For the Love of CDMX (Mexico City)

You hear a lot of things about Mexico, some good, some bad and some that are the stuff of nightmares. We mostly take most of that kind of information with a grain of salt, especially having visited South America, which also has a wild reputation that is rarely lived up to.

All that being said, I was a bit leery of running around a city as large and populated as Mexico City. If you include the environs, there are almost 22 million souls that call CDMX home. (Short for Ciudad de Mexico, if you're curious. This is a fairly new moniker, as the government has rezoned the entire city and renamed the city centre.) Perhaps I've watched too many movies with kidnappings and ridiculous Latino stereotypes.

We love Mexico City. We love the people, the food, the huge green spaces and museums. There are art galleries and promenades, Spanish Colonial and modern architecture to marvel at. This city can hold its head high against any of the best cities in the world. If you come to CDMX for the food, you may never leave. It didn't seem to matter whether we were at a high end restaurant or a taqueria on the roadside. These folks know food and flavours in a way that I find inexplicable. Nothing is hot, unless you want it to be.That doesn't mean that your taste buds won't thank you for the adventure. The video has a bit of fun music, so turn up the volume.

We stayed at a lovely boutique B&B called Casa Comtesse, in the barrio of La Condesa. It's a beautiful old building close to many amenities, with charming staff and restful terraces. The price was also right, especially considering it included breakfast as it came in around $120 Canadian. For a major city in a convenient area, that's pretty good in our books. What threw it over the top were the breakfasts. They don't just offer breads, cereal and fruit, no. Everyday they have a new local specialty along with those, to get you through your busy day of touristing. (Yes, I've made that a verb.) Our first morning we had a slow cooked pork in a delicious warm salsa of mild chili peppers. (I never determined the type, I slipped into a food coma, not long afterwards and never thought to ask.) We had Mexican style eggs another morning, tuna ceviche on the third and finished up with a crispy torta of vegetables, served in a cream sauce and topped with a poached egg. The breakfasts lasted us well into the afternoon, an experience we've never had except for eating Ron's most delicious oatmeal.  If you have the opportunity, stay at this little gem. We can't recommend it enough.   

Our first day, a Sunday, was spent enjoying Parque Chapultepec, a large green space (bigger then Central Park in NYC) that also houses the Modern Art Museum and the Tamayo museum. Both were happily free on Sunday, but they will confiscate your water bottle. We did a crap job at taking pictures of both the park and the galleries; apologies.

Huge installation in the Modern Art Gallery

We then proceeded to have a mindblowingly delicious late lunch at Contramar. Go there, bring lots of money and die happy. (Of course, we have pictures of that, most of the dishes were half eaten before we remembered to take photos!)
 

Margaritas and salsa verde

Trout sashimi

Pulpo Gallega (octopus with potates)

Ensalate verde (green salad)

Tostadas de atun (Tuna on crisp tortillas)

Strawberry meringue cake

Cafe especial (specialty coffee) with mezcal

Day two had us on the hop on/hop off tourist bus. (We opted for Turibus, as it had a stop fairly close to the hotel.) It took us through the heart of the city to the old town, where we disembarked and enjoyed the vibrant city life of the downtown core. Go up el Torre Latinamerino to really understand how big this city is and to cherry pick some sights. We ate churros at the original El Moro. They've been in the churro making business since 1935, so it was well worth a stop, even though our breakfast was not yet digested.
 

Lots of art in the streets

Impressive architecture

 

Green spaces galore

Endless city

 

The most colour Ron's worn in years

We rejoined the bus tour and headed off to El Polanco (the shishi district) that is home to the Soumaya Museum. It's a private museum that houses things of interest for the Slim family. Carlos Slim, the founder, offers up this experience without fee. They will confiscate your umbrella AND water bottle, but they gave us back the umbrella when we left. The top floor was our favourite, with tons of Rodin (originals and replicas) and original art from many of the great painters (Senor Slim seems to have a passion for Degas). There was also a large pocket watch collection, examples of various types of Mexican currency, a carved ivory display. The detail was truly mind boggling, but it mostly made me sad. (All I could see was dead elephants.) The outside of the building is pretty spectacular and worth a visit just for the architecture.

Our third day took us out to Teotihuacan, a site with pyramids (non-Mayan or Aztec) and the Basilica of Guadalupe, but I think that's for another blog.

We really didn't spend enough time in the city. I can't begin to estimate the amount of time required to enjoy all that it has to offer. If you come, plan to stay at least a week, if not two. You still won't get to see everything, but you should be able to make a pretty good dent in what CDMX has to offer.