Mexico – Mexico City 31/10/16 – 5/10/16

Our flight left Morocco at 3.30pm and arrived in Munich around 8.30pm local time. We had a couple of hours in transit before boarding our next flight to Mexico City, a 13+hr flight. We finally arrived at our destination at 4am local time, which meant we had been travelling for 24hrs. Once at the airport we knew we had time to kill, so had breakfast, pottered around before buying our metro card. So the exchange rate here is 100 MXN to around NZ$7 or £3.50 GBP. I initially got 3000MXN out of the ATM which cost roughly NZ $210 and this lasted a few days. Yep its really cheap once you get over hear. We decided to take the underground as it only cost 5MXN pp per trip, and you can change stations for free. The underground system is relatively easy to follow and there’s 8 lines all different coloured. From the airport we had to change twice to get to our hotel. Easy enough, however everything we read about the underground stated not to bother using it in rush hour as all the locals use it to get to and from work. Why oh why did we ignore this vital info. We got on our first train (the yellow line for 2 stops) easy enough, and was able to get off at the right station for our second train (the blue line for 9 stops). However this is the main line and it appeared the whole of Mexico city public got on this train station after station. We also read that on all underground trains the first 2 carriages are set aside for women and children only. More and more people got on this train, our carriage must have had a few hundred people aboard it. These trains also DO NOT have any aircon! So sweaty armpits were everywhere, ours included. We were able to keep track of the stops our train was taking, however when we were approaching our station, it was impossible to get anywhere near the doors let alone get off with our 2 large cases. We ended up waiting for most of the people getting off before we managed it. We were now 4 stops beyond our destination, so took the subway under the tracks and caught the train back. This time we stood close to the doors and let people pass us when they got off. We finally got to our 3rd station and got off ok and still in 1 piece. We then walked in the direction of our 3rd train (the purple line for 1 stop). As soon as we reached the platform, we noticed thousands of people waiting for the same train, so we opted to exit this station and catch a taxi to our hotel. Our taxi cost 50MXN and we were dropped off at Zocalo Square about 10 meters from our hotel. We finally got to our hotel around 8.30am and was informed our room was not ready and therefore could not check in until 3pm later that day. We were knackered. They let us leave our luggage there whilst we found something to do for 6 ½ hours. We spotted the Hop on hop off City bus, bought tickets, boarded and but kept falling asleep so we missed everything, we got off had a coffee at McDonald’s then boarded it again. This time we were able to just about stay awake, getting off when we got to a shopping mall. Eventually getting back to our hotel around 2.30pm. We had now been awake for around 32 hours!!!! Once in our room we fell fast asleep on the bed, too tired to shower or anything. We woke around 4 hours later and after refreshing ourselves ventured out into Zocalo Square as today was day 3 of the 5 day “Day of the Dead Festival”. But OMG we had slept through that nights stage show. We were gutted, it was 9.30pm and everything was coming to a halt, we did walk around the streets and spotted hundreds and hundreds of people, all in fancy halloween dress, and highly decorated with face paints. “The Mad Hatter” appeared to be tonight’s most popular costume. Young and old all were in some kind of costume.
Next day we walked around the town, with only a basic map, but found ourselves in Plaza Garibaldi where we came across the Tequila Museum, (Muse del Tequila y El Mezcal). It cost 60MXN to get in with 2 free drinks. Wow an amazing place, lots of interactive screens in Spanish and English. It tells the story of how the Mexicans found how to make this drink from the Agave plant which only grows in Mexico. There’s also another drink called Mezcal which is a Tequila blend ie other plants are added to it, still its a nice drink. In the museum there are hundreds and hundreds of bottles of both drinks. Bottles from the bygone years to the latest inspirational shaped bottles. There’s also a restaurant on the top floor selling all the famous traditional foods as well as a shop on the ground floor. A great place to visit.
Walking further around town we came across Palacios de Bella Arts. Although we didn’t go in there was a street market outside it’s doors. Everything you can imagine for sale to the tourists, everything in magnificent bright colours, and as its the Dias de Muerto Festival, (Day of the Dead), there was skulls, skeletons, t-shirts everywhere. Even the streets had huge ornamental figures everywhere. The colours were spectacular. It was at this market we both decided to get our faces painted in the festive spirit.
That evening we walked around Zocalo Square and took full advantage of the bands playing on the huge stage. Again many many people in fancy dress, some very spectacular creations, but most with their faces painted. What an atmosphere, what a buzz, if your thinking of going to Mexico City, make sure you get here for this festival at the end of October, you won’t be disappointed. We continued our walk and found a great restaurant called Historica. It is set in a courtyard and once you get inside your eyes are drawn upwards to see its spectacular ceiling. The restaurant is at ground level and there’s a terrace on the first floor, where small artisan shops can be found along with a bar. Great place, it’s even been recommended by Trip Advisor. We hadn’t booked but the lady put our names on the list and advised us to return in an hour or so. Once at our table we were in awe of its menu. Mexico’s grand chefs have worked there gaining many awards for its culinary delights. It’s quite expensive for Mexico prices but we still found it great value.
Next day we had paid to go on a tour to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan 500MXN pp. At this site we explored the ancient Aztec city, which has Mexico largest pyramid (at its base), called Piramide del Sol – pyramid of the sun. It also has a second one called Piramide de la Luna – pyramid of the moon. These pyramids are solid and their only purpose was for people to climb up the outsides to get nearer to the gods of the sun and moon for worship. The whole area is of course a UNESCO Site and it’s peacefulness of walking around is second to none. A must do activity. We were then taken to a small village on the outskirts of this site where again we were treated to Tequila and Mezcal sampling before having a huge buffet lunch with a floor show of 2 beautiful Aztec ladies doing a traditional dance included. The lunch wasn’t included but at 180MXN it was well worth it. On the way we passed a number of suburbs with the brightest painted houses we have ever seen, wonderful sight.
That evening was the last night of the festival so again face painted we went out to join the hundreds of people walking the streets celebrating their departed loved ones.y
On our last day we took the bus to the Basilica Guadalupe, and what a place it is. It’s on the outskirts of town and the bus took ½ hour to get there. This area of town is so focused on religion, every shop had trinkets, ornaments and statues relating to religion. The grounds of the Basilica are huge with at least 4 churches from Catholicism to Christianity to Aztec, it’s huge. Not sure how many acres it sprawls into but the grounds are massive and beautifully kept.
The whole area is dedicated to the Virgin Mary after in 1531 a Christian convert named Juan Diego claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared before him. Over the centuries Nuestra Senor de Guadalupe came to receive credit for multiple sightings, aiding the accepted centre of Catholicism by Mexicans. In 1737 the Virgin officially became the patron of Mexico. This Basilica attracts thousands of pilgrims daily, and hundreds of thousands leading up to her feast day – December 12. Some pilgrims travel the last few hundred meters to the shrine on their knees.
For someone who claims not to be a religious man, this area took my by surprise, the people in their hoards, disabled people, blind people, people in wheelchairs all making their presence known. It really was a special place, even though the souvenirs were plastic and looked dreadful and tacky.
So, for our first experience of Mexico,the city was a great place to start. It’s busy, loud, full of police and army everywhere but the people are friendly, the food is good, there are only a few bars but they do have a huge choice of tequilas☺