Musings on Mexico City
Food, culture, friendly locals and nonstop action make Mexico City a place everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.
I compiled some tips in January 2020 shortly after returning from Mexico (right before the world flipped upside down). Should the mood strike and you suddenly find yourself on a flight to CDMX, have a quick read:
1. For the Canadians, as our phone companies are ridiculous: if your phone is unlocked, get a sim card at TelCel for $129 MX (~$12 cad) that gives 2 GB of data, unlimited calls within Mexico and a certain # of texts for 2 weeks. It’s a great deal compared to Fido’s $14/day international add on.
2. Uber is cheap, safe and convenient. Use it to get around.
3. Traffic is no joke during rush hour, what took 12 minutes during the day took 54 minutes in rush hour. Plan ahead!
4. For the best Barbacoa on the weekends, head to Zamora 117 in Condesa. Look across the street to your right (at the corner), head to where a family has popped up a food stall and eat your heart out. There’s no signage but my food obsessed partner just happened to find this gem by our Airbnb.
5. Maque bakery+cafe in the Cuauhtémoc district, is life. Please get the guava pastries as they come out of the oven. You can stay there and chill or head across the street to Parque México where there’s some beautiful art work.
6. Frida Kahlo’s museum is a MUST! Buy tickets in advance and stroll right in. If you don’t, well… enjoy standing in line for quite awhile.
7. Go to Pujol if you’re travelling with a foodie or you are one. Advanced reservations are needed.
8. Head to El Moro for churros and get all three dips for the full experience. The line moves fast, so don’t worry about putting aside a lot of time for this stop..unless you love churros, as much as I do.
9. If you want to see everything at the National Museum of Anthropology, it could literally take you all day OR you could split it up over 2 days. We just picked certain halls to check out and spent half a day there. Really enjoyed it! (fun fact: I wanted to be an anthropologist when I was a kid)
10. Mercado Roma is a tourist trap, just skip right past it. Mercado Medellin is not and I highly recommend going there for a massive, yet deliciously fresh fruit smoothie.
11. There is street art and lots of it, which I always love seeing on my travels. I didn’t do a street art tour but it was easy enough to find just walking around.
As for what I really enjoyed about CDMX....as part of a Blasian couple, for the first time in our travels, I was NOT the one being stared at constantly. No one gave my partner a hard time, but he got to experience firsthand how uncomfortable the stares can be when you’re just trying to live your best life.
Short & Sweet
Accommodations: Airbnb, lots of options
Neighbourhood to stay in: La Condesa
Mode of transportation: Uber
Currency: Mexican peso $
