Mexico City Redux

Bf & I had a good week exploring Mexico City on our own. The highlight of the trip was the subway system, which made it so easy to be in control of our itinerary. The subway was extensive, easy to figure out, dirt cheap, and always lively with interesting cultural displays and vendors. The trip mainly consisted of a lot of neighborhood exploration and eating.

Quick list of what we did:

Museums:
- Frida Kahlo house/museum (I recommend)
- National History Museum (a couple interesting murals, but overall not interesting)
- Anthropology Museum (A bit overwhelming/extensive, but worth doing)
- Popular Culture Museum (I recommend) -- picture from one of their walls:


Neighborhoods Explored:
- Condesa -- Kind of boring, yuppie dining area, wouldn't go back unless for a specific restaurant

- Polanco -- Beverly Hills of Mexico City with equivalent shopping. Somewhat unpleasant to be in this neighborhood because this is where rich Mexicans are targeted for kidnapping -- but worth a quick walk down the main shopping drag just to see things.

- Zona Rosa -- the neighborhood where we stayed, which I was familiar with from my 2008 trip. Love this neighborhood, it's full of Koreans and gays, it doesn't get better than that. Always lively, many places to eat, and nightlife if you seek that.

- San Angel -- high-end craft market here, which actually had some rather lovely and well-made crafts. Also, just beautiful old cobblestone streets. And delicious churros from the Churreria.

- Coyoacan -- neighborhood with two decent sized plazas where people come and hang out. Great neighborhood market here, some uber-famous coffee shop where people were lined up like crazy called El Jarocho, and also the location of the Frida Kahlo house.

- Centro -- I like seeing the big church next to the Zocalo (main square) and we visited the crazy market La Merced Market twice. The market is packed with every food product you could imagine, clothing, household goods, party goods, etc etc -- extremely cramped aisles, people rushing about, people standing about buying stuff -- it's intense.

Other Random Trip Thoughts:
People were so friendly and helpful, and extremely honest. Multiple times I would get confused about the total bill and would give too much money, and no one ever used that to their advantage.

The number of police/guards/security/body-guards/etc. is overwhelming and a bit unnerving, especially when they have their hands in position on their firearms, ready to unload.

The food was so so so good (duh). The casual taco shops were my favorite -- nothing better than spicy pork (tacos al pastor) washed down with a delicious tamarind drink. The quesadilla shells were an interesting football-shape in MEX -- not round -- had not noticed that before.

Quesadilla picture borrowed from someone else's blog, who has a much nicer Mexico City trip write-up.


Next trip to Mexico will hopefully bring some increased Spanish preparation on my part, and hopefully some trips outside of major cities to see pyramids/the country side.