The 2nd biggest city in the America’s (after San Paolo) is huge. We have been to Mexico many times and never took the time to visit it’s most important city. We stayed 5 nights but needed a bit more. Tons of great museums, art and things to do. There are over 150 museums. It might not have as picturesque photos as my last post from San Miguel Allende and Guanajuato but it has a lot more to do.
The whole city was built on a drained lake and every foundation seems like it has problems. Buildings are leaning every which way all over. The first day we went on a walking tour and started at the big old cathedral. It was a wavy floor that gave you a little bit of vertigo just trying to walk straight and not look at the leaning side walls. Pics don’t really show it so I will just show some good shots. I don’t want to be in the city in an earthquake. 1985 was bad but I there is still a lot more that will fall down the next time one hits.
On the walking tour we saw the cathedral, got some history lessons, had some street food, visited the awesome old post office and ended up going in the Bellas de Artes theater to see some more murals.
We saw the presidents palace. After inauguration, the president walks to this window in the middle and yells “Vivo Mexico” so he can get cheered by his supporters.
The next day we did art museums. We started at the house Frida Kahlo was born and died. Cool to relate the art of her and Diego Rivera to the way they lived.
We then toured the Soumaya which was a huge art museum built by a really rich guy. Lots of good Mexican art as well as European art. The top floor was filled with Rodin sculptures including a few “Thinkers”.
To finish our 2nd day we went to a third museum. Yes, we were tired but trying to pack everything in and this one was close to our airbnb in el centro. This was the Axtec ruins right next to the main square of the city. They are still finding more stuff here and underneath all the buildings around here.
The next day we took the subway to Chapultepec park to see 2 attractions here. Starting with the old palace that the president used to live in is now a history museum. Most was in spanish but we still learned a lot and it was really cool seeing the park and the city from the top of the only hill around… Too smoggy to make a good photo but the castillo and gardens look cool.
Then we walked to the Anthropological museum. This was amazing. Maybe the best done museum we have ever been in. Old remains from many different mexican civilizations in an enormous museum. We only got through half of it because we were already tired from walking to the top of the hill for the castle palace. Tons of big old carved rocks…
For dinner we were pooped so just stayed close to our airbnb and ate at a sports bar to watch some Mexican soccer. The locals love talking to gringos so these guys bought our beers for us and I bragged that our Sounders are going to beat their Pumas next month. Sorry bad pic…
The last day we signed up for a trip to the Teotihuacan pyramids. Our guide Alejandro drove us and 4 others from the city about 45 minutes to see the pyramids. It is difficult to show how huge this whole place is. 3 big pyramids and a lot of temples line a 2 mile ancient street. The moon pyramid is the 2nd biggest pyramid on the planet after the big one in Egypt.
After this Alejandro took us to lunch and then to his house to meet his family and showed us his wife’s cocoa business and how they make chocolate.
His house is in the backyard of the pyramids and we saw his collection of ancient remains he has found in the neighborhood growing up. Pretty interesting. We then visited his neighbor that let us try his pulque (Maguey cactus wine) and also had an ancient rock mine in the back of his property. They think they took stones from these tunnels to construct the pyramids. This consisted of a hole in the ground covered by a metal sheet.
Alejandro told us to follow him. It went down several steps and then a 15 foot ladder. A little unnerving and claustrophobic. I have been in a lot of caves but none as sketchy as this. No flashlights or lights… he told us to bring our phones. I eventually followed him but M decided to sit up above in the shade.
When we got down the caves went 500 meters in several directions. They were about 6-10 feet wide and 3-6 feet high. Meaning I was on my knees or at least hunched over most of the time. Alejandro shows us where he leads spiritual ceremonies with the locals around some old bones. This was an experience.
We packed a lot into our 4 full days in Mexico city. Had some great food and saw a lot of cool stuff. But we need to get back here again. Next stop- Yelapa- a roadless city near Puerta Vallarta that you can only get to by boat.