Mexico City!!
As a last hurrah for our year abroad, we decided to go to Mexico for 2 weeks. The plan is to spend 5 nights in the city, 3 on the Oaxacan coast, and 4 in Oaxaca City.
Its never really too easy to get out of Bocas, so even coming here took two days of travel. We boat, taxi’d, bussed to San Jose where we stayed for a night before flying into CDMX.
Our hotel was in a lovely neighborhood called Roma, with lots of trees, delicious! street food, and cool old buildings and shops. We wish we had spent more time exploring this neighborhood too, but the days just flew by!
Mexico City is definitely the biggest, busiest, and craziest city I have been to yet! People and traffic everywhere!
Our first full day we went on a walking tour through some of the main sights starting with the Zocalo and Templo Mayor. Templo Mayor is the site of an old Aztec temple that wasn’t even discovered until 1978! The site has been excavated and it is hypothesized that this is where the Aztecs had built a 40m tall temple that signified the center of the universe! It was awesome to see ancient ruins in the middle of a huge city! The kids were also very interested in learning about the history and seeing the stone disc - not small, 8 tons! - that was the orginal discovery. On the disc is a carving of Coyolxauhqui, the Aztec moon goddess. This carving is what was first (accidentally) discovered that led to more excavating and restoration of the site. Very cool to see preserved in the museum next to the site. Here is a Lonely Planet link to info regarding some of the ancient history to be seen in CDMX.
We continued our first day with another 8 miles or so of walking through the city, eating tacos at a local place, lots of mango, and a little bit of tired feet :).
Our 2nd day in the city we attempted to visit the Frida Kahlo museum, but much to our chagrin, there was a 2+ hour line to get tickets! Needless to say, we were not prepared for such a wait, so we just enjoyed lunch and ice cream and a walk through the cute town of Coyocan.
Friday was a super fun filled day for us as we visited the Sun, Moon, and Feather Serpent Pyramids in Teotihuacan. We opted to take a tour and it was a nice choice allowing us to learn more about everything and meet some cool people from England and NYC! The theory goes that these pyramids were actually built by the natives, NOT the Aztecs. Teotihuacan was ancient Mexico’s capital city and was a major hub for immigrants coming from all over Mexico for improved resources (water, wood, fertile soil, etc). Eventually, they overused the resources there, fought each other off, and disappeared. The Aztecs came along after.
The kids were more attentive for our tour guide Leo during those 8 hours than I have ever seen them at school! I think they learned alot and really enjoyed the day as well. We even got to have lunch in a cave, and I tasted Grasshoppers - a delicacy in Mexico! (One of my favorite things to do while traveling is going to markets, and tasting different (not too creepy…) things!!)
On Friday evening, we headed out to see the infamous Lucha Libre! This is Mexico’s version of WWF ( I think its called WWE now a days….). The Arena Mexico was just around the corner from our hotel and it was cool to be part of what felt like such a cultural aspect of Mexico. At first, Sy was a bit hesitant I think. He covered his ears when the music and hollering started, and then when the wrestling started, he looked sincerely concerned for the people being thrown about. However, as the minutes passed and he realized this was the show, he relaxed and enjoyed it. He really enjoyed it actually and didn’t want to leave when we left (I didn’t want to exit when the rowdy, drunk crowd did….).
It was a bit circus-y or like a comedy show. Definitely entertaining and fun to watch! I’m glad we went. I even had a 40 oz Michelada!! (
After such an eventful Friday, we decided to take it easy on Saturday. We hung around the neighborhood and went shopping at the big city mall! ( Very appealing when you live on an island…..). Plus, we had super exciting plans for the evening - going to a real deal Futbol game!! We had tickets to go see two of the local teams play at Arena Azteca!! The teams that were playing were America and Los Santos. America was definitely the favorite in the City - Las Aguilas! We had great seats and it was so exciting to walk into the huge arena and sit so close to the soccer field. The game was fun to watch and went by very quickly. Sy even got to be on the big screen!!
Overall, our time in Mexico City was great! Action packed, stimulating, full of delicious food, and yet, a bit simple. We did however endure a lost (and recovered) phone, an almost never returned load of laundry (missing for 24 + hours - mama didn't pay for it, don’t worry….), and a little bit of street stomach .
