so many with such deep context was refreshing. The ‘Silver Clouds' room was a real highlight and a work inspired by one of Warhol’s studios. In 1963 Warhol moved his studio and along with his friend, transformed the nondescript warehouse space into something futuristic and otherworldly, covering the walls in tin foil and spraying everything in silver paint. Warhol's Silver Factory became the most innovative and productive time of his life.
Following our morning of culture, it was finally time to pack our bags (again) and head to the airport. There were so many things we didn't manage to do, the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, the Frida Kahlo Museum, the Venice of Mexico City at the canals of Xochimilco, but we felt like we had seen enough to understand the city. Luckily we arrived three hours before our flight. Because we very almost didn't make it! On checking in we were advised that we did not have visas for our entry to the USA. Yes, we said, because we don’t need visas. No he said, you do, you need an active ESTA. But we have active ESTAs we said. No you don't he said. SHHHHIIIIIIIIT. No, we don’t, we said, our previous passports had ESTASs registered, not the new ones we have been travelling on for months. Ah CRAP. But somehow, the gods were looking down on us. After a mad dash running around looking for reliable wifi, a lot of swearing, iPhones freezing, refreshing web pages, we actually managed to apply for our ESTAs online and to our relief our applications were approved immediately. Thank god we haven't visited Iran recently! And thanks also to the total shit of a man, Mr. D. Drumpf for almost ruining the final leg of our trip. 1/11/2018 21:17:21
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AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
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Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |