CDMX: Váyanse ahora!

(Post by Erin)

Most of you who know me know that I’m not much of a city person. Give me a steady diet of trees, open space, and wild places with a sprinkling of city culture, food, and chaos once in a while and I am good to go. Enter Mexico City (aka CDMX, Ciudad de Mexico) – quite possibly my favorite city on earth and one I could even imagine living in (if I could walk everywhere I needed to be and avoid the crushing traffic on a daily basis). We spent a few fabulously packed days there earlier this month and it wasn’t nearly enough time. 

Our home away from home

Like many of you, I watched and loved Roma and was thrilled to find an AirBNB in the Roma Norte neighborhood, close to where the movie was filmed. Our apartment was right on the Plaza Rio de Janiero in a beautiful brick building from the 1920’s. Everything about the place was a perfect mix of minimalist art deco & mid-century modern: from the bright white walls and wooden floors, to the high cielings and arched hallways, tall windows and romantic balconies in the trees. 

The plaza itself ended up being the kids’ favorite place to play – there were always dogs (with owners! and leashes! Such a change after being in a place where so many dogs roam free everywhere) and a little pocket park with a great climbing structure. 

The tree-lined neighborhood is filled with buildings from the turn of the century and incredible food on every corner. I haven’t been to Brooklyn in a while, but I imagine Roma is like the Brooklyn of CDMX (but much much less expensive). Sidewalk café’s and little bookstores, intimate bars and all kinds of international food, including the best pan de chocolat on this hemisphere as far as I can tell. And the street art is abundant – there is color, color everywhere. We could easily have spent all three days just exploring the 5 square blocks surrounding our apartment and been completely content. 

Our favorite spot for a morning coffee and pastry was Panadería Rosetta. This tiny café and bakery, the hija of the very fancy Rosetta Restaurante (which we did not visit), never disappointed. 

Day 1: Zócalo

Our first stop was the Zócalo – the huge plaza in the center of the city flanked by the cathedral, national palace (government buildings) and the partially uncovered ancient Aztec capital of the Tenochtitlan. When the Spaniards took over, they built right on top of the old city. It’s spectacular to see the layers of history unfolded.  

 As brutal as the Aztecs were (they had a penchant for warring with neighbors and sacrificing their captors in frequent, bloody ceremonies), the fact that they built a city bigger and more advanced than any that existed in Europe at the time – with sewers! –  and constructed it all less than 200 hundred years, is staggering.  

Our next stop (after a quick taco lunch) was the Palacio Nacional. Before the conquest, Moctezuma II (last of the Aztec rulers) lived on the site. The Spanish Crown built palaces and offices there and ruled for more than 250 years. Since Independence, the Palacio has housed the office of the President and other key government departments. It’s also home to the reason we visited: the murals of Diego Rivera depicting the history of Mexico, painted between 1929-1935. Between 1941-51, he also painted a series of murals depicting daily life of the Mesoamerican people before the conquest as well as the conquest itself. 

We then found our way to another playground (!) and had churros y chocolate at the famed el Morro in the Mercado Roma, a Boston Public Market-like collection of creative food vendors including everything from authentic mexican pozole to steak sandwiches and sushi. Our days pretty much repeated this pattern: sightseeing in the morning, delicious snack eating throughout the day, playgrounding in the afternoon, and collapsing back at our apartment not long after sunset, feet sore but happy from walking a zillion miles. (So don't ask us about nightlife in CDMX, we were sleeping :) 

Day 2: Bosque de Chapultapec 

Chapultapec Park (Grasshopper Park) is a 1700 acre park inside CDMX with a castle, zoo, museums, trails, and playgrounds. We could have spent a week exploring it all. Highlights included the very tame squirrels that will eat peanuts out of your hand and a beautiful (and free) zoo.  While we don’t love zoos, we do love animals, and this one afforded numerous close encounters with central american creatures like jaguars, spider monkeys, and my new favorite: tigrillos.  These tiny teacup-leopard like felines napped curled up together in a hammock. Too cute. 

After the zoo, we headed toward the Anthropology museum, stopping to gape at the open air Porrua bookstore with a tree growing in the middle of the building! Outside the museum, we saw the Aztec sky dancers perform their incredible upside down twirling pole dance complete with flute playing. 

At this point people were dragging (aka whining), so we didn’t last long in the immense Anthropology museum. We did manage to see the famed Aztec calendar and learn some more about the pre-Aztec cultures of the region like the Toltecs and Olmecs, but the playground entreaties were getting harder and harder to stave off so we made our way to the Condessa neighborhood where we found two amazing parks within two blocks of one another: Parque España and Parque Mexicana (with a quick stop at El Pescadito for some baja style fish tacos first). 

Condessa is another lovely jacaranda shrouded purple neighborhood of historic homes and cozy cafes – very livable and with the two parks in the center, the perfect place for kids and families. We enjoyed paletas and despite a day of walking and dragging feet, some exuberant playing. (How is it that you can be so tired you have to sit down in the middle of the street to rest, but then a playground materializes and suddenly you can run up and down a slide for an hour like a crazy person? Is it like a dessert stomach? Where you’re too full for veggies and an actual meal, but you always have room for something sweet?) 

Day 3: La Casa de Frida Khalo y Coyocan

We ubered to the Coyocan neighborhood, at the southern end of the city (almost a ½ hour ride with traffic). Apparently still home to an artsy, bohemian crowd, Coyocan looks a lot like some of the older parts of LA, with colorful bungalows and wide boulevards. Frida Khalo’s Casa Azul, her childhood and adulthood home she shared with Diego Rivera, was our destination, along with most of the other tourists in CDMX that day, apparently.  The house turned museum includes the spaces as they were at the time of her death:  kitchen, dining room, studio, and bedrooms. 

Her wardrobe of iconic and colorful skirts, blouses, and jewelry, inspired by the rich tradition of textile art throughout Mexico, was recently found and is also on display, along with the various splints, braces, and corsets she wore hidden under her beautiful clothing to support her broken body. As a child, she had polio and then at 18 she was in a terrible streetcar accident, impaled straight through by a steel handrail, and left with a back broken in multiple places. She was in bed for nearly a year recovering – this is when she started to paint. So much of her work embodies the pain she dealt with on a daily basis as a result of that early trauma, and yet by many accounts, she was a joyful and warm person to be around, saving that pain for her art. 

We went next to the beautiful Mercado Coyocan where we had incredible tostadas. Zadi chose crab (apparently because she was in the mood for sushi?), while Bo declined the tostadas and instead drank fresh strawberry juice. For lunch. Typical. More wandering around the neighborhood with its beautiful church and plazas and vibrant craft markets and finally back to our home turf so that we could, you guessed it, go to a playground! Our last night included some more yummy street food: tlayucos con nopales y frijol y and hamburguesas a la parilla – very thin, spiced patties with and, of course, jalapeños. Santiago not being particularly known for hamburguesas, our hamburger lovers had a serious craving and these did not disappoint.

The next morning we left for the airport and Tikal.  There was so much we still wanted to see, we hope to go back again very soon! Get in touch if you are thinking of visiting, we’d love to share more. xoxxo