Now, we’re enjoying the beach life on the Oaxacan coast - Manzunte to be precise. Its hot as blazes with beautiful beaches :)
As a last hurrah for our year abroad, we decided to go to Mexico for 2 weeks. The plan is to spend 5 nights in the city, 3 on the Oaxacan coast, and 4 in Oaxaca City.
Its never really too easy to get out of Bocas, so even coming here took two days of travel. We boat, taxi’d, bussed to San Jose where we stayed for a night before flying into CDMX.
Our hotel was in a lovely neighborhood called Roma, with lots of trees, delicious! street food, and cool old buildings and shops. We wish we had spent more time exploring this neighborhood too, but the days just flew by!
Mexico City is definitely the biggest, busiest, and craziest city I have been to yet! People and traffic everywhere!
Our first full day we went on a walking tour through some of the main sights starting with the Zocalo and Templo Mayor. Templo Mayor is the site of an old Aztec temple that wasn’t even discovered until 1978! The site has been excavated and it is hypothesized that this is where the Aztecs had built a 40m tall temple that signified the center of the universe! It was awesome to see ancient ruins in the middle of a huge city! The kids were also very interested in learning about the history and seeing the stone disc - not small, 8 tons! - that was the orginal discovery. On the disc is a carving of Coyolxauhqui, the Aztec moon goddess. This carving is what was first (accidentally) discovered that led to more excavating and restoration of the site. Very cool to see preserved in the museum next to the site. Here is a Lonely Planet link to info regarding some of the ancient history to be seen in CDMX.
We continued our first day with another 8 miles or so of walking through the city, eating tacos at a local place, lots of mango, and a little bit of tired feet :).
Our 2nd day in the city we attempted to visit the Frida Kahlo museum, but much to our chagrin, there was a 2+ hour line to get tickets! Needless to say, we were not prepared for such a wait, so we just enjoyed lunch and ice cream and a walk through the cute town of Coyocan.
Friday was a super fun filled day for us as we visited the Sun, Moon, and Feather Serpent Pyramids in Teotihuacan. We opted to take a tour and it was a nice choice allowing us to learn more about everything and meet some cool people from England and NYC! The theory goes that these pyramids were actually built by the natives, NOT the Aztecs. Teotihuacan was ancient Mexico’s capital city and was a major hub for immigrants coming from all over Mexico for improved resources (water, wood, fertile soil, etc). Eventually, they overused the resources there, fought each other off, and disappeared. The Aztecs came along after.
The kids were more attentive for our tour guide Leo during those 8 hours than I have ever seen them at school! I think they learned alot and really enjoyed the day as well. We even got to have lunch in a cave, and I tasted Grasshoppers - a delicacy in Mexico! (One of my favorite things to do while traveling is going to markets, and tasting different (not too creepy…) things!!)
On Friday evening, we headed out to see the infamous Lucha Libre! This is Mexico’s version of WWF ( I think its called WWE now a days….). The Arena Mexico was just around the corner from our hotel and it was cool to be part of what felt like such a cultural aspect of Mexico. At first, Sy was a bit hesitant I think. He covered his ears when the music and hollering started, and then when the wrestling started, he looked sincerely concerned for the people being thrown about. However, as the minutes passed and he realized this was the show, he relaxed and enjoyed it. He really enjoyed it actually and didn’t want to leave when we left (I didn’t want to exit when the rowdy, drunk crowd did….).
It was a bit circus-y or like a comedy show. Definitely entertaining and fun to watch! I’m glad we went. I even had a 40 oz Michelada!! (
After such an eventful Friday, we decided to take it easy on Saturday. We hung around the neighborhood and went shopping at the big city mall! ( Very appealing when you live on an island…..). Plus, we had super exciting plans for the evening - going to a real deal Futbol game!! We had tickets to go see two of the local teams play at Arena Azteca!! The teams that were playing were America and Los Santos. America was definitely the favorite in the City - Las Aguilas! We had great seats and it was so exciting to walk into the huge arena and sit so close to the soccer field. The game was fun to watch and went by very quickly. Sy even got to be on the big screen!!
Overall, our time in Mexico City was great! Action packed, stimulating, full of delicious food, and yet, a bit simple. We did however endure a lost (and recovered) phone, an almost never returned load of laundry (missing for 24 + hours - mama didn't pay for it, don’t worry….), and a little bit of street stomach .
Now, we’re enjoying the beach life on the Oaxacan coast - Manzunte to be precise. Its hot as blazes with beautiful beaches :)
